My new dog is driving me insane...

[8byte]

So we recently adopted a pupper, he's a Pomeranian mix, about a year and a half old. We've been trying to train him best we can, but he's just totally unresponsive to certain things. For example, getting him to poop outside is a god damn work of labor. I've been outside with him for 10-15 minutes, walking around letting him smell, etc. He'll pee a few times, but won't poop. Bring him inside (because I usually have to go back to work) and he shits on the kitchen floor (thank god it's tile).

He wakes us up at 3am, he never stops barking if he hears even the slightest noise, and it's almost impossible to get him to settle down without putting him in his kennel.

We're considering putting him through some obedience classes, but there isn't a lot offered where we're at. Has anyone had any success with these? Is it worth the money? Or am I just stuck with a monster animal for 10 more years? Please halp.

Picture for those who requested it! Haha

Click to shrink...

 

[Hops]

when did you adopt him?

 

[Pagusas]

yes Obedience classes are worth the money, but just be aware they are more about training the owner on how to properly interact with a dog than they are about training a specific habit out of a dog. Some puppies are hard to raise, just like human babies.

 

[smuf]

Definitely take your dog to obedience classes. It shouldn't be expensive at all (at least it isn't where I live) and will pay of big time.

Ideally you'd do this at a much younger since it's super important to get them socialised, but better late than never.

 

[Finale Fireworker]

I used to dogsit for some particularly defiant dogs and a lot of it has to do with setting expectations with the animal. This unfortunately just takes time more than anything else. Obedience classes are helpful but they're more for you than the dog.

 

[HamCormier]

Could this help? https://www.quora.com/Why-is-my-Pomeranian-puppy-so-hard-to-potty-train

 

[Torpedo Vegas]

Pomeranian mix

Click to shrink...

he never stops barking if he hears even the slightest noise

Click to shrink...

My dog is a Pomeranian mix and there is no getting rid of that.

 

[teruterubozu]

Training dogs is more about training yourself. You have to be the mommy dog and make sure you stop the behavior even BEFORE it happens. That means being on top of your dog at all times and reading his body language constantly. And yes it does reduce your TV, games, laptop time, but in the end it's worth it.

 

[PawPrints]

I also have a Pomeranian mix--half pom half chihuahua lol <3 Yeah the barking will probably never stop. He's very sensitive to strange noises.

In terms of pooping, i managed to get him to always poop on the pads. But usually it just takes time for you to get him accustomed to a routine. My dog is a very good boy, very loyal and loving :D

 

[mjc]

As much as it can suck, establishing a routine as best you can is the best option. Feed him at very specific times, then be sure to let him out maybe 15 mins after eating. We have a five month old lab puppy that took maybe a month and a half or so to get scheduled down right.

In terms of the barking at night thing, that could be nerves especially since it's a new surrounding. Smaller dogs also tend to be more waspish about their surroundings too, at least in my experience. Obedience classes might be a good route to take.

 

[EverythingShiny]

Routines and obedience, 100%. If you have the funds, also look into private training. The trainer will come to your house, see how you interact with your dog, and help you deal with whatever problem behaviors you'd like to fix.

You mention a kennel - have you done crate training? For example, if he won't poop outside and you know he has to go, take him out for 10-15 mins, then put him back in the crate for 20 mins, and take him outside again. Rinse repeat until he poops outside. Don't let him roam or he'll just keep shitting on the floor.

 

[zma1013]

You could sleep with some sort of fan or noise maker at night so he won't be able to hear other sounds. It's what I do and my dogs don't bark at stuff at night unless it's some unusually loud sound.

 

[C.Mongler]

10-15 minute walks are on the shorter side, especially if every walk is 10-15 minutes and they never get a chance for a longer one at any point during the day. It's clear your dog hasn't learned yet that going outside is the best opportunity to pop a squat, and your pup could even be learning that right after coming inside is a great time to take a shit too. Two strategies here: one, take longer walks. If your dog isn't doing their thing in 10-15, they could just need more time. Budget 20-30 minutes if you have to; once your dog gets used to the routine they likely won't take as long, but you can't rush the process at first either. The second, which is kind of just a rework of the first: go out for a 10-15 minute walk and then come back inside. Take the leash off, go in another room for about the time it takes for your dog to get comfy to take a shit inside, and then come back and go back outside again. Your dog hopefully will be in the shittin' mindset at that point, and again, keep walking until you get that dookie. Important note for any and all strategies: be sure you have treats, praise, and love on hand for whenever your dog does take a shit outside. Make your pup feel like the king of the world everytime they shit on the grass and they will be more inclined to do it on the regular.

Additionally, be sure your routine is fairly regular; taking your dog out at irregular times can make them weird about going to the bathroom in my experience. Also, if you're trying to get them to take a shit specifically, about half an hour after they eat is the best time to coax it out of them.

Also for the barking, you mention that it's impossible to get him to settle down without putting him in his kennel. Is there a reason that's a bad thing? My dog is 4 years old and she sleeps in her kennel still more often than not. From what I can gather from her dog-brain, she feels way more safe and comfortable in her kennel than anywhere else anyway.

Of course obedience training can also help you with these and other doggy issues, so I'd say go for it if you have the means.

 

[Deleted member 8901]

Take him at the same time every day and reward him with a treat every time for it.

 

[Prophet Five]

One of my doggos is a Pom/Papillon/Chihuahua mix and sadly the barking never really "stops" but we said "no" to her firmly and then ignored her after until she stops then praised her when she did. It corrected, I'd say, 80% of the issue but most of it is just in their nature.

As for the pooping - we have the same issue sometimes with both of our small dogs. It's a bit inconvenient but we sometimes have to take them for short walks to get them motivated. Sometimes I quick leashed walk in the front yard (rather than the back where they normally potty) is enough to "trick" them into going. But honestly, if they can't go then they just can't. Both are pretty good about not doing it in the house but when they did they were scolded. Having it happen inside now is a very rare occurance but they're not puppies anymore. It just takes time and patience.

 

[Dubbedinenglish]

Routines and positive reinforcement 100%. When you take him out on a walk don't turn back after his does his business. Have a route to take and stick with it.

For the barking it could be boredom, try more playtime and have toys for the night.

 

[JK-Money]

reward vigorously when good behavior happens, boil some chicken. Also for the bathroom my pup is almost 5 months but 2 weeks after we got him at 2ish months we taught him to ring a bell when he had to poop or pee. Get them to hit the bell a few times, and keep rewarding. Then when you think it has to go to the bathroom poo/pee get them to ring the bell, take them outside and if they do their business give them a giant reward.

 

[Axe]

Where does your dog sleep? With my puppy we put her bed in the kitchen and she suddenly realized it wasn't such a good idea to poop in there any more. Then we would give her treats whenever she went out to do it.

 

[Pezking]

We're considering putting him through some obedience classes, but there isn't a lot offered where we're at. Has anyone had any success with these? Is it worth the money? Or am I just stuck with a monster animal for 10 more years? Please halp.

Click to shrink...

Do exactly that. It's totally worth it. Get some professional help. Also, be patient and make sure that the dog gets enough excersise during the day. Both mentally and physically. A dog trainer can help you find out what the dog needs, and that makes the training far easier.

 

[Bakercat]

Bark back at him to show how annoying he is.

 

[echoshifting]

Yeah just let him sleep in the crate. As long as it is making him comfortable and not more stressed out there is nothing wrong with that. We just keep our crate out and open for our bullmastiff and he sleeps in there all the time. That's his "safe space."

 

[Deleted member 48434]

That's very unfortunate OP.

Now where are the pictures of this pupper.
It is imperative that they are posted posthaste.

 

[Burrman]

I've adopted a 4 year old Pomeranian that someone had to get rid of about a month ago. I love him to death already. But thank god he was already potty trained and never did his business in the house once. He does bark a lot but not in the middle of the night. Only when people come over or someone's by the house. I've just accepted he's gonna be loud. He knows he shouldn't bark but his instincts just take over.

 

[Deleted member 6949]

I dog sit for a friend, and his dog won't shit in the yard no matter how long we stand there. If I start walking her down the street she will shit before we've gone a quarter of a mile every time.

 

[Lozjam]

To stop him from barking, all you have to do is teach him to bark on command. So, try to let him learn the command "bark", and give him a treat when he does.

Hopefully as time goes by as well, your dog will learn the word "no" and that it goes with various things that the dog is doing bad.

Once you get those two things understood, then you can teach the command "No Barking", and it will take some patience. However, with proper positive reinforcement, you will be able to teach him to do what you want.

 

[Jay1V]

As for the barking situation, say no right before spraying him with a water bottle. This worked like a charm when my chihuahua reacted to noises he shouldn't. Eventually saying no will do the trick and you won't need to spray him anymore

 

[Spiderz]

My parents have had a pomchi that is like 10 and still barks at every noise, squirrel, visitor, etc. Those small dogs are just yappy, unfortunately.

 

[Xagarath]

Pomeranians are famously one of the hardest breeds to toilet train, so that's not unique to your specific dog - patience and routine are the key. If you're using training pads then moving them outside that might help? Or regular walks - they sometimes prefer toileting during a walk to doing it in the garden.
The barking's another breed quality - they were originally bred to be light-sleeping watchdogs.

 

[Terraj_RSL]

 

[8byte]

Thanks for all the replies!

We're usually pretty consistent (7am walk, 12pm walk, 5pm walk, 8-9pm walk). I think I'm going to try some crate training to see if that helps. A lot of the problem might be that we live in an apartment complex, and the other people with dogs don't really clean up after their dogs, and I think that influences his behavior outside. He also struggles to stay focused when other people or dogs are around (I can see him prepping for his poo, and then someone will walk outside and he'll go into barking / defensive mode).

The obedience classes we have around here are about $120 for 6 sessions, so not terrible, but also offered by PetSmart (not sure what their rep is).

He's an awesome dog, and we adopted him from a foster program. Previously they said he was in an abusive home (probably just a home with little patience), and I can definitely see that in him when I give him a stern "NO" or "Bad dog" (he retreats to a hiding place and then snarls if I try to pet him / lure him out). Otherwise he's full of love & loves to play.

I'll give some of the suggestions from this thread a go over the next week or two and see what kind of progress we make. I think I'm going to have to start waking up at 3am to take him outside to pee though, he's really struggling while we sleep (we have those belly bands for him, but if he pees in it, then we have to bathe him because it gets all over his fur). Or just go to bed later and wake up earlier, lol.

That's very unfortunate OP.

Now where are the pictures of this pupper.
It is imperative that they are posted posthaste.

Click to shrink...

Added to the OP, lol.

 

[Fritz]

Click to shrink...

 

[NolaDaControlla]

I'll give some of the suggestions from this thread a go over the next week or two and see what kind of progress we make. I think I'm going to have to start waking up at 3am to take him outside to pee though, he's really struggling while we sleep (we have those belly bands for him, but if he pees in it, then we have to bathe him because it gets all over his fur). Or just go to bed later and wake up earlier, lol.

Click to shrink...

Crating at night may help him last until his morning potty break. My 12 lb dorkie (half yorkie, half doxie) would sometimes jump off the bed and potty in the house during the night, but now that he sleeps in a crate, it's no problem. (The crate is like his den and dogs don't want to potty in their den.) On the off chance that he can't make it to the AM, he whines to wake us up, but it's rare.

Super cute doggo, OP! Hope things are getting better for y'all. :)

 

[jon bones]

he will never not bark at things, but you can potty train him

he looks super adorable btw

 

[ResilientBanana]

If you want a humane way for a dog to poop quickly, get a paper match and only stick the head of the match in his b-hole with the tail of the match sticking outabout a quarter inch. He will shit within seconds, gross but effective.

To get them to want to go outside, put a piddle pad in front of the door that the dog will typically go outside to go to the bathroom. If you catch him sniffing it up, take him outside immediately. But at worst he will learn to do his business in front of that door.

Barking? Yeah, if your dog is under 20lbs it's happening.

My mom is a dog breeder and I've lived with little dogs during my entire existence. Each one of them is a happy as can be so don't feel like you are violating your dog with matches. Eventually you wont need them.

 

[joecanada]

yes Obedience classes are worth the money, but just be aware they are more about training the owner on how to properly interact with a dog than they are about training a specific habit out of a dog. Some owners are hard to train , just like human babies.

Click to shrink...

Ftfy

 

[lasthope106]

I watched this guy on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZzFRKsgVMhGTxffpzgTJlQ

I was taking my Corgi puppy out every hour, seemed like every half hour at first. Did you get him a crate? Dogs won't poop where they sleep. If you can, get an adjustable crate, and make it so that he is only able to have as much space as needed for sleeping. If you are at work, he won't poop or pee there. By the time my puppy was a few months my girlfriend and I were going home every two hours to let him out. He was potty trained right away.

Every time he raises his leg lift him up and take him outside, or to the pad. Get treats to reinforce the behavior when he does go well. Also dogs learn to associate a type of surface for going potty. My puppy was only going where there were fallen tree leaves at first. That's where he learned. So be consistent. It's a LOT of work at first, but you have to get through it.

Anything that gets you help, and teaches both your dog and you to communicate better is worth the money.

 

[Parch]

There's a lot of good training videos on Youtube if actual obedience training isn't cost or time efficient to you. Crate training should probably be considered a must.
It's going to take some patience and time to work it out. Poms are usually considered trainable and intelligent, so hang in there.

 

[BringBackSonics]

Poms are the kind of dog that barks at everything

 

[The Albatross]

Your dog will chill out as time goes on, but it's a long process. I have a dog who is sitll super busy at ~7 years old, he's a Boston terrier, a great dog, but he's high energy and it's especially tough in the winter time when it's tough to go for a long walk and get him tired.

Barking dogs are normal, eventually they stop barking at everything. Poms bark a lot. It'll slowly stop as the dog starts to normalize more things. If he/she is new to your house, he's still learning what's a normal sound from an alarming sound.

MY dog used to wake up at 3am too, it was always my fault, I was way too responsive when he'd wake us up and he punished me for it for years... Finally, by some miracle, he'd get up at 1am or 2am or 3am or 4am and one day I was so tired and just said "No." And he ... puzzled ... look at me, jumped back into bed, and wwent to sleep. Repeated this each night for a couple of weeks... and Now he soundly sleeps until 530 am which is fine with me, it's when my wife gets up for work and so he wakes up, I take him out, feed him, and he's back to bed for an hour until I get up (and usually he goes back into bed while I shower and climbs under all of our covers.................)

Crating helps, crating is great. Crating makes it much easier to travel and be w/o your dog as well.

With taking him out to poop, you've really gotta be disciplined. It's tougher in an apartment because thre's a longer way to go. If you need to, consider training him to use pads inside and then slowly transition him to go outside. My dog hasn't gone to the bathroom in the house in like... 5 years maybe (maybe if he was sick or something was wrong), but we also have a house and so it's a lot easier to get him outside into the yard when training him. Still, your dog probably doesn't associate being outside with pooping, and with it being winter you can't blame him. Early on, it takes a lot of "... dog looks like he's gonna poop... QUICK GET HIM OUTSIDE AS QUICK AS POSSIBLE" and then rewarding him effusively when he successfully goes outside. Dogs want to be praised and they will do anything to get praised.

 

[Deleted member 34881]

I got a new puppy a few months ago, a husky. He was 3 months when we got him and hes 7 months now. The only real problem we had with him was him peeing in the house but he learned quick to everything else. My sister told me it was just a lot of repeating when training.

 

[Ultima_5]

So we recently adopted a pupper, he's a Pomeranian mix, about a year and a half old. We've been trying to train him best we can, but he's just totally unresponsive to certain things. For example, getting him to poop outside is a god damn work of labor. I've been outside with him for 10-15 minutes, walking around letting him smell, etc. He'll pee a few times, but won't poop. Bring him inside (because I usually have to go back to work) and he shits on the kitchen floor (thank god it's tile).

He wakes us up at 3am, he never stops barking if he hears even the slightest noise, and it's almost impossible to get him to settle down without putting him in his kennel.

We're considering putting him through some obedience classes, but there isn't a lot offered where we're at. Has anyone had any success with these? Is it worth the money? Or am I just stuck with a monster animal for 10 more years? Please halp.

Picture for those who requested it! Haha

Click to shrink...

For the bolded, just kennel him at night.

regarding the pooping, you just gotta really praise him when he does go. I found that simply taking a "walk" walk in the morning helped get a schedule down (like. take him around the block instead of just standing in your yard).

id also kennel him while your at work until he learns the schedule. then switch to just keeping him in a room or w/e

id check Petco or petsmart as they both offer pretty reasonable obedience classes.

 

[Indy in the Fridge]

If you want a humane way for a dog to poop quickly, get a paper match and only stick the head of the match in his b-hole with the tail of the match sticking outabout a quarter inch. He will shit within seconds, gross but effective.

Click to shrink...

Okay I need Bill Nye to explain this one to me.

 

[Maximus]

You think a dog learns shit right away? It takes a long time for a lot of dogs to become obedient and remember all commands, even to go outside to use the bathroom. Mistakes will happen, there's a lot of time and patience needed. Training classes are more for you to learn how to train your dog, not have your dog come out all perfect and ready to be obedient.

For the interim, your dog should be in his "home" and only come out when you're home from work. They should learn that their kennel is a safe place. If your dog is barking and you come, it's learning that's a way to get you to play with them.

 

[platocplx]

yup i can tell thats an annoyingly cute dog and is probally tearing shit up lmao.

 

[8byte]

Figure I'll update this thread!

We've been putting him in the kennel at night (thanks for this advice everyone). It's MUCH better, though he does bark 5-6 AM to let him out. I've tried to "ride it out" a few times, but he doesn't quit, and I felt guilty (and annoyed). Bright side? He now barks to let us know he has to go to the bathroom. Down side? We've effectively been trained by our dog to take him out when he starts barking at us, haha.

We've taught him the "speak" command, and he's pretty good, so now I started working on "quiet". It's been incredibly ineffective so far, but I'm going to keep with it in hopes he learned to relax a little when we let him know it's safe. The only problem area we still have is getting him to not beg so intensely. He jumps on the couch, tries to push his way into your food, whines, barks...the only thing we've been able to do to keep him from doing this is put him in his kennel, or give him a deer antler to chew on (which he loves).

 

[Parch]

The barking issue is a breed issue. It's going to be really difficult to stop the barking. Lot's of exercise would help. A tired dog is a good dog.

 

[Ultima_5]

Something you might also try when your dogs barking to much is to associate barking with something they don't want.

My dog used to whine for attention so everytime she started to do that, I would just shut her in another room for a couple minutes. it only took a few days for her to learn that whining = me thinking that she wanted to be in a different room alone. so she came up with another way to ask for attention (putting her paw on my leg).

for begging, I would just kennel him when you eat dinner until he stops.

 

[ToTheMoon]

If he's treat-motivated, then you should absolutely use that to your advantage. When he poops outside, give him vocal praise ("Gooood boooy" in a soothing voice) and a treat. Make sure to do it right away so that he knows what he's being rewarded for!

If he poops inside, then give a small vocal punishment to show that you're upset ("No!" in a deep voice, followed by an accusing finger point, staring them down, and then walking away; nothing physical beyond maybe a spray bottle).

My little chihuahua-mix went through a similar rough period, but thankfully she was extremely responsive to treats and receptive to our emotions (e.g. if we were upset with her, she could tell and would act guilty). The first year took a fair bit of work, but we were able to train her eventually, and she's been absolutely perfect ever since! She'll still let out a yap if someone rings the doorbell, or if a sound outside wakes her from her sleep. But that's a big improvement from where she would freak out and run around barking at every little noise from outside.

And if you want to get your dog "in-tune" with you more, you might consider trying to teach them to sit on command. There are probably plenty of guides out there, but the mere act of teaching your dog tricks and rewarding them for it will help them learn to pay more attention to you.

 

[kaf]

Figure I'll update this thread!

We've been putting him in the kennel at night (thanks for this advice everyone). It's MUCH better, though he does bark 5-6 AM to let him out. I've tried to "ride it out" a few times, but he doesn't quit, and I felt guilty (and annoyed). Bright side? He now barks to let us know he has to go to the bathroom. Down side? We've effectively been trained by our dog to take him out when he starts barking at us, haha.

We've taught him the "speak" command, and he's pretty good, so now I started working on "quiet". It's been incredibly ineffective so far, but I'm going to keep with it in hopes he learned to relax a little when we let him know it's safe. The only problem area we still have is getting him to not beg so intensely. He jumps on the couch, tries to push his way into your food, whines, barks...the only thing we've been able to do to keep him from doing this is put him in his kennel, or give him a deer antler to chew on (which he loves).

Click to shrink...

How long have you had the dog and how young? A lot of this sounds like a 1-2 yr old dog who's new and hasn't been given explicit boundaries just yet. It'll get better with time, but continuing to train and teach tricks helps. With my dog, eating in front of the dog, ignoring it and then feeding it after you're done helped a lot.

 

[8byte]

How long have you had the dog and how young? A lot of this sounds like a 1-2 yr old dog who's new and hasn't been given explicit boundaries just yet. It'll get better with time, but continuing to train and teach tricks helps. With my dog, eating in front of the dog, ignoring it and then feeding it after you're done helped a lot.

Click to shrink...

We've had him since Christmas Eve, and he's about a year and a half old. Which explains a LOT of this. It also doesn't help that his previous owners weren't very good to him, neglected him, and didn't try to train him. We're being as patient as we can, we'd hate to see him end up in a home that doesn't have his best interests at heart. He's a good dog, he just has some mountains to climb, lol.