We found some of the best pet experts in metro Atlanta. Today’s advice comes from Kate Jackson of the Jabula Dog Academy. Click here to see all the AJCpets experts. And feel free to submit questions in the form of a comment today.

I have a 4-year-old Chow mix, who stays in the house at night. When I take her out in the morning, if I don’t have her on a leash, she runs up and down the street and won’t come if I call. I have to get in my car and go after her. Is there anyway I can keep her from running away?

Coming when called is one of the most difficult exercises to teach a dog. You need to start the difficult task of conditioning her to come when called. Get a long leash or rope, about 20 feet, which you attach to her collar when you take her out the door. Have some really good-tasting treats on you.

Take her out, let her go off to take care of business and sniff. Call her name and immediately tug on the rope so she instantly turns and comes over to you. Have her sit in front of you and give her a really good treat (like cheese or a piece of cooked chicken breast) and praise and pet her. Practice this until you don’t have to tug on the rope to have her come to you, and she gets into the habit of instantly turning and coming to you. Always use lots of praise and treats.

Eventually when she is conditioned to just stop and come back to you, you can start to just let the leash or rope drag around behind her should you need it. When you have not needed it for a few weeks, try without the leash or rope. Continue to use the treats and praise for a number of months.

We found some of the best pet experts in metro Atlanta. Look for your answers every Monday. Today’s advice comes from Kate Jackson of the Jabula Dog Academy. Click here to see all the AJCpets experts. And feel free to submit questions in the form of a comment today.

I have a 9-week-old Chihuahua mix. I’ve had her for 3 weeks now and she is IMPOSSIBLE to potty train. At first I had a housebreaking pad in the kennel but stopped doing that because everyone was telling me it’s not good. I took it out and put the divider in there so there’s just enough room for her and her little bed. I take her outside but as soon as I bring her in, she “goes” wherever she wants.

I left a housebreaking pad in the kitchen, and whenever I think she needs to go I put her there, but she just sits there and barks at me NONSTOP for 10 minutes. and when I put her back in the kennel she poops and pees in her bed! I’m getting so frustrated. I wake up three times in the middle of the night when she starts whining and take her to the kitchen and she still doesn’t do anything. I just can’t train her and it’s really stressing me out. Please help!!

It sounds like a very frustrating situation. Please keep in mind that a 9-week-old puppy is just a baby, and she hasn’t learned the appropriate behavior yet!
Chihuahuas can also be very challenging to house train. Please don’t give up on her! Start immediately feeding her in her crate, remove all bedding from her crate, and take her out to potty on a leash.

Her crate must be small enough just so that she can lie down and turn a small circle, no bigger. Removing the bedding will make her think twice about going potty in her crate because there will be no bedding to absorb the excess moisture. She will still have a few accidents, so be prepared for that, but it will improve! Feeding her in her crate will make her less likely to go potty in it as dogs do not like to potty where they eat. Taking her out to potty on a leash will prevent her running around and playing. Go to the exact same area of the yard and stand still and wait. After 5 minutes, take her back in and put her in her crate with a delicious chew treat. Examples of a high value chew treats are Bully Sticks, compressed rawhide and my favorite, raw beef sliced marrow bones. Giving her a high value chew treat will keep her busy in her crate and reinforce not to go potty in it.

After an hour take her back out and repeat the routine. The two key things here in making this work are making her crate really small with no bedding, and feeding her meals and treats in the crate. Don’t give up on her, she will be well worth the trouble when you get her through this!

We found some of the best pet experts in metro Atlanta. Look for your answers every week. Today’s advice comes from Kate Jackson of the Jabula Dog Academy. Click here to find out more about our experts.

My dog barks every morning very loudly at my husband when he gets ready to leave for work. This has been going on for two years now and I don’t know what to do to get him to stop. My husband has just been in the household for 2 years, so prior to that it was just me and my pets. I also have two cats. This really frustrates my husband and I have tried to get Giz to stop, but nothing has worked except for me to pick him up. Giz acts like he is jealous for attention, knowing that with my husband leaving for work I will give him a hug and kiss and I guess that Giz feels that I’m leaving him out. Please help!!

In many cases, dogs will attempt to control a person’s departure due to dominance-related issues. Your husband needs to get more involved in leadership exercises to teach Giz that he needs to be more respectful. Examples of leadership exercises are having Giz sit and stay for feeding. He needs to sit and stay before being released to eat. Have Giz sit and wait for your husband to walk through doorways and cross thresholds ahead of him. A very important leadership-building exercise is walking your dog in heel position on a daily basis. Giz should not be allowed to sniff and relieve himself along the walk. Your husband should set the pace and keep it brisk. Giz needs to earn rewards such as petting. Both you and your husband should have Giz sit before you pet him or pick him up. To deal with the immediate issue of the barking, put a leash on Giz first thing in the morning before the barking begins. The second the barking starts, give a stern “quiet” command, pick up the leash and walk him from the room and close him out of the room. The instant he stops barking, allow him back into the room. Repeat this exercise until Giz begins to associate the barking with being removed from the room. He should learn being quiet keeps him with his pack, and being demanding and barking gets him removed. Good luck!

We found some of the best pet experts in metro Atlanta. Look for your answers every Monday. Today’s advice comes from Kate Jackson of the Jabula Dog Academy. Consult with AJCpets experts . And feel free to submit questions in the form of a comment today.

Q: I have a 11 month old puppy and still having house training problems. I will take her outside and stay with her and she walks around and sniffs everything and I give her a long time to go. She will usually pee but won’t poop. BUT as soon as she comes inside she will poop in the house. I NEED HELP! I am very frustrated.
A: House training, or lack thereof can be very frustrating! Although the process is quite simple, you need to be very strict with your routine to make it really work! The first thing you need to do is keep a notepad and pen handy to write down the exact time your dog eliminates.

Keep a record of all bowel movements, both urination and defecation. Keeping a time record will help you get a better idea of your dogs elimination schedule to better anticipate when she needs to go. If you don’t already, make sure you feed your dog on a schedule also. Dogs should not have free access to their food, but rather eat twice a day and have only 10 minutes to eat. A big part of making house training successful is crate training.

Your dog should have a crate that is a positive experience for her. To start the potty training process, put your dog on a leash at least 6 foot long to go potty. Don’t be tempted to let her freely run around. Potty time should be a business trip, not a play date. Walk her to the exact same area of the yard each potty trip, stand quietly and calmly repeating the “go potty” command. I would give her 5 minutes at a time to take care of urinating and defecating. If she does not take care of both, she needs to go back into her crate for at least 30 – 45 minutes.

Do not scold her, but rather keep her leash on, lead her back to her crate calmly and giver a treat when she goes in. She will finally defecate on one of these trips. When this does happen, take her leash off outside and let her play. She now gets to stay out of her crate and play. It is really important that you be very consistent with keeping a written schedule, feeding schedule and crate training.

Good luck, and stick with these simple but important suggestions and it will come right!

We found some of the best pet experts in metro Atlanta. Look for your answers every Monday. Today’s advice comes from Kate Jackson of the Jabula Dog Academy. See all AJCPets experts. And feel free to submit questions in the form of a comment today.
Q: We have a Dachshund that was 11 months old when we got a new dachshund puppy. Since the day we got the new puppy she refuses to play. We have a house full of toys, and she won’t even look at most of them. When the puppy starts to play with them she dominates her and won’t let her play either. Is there a way to change this behavior? We’ve tried getting identicle toys, and presenting them at the same time, but that does nothing.
A: Introducing a new puppy into a family will often take an adjustment period. I am interested as to how long it has been since your new puppy arrived in your home. In some cases it can take a few months for a dog to adjust to a new addition to the pack.

In many cases, a dog finds it difficult to share when they received all the attention, toys and resources in the home for a long period of time. She also realizes that if she began to play with her toys, the puppy would want to join in, and she would have to share. Even with 2 identical toys, dogs always want the one the other has.

If there has been no aggression in the way she dominates the toys and ends the play, there is a higher likelihood of her adjusting and hopefully begin to enjoy her little sister and relax and play. In the mean time, you need to teach her that she cannot dominate your puppy’s playtime and bring it to a stop. I suggest attaching a lightweight leash to her collar whenever she is in the house and the puppy is free to play.

When the puppy begins playing and your dog begins to interrupt, quietly pick up the leash and direct her away. Do not scold her when you do this, it is merely a way to interrupt her behavior and redirect her attention back to you. Once she has moved away, give her a treat and tell her “good dog.”

Over time she will learn not to dominate and end the puppy’s playtime. When she has learned not to end the puppy’s playtime, she will hopefully remember how fun playing was and how much fun your new puppy is having, she will want to join in on the play and not dominate.

If you have not noticed a marked improvement in her attitude and play after about 4 weeks, you may need to seek out professional help.

We found some of the best pet experts in metro Atlanta. Look for your answers every Monday. Today’s advice comes from Kate Jackson of the Jabula Dog Academy. Click here to see all the AJCpets experts. And feel free to submit questions in the form of a comment today.
Q: I have a 4-month-old puppy and my boyfriend and I are in the process of crate training her. She is doing pretty good now, but my question is when we do take her out sometimes, she won’t go and we’ll stay out there for a good 10 minutes waiting. Then when we put her in the crate she’ll notice that we’re about to leave, so she’ll stick her little butt up against the crate and will use the bathroom outside of the crate while she’s still inside. Almost like she’s punishing us because we’re leaving. It drives us crazy because we don’t know what to do. HELP!
A: Sounds like you have a super smart little puppy! My first suggestion would be to try a different crate. Airline crates are the plastic hard shell crates. This will obviously prevent your puppy scooting her butt up to the edge of the crate to go potty. However, you will need to get a crate small enough that your puppy is able to turn around, stand up and lay down. She should not be able to walk around the crate.
The reason you want a small crate is to aid in preventing your puppy going to the bathroom inside the crate. Dogs are typically clean animals and do not want to lay in their own mess. Not being able to potty through the bars will make your puppy think twice. To reinforce this, feed your puppy all her meals in the crate. She will not want to potty where she eats. I would also suggest removing all her bedding when you leave her during the day or when she would typically go potty. If she sleeps in her crate at night, put her bedding back in her crate overnight.
Each time she goes into her crate when you are planning on leaving, make sure she has a super delicious treat. This treat should be something that will last at least 30 minutes. I like to have at least 3 Kong’s on hand at any given time. I suggest filling them with plain yogurt and putting them in the freezer. When you are planning to leave, put her in the crate 5 minutes before you leave with a frozen yogurt Kong. The frozen treat is to distract your puppy while you prepare to leave and then during you’re leaving.
To help with her going potty outside, always take her to the exact same spot in the yard on a leash. Give her a treat every time she goes outside. Although this may be very difficult, never scold, yell or discipline your puppy if you get home and she has gone potty in her crate. I think part of the problem may be that your puppy has learned that going potty in/through the crate gets your attention. Lots of dogs prefer to have negative attention of scolding than no attention of all. Good luck and be patient.

We found some of the best pet experts in metro Atlanta. Look for your answers every Monday. Today’s advice comes from Kate Jackson of the Jabula Dog Academy. Check out AJCPets experts. And feel free to submit questions in the form of a comment today.

Q: My mom and I have a golden border collie that we’ve had since he was 18-months-old (approximately). He was the sweetest dog for the first 2 years and then he started acting psychotic; he bites me, my mom, and anyone else who tries to make him stop doing something. He’s attacked some neighbors as well as my dog, a 3-year old basenji-chow who is NOT dominant at all.
We’ve tried several different trainers and behavioral experts, as well as “doggie downers” and other medication. Nothing seems to work - he keeps attacking and since we won’t give him up he has to walk with a muzzle and 2 leashes at all times when outdoors. Thankfully we have a backyard where he can run around, but I don’t want to have to muzzle him for the rest of his life when he goes to the groomers or the vets!
Is this a genetic thing with all golden border collies or is there something we can do to “fix” his behavioral issue? Note: he’s the “dominant male” of the house, he’s been fixed, and he should have been past his fighting phase years ago.
A: I believe that aggression is a genetic predisposition. That being said, I also believe life circumstances either enhance or inhibit aggression. I also believe that some methods of training can aggravate aggression and make the aggression worse.

Dogs are born with a genetic make up. Aggressive behaviors need be in a dogs genetic code for a dog to be aggressive and things that happen to a dog during its life will either nurture or suppress the aggression. It is difficult to say exactly what is going on with your dog, but I would be very interested in meeting him.

I have a dog who is severely dog and human aggressive, but lives in an environment with other dogs and people without incident. I will never “fix” him, he was born with a genetic predisposition to aggression and will always be prone to aggressive tendencies. I have however taken on the commitment to “manage” his aggression on a daily basis and continually condition him to exercise self control around other dogs and people.

Training in counter conditioning aggression is not about “fixing” aggression, it is about “managing” aggression effectively. Please feel free to call me at 404-373-6258 to talk about your situation further.

(Photo: iStock)

We found some of the best pet experts in metro Atlanta. Look for your answers every Monday. Today’s advice comes from Kate Jackson of the Jabula Dog Academy. See all the AJCPets experts. And feel free to submit questions in the form of a comment today.

Q: I have an 8-week-old black lab puppy that loves to bite and chew on my hands. What can I do to help him break this habit? I keep chew toys all over the place, but he seems to be more interested in chewing on me. I will be traveling with my sister and her small children soon and don’t want the puppy to chew on them. Please help!
A: Mouthing and chewing are a very natural part of a puppy’s development. Puppies learn through their mouth. You need to teach your puppy the appropriate use of its mouth. When you interact with your puppy make sure you always play and even pet with a toy in your hand. Dogs think in black and white, so you need to be consistent! Make it a rule to never allow teeth on skin. When your puppy’s teeth touch your skin make a sharp, firm noise such as “Egh, Egh,” and end the interaction immediately by freezing briefly and then walking away. Your puppy should learn that when his teeth touch your skin, interaction with you instantly ends. Mouthing and chewing the appropriate articles, like toys, means more fun and interaction with you. Make sure your puppy has chewies that are tasty and appropriate. Do not give too many at one time or your puppy will get bored. Frequently change out the toys and chewies to keep interest up.

Q: I think my dog (a Shih Tzu) has a split personality. For example, he loves my mom and will jump on her lap and sit there while she pets him. But on two occasions he has turned around and bit her (while looking totally calm the second before the bite). Please advise.
A: There could be several different reasons for this issue. If aggression suddenly starts with a dog you should consult your vet. It could be that your Shih Tzu has some pain, and when your mother touches a certain spot on him it causes the aggressive reaction. This is something you would want to rule out with your vet before you seek behavioral help.
If your vet does not find a cause for the aggression, then you need to look to the behavioral side. He would need an evaluation based on his age and the history of aggression. In the mean time, do not allow him to jump up onto a lap. Jumping on furniture is an act of dominance.He should only be invited up on occasion, petted for a short period of time and then go back to the floor. I would also make him earn rewards such as sitting on your lap. For example, have him sit and wait a few seconds before you invite him up. By having him earn rewards, you create more value and he will appreciate the time more. You also need to make sure he is getting enough exercise. Dogs will develop a host of issues when they do not get enough exercise. Even though he is a small dog, he still needs to walk in heel position and not stop to sniff and pee along the walk. If things do not improve, and his vet check comes back clear, you should seek professional help. He might need more intensive behavioral counter-conditioning.

We found some of the best pet experts in metro Atlanta. Look for your answers every Monday. Today’s advice comes from Tim Link, president of Wagging Tales and a practicing animal communicator and Reiki energy healer for pets. Do you wonder why your pet does that? Have Tim ask them why. He can speak to your pets, both living and dead. Read about all the AJCpets experts, then submit questions in the form of a comment today.

Q: Hi, I rescued a kitty 3 years ago, Lilly, from my office park. She was in bad shape and is now doing well. But she has some emotional problems. What is going on and what can I do to make her happy and calm?
A: Lilly is still going through some emotional trauma from being alone. She also is unsure about whether you want her to stay. Lilly will need constant reassurance that she is doing well and you are happy with her. Some calming herbs and flower essences added to her diet may help as well. Look for ways to offer Lilly confidence, stress relief and love.

Q: Our dog seems to be very well but she has changed her eating habits. Sometimes she doesn’t eat anything in the morning, other times it’s the evening. This has only happened about a couple of times over the last month and when she doesn’t eat the night before she is chowing down the next morning. We are just concerned that she can actually go a day without food. Is this normal behavior?
A: Though it is not recommended, dogs can go a day or two without eating. As long as they are staying hydrated, they should be fine. If the eating habits change drastically, if there is a change in appearance or behavior, or the dog stops eating for multiple days, contact your veterinarian immediately

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We found some of the best pet experts in metro Atlanta. Today’s advice comes from Kate Jackson of the Jabula Dog Academy. Meet all the AJCpets experts. And feel free to submit questions in the form of a comment today.

Q: I am away from home 10 hours a day. I purchased a female Shiba for my male, but he made our lives miserable for 3 weeks and I returned her to the breeder (he’s very possessive). How can I keep my dog entertained, while gated in my kitchen, so he doesn’t chew/destroy things? I can’t leave him out; he would destroy my entire house. But that is too long to crate. He is 9 months old. What can I do?
A: Before you leave for the day, make sure you have given him sufficient exercise. He should go for at least a 40-minute walk. Leave some toys out that will keep his attention and make him work for a reward.

Treat balls provide mental stimulation, as the dog has to interact with the ball to get it to drop a treat. Kongs are a good option also. Fill them with plain yogurt and freeze them. It will keep your Shiba busy. Make sure there are plenty of sufficient chew toys that taste good. You local pet store should carry a variety of these types of toys and treats.

When you get home, make sure you take your dog out and let him get rid of his energy by running around and playing. Enrolling him in an obedience class also will help give him something more constructive to do mentally.

Q: I have a 2 1/2-year-old mixed breed dog who has gotten really bad at barking and jumping when he sees other dogs during a walk. Any ideas on how to make him stop?
A: Your dog might be lacking some socialization. He may need to have some time in a fenced-in area to play and run with other dogs.

Provided he is not showing aggressive behavior towards the other dogs, he may just want a chance to run and play. It might be a good idea to take him to a dog daycare to satisfy his need for social time with other dogs. Also teach your dog the rules of leash walking by having him walk at your side and pay attention to you. Show your dog that you expect him to walk at your side and teach him to automatically sit when you stop. This will teach your dog pay more attention to you on the walks and less on what is going on around him.

Q: How do I get my dog to stop jumping up on people when they come into my house? He is being friendly, not mean.
A: Dogs jump up because they learn it gets them attention. Most dogs would rather have the negative attention of being scolded than no attention at all.

Consistently ask your dog to sit before you pet him. By doing this, you are teaching him that to get attention, he needs to sit. Again, be consistent and do this without distractions. When guests do come over, ask them to fold their arms and ask your dog to sit. If he jumps, tell them to quickly turn their backs and wait for him to stop jumping. Then ask him for a sit. If he sits he gets petted. If not, he is ignored. With enough consistency, you will teach him that sitting gets him attention, not jumping.

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