Dogs And LitterboxesI recently received an email from a subscriber asking for advice about litterboxes. I was completely upfront with her and explained it was a subject I had no personal experience of. I'd like to share what we discussed because it raises a couple of interesting points. Here's the email I received - Hi Andrew - I don't know if you ever give out personal advice, but in case you do..... I have a 9-month old daschund. He's precious, and we've been training him to use the Second Nature litterbox instead of using the bathroom outside. When it comes to doing #2, he's a pro -- right in the box 95% of the time. When it comes to doing #1, he never gets all the way in the box... instead he puts only his front paws in, but his backside is out, and he pees all over the front of the box. The training problem - he often does both #1 and #2 in the same trip. How can we reward him for doing #2 correctly, without reinforcing #1 being wrong. We always give him a lick of peanut butter when the poo is in the box.... so he's probably getting the idea that peeing incorrectly is OK too. |
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Additionally... we have "wee-wee" pads around the edge of the box for training purposes. He's recently started ripping the pads to shreads right after using the restroom. Not sure how to reprimand the ripping, while rewarding the poo in the box. Any ideas you have would be helpful. Thanks, and I love your newsletter. Best, And here's my reply - Hi Shannon, First off I must tell you that I've never trained a dog to use a litterbox, neither have I ever advised anybody on litterbox related problems either. To the best of my knowledge they just aren't used here in the UK - people expect their dogs to go to the toilet outside. I'm making the assumption you live in an apartment and do not have your own garden. So you need to understand that what I'm about to say is not based on practical experience of getting dogs to use litter trays - it's purely hypothesis on my part (but based on a sound understanding of dogs). And I can almost guarantee you're not going to like what I have to say.... My honest thought is that teaching a dog (as opposed to a bitch) to wee in a box is asking for trouble in the long term. Why? A number of reasons - A bitch wees in the same way as a cat - squat right down and empty the whole bladder in one go. The vulva's only about 1cm off the ground and the wee has nowhere to go except straight down into the litter tray. Once a bitch has got the idea of where to do it then bingo - mission pretty much accomplished I should imagine. But a dog? That's a completely different ballgame. Although they kind of 'semi-squat' when they're puppies, as they get older their style of urinating changes into 'leg-cocking'. Not only that but urinating also plays an important part in their psyche, and is used as a means of communication. So when a mature dog wees it does so from it's full standing height. Now I realise that for a daschund that full height is not very great, but nevertheless the dog still has to master the idea of 'directional control'. They sniff the point where they want to wee, then move forward what they judge to be the correct distance before lifting the leg. At that point the jet of urine leaves the body at an angle of anywhere between about 45 and 75 degrees to the ground. Hoping for that to hit the target of a litterbox is, to my mind, optimistic in the extreme. But then you also have the problem that a mature dog won't empty its bladder in one go. That's because in dog-speak leg-cocking is a very social activity. A dog will use it as a way of telling other dogs that he's been by that way. He scent marks trees, bushes, lamposts, fence posts etc etc as he walks along. A squirt here, a squirt there, deliberately saving it up so that he's always got at least a few drops to use whenever he finds something that, to his mind, needs to be anointed. It's partly a way of simply announcing to the other local canines that he's around, but it's also partly a macho 'this is *my* territory' kind of thing. If you don't plan on taking him outside then he won't get the chance to do the 'little-bit-here, little-bit-there' routine the way nature intended. Instead, you might find he tries to do it round your apartment instead. A little bit on the fridge door, a little on the wall here and a little on the wall there. Some on the leg of the bed and a touch on the desk for good measure. D'you see what I mean? My other worry with your plan to litter train your lad is just what sort of phsychological effect this will have on him. You might think I'm being ridiculous but it concerns me that you could be creating a whole heap of mental problems by denying him his fundamental doggy right to just be a dog. The whole 'sniff the post' thing becomes *such* an important part of an adult dog's life that my fear is for you to try and play God and completely erase that scenario from his life will at best make him unhappy and confused, and at worst make him completey psychologically disturbed with goodness knows what end result. Maybe you think I'm overreacting (and perhaps I am), but there's no denying the fact that a dog's 'natural' toilet habits have evolved the way thay have over thousands of years and for a number of very specific reasons. Mess with that and you just might find you have your head in your hands to play with. All of what I've been saying is of course looking to the future. At the moment while he's still only 9 months old I'd be very surprised if your boy has started to cock his leg yet. So none of my concerns are an issue as yet. But I think you must stop thinking about this immediate problem you described and look to the future. Think through how you're going to deal with him urinating once he *has* started to cock his leg, then look at ways to address that future problem today in the here-and-now. I'm so sorry Shannon if this hasn't answered your problem in the way you'd hoped. But I hope it has nevertheless given you some answers. Please let me know how you decide to proceed and how you get on. Regards, OK, so now you know the background, why am I telling you any of this? A number of reasons, actually. I received a very indignant reply from Shannon telling me that she felt I was making her out to be an uncaring owner, and how much I had fallen in her estimation, resulting in her wish to be removed from my subscriber list. Naturally I was disappointed at her reaction, but nevertheless I immediately unsubscribed her as per her wishes. She went on to tell me that the dog gets frequent walks and does plenty of peeing outside. The litterbox training was merely something for the dog's comfort if she was not around when it needed to go to the toilet. I had been wrong to assume that the dog would only go to the toilet in the litterbox. So my fears for the long term psychological welfare of the dog were unfounded. I was pleased about that. But at the same time I was frustrated that I'd spent an hour or so (my typing skills leave a lot to be desired) thinking and writing about something from the wrong angle, simply because I was given insufficient information. I have huge pressures on my time - just like I'm sure you do. That's the main reason I had to drop the frequency of this newsletter from once every 2 weeks to once every month. I just cannot afford to waste time in that way. So I have an important request: if you're writing to ask my advice, please, please give me as much detail as you possibly can. If I cannot see the dog or speak to you in person all I have to go on is your email. So completely 'spill your guts' and tell me absolutely every tiniest detail so there's no possible room for misinterpretation on my part. That way I can give you advice that's actually relevant. Otherwise the whole exercise is nothing more than a pointless waste of time for *both* of us. Thank you! Also you need to realise that I tell it the way it is. Or at least the way it is from where I'm standing. In other words I call a spade a spade. I'm not going to tell you something just because I think that's what you want to hear. I'm going to give you what in my opinion is the best possible advice for your dog. And if I'm blunt about it.... well that's just tough. I've never been afraid to say my piece, even if I know it might make me unpopular. And I'm not about to change that just because I upset one of my subscribers. Right, I'll climb down off my soap box now. And ask for your help..... Do you use a litterbox for your dog? Or have you in the past? Or do you know anybody who uses one? If so, please would you be good enough to drop me a line to andrew@dogtrainingblueprint.com and tell me how successful they are, *especially* for adult un-neutered dogs. As I made clear to Shannon, I have absolutely no experience of them and I'm keen to learn all I can about the subject. Were my assumptions way off the mark? Do dogs find it difficult to accurately wee into a litterbox? If they never go out do they start scent marking in other places around the house? Any light you can shed on the subject would be much appreciated. It's an area of my canine education that's severely lacking! Thanks for your help. Recommended reading "Dog Training Blueprint To Success".
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