• Filling in the holes: Try refilling the holes with junk. With junk, dogs can quickly lose interest and pretty much stop digging. I have tried this personally by filling in the holes with rocks and was able to curb the sensation to dig around a fenced area. Fill the hole with whatever is at hand – dead leaves, sticks, pine needles, rocks or even dog feces. Fill the top 2 inches or so with dirt. The dog finds the stuff, gets discouraged and often quits digging. They seem to get the idea they’ll never know where they’ll find junk, and it’s not worth the effort to dig only to find junk so they quit.
• Surprises in the hole: The Koehler dog method advocates filling holes with water and sticking dog’s head under the water for a few seconds or so. This may not work with some breeds (e.g., Labradors), and may not appeal to you as a method to try. Alternatively, you can try burying a water balloon in one of the holes which will pop in its face when it starts digging (surprise).
• A sandbox: Try to remember that digging is a natural tendency for dogs. So, if there is any place where your dog may be allowed to dig, you should encourage it (and only in that place). Designate an area where the dog can dig. Many people build a sand box for their dog. Place the box in an area that is cool in summer and warm in winter.

Each and every time your dog barks, go out and see why the dog is barking. If your dog is barking for a good reason (such as a stranger in the yard), you should praise your dog and then tell it to be quiet. If the dog is barking because there is a squirrel up the tree, or something similar, tell the dog to be quiet and immediately go back into the house. You will have to repeat this every time the dog barks. Pretty soon, in a week or so depending on the dog, the dog will only bark for a good reason. The dog may still bark at the squirrel, but not continually. Instead, one or two good barks to scare the squirrel, and then it considers its duty done. At the same time, you have not dampened your dogs ability to bark when there is something wrong.

Dealing with complaints about barking. If your neighbors complain about your dog barking while you are not at home, first purchase a voice-activated tape recorder and set it up where your dog will trigger the tape if it barks. You may find that your neighbor is incorrect about how much your dog actually does bark (keep a log of the barking you record). You may find out what exactly causes it to bark (hearing a car drive by before each barking sequence, for example), giving you some ideas for eliminating the behavior. But do determine that there is actually a problem before you try to do something about it.

All housetraining problems are frustrating, but the good news is that it’s often easy to fix with a little thought and care. Some tips:

Sudden changes in established habits
If your dog has been fine with its housetraining up till now, there may be several reasons for it to break with its training.

• If there have been no major changes in its life, your dog may very well have a medical problem, such as kidney trouble. Have your vet rule out possible medical causes.
• It may be trying to defend its territory if you have a new animal in the household. You will probably need to separate the pets for a while, and reintroduce them gradually. Provide each with a retreat area.
• It may be generally upset or anxious if you’ve just moved and trying to assert ownership of the new territory. Mark your territory first: scatter dirty laundry around the house to tell your dog YOU’VE claimed the territory and your dog should subside. After a few days, you can pick up the laundry.

Your dog eating poop or dog coprophagia is a habit which doesn’t make sense to us dog owner’s. It’s a habit which is most prevalent in puppies, and certain breeds are also more susceptible to it than others. Many Shih Tzu owners including myself struggle with this disgusting poop eating habit.

There are many theories and opinions as to why a dog would bother to eat poop. Finding the cause of your dogs poop eating habit is the key to determining the correct solution.

When dogs eat poop it is not only embarrassing for us owners, it can also cause diseases and worms to be passed on to your dog.

The last common dog training mistake that I am going to mention is the desire to put off training. Many owners feel that dog training should be done after a certain age but it has been shown time and time again that the longer you wait, the harder it will be to train your dog. Dog training should begin as soon as you bring your puppy home. It starts with establishing rules and house training first and then it quickly moves to basic training such as sit, down, stay. Puppy socialization class usually begins around 11 weeks of age and from there you will quickly start dog training. Never leave training until your dog is 6 months of age or older since many negative behaviors are established by that time. In the end, if you are aware of the dog training mistakes that you can make, you will find that you are less likely to make them and your dog will quickly respond to dog training with only a small amount of fuss.

Although there are several types of dog training available, most trainers and owners will use positive reinforcement training, which consists of treating your dog, usually with food, whenever he does something positive. While this is an excellent way to train your dog, many owners make the mistake of treating the wrong behavior and end up reinforcing bad behavior.

Bad behavior in dog training is anything that you don’t want your dog to do. So, for instance, your dog is in the kitchen while you are cooking a meal. At first it may not seem like he is doing anything but spending time with you and that may have been the case in the beginning but when you drop your first bit of food, or you toss him a little snack, he will quickly learn to beg whenever you are in the kitchen.

Fast forward a year and you have a full grown dog under foot whenever you go to the kitchen simply because you have reinforced that begging in the kitchen is okay. To avoid rewarding a dog for a bad behavior, don’t praise him, comfort him or treat him when he is doing something you don’t want repeated. So if he barks at the door, don’t praise him for being a good guard dog and if you drop some food on the floor, pick it up yourself and take it to his dog bowl if you want to give it to him. By controlling the environment, you can quickly stop yourself from rewarding his bad behavior.

Okay, this may be a little confusing since dog training consists of the repetition of an action but while repeating an action over again is fine, repeating a command is not. When it comes to dog training mistakes, I would say that this is the biggest mistake that owners will make and I have been found guilty of this little offense myself. It is only natural to repeat a command when a dog doesn`t listen but it is something that you should train yourself not to do. When you repeat a command, you are teaching your dog that he doesn`t have to listen to a command every time. This means that a command stops having any affect on the dog and you end up having to retrain with a new command, which can take time and can be very frustrating for both you and your dog.

One of the most common mistakes that owners will make actually has nothing to do with the physical act of dog training and is actually a daily occurrence that usually plays in the background. As every parent will tell you, children require rules and dogs are no different. There should be rules set in place the moment that a dog is brought home. This means that if you have a rule for no dogs on the furniture, then you need to stick with it, regardless of how cute a puppy is. Not establishing those rules right from the beginning can lead to long term behavior problems and your puppy will quickly learn that he can ignore the rules and eventually simply ignore you. It is important that you avoid this dog training mistake right from the start and make sure that everyone in your house will follow the same rules with your dog to ensure the best success.

In dog training terms ‘Scent marking’ is where a dog ‘marks’ his or her territory with urine. Technically this is not actually a house training problem, since it’s based on the dog training issues of dominance and territoriality rather than insufficient house training. A dog can be perfectly house trained but still feel the need to mark inside the house.

However, because – since the problem centers around the unwanted presence of urine in the house – it seems logical, in a way, to link this problem with house training. Since this is one of the most widespread problems among dog owners, we as dog training professionals thought it worthwhile to include some practical advice.

What is it a ‘submissive urinator’?

A ‘submissive urinator’, in dog training terms, is a dog that urinates on the floor and himself (and sometimes on you or any guests you may have!) in situations of extreme excitement or stress, like when you return home at the end of the work day or when the dog is being told off for some bad behavior.

Why does this happen?

Puppies are the most usual candidates for submissive/excited urination, but it is also not uncommon to see this behavior in adult dogs as well. Usually, these are highly sensitive and timid dogs, and/or ones from a shelter/with a history of abuse (often these last two go hand-in-hand and one of most common things we see as dog training professionals.)