Toilet Training / Jumping up

Hi Everyone,

Could use some advice on a few issues we are experiencing with our 4 year old male staff.

1. How can we get him to stop jumping up ourselves and visitors when walking into the house? He does this on initial greeting and then within about 10 minutes of doing what we have come to call his 'tribal dance' he calms down and as good as ignores everyone. It can become quite uncomfortable for some visitors which we have.

2. We allowed him to have the free run of the downstairs of the house and up until recently he was good in the toilet area, told us when he needed to go outside to the toilet and was clean through the night and during the day when we are both at work for 8/9 hours. Now he is good during the day, with the odd exception, but through the night there nearly always seems to be a mess on the living room floor. He only has the living room of a nighttime as we have a kitten who has the kitchen area.

Any help or advice would be really appreciated as the toilet issue is starting to become a big issue within the household.

Thank you in advance to you all

With the jumping up, I would really be inclined to go back to basics, keep Des on lead when visitors come, wait until he has calmed or listening to the down command, and he should catch on, but you have to be consistant with all training and visitors must also listen.

The toilet training seems a little odd and again back to basics. Can anyone pop in in the day cause it is a long time to be left alone. And make sure you clean all stains well so he doesn't think thats 'his' place to go.

You could consider crate training, I haven't done it but I know people have found it to really help Xx

With the jumping up, I'd tell everybody who comes in to totally ignore him until he calms down. That means every time he jumps up, turn your back on him, don't talk to him, don't even make eye contact. If he jumps up again, repeat. If he continues, then just lead him out of the room without saying a word & shut the door until he's calm. Then you can let him in & try again. But everyone will have to do the same thing or he'll get confused.

The toileting is a bit more difficult. When did it start? Was it when you got the kitten?

Jumping up: Back to basics. Stick pup on a lead and a correction collar, not half choke, cause they don't listen. Check chains will do and just yank him off if you miss the point where he starts to jump. If you can correct when he's just about to jump do so with a stern "NA-AH!" or something along those lines.

Toilet: Crate him. Simple. He'll learn on his own time not to mess his bed.
If he does, he sleeps on the hard floor until his bed gets back from the wash. Don't rush it. Dogs are naturally clean in small spaces and don't like their own waste near them. He'll learn. Again, try and catch him when he's either doing it or about to do it.
If you can catch him when he's about to do it. A swift "Na-ah!" and put him outside then praise like mad when he does go outside.

Skullkandi wrote:Jumping up: Back to basics. Stick pup on a lead and a correction collar, not half choke, cause they don't listen. Check chains will do and just yank him off if you miss the point where he starts to jump. If you can correct when he's just about to jump do so with a stern "NA-AH!" or something along those lines.

Toilet: Crate him. Simple. He'll learn on his own time not to mess his bed.
If he does, he sleeps on the hard floor until his bed gets back from the wash. Don't rush it. Dogs are naturally clean in small spaces and don't like their own waste near them. He'll learn. Again, try and catch him when he's either doing it or about to do it.
If you can catch him when he's about to do it. A swift "Na-ah!" and put him outside then praise like mad when he does go outside.

Good grief, no!

There's no need for a check chain at all! You could well end up yanking too hard & hurting his throat!

I personally think there's a link between the toileting & the kitten. Once he's used to the kitten completely he'll probably be ok again. Crates are a good idea with a very young pup, but some older dogs don't take to them at all.

Kays then. That's a possibility. I've never seen a problem with them.
In that case a study padded nylon collar and treats when he comes back to you could work.

For jumping up just ignore him everytime he does it and have everyone else do the same. He wants attention and if you give it to him he sees it as a positive response. Ignoring him until he his calm will teach him not to jump.

Back to basics for toilet training. Make sure you remove the smell so he won't keep going back to the same spot. If you have to leave him for long periods you could use a traiing pad so there is somewhere acceptable for him to go and make clean up easy. As for the nighttime how late are you feeding him? Also are you taking him out for his last walk right before bed? Both of these should help.

Skullkandi wrote:Jumping up: Back to basics. Stick pup on a lead and a correction collar, not half choke, cause they don't listen. Check chains will do and just yank him off if you miss the point where he starts to jump. If you can correct when he's just about to jump do so with a stern "NA-AH!" or something along those lines.

Toilet: Crate him. Simple. He'll learn on his own time not to mess his bed.
If he does, he sleeps on the hard floor until his bed gets back from the wash. Don't rush it. Dogs are naturally clean in small spaces and don't like their own waste near them. He'll learn. Again, try and catch him when he's either doing it or about to do it.
If you can catch him when he's about to do it. A swift "Na-ah!" and put him outside then praise like mad when he does go outside.

I haven't replied to any of your posts so far because I think i might say something I will regret. But its obvious your training methods and theories are old-school and ancient! You won't get anywhere with these methods no wonder your dog can't take it's eyes off you it lives in fear 24/7! Choke chains are so outdated you do not need to force your dog to do what you want. The toilet training bit, not so bad but I wouldn't take my dog's bed away and make it sleep on a hard floor. If the dog has recently started defecating in the house at 4years old this is due to a behavioural issue not just because he is trying to be difficult. Like Caryll said did this begin to happen wehn you first got the kitten?