Dear Labby
I’ve got this neat trick I play on my person. When she feeds me just plain kibble, I sniff it, turn up my nose at it and act totally distraught! The result of my protest is people food!! My person will add things into my kibble such as spaghetti sauce, chicken soup…. and if I really “ham it up” I may even get some bacon and eggs!
But I must admit Dear Labby, that this ritual of mine has caused some problems. I am gaining weight. My poop is irregular and I often have tummy aches. I have tried to stop acting finicky, but I just cannot help myself!
Besides, regular dog food is just so boring. What can my person do to stop me from behaving this way and save my health.
Signed
One Porky Yorkie
Dear One Porky Yorkie
You are correct in that this behavior needs to be stopped. All of that people food is bound to cause you short-term and long-term problems. Don’t get me wrong, Dear Labby loves a good “pizza bone” or some leftover chips and salsa when she can get her paws on it, but it’s just not good for me.
Us doggies have very delicate digestive systems and very specific nutritional needs. Since we cannot control our lust for a good marinara, the people that love us must do so.
Some dogs by nature have poor appetites. Others may boycott their meals for medical reasons, such as dental problems. The advice of your vet should be sought in either of these cases.
In your case, my Porky Yorkie, you have what I call the “Mummy will make it Yummy Syndrome”. You have learned that if you boycott your regular dry or canned dog food, you will be rewarded with people food in your dish. Your family needs to give you a good helping of tough love.
They should leave your morning meal down, with no people food in it, for 1/2 hour. If you start your dramatic protest, your family should ignore you. If you do not eat it within a 1/2 hour they should take the food bowl away. This same ritual should be done at dinner time as well.
Under ordinary circumstances, dogs are creatures of survival and under circumstances and if healthy, they will not starve themselves. The typical dog will not go past missing a few meals before they catch on and begin eating their food without enhancements. This process is often more difficult for the family to bear than the dog. But in time you will be over your problem.
Another solution, especially if your problem is being finicky versus the psychological warfare involved in the mummy will make it yummy syndrome”, would be to have your people put you on a Raw Food Diet.
A Raw Food Diet for dogs is known to have many health benefits. Plus dogs can’t seem to resist its taste. All the neighborhood dogs would certainly be jealous of you One Porky Yorkie.
Plus you would feel no need to have “mummy” make what’s in your food bowl yummy. Because it already would be!
We recommend Raw Paws Pet Food which provides a great selection of quality foods. Follow the link and receive a 15% Discount on your entire order (One time use only). Use the coupon code DCS- 1118 on checkout. And always have a chat with your veterinarian to see what’s best for your dog.
Dear Labby,
I have a bit of an embarrassing problem. I’m constantly having housebreaking accidents, mostly peeing in my house. My person is not happy about it at all. He yells at me whenever he steps in a puddle of pee. Which is on the daily!!!
I know I need to pee outside, but I don’t know how to tell him that ‘I got to go ‘. He is always angry at me and it is hurting our relationship.
To avoid getting yelled at all the time, I’ve been sneaking into the back bedroom and peeing there! This little secret of mine has been going on for about a month.
At this point, I kind of feel like it’s okay to urinate in the back bedroom because it already smells like pee pee. I also know it’s okay to go outside.
Please Dear Labby, how can I let my person know when I need to pee outside and how can I break this horrible habit of peeing in the back bedroom.
Signed, P.U. Poodle
Dear P.U. Poodle,
In order to solve both of these problems, you’re going to have to face the music and fess up to your person about what’s been going on. That’s the hard part. The rest will be easy!
Since you have no ‘signaling technique’, such as barking or scratching at the door, have your owner teach you to ring a bell to go outside!. It’s easy.
Simply have him hang a single sleigh bell attached to a long cord onto the knob of the door you are to exit to go outside. Make sure the bell is low enough that you can reach it with your paw or muzzle. He could also just hang a small bell on a string using a nail near the bottom of the door opening if he prefers.
To teach you how to ring the bell, all your person has to do is use a verbal command such as ‘ring the bell’ or ‘pee pee outside’ and then nudge your paw or face on the bell so it rings. The moment the bell rings, he should open the door immediately.
The reward for ringing the bell is that the door opens and you get to go outside. And you know how much us dogs love to go outside. That is rewarding enough.
Using a treat as a reward may just confuse the issue. The goal is that you learn when you ring the bell, the door opens…. Not… when you ring the bell you get a treat.
You will very quickly learn that if you want to get outside all you have to do is nudge the bell to make it ring. Your person will hear the ringing sound, come over and open the door! Heck, it is kind of like we are training our person to open the door !!
Oh yes, in the beginning, you will be ringing the bell all the time to go out to play and to mess around with your person!. But over time that will temper and you will realize that when you really need to go pee-pee outside all you got to do is ring the bell.
Now, for your second problem. How do you stop peeing in the back bedroom?
Of course, we both know, that once ‘ us ‘ dogs smell urine in an area, we feel compelled and think it’s okay to pee in that area all of the time, forever and ever and ever. Your person can scrub and scrub the rug in the back bedroom a hundred times over with cleaner. But to our canine noses, it will still smell like urine.
In order to stop you from peeing in the back bedroom, I recommend your person does the following: Start by surveying the room with a Urine Stain Detector.
It’s an LED black flash lite that will illuminate pet urine stains on any surface that are invisible to the human eye but very visible to the doggie nose!
He must identify where the urine stains are in the entire room and treat them with a good odor neutralizer product. An odor neutralizer chemically changes the composition of the urine deposit. The scent will no longer smell like urine to human or dog! It smells like something slightly different.
Therefore, P.U. Poodle, you will no longer feel compelled or think it is ok to urinate in those specific areas. If he misses treating an area due to not using a urine detector, you will undoubtedly find those spots and pee on them. This is why a urine detector is vital to solving this problem.
Once your owner has done these two things, I recommend he keep the bedroom door closed for a few weeks in order to help you break the ‘habit strength’ of heading to the back bedroom room to urinate. That will help redirect your behavior to ‘ringing the bell’ to indicate that you need to go outside.
Good luck my stinky friend and remember no human likes to step in a puddle of pee. It ruins their whole day.
So do the work! Ring that bell and avoid that back bedroom. It will mend the strained relationship between you and your person and make your home life much happier!
