For a very good guide to all sorts of dog training processes and dog behavior challenges, I use and recommend Clickertraining ...that link goes to the description of this terrific ebook you download immediately, wherever you are! -- Rosana

I just read a very useful booklet called Feeling Outnumbered? How to Manage and Enjoy a Multi-Dog Household — the link takes you to my review of it on this site.

I also wrote a page called Multi-Dog Behavior in Your Home, which has some ideas and tips for dog training when there is more than one dog around.

Here, I want to remember the various multi-dog situations Kelly and I have had. Our first dog together was Martha, an older Shepherd/Malamute cross. We didn’t realize what a cream puff she was till we got Cider a Rhodesian Ridgeback puppy who chewed on Martha’s ears and endlessly tried to play with her. Martha was very patient and actually played a little too.

Martha lived to be 15, and by then Cider was about 3. Within a few months, we added Teddy Bear, an Australian Shepherd puppy. He and Cider quickly became very good friends… she wasn’t the pushover that Martha had been.

During this time, we had a llama ranch in Oregon. We added a Komondor, a large livestock-guarding dog, to live outside with the llamas. This adult bitch was always harassing Teddy Bear and got into some fights with Cider. We found her a new home rather soon and decided two dogs was our favorite number.

Years later and no longer ranching, some months after Cider died at age ten, we got Sunbeam, our lively Basenji. Now it was Teddy Bear’s turn to be long suffering. He would sometimes give me these mournful looks that clearly said, “This isn’t fun!” But mostly they got along, and sometimes we separated them to give Teddy quiet time alone with me.

He died at twelve, and we stayed a one-dog family for our usual few months. But one day when we were out for a few hours, Sunbeam chewed up the curtains. We thought her separation anxiety might lessen with another dog for a companion, and we were ready for another dog too. This time we got LarryDog as a two-year-old rescue. They got along fine right from the start and our curtains stayed intact. Sunbeam liked to cuddle and Larry made it very clear that he didn’t.

Sunbeam died over two years ago, and we have remained a one-dog family since then. LarryDog seems to think this is just fine, and he does have two cats for company. But the fact that I’m reading about multi-dog households may turn out to foretell something…

When my husband and I watched the Westminster dog show recently, we would comment to each other about this breed or that breed. It gradually dawned on me that I at least was beginning to compose a mental list of what I wanted and didn’t want in a future dog. Kelly wasn’t exactly thrilled when I mentioned this to him, but that’s how it usually goes when we get a dog: I start the process and a bit later he too throws himself into it.

Some of the things we came up with have to do with training, most don’t exactly. I’m sure each person’s list would be very different. For what it’s worth, here’s ours as it stands right now. We have had mixed-breed rescue dogs and am not averse to one again, but for starters I *am* thinking of a purebred dog for the predictability.

• A breed that likes training, which is different from a smart dog. Our Basenji was very smart but had next to no desire to please us. She was more like a cat in that way.
• Not a huge dog.
• Not a dog with a long coat that requires lots of grooming. Been there, done that.
• Probably not a dog with a flat face, due to their snoring and because my husband prefers other dogs’ looks. This is negotiable; Pugs and Boston Terriers do interest me.
• Not a terrier: we are writers who work at home and we need a dog who who has a lot of lazy time. We’ve had two different dogs in the hounds category and they worked well in this way.

We haven’t decided about size. Nor about when!

UPDATE: Several months later, we got a rescue Rottweiler puppy, several months old. So much for “Not a huge dog” but we adore her!

Here’s a question which was entered as a comment on another one of my posts — I’m moving it over here where more people can see it. Answering specific training questions is always a challenge without the opportunity for a real conversation.

Cyn said:

Last week I became the proud owner of a yorkie/shi-tzu mix. He’s wonderful. The weather has been frigid and too windy for the nine week old, two pounder to go outside for potty, so I’ve been using pads. The pads work great for shi-shi, but when it is time for him to make number 2, he refuses to go on the pads or newspaper. He actually shakes and we can keep at this for over half an hour but he still won’t go on the paper or the pads, he goes on the floor in corners. HELP.

Can you put the pads or paper in his favorite potty corner, or in all the corners? Not for ever, but to get him to make the association and then later to put the pads elsewhere, or to get rid of them entirely if you want him to do his stuff outside when it warms up.

I would get some Nature’s Miracle or other enzymatic cleaner to use for any accidents in the house… these take away the odor and thus make him less likely to come back to the same spot.

For more details, see my page on housetraining puppies and dogs.
I would also create arrangements whereby the amount of time he is free in your house without your attention on him is at an absolute minimum. I’m a huge fan of crate training for the time you can’t be watching him, and the link takes you to my long page on it. However you do it, and with a tiny guy like him you could use various things you have around at first, if he can’t get to the corners without you right there too, he can’t use them!

Those half hours do sound kind of grueling for everyone. Try to get away from them, one way or another, even if it means reading a book in the bathroom and ignoring him while he considers his options.

Good luck, and I’m glad he’s wonderful!

I’ve just been emailing with someone who is trying EFT with a dog and that gave me the idea to write something about it here.

EFT is short for Emotional Freedom Technique and it is quite an amazingly effective method of working on physical and emotional problems of all sorts. I’ve been using it for several years, chiefly for myself and other humans. Read the rest of this entry