Dog Door Lessons from Kona

A week ago, I received the doggy door I ordered, installed it, and taught Cabana to go through it. Easy peasy! Cabana quickly caught on to the command "through", and for a piece of kibble, she will happily push her way through the magnetized flap door. While standing inside the door, I call out, "Do your business!" and Cabana will do it and then come back to stand by the door. For another piece of kibble and the command "through", she will come back inside.

However, Cabana will NOT use the door on her own initiative!! A couple days after we got the door, Cabana had a diarrhea accident in the middle of night. Whenever this happens, Cabana is very considerate to have her accident on the door mat rug, so I can easily pick the rug up, take it outside to hose off, and throw it in the washing machine--so much easier than cleaning diarrhea off the wall-to-wall carpet! But it's not quite as convenient as if she'd just use the doggy door that stands at the ready less than 3 feet away. Sigh.

So, I asked to borrow Kona, a dog park pal who is very good about using a doggy door at her own house. I hoped Kona would set an example for Cabana to follow. With the dogs nearby, I occupied myself at the kitchen table, working on some things there so I could keep an eye on the dogs and the doggy door. Every time Kona would go out and come back in, without any suggestions from me, I would mark her behavior with a joyful "Nice!" and a piece of kibble. Throughout the course of 2 hours, Kona did this at least a dozen times and earned her kibble. Cabana kept looking at us, wondering why Kona deserved the kibble--but she never figured it out and never followed Kona's example!! Back to the drawing board.

Cabana is so tentative, I just don't know if she'll ever use the door on her own volition. She's happy to use it when invited to, but what good is the doggy door if we have to be around for her to use it?

Just before sitting down to write this post, I sprinkled a few pieces of Natural Balance food roll treats all around the outside of the doggy door. Cabana watched me put them there, but she didn't run outside to eat them. Arghh, she can be so maddeningly polite! I don't want to give her a command because the whole point is to not have to give her a command. I'm waiting to see if she'll eventually venture outside to eat them....

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Empty Poop Bags - What a Relief!

A couple months ago, Cabana started the habit of needing to poop on our morning walks. Even though she goes poop first thing in the morning and we go for a walk only about an hour later, the walking was making her need to go again. If I tried to make her go before our walk, I'd just wait and wait and wait on our lawn with her--but she needed the walking to stimulate her bowels.

On our walks, Cabana would show signs of needing to relieve, like pulling over toward patches of grass or walking in a zigzagging fashion. When she started behaving like that, I would look for a good place (i.e., not someone's fastidiously manicured lawn), then I would give the command, and she would go. She was very good about waiting for permission.

However, my puppy group leader said that we needed to help Cabana be even more controlled about her relieving. And we needed to break that habit, because she was needing to relieve 9 times out of 10 (she's got a regular little system!). So we picked a designated spot on our route where she could relieve if necessary. She would not be allowed to relieve anywhere on our walks except there.

It took a couple weeks, but Cabana was able to handle that. We had a lot of success with that plan. If Cabana needed to go before or after we had reached that spot, I would give an emphatic "No!" (I think in the manual, it says you should act like she's about to go poop on white carpeting) and I would make her sit for a minute or so. The urge would pass, and we would continue our walk.

Now Cabana rarely even uses her designated spot to poop. I still stop there and ask her to do her business. Sometimes, she'll pee there, but it has been weeks and weeks since she's needed to poop on our walks.

So I come home with an empty poop bag...and a happy tired pup!

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