[Riggan]

Carlo, Early on, dogs develop a substrate preference for toileting. They also become very habitual in their patterns. You might try scooping a small piece of poop from your walk and place it where you want him to poop on the balcony. The odor will work to encourage him to poop there. Then, don’t take him out for a walk until he has pooped on the balcony. Good luck!

[Riggan]

I fully agree with Takoda. Going to a new home and leaving everything they have known is stressful for a puppy in the best of circumstances. I can’t imagine also having to deal with learning to walk on a leash, elevators, and I assume you are in a city environment with at least more commotion than the typical back yard. Make it as easy on her as possible, which will likely mean carrying her down the elevator until she starts to relax and also learns what a leash is all about. Practice walking on leash in your apartment so she becomes comfortable with it. Let us know how things go.

[Riggan]

In my experience, the sex is not as important as the temperament / personality. If you have a good breeder who has experience matching pups to people, I would go with his recommendation. My personal preference is males, but if a reputable breeder recommended a female for my situation, I would listen to their advice.

[Riggan]

Try using dirty pellets from the bin that he has already pee’d on. The odor should encourage him to pee on top of them. If he still does not pee, I would put him back in his crate without giving him the chance to pee in the bin. After 10-14 minutes, take him back outside. Good luck!

[Riggan]

I’d just like to add one thing for others who might be having similar problems. Because of the description and breed of dog in this case, I am assuming that this is a case of true dog aggression (or at least leash reactivity) rather than fear, but this might not be a valid assumption. It is extremely important to understand the difference between the two since the treatment is totally different between the two. Both may involve lunging, barking and growling. True aggression can be managed (although not necessarily “cured”) with strong corrections (exact approach will depend on the dog and circumstances), but these same corrections will make a fear aggressive dog worse. The fear can be greatly increased because you have just given the dog proof that the other do truly is dangerous. After all, bad things happen (the correction) whenever he sees the other dog. So for people with aggressive dogs, first be sure to objectively assess the reason for the aggression.

[Riggan]

Shayne, I’m sorry that is the impression you have gotten. Unfortunately, at least for me it is not that I mean to be unhelpful. It is simply that you have a very difficult situation with limited options to work on it. The typical strategies that would be recommended are likely not practical from what you describe. You don’t say how old your Corso is, which could make a lot of difference. A corso is a powerful dog with high prey drive, so the fact that he is so reactive to the little dogs is simply part of his nature. The older it is, the more difficult it will be to overcome this behavior. Solid obedience is an absolute must. The dog must be able to sit or some other alternative behavior to the lunging. If he does not, then he can be corrected. Ideally, you would be able to work the dog far enough away from other dogs to work with him when his drive is at a manageable level, and then work more and more closely to other dogs as his self control improves. Do you have anywhere that you can start working on this with NO (or only a few) other dogs around? Watch all of Robert’s videos on reactivity for recommendations on how to handle these situations. What type of collar do you have the dog on? He might need a prong to be able to control him, but there is also concern that in some dogs, prong collars can increase reactivity. So it is a delicate situation. But in any case, the solution must begin with getting some very solid obedience skills when he is NOT in a reactive environment and then gradually taking him to places with more and more distractions. You might want to ask Robert directly in the Ask Me Anything (AMA). You can find the form to submit at the bottom of the Members section. You are limited to 500 words, so try to provide as much info (breed, age, type of collar being used, brief description of the problem) as concisely as possible. Robert might have some more helpful tips. Good luck!

[Riggan]

Abi, I would be concerned if a dog was not excited about training, especially if I had started that dog from a pup.

My dog Lance, who I adopted from a shelter after he had been placed with a family for a year and then returned when they had a baby, is a fairly classic case of a dog being crushed through the use of harsh techniques on a very “soft” dog. He knew “sit” very well and “come” reasonably well, but there was absolutely no joy in it. When I would work with him, even though I used totally positive techniques due to his background and temperament, you could tell that anything that resembled “training” was almost a punishment for him. He would completely shut down. He would do whatever he had to do, but only because he was afraid of pain if he did not. After I had him for about a month, he started to realize that I had never hurt him. One day, he refused to sit and you could tell from his expression that he was testing the waters to see what would happen. I have never been so happy to have a dog disobey, but that was a HUGE step for him! I calmly repeated the command and helped him into a sit. From that point on, he started improving. He still does not have the joy and excitement for training that my other dogs have had (and likely he never will), but he also doesn’t dread it. And he definitely has a strong trust in me now that I am not going to hurt him, so he is open to learning new things.

Hopefully you will never have to deal with a dog who is that shut down, but lack of enthusiasm for training is certainly a warning sign for me that the training is becoming more negative than positive and that I need to rethink my approach or expectations. It will be interesting to see what others look for!

[Riggan]

Ally,

First of all, I used to train service dogs, so I do understand the laws regarding this topic. To be very clear, there is no legal requirement for certification or public access testing of any type. I personally believe that these are well worth doing for owner-trainers just to get an outside perspective on your dog’s suitability, but it is not a requirement. (One caveat here: it may be required in your state for SD-in-training. Once the dog is trained, however, the ADI supercedes any such state level requirement.)

I would strongly suggest that you look at the International Association of Assistance Dog Partners (IAADP) and Assistance Dogs International (ADI) websites if you haven’t done so already. There are a variety of published Public Access Tests for Service Dogs on the Internet. Here is a link to one of them: https://www.psychdogpartners.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/2017-Public-Access-Test.pdf. You can use any of these or combine them to create your own version. Just make sure that you don’t ignore areas that may be a bit weaker for your dog. Ignore any comments about not allowing prong collars. This test is for YOUR information. No one can legally deny your husband access because he is not “certified.” Do you have a trainer or knowledgeable person that you trust who has not been involved in the dog’s training? Enlist this person to the be “examiner” and then go to a public place to conduct the test. Have them rate the dog’s behavior as honestly as they can. Then adjust any training plans as needed.

Regarding task training, again, no one needs to determine this except yourself. The dog needs to be specifically trained for at least 3 tasks to mitigate your husband’s disability. Protection and emotional support (ie, benefit just from having a dog with him) are NOT considered valid or appropriate tasks. Medical alert is, as long as the dog has a specific trained alert (which can be a natural behavior such as pawing or nuzzling that has been captured and reinforced to strengthen it and increase the reliability). If you need help regarding other possible trained behaviors, I would be happy to talk with you.

It sounds like you have done a lovely job with the pup and that she is doing well. Don’t let the trainers you have talked with discourage you as long as you are truly confident that your dog is totally safe in public and that she is able to help your husband. Please thank him for his service for me. Our military men and women (and dogs!) deserve our everlasting appreciation for helping keep us safe and strong in a world that is so uncertain. God bless you both.

[Riggan]

Way to go! Congratulations!

[Riggan]

Mary,

Welcome to the group and Merry Christmas! You have a challenging and unique situation with your son. I think I would approach it in a very similar fashion to training a dog to leave the family cat alone. It will take time and close supervision on your part, though. Your dog is just a puppy and will need to mature quite a bit before you can expect him to understand. I would raise your puppy the same way I would a potential service dog – all good things come from you; other people, dogs, etc are essentially irrelevant. You want to socialize your pup enough that he is not afraid of others, but the good stuff only comes from you. Your son needs to be seen as a member of the household who is important to you but has no relevance to the dog. When your son is out, have the puppy in the kennel. It sounds like you have plenty of time with the pup in general, so don’t worry about having him in the kennel too much. Make sure he has some chew toys, stuffed Kong, or something else to keep him occupied in the crate. You want him to view the crate as a good place to be. Have the crate where he sees you interacting with your son so he learns it is OK for him to just chill out while stuff is going on with your son. This also includes tantrums and melt-downs, if your son is prone to those. As you mentioned, though, it is absolutely imperative that you make sure your dog is ALWAYS safe from your child. That includes disturbing the dog when he is in the crate. So, you might need to do a balancing act in terms of where the crate is located. Or maybe have 2 crates – one where the dog can see all the activity taking place and one that is in a protected location if your son if dealing with frustration or anger issues that might get taken out on the dog. If your son is calm and engaged in other things himself, you might bring the dog out on leash and do some simple obedience with him or just have him practice a down at your side. Keep in mind, though, that it will be some time before you can expect any duration to a down command. Don’t let the dog interact with your son at all. Let him see you interacting with your son. The message will be pretty clear: This is my child, but he has no meaning to you. It is going to be a challenging year for you as you try to manage both a special needs child and a puppy. Be patient both with the puppy and yourself. If you are consistent and fair with everyone involved, you will eventually end up with the partner that you are hoping for. My heart is with you and every parent in this type of situation. It can definitely be exhausting and overwhelming. Hopefully you can get the support you need in training this puppy from Robert and the extremely knowledgeable people here. By all means watch the videos, but don’t necessarily wait to ask questions to Robert until you have gone through them all. He is here to help and is very good.

I’d like to add one last comment. Hopefully everything will work out for you, your son, and the puppy. If, however, you reach a point where you decide that you have bitten off more than you can chew, don’t beat yourself up. You have enough on your plate trying to help your son! With the work you are doing with the puppy, you would almost certainly be able to find a good home for him. If this happens and you still want a dog to help with your own mental health, you might try looking into a program that could place an emotional support dog with you rather than a service dog for your son. This dog would already be mature and trained. The organization could help make sure that the dog understood to leave your son alone. We’ll hope and pray that things work out with your puppy, but just in case…

You are in my heart and prayers. Good luck.

Riggan