# 4 year old pug



## John84 (Sep 28, 2008)

Hi everyone,

I have a 4 year old Pug whom we are having a lot of issues with lately.

Here is some background...

When we (my girlfriend and I) first welcomed him into our home at 3 month's old we were renting a house. We had your typical puppy issues which soon dissipated. 2 years later, we decided to both move home to save money to purchase our first home. She took the pug with her to her parents place. No real issues during this time other than the fact that the pug was absolutely spoiled by my girlfriend's mom, sister, and little brothers. Anyway, we finally bought our house early this May and moved in the same month. Also, at this time our schedules at work changed so there were a lot of changes in general for ourselves and the pug.

... and the issues...

1) He has become very territorial. He barks any time somebody is walking on the sidewalk in front of the house. Mind you, the sidewalk is much closer in this house than any of the other places he has lived in. However, he now also barks at guests when they are leaving the house. I look this behaviour up and have been told that this is a territorial issue.

2) He gets into the garbage and rips everything to pieces. He does this when nobody is at home. We could be gone for a half hour and come home to garbage all over the place.

3) The worst issue is his potty issue. He pisses and dumps in the house constantly. It seems like every week I am scrubbing the carpet because of him. I offer to let him out before early morning and early afternoon before I go to work. There is a schedule overlap of 2 hours between mine (evening shift) and my girlfriends (morning shift) so he is never alone for very long except for the weekends when we go out at night. He refuses to go outside some days only to leave a big mess on the floor by the time my girlfriend gets home.

4) He gets into the cat litter. He eats the cat poo!! The litter box is tucked away in our storage room in the back of the house. He never likes to go into that room but lately I have caught him chewing on something near the litter box and there is litter and pieces of poo all over the ground.

5) He is the biggest mooch. This was most likely because of her little brothers and mom who gave him human food all the time. Anytime we sit down for a meal or a snack he sits as close as possible to us and stares. When we put the plate down, he tries to smell and lick it right away.

...in the beginning we thought that this was because of all of the changes so we disciplined him as necessary and didn't consider it something to worry about. But it's been 5 months now and the problems are not going away.

I feel like he doesn't know why he gets disciplined. I would hold his face an inch or so away from the mess and give him a few slaps on the nose while yelling 'no!'. Only to have him wag his tail in a playful way when I let go of him. I do this as soon as I get home and discover the misdeed.

What are we doing wrong? Or, is it the pug who needs to go to behavior classes? Would he be too old at 4 to learn anything new?

Sorry for the long post but I don't know what else to do at the moment. Thank you for taking the time to read and I would appreciate any replies and suggestions.


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## Sit_Stay (Sep 7, 2008)

Well, I can address number two. Can you move the garbage to the garage, or somewhere else the dog would not be able to get to?


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## pugmom (Sep 10, 2008)

I am going to come back in a few minutes and try to give you some advice after I calm down  and count to 10 a few times....

but here is my first tip.....STOP slapping your pug in the face!


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## John84 (Sep 28, 2008)

"Can you move the garbage to the garage, or somewhere else the dog would not be able to get to?"

The garbage in the kitchen is too high for him to get to but we have smaller garbage cans in the bedroom, computer room, and washroom that he is able to tip over. I was thinking of maybe putting a weight on the bottom of the smaller cans to keep him from tipping it over?

"STOP slapping your pug in the face!"

Maybe I should have chosen my words more carefully. I tap him on the nose. However, being a pug with such a flat nose, it ends up being more of a slap on the face. I was told this is how you are supposed to discipline dogs. Please don't think negatively on me. I am not a cruel person and I do not enjoy disciplining him but I must do something.

Thank you so far for your responses.


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## Texas-Girl (Sep 17, 2008)

Have you considered crating him while he's alone?


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## Boleyn (Aug 25, 2008)

Hitting, "tapping", slapping, any sort of physical punishment does no good! Catch him being good, and reward him - with praise and food. Punishing him when you get home and the deed is done makes no sense to him. He will just assume that your arrival means an unhappy time. When he goes potty outside, praise him vigorously and give him a high-value treat, like a piece of chicken or cheese. When he is inside, _keep a close eye on him_ and watch for signs that he is going to pee or poop, and take him outside. 

Pugs love food - so do most dogs. They smell food in the garbage. When you are gone, keep him in a crate, or gate him out of the area where the trash is. Put it in a cupboard or up off the ground. If I left my Pugs loose while I was gone, I'd come home to trash everywhere and probably much worse.
Same with the cat litter - many dogs LOVE cat poop. Prevent him from accessing these things, and he won't eat it. It's that simple. 

I think a crate would really benefit you - or at least give him a small area that is dog-proof and he can be secluded in. Give him a bed or blanket or towel and perhaps turn on a radio nearby, then leave him and don't acknowledge any fussing. Put him there when you eat, giving him something fun like a Kong stuffed with cheese or peanut butter, etc. It's not so much his behavior, it's the situations that need to be managed - prevent him from doing wrong, and praise him for doing right.


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## georgygirl (Nov 28, 2006)

If I were you, I'd crate train your pug. That way, when you are gone you won't have to worry about what he's getting into. It could also help you a bit with the housetraining. 

I have cats too and my boston loves to get into the litter boxes, so what we did was move them into a closet and put a baby gate up. The cats can hop over the baby gate and use the litter box in peace and the dog can't get in.

Now, with the house training I'd start from the beginning. First rule: DO NOT punish a dog for something that happened when you weren't there. They live in the present so he will have no idea what you are punishing him for. Second rule: Do not hit/slap/tap your dogs face (or anywhere else for that matter) for punishment. It's got enough breathing issues as it is. If he has an accident, ultimately it's your fault. Set him up on a schedule where he gets taken out regularly. I'd say at least every couple hours. You can lengthen the time when he starts to get the idea, but it's a good place to start. Now when he actually does potty outside praise him A LOT and give him an extra special treat. Hopefully he'll associate going outside with getting something good. If you catch him going in the house make a noise to stop him and immediately take him outside to finish. DON'T punish him. It was your fault for not noticing the signals he was giving that he had to go.


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## pugmom (Sep 10, 2008)

Boleyn said:


> Hitting, "tapping", slapping, any sort of physical punishment does no good! Catch him being good, and reward him - with praise and food. Punishing him when you get home and the deed is done makes no sense to him. He will just assume that your arrival means an unhappy time. When he goes potty outside, praise him vigorously and give him a high-value treat, like a piece of chicken or cheese. When he is inside, _keep a close eye on him_ and watch for signs that he is going to pee or poop, and take him outside.
> 
> Pugs love food - so do most dogs. They smell food in the garbage. When you are gone, keep him in a crate, or gate him out of the area where the trash is. Put it in a cupboard or up off the ground. If I left my Pugs loose while I was gone, I'd come home to trash everywhere and probably much worse.
> Same with the cat litter - many dogs LOVE cat poop. Prevent him from accessing these things, and he won't eat it. It's that simple.
> ...


Good Post...x2

My pug also loved to get into the trash...so now I have replaced my old bathroom trash can w/ one that has a lid ...also we keep the bathroom door closed as much as possible.

To keep him out of the cat box, I also recommend putting up a baby gate ...kitty Mcnuggets are too much for almost any dog to resist.


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## Boleyn (Aug 25, 2008)

pugmom said:


> ...kitty Mcnuggets are too much for almost any dog to resist.


Kitty McNuggets!!  LOL! I love that term, Pugmom!!

BTW Chloe has such a sweet face... reminds me of a little girl I fostered for a few weeks, she was a puppy mill rescue. Now she lives in MD and is living life to the fullest.


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## John84 (Sep 28, 2008)

"It's not so much his behavior, it's the situations that need to be managed"

...that sentence alone answers a lot of questions. I thought it was the pug; he was never this bad before but I suppose the situation was much different before as well.

"They live in the present so he will have no idea what you are punishing him for."

...I often wondered this because it does seem like he has no clue what I am disciplining him for; hence the tail wagging as soon as I let him go.

Thank you to everyone that has responded. We have decided that leaving him in the kitchen with baby gates when we are away or eating may be the best solution. If he does have an 'accident' at least it won't be on carpet. This will also solve the garbage as well as the Kitty McNuggets issues. It's nice to know that his behavior is normal. I was starting to think that he was becoming uncontrollable.

What can we do about the 'barking at outsiders' problem?


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## Boleyn (Aug 25, 2008)

John84 said:


> What can we do about the 'barking at outsiders' problem?


I am not a training expert at all, so hopefully someone else can jump in here. I can offer what has worked for me, but perhaps others may know a better technique. I have used a technique called positive redirect - when someone walks by and the barking starts, get a high value treat and call your dog. Just be very calm and don't raise your voice or add to his excitement. Praise him and give him little bits of treat, so that his attention is focused on you. He is being rewarded for looking to you for direction, instead of making a fuss over passers-by. I attach a word to the treat - you can use "cookie" or whatever. I use "treat" - and I say it in a silly voice so it's actually "tweet tweet!" (nobody laugh!  ) Having an emergency word is very helpful, because it will get your dog to forget everything and focus on you. Last week I accidentally dropped a few pills on the kitchen floor, so I called "tweet tweet!" before anyone could dive on them. This might work for the barking, it's worth a shot at least. Again, I am not an expert here for perhaps someone will have a better idea. 

Pugs are such food lovers that treats are a big help. Get something really yummy - boil some chicken breast and cube it, slice up some cheddar cheese, or some people use hot dogs. Small pieces and something that smells good. You can also buy freeze-dried treats to keep in your pocket at all times so it is handy.


Oh - two things I forgot to mention RE: housebreaking. Make sure you are using an enzymatic cleaner made for removing pet messes. Regular cleaners won't actually get rid of the smell for him, and he will be tempted to re-mark those areas. Another thing that a lot of Pug people swear by are Belly Bands - you can Google the term to find them online. It's a band that wraps around the waist and covers him up so if he tries to mark, the pad absorbs it. Some people argue this doesn't cure the problem, but at least it saves your furniture, and if he isn't successfully marking things with his scent, he won't be going there to _re_-mark them.

Good luck and keep us posted!


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