Dog Shedding Problem

Guess who has the shedding problem. You got it - Sandy! I have resigned myself to the fact that Sandy is going to refresh my memory on every dog training trick I ever knew or tired and she will probably have me inventing one or two new ones.

Yes, Sandy sheds. Not just a few hairs, of course, but clumps. When I first saw Sandy at the shelter, before I adopted her, I picked her up. I didn't adopt her until the next day but I did take home enough of her hair to clog the lint filter on the dryer. When I picked up Sandy and Lily at the shelter, I brought my brush with me. I have a great brush. It's called the Snap-N-Clean Pet Brush and has a rubber inset that lifts over the bristles and pulls up the hair in one clump. I don't know how many times I brushed Sandy the first three days I had her, but I brushed all her shedding hair off. I have six different pet brushes, but the Snap-N-Clean is the only one that works for heavy shedding and doesn't hurt my dog's skin.

I normally have my dogs groomed every 8-10 weeks and have their hair cut to about 1/4 inch. I will be grooming Sandy every 4-6 weeks because her hair is so long and sheds so quickly. I can use my brush in between groomings and I have also tried a furminator. This is a great grooming tool and I use it for Sandy in between visits to the groomer. I don't do my own grooming because with three dogs it would very time consuming. I'd rather play with them and train them and let the professionals deal with grooming.

You can groom your own dog and it is something I did when I only had one dog. If done right, it gives you one more chance to bond with your dog and show them that grooming can be a good experience.

Please share any grooming stories you have.

Dog Biting Problem

I've had Lily and Sandy for several weeks and the dog training tricks are working for the most part. Sandy has finally learned not to go on the bathroom rug and uses the doggie door like a pro. She has also stopped chewing shoes and only chews things I give her. I am very pleased with the dog training progress we are making with Sandy. Lily is still whining but is getting better. She only whines in the morning when she hasn't seen me and when I drive into the garage. The big challenge I have now is a biting problem. Sandy is very aggressive when she plays and biting is a big part of her playing routine. Lily bites a little when I first greet her after being gone from the house but it is more excitement and stops as soon as I pet her. Because Sandy is the youngest of my three dogs, she has the most energy. She runs a lot in the backyard and is the most playful. Other than the biting problem, she has done the best in terms of dog training.

Please share any dog training tricks you have found helpful in stopping your dog from biting.

Dog Barking Problem

You've met my two new kids but your introduction wouldn't be complete without meeting Scooter. He is the oldest, but by no means perfect. Scooter barks and I have tried numerous dog training tricks to control the barking with no success.

When I got Scooter from the dog shelter, he was so skinny you could see every rib. He was afraid of his own shadow and shook for about three days after I brought him home. He had been badly abused in two homes and I was his fifth owner. He had been returned to the shelter by the family before me because he snapped and they had little kids. I saw him and knew he was meant to come home with me. He just needed a lot of love and reassurance. He still gets bouts of shaking that last 5-10 minutes but I just hold him tight until the shaking stops. He is now the king of the house and verbally announces it many times a day. I have not yet found the dog training trick that works for Scooter.

Scooter needs very little encouragement to bark. If a car drives by or someone walks on the sidewalk in front of the house or he hears a bird he barks. I'm not talking a little bark, I'm talking non stop loud barking. He may only be a dachshund but he sounds like a German Shepard.

I have tried just about everything I have read and every dog training trick I have heard about but Scooter still barks. Fortunately, I live in a neighborhood of dog lovers. Almost every house has at least one dog and several have two or more. There are a few cats thrown in just to annoy the dogs. If one of the neighbor dogs start barking, we have a dog barking symphony. Most of the time, Scooter is the symphony leader.

I can say my block is crime free because no house breaker is going to come anywhere near us with all the dogs. So there are advantages to barking.

If anyone has had the same barking problem, please let me know what dog training trick worked for you.

Dog Whining Problem

I don't want anyone to think that all my training problems are with Sandy. Lily has some challenges of her own. The dog training trick needed for Lily is one to stop her whining problem. I am sure it is separation anxiety because she whines when I go into a room and close the door so she can't get in. She is proving to be just as much a challenge as Sandy but in a different way.

I know most dog trainers will strongly disagree but we let our dogs sleep in our bedroom. We enjoy them and want them close. My husband gets up very early, takes the dogs out through the patio door and spends time playing with them. I sleep later because I work swing shift. When my husband gets up, he closes the bedroom door so I can sleep.

After play time is over and the dogs are settling down, Lily realizes that I am not around. She goes to the bedroom door and starts to whine. She is not timid about this, her whining could wake the neighbors. I am working on getting her to stop by using some of the training methods I have read about.

I am going to the door and saying STOP, I then open the door and close it just before she has a chance to run into the bedroom. As soon as she is quiet, I go out and praise her. This method is starting to work but is not completely successful so far. This is one of those behaviors that is very difficult to get rid of and takes a lot of patience and consistency. This dog training trick is proving to be the most challenging one I have encountered so far but I am beginning to see a little progress.

If you have found any dog training tricks for whining, please send me a post and let me know what has worked for you.

Dog Chewing Problem

I am finding out very quickly that Sandy is going to be my problem child. She has the energy of a puppy and gets into the same kind of mischief as a puppy. The next dog training trick I started working on with Sandy was one to stop her chewing problem.

I found out the hard way that Sandy will chew just about anything. I had a pair of slippers on the floor in my closet and I now only have one slipper. She actually started chewing on a shoe while I was wearing it. One way I am trying to train Sandy is to chew only what I give her. I have rawhide chews that all three of my dogs take turns at. They chew one until it is gone and then they start on the next.

Sandy also chews on some other toys I have bought for all them. She is the only one that is interested in toys. She and I have several tug of war sessions every day with one of the toys I got her. This is a great dog training trick because it teaches her acceptable toys and also gives her an outlet for pent up energy.

While I am working on chewing with Sandy, I am trying to get Lily and Scooter interested in playing with the other toys they have.

If you have found some dog training tricks that solve the chewing problem, please send a post.

Potty Training Problem

These dog training tricks are being written as I am training the 2 dogs I just adopted from one of our local dog shelters. Lily is a dainty, little terrier mix who is about 5 years old. She had been abandoned so I don't know anything about her background. She was very thin, matted and dirty when I got her. Sandy is a frisky, shedding, long-haired chihuahua mix and is about 3 years old. She was very thin but looked to have been well taken care of. She was surrendered by her owner but the dog shelter did not have any information about her background. I brought them into a home where I already had an alpha male dachshund mix named Scooter who was also a shelter adoptee that I got about 7 years ago, when he was 2. This should give you a good idea of the dynamics of my happy little family.

I have had six dogs over the past 30 years and all have been from shelters. Two were puppies when I got them and the rest have been 2 to 7 years old. My very first dog training trick with any dog I get is potty training. I have a doggie door that leads to a dog run and to the back yard when the dog run gate is open. My dogs have access to outside 24 hours whenever they need it.

To teach them to go outside, I took Lily and Sandy and pushed them through the doggie door from the kitchen to the dog run. I had a friend outside catch them and push them back through the doggie door from the dog run into the house. After 2-3 pushes they got it but it took a little bit more time until they figured out how to push themselves through. Every time they came through the doggie door they got petted and praised. Praising, rewarding and petting are critical to successful dog training. Anger and force never work, they only scare the dog away from you.

Lily got the potty training idea of going outside right away and I had no accidents from her. Sandy is another story. She apparently lived in an apartment or someplace where she did not have access to outside and was taught to go on a shower rug in the bathroom. I learned this because no matter how much time she spent outside, she always went into the bathroom to do her business. When the bathroom doors were closed I had several accidents. She is gradually learning to go outside. I stay with her until she is done and then praise her for doing a great job. I'm still having an occasional accident with her and she will hit the bathroom shower rug if I forget to close the door. Training is a process and it doesn't happen over night.

Remember, dog training tricks only work when you put in the time and effort to train. It takes patience and cannot be rushed. Sandy and Lily haven't been with me very long and we have a lot to accomplish. Please come along and enjoy the journey with us!

If you have had the same potty training problem I'm having with Sandy, please let me know what you did to correct it.