TheBakersfieldCalifornian.com

People frequently ask me why the name of my company is CSI 4 K9s.

As a lifetime fan of mystery and crime shows, I instantly fell in love with the unique and precedent-setting series about crime scene investigators.

And as far-fetched as it may sound, there is a consistent theme that runs throughout this show that parallels life as a trainer and behaviorist.

In order to solve the crime, the CSIs are advised to "follow the evidence."

And in my profession, investigating the evidence of the crime the dog is accused of, combined with an understanding of why dogs behave as they do, is necessary to get to the root of behavior problems.

The case

A woman who says she knows the correct techniques for housebreaking contacted me about her 2-year-old toy poodle.

She says this dog is very different from her previous toy poodle who was very compliant, submissive and crate trained easily back when she was a stay-at-home mom.

She describes the current dog as stubborn and spoiled.

She says this dog never wanted to go into a crate, and when circumstances changed and both owners had to be gone at work all day, it was confined in the laundry room with pee pads. When they were home it was walked on a leash to the front yard.

When the dog began to go to the front door to indicate she wanted out, the owners installed a dog door providing access to the backyard and gave her the run of the house.

The dog then began peeing and pooping in the house, and when the weather turned cold, it refused to go out at all.

The owner then decided to pen an area around the inside of the dog door so the dog would have no choice but to go outside to eliminate, and even though she comes home at lunch to play with dog, the neighbors inform her that it cries all day.

The owner says she loves her dog, but this cannot go on.

Her husband has been patient, but his patience is running out.

Could I please tell her what to do now?

The evidence

The dog was taught to go to the bathroom in the house by confining it to an area with pee pads.

It was walked on a leash out the front door to eliminate when the owner was home.

The owner assumed that once the dog knew it could eliminate outside the front door on a leash, that the installation of a dog door to the backyard and the removal of the pee pads would indicate to the dog that it was now to go out that door, and to that area, to eliminate.

Instead of gradually increasing the dog's freedom in increments based on success, the dog was given the run of the house with no supervision.

And the odor of previous mistakes caused the dog to "return to the scene of the crime."

The behavioral facts

While more challenging to housebreak than their larger cousins, toy dogs are not impossible to housebreak, but because the mistakes are smaller, they are not taken seriously from the beginning.

Individual temperament must be taken into consideration since dogs that are unsocialized or environmentally shy may present as difficult or untrainable.

Dogs do not share the human concept of "outside" as a synonym for bathroom; they learn to go out to eliminate by being provided no other option.

For dogs that haven't been housebroken properly, dog doors simply provide access to another area with no connection made as to their purpose.

Pad-trained puppies are praised for eliminating in the house, thereby establishing a pattern of behavior that can only be changed by creating an environment that provides no possibility for error on the part of the dog and consistent positive re-enforcement.

The lack of a clear and systematic housebreaking program results in a confused and anxious dog that is often mislabeled as stubborn, and is made worse by any form of disapproval or punishment for mistakes.

So as you can see, much like the crime scene investigators, if I follow the evidence it allows me to solve the case by identifying who really committed the crime.

I have no doubt that the owners love this little dog, but instead of seeking help in the early stages of the problem, they threw every technique in the housebreaking book at this dog and totally confused her. Though I don't understand why they allowed this problem to go on for so long, I commend them for contacting me for help and I have given them some initial steps for retraining.

It is apparent that their frustration level is through the roof, but if they choose to see the dog as the problem, it will inhibit their ability to change her behavior.

Sherry Davis is a dog trainer/owner of CSI 4 K9s. Email her at csi4k9s@yahoo.com or follow her on Twitter @csi4K9s. These are her opinions, not necessarily The Californian's.