Bronxie Posted June 10, 2002 Posted June 10, 2002 Everytime I take Elle out she wants to pick things up in her mouth. I have taken dirty tissues, bottle caps, glass, plastic, rubber, sticks out of her mouth. She's so preoccupied with the things on the floor that she doesnt potty fast. My question is should I muzzle her? Is this cruel? Pardon all my questions, this is my first pup and I wanna do the right things. Thanks in advance :o Quote
Peng1zrule Posted June 10, 2002 Posted June 10, 2002 don't muzzle her, this doesn't teach her not to mess with things, it just prevents it. It stops, not solves, the problem. Teach her to "leave it" and take her for a short walk, even just around your yard or in a straight line, if she doesnt go, take her back in and leave the leash on her, keep it either in your hand, attached to you, or just keep her constantly in your sight. after ten or twenty minutes, take her back out and walk her. when she gets in position, say a command and praise--"go potty! good girl!" say it calmly but cheerfully. When she stops going, stop praising and prompting. Soon, she will "go" on command and it's quite easy to make her "go" in a quick situation. To teach her to leave it, have a treat in your hand and tell her, "leave it" and pull her away, holding the treat where she can see it. when she goes to it, (the treat) praise her and lead her out of reach of the object. I taught my dogs to "walk" which means just keep walking, so they hurry on by whatever they were eyeing. Quote
GizmoRedNosePit Posted June 11, 2002 Posted June 11, 2002 I had the same problem...with her it ws mainly pigeon and duck poop, and leaves and stuff like that...we lived ont he lake for a little while....drove gizmo crazy all the ducks!...but anyways she would start going towards it and i would gently pull on her leash and say no poo poo...or what ever it is...and if she went another way and got back to it somehow I would tap her on her butt and say no...she was a sneaky little devil! I dont agree with muzzling but the way it's going I may have to.... all the states dislike the pits now so much so...I dunno...hopefully I wont ever have to... Dont worrie it's my first "puppy" also and I love it but I still dont know everything! I was lucky enough she potty trained herself! LOL :D Quote
Guest Anonymous Posted June 11, 2002 Posted June 11, 2002 I have the same problem with my dog, though I use the word "icky" when she goes for something... generally she leaves it, though some times.... :roll: In fact yesterday I caught her eating a piece of a terra cotta pot! I have no idea where she got the thing as all my pots where whole, but you know dogs, if it's out there they will find it and chew on it! Quote
Guest Anonymous Posted June 11, 2002 Posted June 11, 2002 Bronxie napisał(a):Everytime I take Elle out she wants to pick things up in her mouth. I have taken dirty tissues, bottle caps, glass, plastic, rubber, sticks out of her mouth. She's so preoccupied with the things on the floor that she doesnt potty fast. My question is should I muzzle her? Is this cruel? Pardon all my questions, this is my first pup and I wanna do the right things. Thanks in advance :o No muzzle.. Just walk pass all of that and give a command to go whatever you chose! Soon she will get although dogs are like kids and thing somehow always go to the mouth!!! Jac is getting pretty good with the leave it and no command!! He does like to steal the kids toys though! :roll: Quote
Guest Anonymous Posted June 12, 2002 Posted June 12, 2002 Bronxie napisał(a):Everytime I take Elle out she wants to pick things up in her mouth. I have taken dirty tissues, bottle caps, glass, plastic, rubber, sticks out of her mouth. She's so preoccupied with the things on the floor that she doesnt potty fast. My question is should I muzzle her? Is this cruel? Pardon all my questions, this is my first pup and I wanna do the right things. Thanks in advance :o I agree no muzzle needed. The 'leave it' command is very useful as is the 'give' command for spitting things out (for that and the first one having a small bit of a very desireable treat as a reward for obeying works wonders :-) Another thought is this - as she likes to carry things about how about giving her something 'legal' to carry when you go out? A busy mouth will have a harder time picking up other things :-) I have not yet seen info on how old Elle is though - so I ask that you do remember pups learn about the world partly through their mouth so messing about with things is preprogrammed in them. You could also try enjoying the way the whole world is new to her and how she explores it with her senses and only worry about the 'leave it' and 'give' or 'drop' commands if its something she really should not touch due to danger to her. As for not pottying - try the boring walk - go one place and just stand there being dull until she goes finally and then take her for her fun walk. Add in pottying on cue and you will have a dog that will potty quick and then go with you to have fun :-) Quote
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