well, punishing her for going in the house sends the wrong message. The message dog's get when people do that is they are bad for pottying in front of you. Instead, closely monitor when she eats and drinks, take her outside about 20 minutes after and praise her for pottying outside. (side note: Growing up my mother was always the sort to "rub their nose in it," and she has never successfully housetrained one dog in the 70 years she's been alive. I do the food monitoring, and I have 100% successfully house trained 4 dogs that way. Three of which were rescues. I'm 36. So the "old way" is clearly the wrong way.)
It sounds like you have a second issue, getting up place where doggies don't belong. The suggested method for dealing with this is "all four on the floor all the time." For at least 6 months, she needs to stay on the floor, no bed, no couch, nothing. all 4 on the floor, end of story. THEN you can work on teaching her about being "invited" up on furniture. When she tries to get on furniture, give her something to do that you want her to do, like a "sit" or a "down." This gives you a reason to praise her, and build your relationship. Otherwise, you'll end up "no-ing" her out. A few cocktails, for you, definately aids in the process.
Lastly, don't bother punishing your dog for something they do while you're away. They have short attention spans, and will only associate punishment with you coming home. and don't let your aunt martha convince you the dog "looks guilty" cause they know they did domething wrong... if your dog acts like that, then all it really means is she thinks she's gonna be punished everytime you come home.
I'm not one of those people that preach positive for everything, but positive reinforcement is where I start when solving a problem.
It sounds like you have a second issue, getting up place where doggies don't belong. The suggested method for dealing with this is "all four on the floor all the time." For at least 6 months, she needs to stay on the floor, no bed, no couch, nothing. all 4 on the floor, end of story. THEN you can work on teaching her about being "invited" up on furniture. When she tries to get on furniture, give her something to do that you want her to do, like a "sit" or a "down." This gives you a reason to praise her, and build your relationship. Otherwise, you'll end up "no-ing" her out. A few cocktails, for you, definately aids in the process.
Lastly, don't bother punishing your dog for something they do while you're away. They have short attention spans, and will only associate punishment with you coming home. and don't let your aunt martha convince you the dog "looks guilty" cause they know they did domething wrong... if your dog acts like that, then all it really means is she thinks she's gonna be punished everytime you come home.
I'm not one of those people that preach positive for everything, but positive reinforcement is where I start when solving a problem.
