Question: Run Away Dalmatian

“I have a two-year-old female Dalmatian. She has never given me any real problems, except one, If the front door is open and I’m not watching, she’s gone like a flash!  When she’s in the backyard, she comes to me when I call.  When she splits through that front door though, the words ‘come here’ seem alien to her. Have you suggestions?  I’m afraid she’ll get run over by a car and I don’t want to tie her up.”

Answer: Obedience Classes

In your question you used the words “come here” which indicates that you have not put your dog through an obedience class. That would be my first recommendation, since your dog will be taught what the requirements of the command “stay” mean. Without that word being a part of your dog’s vocabulary, you’re operating with a tremendous handicap.  The word stay can be considered as the root upon which all trunks of true obedience will grow.

Question: Getting My Dog To Stop Digging In The Trash For Tissues

“My dog seems to have a fetish for tissues. He has never given me any problems with destructive chewing like other puppy owners encounter, but the minute my back is turned, he’ll take tissue papers out of waste baskets, Kleenex out of the box, ashtrays or anywhere else a tissue happens to be. If I leave the house, I come back and find my living room looking like the city dump. Can you tell me why and what I can do about it?”

Answer: Get Some Balloons

You didn’t provide the age, breed, or sex of your dog and that certainly restricts the alternatives. Training techniques for puppies are not the same as techniques used on juveniles (dogs six months to a year) and the training techniques for juveniles are not the same as used for a mature dog.

I need to know a lot more about the personality of your dog, but meanwhile, may I suggest that you buy a package of balloons. Sit down in the middle of your living room floor, and begin blowing up a balloon. Your curious dog will come over to see what these new “things” are.

Pop one balloon, and then blow up another.  Pop the second, third and fourth. Make sure your dog understands that balloons pop and make a loud noise. Then place a balloon in every spot where you have tissues. Put one in the tissue box, a couple in the waste basket, and even on in the ashtray if there is a tissue in it. He or she will get the message!

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 3rd, 2009 at 7:47 pm and is filed under Dog Q&A. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.