Bindie

When your puppy pees inside, wipe it up with paper towel, take this out into the yard and put it down where you would like your dog to wee. When your dog sniffs it, praise heavily. It might be that your dog is not connecting weeing with outside but instead sounds like he's trying to mark his territory.

You could try using white vinegar on the spot where she is pooing. This works well to disguise the odour. Or, most pet shops have cleaning products you can use to get rid of it also.

Not separating your dogs is probably a good idea because if you keep them separate but in places where they can find each other, you are likely to upset them because they can't get to each other. Also, if your older dog is well behaved, he will teach your pup a few things about behaving properly. My older dog actually toilet trained my younger one. He can also teach about proper behaviour when playing with other dogs and will let the younger puppy know if it bites too hard or plays too roughly.

What are you trying to get him to drop on. Some dogs won't drop on concrete, or on wet grass. Make sure that you are asking him to drop on something soft. The food thing that you are doing is the best way to teach drop. Maybe you are dragging the food away too fast. Try slowing it down. It may be a little frustrating but your dog will see getting the food as less effort and you may have more success. If your dog is nervous about dropping, pulling his front legs from under him will not help the situation.

When puppies play together, if one hurts another, the one that gets hurt yelps. This teaches the other puppy that what they did was wrong and hurt. The same is true if you do it. When your puppy bites you, yelp (if the high pitched noise excites her, try saying oww in a really deep voice instead). Then turn your back on her and don't look at, talk to, or interact with her in any way for the next full minute. Then go back to playing as if nothing happened. This will teach your pup that it is the biting you didn't like, not the playing.

Try turning abruptly in the other direction when she starts pulling. You'll find that she will get a bit of a shock. If you do this constantly, granted you won't get very far in your walk, but you should eventually be able to stop her pulling just by tugging on her leash. Another way is to take a spray bottle of water with you, and when she pulls, spray this at her rump. Again this will give her a bit of a shock and eventually she should fall in line.

It's fairly unusual that a dog would actually wee on their bed. Usually they try to get as far away as possible. Take him to the vet and make sure he hasn't got an infection, however, he may be doing this to get attention. How do you react when you find it?

Most dogs, as they get older, will learn to let you know when they need to go out, this takes time though so you will need to take your puppy out regularly. If she cries or barks at the back door and then goes outside to wee, praise her heavily. This will let her know that this is what you want her to do. Dog's tend not to wee near their bed, so when in the crate, you will find she will wee as far from her bed as she can. If she is comfortable sleeping in your room, try putting the crate in your room to train her and as she gets comfortable, slowly move it further away from you, if you want her to sleep further away. Crates are a good idea as your puppy will feel safe there. You can use it forever if you want or, once you get her sleeping where you want her to, and once she is a bit older, you can remove the crate and replace it with a bed. First, put the bed in the crate so she gets used to sleeping on it, then you can remove the crate and just leave the bed.

This does sound like mild separation anxiety, but she is very young so it may just be that she needs to be around people and is a little bit timid when she is by herself. Don't make a big fuss over her when you get home from work. This will mean that she doesn't spend all day longing for your rearrival. Leave her outside for a little while when you get home. When she wees in your room at night, if you catch her, firmly say no, otherwise wipe it up with paper towel and take it and your puppy outside. Put the paper towel down where you would prefer that she wees and praise her heavily when she smells it. Your puppy will connect the smell to this location. Does she always wee in the same spot? This may mean that you are not getting the smell up when you clean. Try using white vinegar when cleaning wee to mask the smell. It might be a good idea to have her sleep outside of your bedroom to stop her from getting too attached to you. Give her a place that is her own. Try a crate. This will make her feel comfortable away from you. If she is not eating on her own, try feeding her and standing with her but at a distance. Get distracted by something so that you aren't watching her. This will give her the confidence to eat on her own. Gradually move further away from her over a number of days as her comfort level increases. Eventually you should be able to be inside while she eats outside.

This can be caused by deficiencies in your dog's diet. Does your dog eat mainly dog food or your leftovers? Try praising your dog when it deficates and then shows no interest in its excrement. When you see your dog eating its faeces, firmly say "no", but only if you catch it in the act. Make sure that your dog is properly wormed otherwise this may cause reinfection. Does your dog only eat its own faeces? If not, make sure you keep it on a lead when you walk it and try teaching it a "leave it" command so that it knows what it can and can't touch. This can be taught by gently tugging on your dog's lead and saying "leave it" when it sniffs something you don't want it to. If you can't get your dog to stop doing this, ask your vet for a product that you can mix with your dog's food that makes its faeces taste horrible. This will stop your dog from eating them.

Do your kids eat before or after your dog? In a pack, the most dominant dog eats first, then the second in charge eats second, etc, all the way down the hierarchy. If your dog eats before your kids, this may be a reason for this behaviour. Ensure that the dog always eats last. If your puppy is fed away from meal time, have everyone around have a quick snack while your puppy watches before you feed it. Also, dogs see themselves as dominant to anything below its eye level. This means that if your kids lie down and let your dog stand over them, or pick it up and lift the dog above their eye level, they are showing it that it is superior to them in your pack. The same is true if your dog lies on your kids pillow next to them, or stands above them while they're in bed. Try to keep your dog's eyes below your kid's eyes.

Lillymum has the right idea. Training your dog to be left alone is a great way to stop this problem from happening. Generally, once you can leave your dog alone for 1.5 hours, you can leave it all day. When you are training your dog to be alone, give them a "safe" toy. This is a toy that you give them only during training. As your dog becomes comfortable with being left alone for gradually longer periods of time, they will associate this toy with being alone and being ok. Then, once you can leave your dog alone all day, leave them this toy so they can remember how safe being left alone was during training. Good luck.

In the dog community, the most dominant in the pack always eats first. Before you feed your puppy, make sure that he can see you eating. Either finish your meal and then feed your puppy or grab something to snack on, have him watch you finish it, and then feed him. Since you always eat first, your dog will learn that you are dominant to him. Also, never let your dog come above your eye level. Again, this is a sign of dominance so the height of your eyes should always be above his. Don't lie on the floor to play with him, or lay down next to him as this brings your eyes to his height making him at the same level of the pecking order as you. Importantly, never let him stand above you as this makes him your superior. www.puppypsych.com.au