Can You Tell Me Where the Rest Room Is?

[DogGoneGood]

Can You Tell Me Where the Rest Room Is?
I can’t Smell It Anywhere

The Other End of the Leash: Why We Do What We Do Around Dogs
By Patricia B. McConnell, Ph.D.


When we humans are out in public and need a rest room, we all behave consistently. First, we use our eyes, looking for the sign that says REST ROOM or WOMEN or MEN. Failing that, we use sound: “Excuse me. Where’s the rest room?” But dogs don’t look for a rest room, nor do they talk about it with whines, barks, or howls. They put their noses down and search it out by scent. That’s why you have to eliminate any odor of urine or feces in the house if your dog has a housebreaking problem. Dogs who urinate or defecate in the house have a hard time resisting the chemical “sign” on your carpet that says “Go here!” Just because it’s written in odor doesn’t make it less compelling. Even dogs who were actually “house trained” have pottied in the house because the dog defined “house” differently than their owners. We define “house” as bordered by walls, but most dogs seem to define “house” as where you spend your time and therefore where the pack’s scent is the strongest. Many of my clients’ dogs only went in the back guest room, a place with none of the familiar odors of the family. In most of those cases, simply eliminating the odor of urine and then marking the area with a different scent can get the dog going in the right rest room again. Once the area is odor-free and clean, sit down on the carpet with your dog and a paperback and spend a little time each day there. In just a few days, that place will smell like a living room instead of a toilet to your pup.

It also helps tremendously to give your dog a treat every time that she goes outside – right after she goes, not after she trots back in the house. I’m always a bit surprised at how resistant so many owners are to doing this. Once our dogs are no longer puppies, we seem to have some sense of entitlement that grown-up dogs should go outside, because “they should know better.” But if they’re going to the bathroom in the house, you can either get upset about it and put on a threat display as any agitated primate would – scaring the heck out of your dog in the process – or you can get over it and give him a treat for going outside. Trust me, the latter works a lot better.



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This is from Patricia McConnell's WONDERFUL book I'm reading right now called "The Other End of the Leash". I highly recommend it to anyone as it is quickly making it's way up into my favorites category as far as educational dog behavior and training books go. If you haven't read this book or don't own it already, I'm tell you now, you should go out and get it!