7 replies to this topic

[wheelin]

hi..i have a service dog that ive trained myself..she is a doberman..ive trained dogs for awhile now but cant crack down one little thing..lol my problem is that when i go into a mail or like wal-mart my dog sometimes has an accident..lol not all the time but sometimes..

she is 2 yrs old and been places everywhere!! i no to take her to the bathroom bf we go in but sometimes she will still go in the store..

do u think she still gets scared!!! i dont know..she acts fine and usally cant wait 2 go in..does anyone else have this problem.. it gets very embarrising..lol

[KimAndSophie]

wheelin, on May 28 2007, 06:15 AM, said:

hi..i have a service dog that ive trained myself..she is a doberman..ive trained dogs for awhile now but cant crack down one little thing..lol my problem is that when i go into a mail or like wal-mart my dog sometimes has an accident..lol not all the time but sometimes..

she is 2 yrs old and been places everywhere!! i no to take her to the bathroom bf we go in but sometimes she will still go in the store..

do u think she still gets scared!!! i dont know..she acts fine and usally cant wait 2 go in..does anyone else have this problem.. it gets very embarrising..lol

I have a guide dog who was trained to do some service dog tasks once I became a quad. She don't have accidents inside, and if a guide dog who was in training kept having accidents inside then I can assure you that dog wouldn't become an active guide dog! You laughed a lot in your post but this is a very serious problem and I would try very hard to figure out why it's happening. Maybe that particular dog just isn't suited for that environment.



you have to remember that you are not only representing yourself, but every other guide or service animal that goes there. If someone sees your dog having an "accident" inside a building then the next time they see a working dog the first thing they will think of is the bad behaviour they say in your dog. They wont even think about seeing another dog who is well beheaved. They will automatically think of the one bad baheaviour they saw.



I've been told I can't take my guide dog into places because a dog who had the same "accidents" as yours was in the area. People saw how this dog acted, and assumed that EVERY dog acted in this way. It makes it very difficult for people with dogs who don't beheave in a bad way to have access to places they should!



I strongly suggest you figure out the problem before you continue to get into these situations any more. If you have to talk to a dog trainer. Have you had your dog certified as a service dog?

[Julian]

I agree! This is outrageous behavior. You simply cannot take the risk of taking an untrained and unreliable animal into a public place.

I am a qualified dog trainer and I understand the steps that you need to take to get a dog to the stage where it can be registered as a service animal. These guidelines and rules are there foreeveryone's benefit. Please dont let others be denined the benefits of assistance animals in public places because of your recklessness.

[bigsmiles]

The dog just needs more training as she;s obviously not ready as a service dog and she is only two. When she does this don’t punish her but do praise her when she is clean. All dogs need is a good routine like people as we are all creatures of habbit. Make sure she’s had plenty of time to do her business before you set off anywhere and take her to quieter places first then gradually build up to busier more crowded places. Usually its male dogs who urinate more frequently to leave a sent. Bitches are different, they would not usually keep stooping to urinate . If you mean the other than there is only so many times she needs to go so ensure that she’s had ample opportunity to do this before your trips out.


Quote
Have you had your dog certified as a service dog?.....have you?

[wheelin]

yep..shes sertified through atlanta.. i obidience train dogs for them..i have been 4 3 yrs..before my accident i was a k9 police officer

[Shore Service Dogs]

I've trained a male Dobe who had a bad case of cystitis prior to coming to me and he initially had difficulties with not dribbling. 1st thing I started training him to do was to repeatedly go bathroom whenever he was told, to take care of that. If they haven't fully emptied their bladder, you'll have the possibility of urine problems, be it leaking or outright urinating. Getting rid of all the urine by multiple go bathroom commands gives you more likelihood of success in not having accidents.

Submissive urination could be an issue, as could fear. Working on her self confidence with stressful situations will help immensely. If you have a PetsMart nearby, try practicing there a lot. That's an area where it's not so bad if she has an accident but will also be useful for her to learn that even if she's smelling other dogs' accidents, that she's not to do the same herself.

Be especially observant of her body language and catch her either before or right at the beginning of a squat so that you short circuit the behavior. Trying to reprimand after the behavior doesn't do anywhere near as well as interrupting it or stopping it before it happens. Expect her to eventually succeed and she will but you need to be dilligent in reading her body language and being consistent in your actions. Dobes are smart dogs but they can be high strung. Bathroom, bathroom, and more bathroom BEFORE a training stressor is usually an excellent idea.

One last thing, make sure she doesn't have urinary problems (stones, crystals, infection). My Dobe recently had to have 6 hours of laser lithotripsy at U of Penn after suddenly having undiagnosed stones move from his bladder into his urethra (of course this was on a Sun). His dribbling dramatically decreased after the surgeries. Fixed females can also have incontinence issues. If I remember rightly, they use hormone pills to help tighten up the muscles. Do a search engine search on female dog incontinence and you'll find more info on the treatments.

Good luck!

Mary

[wheelin]

thanks alot..i'll try that

[edlee]

I am not very familiar with service dogs, but as a trainer I asked about this post told me, " The first accident is the dog's fault, the second one is the handler's fault."

Sounds about right to me.

ed