puppy sitting confusion

Hi-I am a full time nanny for a 7 month old mini wirehair dachshund. It's a great job, and he's a wonderful dog-there just is a kind of mismatch between me and the owner.
He is partially housetrained and I've used clicker training to teach him basic obedience-which he generally does very well-I'm working on quieting barking, and some other attention-seeking behaviours.
When I'm there during the day, I have him on a schedule of taking him out for potty and walks-I use the crate(which I trained him to) and/or keep him on a leash to restrict his ability to get into trouble. He never has any accidents, he never chews anything inappropriate. We play also (after potty)-and do obedience and trick training every day and I try to take him on occasional outings to meet people and dogs-so hopefully he has a well rounded day.
My concerns: the owner does none of this evenings and weekends. So there are potty accidents and chewed shoes and the puppy has fits of barking uncontrollably in the evening-confusion? attention-seeking? The owner is also a dear friend of mine. I know she has an extremely busy life and work. I just worry about the puppy. Would welcome suggestions.

Comments

Aidan's picture

frustrating!

Firstly, where do I find a dog sitter like you?!? You're doing an AMAZING job!

OK, what we have here are two Discriminating Stimuli, you and pup's owner. You're a cue that says "these are the behaviors that will be reinforced, and these other behaviors will be ignored". Pup's owner is a cue that says "hese behaviors will be reinforced, and these other behaviors will be ignored"

The problem is, the behaviors that will be reinforced and the behaviors that will be ignored are the complete opposite for each cue.

Pup isn't confused at all, it's actually very clear to him! It couldn't be any clearer really, if he thought in words they would be "my owner is home, now I'm supposed to do the opposite to what I do when my nanny is here, phew, glad I don't have to think too hard about that!"

In other words, pup is just doing what works for him and you've both trained him really, really well.

I expect the shew chewing, potty accidents and barking will eventually drive your friend to learn from you and implement the ideas. She doesn't need to train tricks, or even sits and stays, she just needs to put her shoes away, not pay attention to barking, take him out before he needs to go potty and reinforce the behaviors she wants most of all.

Regards,
Aidan
http://www.positivepetzine.com

training

Hi Aidan,
Thanks for your reply, it helped me worry less about my part at least. As long as the pup and my friendship with the owner survive happily that's what matters
I like you're site and will try not to pester you with questions.
One tho! Is there a clicker book you can recommend, that reviews basics and also goes a little further?
I have learned to use the clicker simply by reading online and working with the pup. It's fascinating to me!
Thanks,
Jen

Aidan's picture

not pestering :-)

Hi Jen, it's not "pestering", it's "adding valuable content to the Positive Petzine site" :-)

There are lots of great clicker training books that contain what you want. I like my own "The Positive Petzine Collection" (of course!) which actually goes quite deeply into the philosophy of positive training, the theory behind it and practical recipes for solving common behavior problems. My aim was to do all that in a clear, easy to use format and I have achieved that as best as I was able.

For a training plan I recommend Sue Ailsby's Book of Training Levels, which is on-line and free.

Clickertraining.com offer a great Dog Training Kit Plus which is excellent value and includes the Clicker Magic DVD.

Regards,
Aidan
http://www.positivepetzine.com