Arcticfox

So Tesla's potty training in the apartment has gone really well after the first couple weeks. She's still having accidents when we go to the petstore though. How do you get your dogs to generalize their potty training to include ALL indoor spaces and not just home?

I'd also like to train her on walks to wait at the curb before setting foot onto the street. Ideally, the goal is even if she's at a dead run she'll skid to a stop when she reaches a curb because the "forbiddeness" of it is so deeply ingrained that she MUST be right beside a human to cross the street, staying in heel. Eventually. I'm not sure how to impress upon her the importance of this, because it is acutally a life and death matter. I live near some major roads and our city has some pretty terrible drivers. Some of them will not stop even if they see her in time. So far on every single walk so far I have made her sit and wait before crossing the street. Though she hasn't been trained to heel yet I keep her on a super short leash, pretty much head snug against my leg, as long as paws are on asphalt. She's starting get it a little bit, if she reaches a corner before me she'll start turning to go around it instead of trying to cross but I don't know if that's just because there's something smelly and interesting catching her attention...

tl;dr:
Potty training to include all indoor spaces rather than just home.
Training to wait at the curb before crossing the street.
How did you do it and did it work well?

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Theo'sMom

Re potty training: I use the words "potty outside" and when we go to a new place I say "potty outside" and show him where the outside is. Then I repeat the word "outside" and I point to the inside and say "no potty inside." He did go "inside" on my in laws poinsettia at christmas, so he doesn't get it completely.

On walks we say "wait" by the street and then say "let's cross." He now waits automatically Some of the time but not all the time. He has learned that "let's cross" means 'go.'


These are good questions! I'm looking forward to other responses.

fjm

I think the generalising one is difficult, especially in a pet store where other dogs are likely to have marked already, and left a scent that screams "Pee here!" In other people's houses I go back to basics, take them out twice as often as I would at home and make sure they know where the door is.

I also use Wait and a release word at kerbs. I don't insist on a sit as the pavements are very cold and wet at the moment, but it is a good idea. Perhaps practising it as a game on a quiet road would help. Approach the kerb, ask for a Sit and Wait, reward for holding the position, give the release word, and keep her attention on you as you cross (silly talk, treats, touching your hand, etc, etc). If she breaks the Wait, turn around, go back a few paces, and approach again.

I have taught my two to Wait for bicycles - the idea is that we all move to the side of the path and wait for the bikes to go past, but sometimes cyclists zoom up behind me and I don't hear them, so they are on top of us before I can call the dogs to me. After years of repetition, the dogs now stand still when a bicycle is close by - not quite what I intended, but definitely safer than dashing all over the path! So repetition and reward do eventually get the message across.

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To sit with a dog on a hillside on a glorious afternoon is to be back in Eden,
where doing nothing was not boring- it was peace.

~ Milan Kundera

JE-UK

I do the same, wait and release at street crossings, and "tuck in" for bikes, horses, etc. approaching on a path.

Repetition, repetition, repetition. I sometime practice the "wait to cross" when we are offlead and approaching something that resembles a street crossing, but isn't, if that makes sense, i.e. coming out of the woods into a car park or similar.

With generalising housetraining, it can help if you first teach the dog to eliminate on cue. I use "go potty", but it doesn't matter what cue you use. Start by waiting until the dog is outside as normal and just beginning to lift a leg. Give the cue, wait for the dog to finish, then reward heavily. Mine cracks me up when I say "go potty" and he really doesn't need to, but he'll lift a leg and squeeze out a few drops just to make me happy .

If the dog will eliminate on cue, then it's an easy step to cueing before going in somewhere, then keeping the visits short, esp in a place like a pet store where the dog may get mixed signals about whether this is an ok place or not.

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"Yes is so much important than No." Dominique Barbier

Arcticfox

So basically treat any new indoor place like you are potty training for the first time ever? I could try that. We went to visit my aunt a week or so ago, and I kept taking her out because I was so nervous that she might pee there. (My aunt is not the most dog friendly person). Luckily it went without incident. She did mess in the petstore during puppy class a couple times though, that was rather embarrassing. But really, it's an hour long in an exciting environment, it's a wonder she didn't have an accident every time we went.
I am trying to train her to go on cue, I've had for for just over a month now and I've said "Go potty" every single time I took her out to pee. But if I say it anytime other than when we've just come out after a couple hours indoors, she wont do it. For example, when we come back from a long walk and I want her to go again before we head in. She doesn't seem to be understanding the cue. Maybe my timing's off?

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WestCoastSpoo

We use "go potty" with Huxley too and he's never peed in an indoor place. He takes the command so seriously I've seen him literally trying to PUSH out a single drop of urine. I'm always freaked out when we take him to visit my parents house because they have shiny new wood floors and light colored carpet so I have him "go potty" as soon as we get there and after he's been playing, etc. So far (fingers crossed) it's worked.

Huxley sits automatically when I stop, but I never thought of attaching it specifically to a curb/road crossing. That's a good idea - we'll start working on it ASAP! I also want to start working on creating an imaginary line in our front yard that he can't cross unless on leash.

I like the "tuck in" cue too because I was using "stay close" but I never liked that it had the word "stay" in it, which is a totally different behavior. So thanks!

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tortoise

I've trained both. A lot!

Potty training for stores, I've always managed it by walking the puppy until it pees. If it pees, we go in the store. If not we get in the car, drive to the next pet store and keep going. Now this fits into the beginning of service dog public access training when we're starting training sessions longer than 6 hours, so it's not inconvenient. (And for the record, teaching the young dog to rest or sleep whenever it can is part of these long sessions.)

Curb training, YES, I do a lot of that. It's a life-or-death thing here too. So the first part is using the leash to prevent a puupy from stepping off the curb first. The second part is clicker training a dog to stay on a table (training table, height does not matter). If you go look up how 2o/2o is trained for agility and apply the same idea. Take the behavior from the training table to the curb. Then, finish off the behavior with correction. I like to use a simple "no" marker and whatever correction works for the dog, for a puppy start with using the leash to prevent the puppy from walking off the curb. In an older and more finished dog a more firm correction might be used.