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ladiharli
May 17, 2010, 04:21 PM
My dachi is afraid to go out her doggy door at night, cannot get her to Sit she's 8 months old. Help

JudyKayTee
May 17, 2010, 04:23 PM
Is this new behavior (the door)? At 8 months she's just a baby.

How are you teaching her to sit? Dachi's have very fragile spines - does she have a problem sitting?

Aurora_Bell
May 17, 2010, 04:32 PM
Yes Judy mentioned a good point, spinal issues are common in Doxies, that could be one possibility. Where did you get your Doxie from?

What have you done to try and teach her to sit. One method that works for me is taking your treat, and putting it right in front of the dogs nose and raising it up so your dog is craning it's neck to look upwards at the treat. It will soon realize it's much easier to sit and look at the treat. That's when you praise just the action with out giving a name to it. Do this a few times, basically until your dog is easily recognizing what you want from her. And than start associating the word "sit" with the action.

Some dogs will pick it up right away, some dogs it can take days, weeks months until it 'clicks' with them.

JudyKayTee
May 17, 2010, 04:41 PM
I guess OP didn't like our answers - she posted again in family and people, seniors.

Go figure

Aurora_Bell
May 17, 2010, 04:43 PM
Seniors for dogs? Wonder if I can merge them.

ladiharli
May 17, 2010, 04:52 PM
Yes she is still a baby and I have tried everything to gt her over her scared of the dark, also the Sit command I have tried the treat over her nose and she still tries to jump, she is stubborn but loved

ladiharli
May 17, 2010, 04:55 PM
At night I have started to leave the light on and entice her out with a couple of bites of food, I have a motion light and solar lights on. She also wakes up every 2 hrs.

Aurora_Bell
May 17, 2010, 04:56 PM
Patience, that's all I can say. I am sure someone will come along and give you another way to teach them sit. If she is able to jump up, than you are probably holding the treat too far from her face. Keep it just touching the tip of her nose.

My 5 year old dog is still afraid of the dark. There are lots of predators in the dark, especially for small dogs. They can smell all the critters that are out and about. Why not just go out with her for the 5 minutes at night?

ladiharli
May 17, 2010, 05:08 PM
I would but I have 2 artificial hips and my back steps are hard for me to get down, if I open the door, she runs back in, I do have squriels but they usually come out early in the a.m. not at night. So after her last time out I have been shutting the door and putting down newspaper. During the day if I don't pay attention she will do her thing on the carpet

Aurora_Bell
May 17, 2010, 05:15 PM
Is there anyway you can stop at the top of the stairs outside?

Small dogs have small bladders, and if you are laying papers down for her to pee on at night, than during the day she will think it's okay too. There is no way for her to differentiate between night and day, and why it's okay one time and not the other.

With puppies, pretty much every time they eat or drink, they need to go out side.

ladiharli
May 17, 2010, 05:41 PM
Yes I can go to the top step, but should I close the door at night to keep critters out, my doggie door has an automatic lock, but when I have used that she really does get scared, so have been putting something over the door and then closing the bedroom door(where the doggie door is) then purring newspaper down in the hall between the door, was told to do that, so that is wrong?

Aurora_Bell
May 17, 2010, 05:52 PM
Well it's not necessarily wrong, per say, but if you do that and expect her to pee in the house on paper, than she is going to do it all the time. Not a big fan of training methods like that. It's just confusing your pup. If you want your dog to be house broken than you need to be consistent. If you don't want her peeing in the house, than no pee pads. Period.

Anytime you can go out side (at night) with her is going to be best. I know sometimes it's not practical, but she is still young, and she just wants that extra comfort to make her feel relaxed. If you have to close the door, that's fine. I close the door to keep moths and June bugs out.

shazamataz
May 17, 2010, 09:40 PM
Random thought but is it cold where you are at the moment?

It was freezing here last night and my 6 month old pup wouldn't go outside because the concrete at the back steps was too cold on his feet! He got to the step, then started picking his feet up really high and came back inside.

ladiharli
May 18, 2010, 07:35 AM
No, it isn't cold here, normally 60's at night. She is smart, and plays me like a book. But I was told if I shut the door at night to put paper down, now when I get up she will go out the doggie door in the a.m. but if she thinks I don't pay enough attention she will potty on the carpet, I spray vinegar then baking soda, she knows when she is guilty. Smart as a whip. Tried the teat at her noice to sit and she still tries to jump.

Lucky098
May 18, 2010, 08:20 AM
She may be out smarting you... but she's not doing it on purpose.

I think if this were my dog, I'd stick her in the crate and ignore her. She's 8 months old. That's almost a year old. She should be house trained by now. You said she wakes you up throughout the night? That needs to stop. You may want to try this when you don't need to work, but put her in her crate and ignore her. She's calling the shots and you're not enjoying her because of it.

If she goes potty in the house, then tie her to you. If you don't have time to watch her, put her in her crate. If you tie her to you, then you will know when she needs to potty and what her signs are. You can correct her when you need to and fix the issue. Allowing her to roam free in your house and letting her potty whenever she wants to is going to cause you get frustrated.

Don't be afraid to use a crate. When used correctly, crates are a wonderful tool to keep good dogs good. If you don't have one, get one. It should be big enough she can turn around comfortably and lay down.

Get rid of the papers and puppy pads. She will never learn the difference between its OK at night but not during the day. In fact, you're just going to confuse her. If you want her to go outside, stick to it. Can someone else go out with her if you cant? You really need to go with her to enforce good behavior.

She may not want to go out at night because something scared her. Turning the light on is fine, but she probably doesn't leave the beam. Like I said, you really do need to go out with her.. or find someone who can. You need to be able to enforce the behavior that you want.

Good luck to you.