can another dogs bad habits rub off on my dog

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kmleger
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Joined: Sun Mar 15, 2009 10:16 am

can another dogs bad habits rub off on my dog

Post by kmleger »

ok heres the back story, sorry so long. i live with my mom & her 2 yr terrier mix milo. my 1 1/2 yr old yorkiepoo cooper is coming live with us after living 6 months with my ex out of state. coopers coming home permanently. hes very well housetrained in which he sits on the welcome mat or goes near the door when he needs to go, but i try to take him out regularly. when he was with my ex, he would be left alone from 7am-5pm mon-fri & rarely had an accident.

heres the problem. my moms dog milo is very BADLY housetrained if he was ever trained at all. he also goes all day before being let out. when my mom or i return home from work, there is an accident on the floor almost daily. all mom does is clean it up & refuses to try to retrain him, therefore he will never get any better.

my question is, once cooper is here & exposed to milos poorly trained habits, will he pick them up or worse & try to eat milos poop? i worry about cooper reverting to an un-housetrained state. they will both be contained to the living room area when left alone. should i just leave cooper by himself in my room? is there anything i can do? Any help at all will be greatly appreciated!
emmabeth
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Post by emmabeth »

Difficult to say...

He might, he might not.

When your dog moves in with you what I would do is go back to puppy house training with him, taking him out frequently and rewarding him really well when he goes, outside, with you watching.

This does several things - it limits his opportunities to go in the 'wrong' place, and it reminds him that theres good reason to go in the 'right' place.

Also you can show your mother house to house train this way, after all if you are doing it anyway.... she might as well! (Well thats the hope anyway!)

If he gets on with your mothers dog then I wouldnt shut him away, as this could cause more distress, but see how things work out, its hard to predict what will be the best option in this sort of situation.

Make sure your mom is cleaning up using something that is NOT ammonia based (most household cleaning products are), as these will leave a scent that draws dogs back to that same spot.
josie1918
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Location: nebraska, United States
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dog habits

Post by josie1918 »

Maybe you will be really lucky like I have been in the past and the dog that is house trained trains the other dog. Of course it could go either way, but .......It can happen.
MaiasMom
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Location: Everett, Washington

Re: can another dogs bad habits rub off on my dog

Post by MaiasMom »

Absolutely will they pick up on both good and bad behaviors. It seems to me the place to start is the one with bad behavior and retrain to good. It's a case of monkey see, monkey do. For me, the easiest way to train a puppy to good behavior is put it with a well trained older dog. My old dog trained Maia, Maia trained Kai and they both trained Tre',their son, I had very little to do in the potty training area.
The best days are spent with my dogs.
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