Discouraging A Terrier From Nipping
Transcript for:
Discouraging A Terrier From Nipping MR. SAM LITZINGER
12:43:34
I'm Sam Litzinger with Dr. Gary Weitzman, chief executive officer of the Washington Animal Rescue League. We want to hear about your pet's curious behavior, maybe your curious behavior too. 1-877-610-3647. Animalhouse@wamu.org is our email address. Again, the telephone number is 1-877-610-3647. The email address is animalhouse@wamu.org, plus guess the genus and species of our animal of the day at facebook.com/wamuanimalhouse. Let us take a telephone call first from Mary. Mary, glad to have you with in "The Animal House." Question for Dr. Gary?
MARY
12:44:11
I have two female Beagles.
LITZINGER
12:44:14
Good for you, Mary.
MARY
12:44:14
Oh, yes.
DR. GARY WEITZMAN
12:44:16
Yes.
MARY
12:44:16
Yeah. I probably only have them because my husband hunts them, but they are really cute dogs, but I have a real problem with the housebreaking issue. Misty is three and a half, and she's the mom of Princess Fanny, who is one and a half.
WEITZMAN
12:44:29
Okay.
LITZINGER
12:44:30
That's a good name. Why Princess Fanny, just of curiosity, Mary?
MARY
12:44:32
Well, the kids named her Princess because she looked like she had pearls around her neck...
LITZINGER
12:44:37
Aww.
MARY
12:44:38
...and white paws, and she got the name of Fanny because she was no princess. (laugh)
WEITZMAN
12:44:43
Oh. (laugh) .
MARY
12:44:44
She has so much personality she doesn't know what to do with it. But they're both...
LITZINGER
12:44:48
That's a nice mix.
MARY
12:44:49
Yeah, it is. But they're both peeing and pooping wherever they feel like it, whenever it's inconvenient or distasteful for them to go outside.
LITZINGER
12:44:56
That's one of them calling in the background now….
WEITZMAN
12:44:57
I think so, to complain.
LITZINGER
12:44:58
...saying by the way, I peed and pooped in the living room, mom, I just wanted to let you know.
MARY
12:45:00
Right. Right. Right. I just wanted to let you know. I did it again.
LITZINGER
12:45:02
Yeah. So we got a housebreaking problem here.
WEITZMAN
12:45:03
Oh, okay.
MARY
12:45:05
But I work from home, and we have a really large open floor plan, so it was hard for me when I trained them to keep them confined without caging them...
WEITZMAN
12:45:13
Yeah.
MARY
12:45:13
...at which time they would howl and drive me nuts.
WEITZMAN
12:45:16
Oh, as -- yes, as only Beagles can do, the howling.
MARY
12:45:18
Oh, you know.
WEITZMAN
12:45:19
Yeah. Yeah.
MARY
12:45:20
But they -- I trained them with jingle bells, and they did a pretty good job of jingle bell stuff down, when they feel like it.
WEITZMAN
12:45:28
Okay. Yeah.
MARY
12:45:28
And what -- and sometimes they will go out and come back in, and 15 minutes later, I find that they've peed and/or pooped wherever they felt like doing that.
LITZINGER
12:45:37
Ooh.
WEITZMAN
12:45:38
Oh.
LITZINGER
12:45:38
Okay. So...
MARY
12:45:38
So I'm just...
WEITZMAN
12:45:39
Yeah.
LITZINGER
12:45:40
Bad habits.
MARY
12:45:41
...like (makes noise) .
WEITZMAN
12:45:41
Yeah. That's terrible. Has it always been like this?
MARY
12:45:44
Pretty much. And I think it's because the mom wasn't like that until the pups came along and started doing that, and it took us a long time to get rid of the puppies.
WEITZMAN
12:45:50
Yeah.
MARY
12:45:51
And I couldn't train five puppies at one time, so the bad habits were established...
WEITZMAN
12:45:55
Yeah.
MARY
12:45:56
...and it's my fault for not really getting on top of it. But what I started to do this past week was lock them in my office with me, and they're actually not being too crazy, and I only give them a treat if they cry to go out, not if I periodically let them out.
WEITZMAN
12:46:11
Okay. All right. So is that working?
MARY
12:46:14
Well, it worked once, so far. I just started it, but I don't trust them not to just do exactly what they have been doing.
WEITZMAN
12:46:21
Yeah. Yeah.
MARY
12:46:22
It's just when they don't feel -- the other day when it was really cold and windy, I let them outside, they came in and peed.
WEITZMAN
12:46:27
Oh, right. Right. Because who wants to do that out there? I know, when the weather's bad, yes, of course.
MARY
12:46:30
Exactly.
LITZINGER
12:46:31
It's cold out there.
WEITZMAN
12:46:32
It's gonna be a long winter for you if that keeps up.
MARY
12:46:34
Yeah.
WEITZMAN
12:46:35
Okay. There's two things. The bad news is obviously they're not housebroken. The good news is, it's very easy to fix that, relatively so.
MARY
12:46:41
Oh, good.
WEITZMAN
12:46:42
Because they're young, they can still learn this, but the hard part for you is going to be treating them as they're both pups that you've just brought in, because you've really got to start with square one.
MARY
12:46:50
Okay.
WEITZMAN
12:46:51
And I'm gonna recommend a crate, but you don't have to use crates for them, you can just use a very restricted small area of the house. But the big mistake people make is even though you've had these wonderful dogs for, you know, three...
MARY
12:47:02
Yeah.
WEITZMAN
12:47:02
Did you say one of them is five years old?
MARY
12:47:04
One is three and a half...
WEITZMAN
12:47:05
One's three and a half.
MARY
12:47:05
...and she was almost all the way housebroken...
WEITZMAN
12:47:07
Yeah.
MARY
12:47:07
...but she would have occasional accidents, so...
WEITZMAN
12:47:09
Well, she's had a setback with the litter.
MARY
12:47:10
Yeah. With the litter, yeah.
WEITZMAN
12:47:12
Yeah. But don't fall for it. They are not...
LITZINGER
12:47:15
(laugh) It's a trick, Mary.
WEITZMAN
12:47:16
Yes. It's a total trick. They...
MARY
12:47:18
Oh, she is a good trickster.
WEITZMAN
12:47:19
...don't have privileges yet. You have to really make sure that you start from scratch with them, and don't give them free reign of the house. That's the biggest problem that people have...
MARY
12:47:26
Okay.
WEITZMAN
12:47:26
...with housebreaking, because it's just too much. You know, they're not trying to do the wrong thing, they're just trying to do what they figured out to do and what seems successful. House training is all about reward, it's never about punishment.
MARY
12:47:38
Right.
WEITZMAN
12:47:38
So you're doing the right thing, you know, really good to have them tell you that they have to go out, get out there, let them do their thing, reward them when they ask to go outside, and when they actually do what they're supposed to do outside. Then it's all a reward-based behavior. But you've got to really cut off access to the rest of the house to get that to happen.
MARY
12:47:56
Yeah. And I figured that out, it's just with this house being as wide open and large as it is, I've got to corral them immediately into my office...
WEITZMAN
12:48:02
Hmm.
MARY
12:48:03
...and lock them here in my office, because the minute I turn my back on them, they can run down the steps and they'll be in my husband's shop peeing and pooping in the sawdust.
WEITZMAN
12:48:11
Oh, yeah. You know, actually, that's a really interesting thing that you said, because an open floor plan could be more difficult for dogs to master than, you know, small rooms.
MARY
12:48:20
Oh, I'm sure it is.
WEITZMAN
12:48:21
Yeah. Because you've just got the whole world for them right there, and, you know, even if they learn, don't go in the den, you know, they're gonna say, well, the basement or the workshop or wherever else they can go, the dining room, you know, is perfectly okay.
LITZINGER
12:48:31
It's all one big room, really.
WEITZMAN
12:48:32
Yeah. Yeah. It's all one big world.
MARY
12:48:35
And that really is the way that the house is, but then we take them to my mother-in-law's house, it's a much smaller little old farmhouse, and they do the same thing there.
WEITZMAN
12:48:43
Yeah. Yeah.
MARY
12:48:44
That's not a good thing.
WEITZMAN
12:48:45
Don't bring them to family yet. Get this fixed first. And you really -- you ought to be able to do it within about a month.
MARY
12:48:51
Oh, that's good news.
WEITZMAN
12:48:51
And if you have trouble doing it, then I'd say, get a private trainer in for maybe two sessions to help you with this.
MARY
12:48:56
Oh, okay.
WEITZMAN
12:48:57
And I can certainly give you a list of them if you want to call me up at the shelter or check locally for you.
LITZINGER
12:49:02
But it's all positive reinforcement.
MARY
12:49:02
I will, but I'm...
WEITZMAN
12:49:03
All positive, yeah.
MARY
12:49:04
...I'm hoping that they will get it even with this large floor plan in a month's time. I can live with that.
WEITZMAN
12:49:10
Yeah.
LITZINGER
12:49:10
They're Beagles, they're genius dogs.
WEITZMAN
12:49:12
They're geniuses.
MARY
12:49:12
Well, and..
LITZINGER
12:49:14
Thanks, Mary. Give us a progress report in about a month, will you?
MARY
12:49:17
Okay. Thank you.
LITZINGER
12:49:17
And if you have specific problems, drop Dr. Gary a line too.
MARY
12:49:20
Okay. Thanks.
WEITZMAN
12:49:21
Okay.
LITZINGER
12:49:21
Thanks very much, yeah.
WEITZMAN
12:49:22
Bye.
LITZINGER
12:49:23
Yeah. It must be so confusing for the dogs to have that...
WEITZMAN
12:49:25
I know. I never thought that before.
LITZINGER
12:49:26
It's huge, come on, it's all mine.
WEITZMAN
12:49:27
Yeah.
LITZINGER
12:49:27
It's a huge open floor plan. 1-877-640-3647. Our email address is animalhouse@wamu.org. Here's an email question from Amy. "Our kitty, Licorice, is two years old and has a swollen nose. This is a condition that's developed over time. She's tested negative for crypto," what's that?
WEITZMAN
12:49:47
Oh, it's an infection, but that would be an unusual one. Okay.
LITZINGER
12:49:50
Okay. "She eats, plays, and purrs, and acts normally. She has started rubbing it on occasion, her nose, but otherwise is fine. Any thoughts?" What would account possibly for a swollen nose in a kitty?
WEITZMAN
12:50:00
Ooh, heavens, this is where we get into those lovely malpractice issues that we try and diagnose.
LITZINGER
12:50:04
Well, what are the range of possibilities. What -- in other words, let's make it more specific. When Amy goes to the vet, which I assume...
WEITZMAN
12:50:09
Exactly.
LITZINGER
12:50:10
...she -- you would like her to do...
WEITZMAN
12:50:11
I would love her to do that.
LITZINGER
12:50:12
...what should be asking?
WEITZMAN
12:50:13
This is a young cat, so I would definitely talk to her vet about all the differentials and they could be anything from infection to an autoimmune disease to things like we used to call them rodent ulcers because we thought that cats got bit on the face by a rat or a mouse...
LITZINGER
12:50:26
Hmm.
WEITZMAN
12:50:26
...and caused this ulceration, but they actually can be autoimmune or immune-mediated disorders in cats, and they're pretty common. That's the range of it, infection or an immune-mediated disorder. But I would definitely have her checked by her vet, because honestly, if it's looking so wrong to the owner...
LITZINGER
12:50:44
If it's noticeable.
WEITZMAN
12:50:45
Yes. If it's noticeable, it's probably painful too.
LITZINGER
12:50:48
Right.
WEITZMAN
12:50:48
So I would definitely have her checked out by her vet to find out what that is and then get the proper treatment for it. The nice thing is that often, you know, with an injection or some medications, then those autoimmune or immune-mediated problems can go away pretty easily. The problem with that is it can come back.
LITZINGER
12:51:00
It must be difficult for the cats because they -- oh, it can come back?
WEITZMAN
12:51:03
Yeah.
LITZINGER
12:51:03
Yeah. But it must be awful for the cat because the cat...
WEITZMAN
12:51:05
Oh, yeah, terrible.
LITZINGER
12:51:05
...depends on the nose so much.
WEITZMAN
12:51:07
Yeah, terrible.
LITZINGER
12:51:08
What did you say crypto was again? Is that a common problem?
WEITZMAN
12:51:10
Yeah. It's an infection. It is not that common in cats, but it's good that it's ruled out. But I imagine she's already been to her vet if she has that ruled out.
LITZINGER
12:51:17
Okay. Well, she's got to go back. Maybe the condition has worsened since she took her in for the crypto test.
WEITZMAN
12:51:20
Yeah. And of course, you know, don't be afraid, anybody out there with a chronic problem with their animal and the skin, if it can't be diagnosed by a physical exam, get a quick biopsy.
LITZINGER
12:51:29
Good. Our telephone number is 1-877-610-3647. Our email address is animalhouse@wamu.org. Let's take a phone call from Melissa. Melissa, glad to have you with us in "The Animal House." Question for Dr. Gary?
MELISSA
12:51:41
We adopted Charlie this last June from our local animal shelter, and he...
WEITZMAN
12:51:45
Oh, good. Good for you.
MELISSA
12:51:46
Yeah. And he's now a year and a half, and he's 30 pounds. He's a Cairn Terrier mix.
WEITZMAN
12:51:51
Okay.
MELISSA
12:51:52
One of his issues is when he gets really anxious or excited, he chomps his teeth together. He makes like a chomping sound, and he chomps his teeth together, and then he also jumps up and nips or mouths our hands.
WEITZMAN
12:52:05
Ooh.
MELISSA
12:52:05
And -- yeah. We took him to puppy school this last fall, and that was good, and that helped, and we also used squirt guns sometimes with him.
WEITZMAN
12:52:13
Hmm, okay.
MELISSA
12:52:13
And that seems to help like kind of reinforce that this isn't a good behavior, but I get really concerned when he's around toddlers, and I actually end up helicoptering around toddlers.
WEITZMAN
12:52:22
Oh, yeah. I'd very concerned about that, okay.
MELISSA
12:52:25
Yeah. You know, I mean, he's never -- it never hurts, it never leaves a mark or anything, but it's scary. I...
WEITZMAN
12:52:31
How old did you say Charlie is now?
MELISSA
12:52:33
Well, when we got him they said he was a year.
WEITZMAN
12:52:35
Okay.
MELISSA
12:52:35
We probably think he was more like nine months, ten months, so -- yeah.
WEITZMAN
12:52:37
Okay. All right. So he's still -- he's a young a dog still. You're very, very right to be concerned about him, especially if you're around a lot of toddlers or children.
MELISSA
12:52:46
Mm-hmm.
WEITZMAN
12:52:46
This is, I mean, any terrier -- terriers are bred to hunt and hurt, and, you know, unlike a Border Collie which is, you know, herding or even a Shepherd, but terriers, they're bred way, way back in terrier, you know, origins, to bite. So even if his biting doesn't hurt or break the skin at this point, it's going to. So I would say first of all, don't let Charlie around the kids yet, I mean, the ones that aren't your own kids...
MELISSA
12:53:09
Okay.
WEITZMAN
12:53:10
….that don't --that aren't educated and you can't protect.
MELISSA
12:53:11
Sure.
WEITZMAN
12:53:13
And then I think you do need to have a couple things, one is, do some positive training with him, so make sure that he's listening, and really the squirt gun thing doesn't work. I mean, even if it's helping a little bit now...
MELISSA
12:53:23
Okay.
WEITZMAN
12:53:24
….down the road, it's probably gonna make things worse, and what he's reacting to...
MELISSA
12:53:27
Okay.
WEITZMAN
12:53:28
...is he's having an explosion of emotion, which is why he can't hold it in, and he's biting as he jumps up. So you definitely don't want to make things more exiting for him with a squirt gun, but you want to redirect...
MELISSA
12:53:38
Sure.
WEITZMAN
12:53:38
...that behavior to something more appropriate, and that's usually done with reward rather than something, you know, even though a squirt gun's not gonna hurt him, it's gonna get him -- it's gonna put him in the wrong direction.
MELISSA
12:53:47
Sure.
WEITZMAN
12:53:48
So I would say, I'd get a private trainer and, you know...
MELISSA
12:53:51
Okay.
WEITZMAN
12:53:51
...it won't be for, you know, a year. It'll be for a couple weeks, and start to get him rewarded for better behavior so that you know what his limit is. Because the real reality here is that since he is a terrier, there may be a limit to what you can expose him to as far as children are concerned. So that's -- and that's the thing about terriers. They're wonderful, great dogs with great personalities, but there's a limit to what you can expose them to because they're still terriers and they're gonna want to do what terriers do.
MELISSA
12:54:18
Yeah.
WEITZMAN
12:54:20
So that's why I'd say...
MELISSA
12:54:20
Sure.
WEITZMAN
12:54:20
...get a private trainer to your house, a one on one, lots of exercise for this guy because he needs to really get exhausted, and get somebody in to help you to reward him for more appropriate behavior so that at the very least you know where that limit is.
MELISSA
12:54:32
Sure.
WEITZMAN
12:54:32
We're not talking about, you know, a college degree, you know. It's really maybe a month of having a trainer there, and then a lot of it's done on your own, and then there's a limit, there's just knowing where his end point is of what he can be exposed to. I'm sure he's a wonderful guy, you know, a wonderful little dog.
MELISSA
12:54:48
Yeah. Oh, he is. He's really great.
WEITZMAN
12:54:50
Yeah. But teeth can never touch a human. That's the real thing you have to train him for.
MELISSA
12:54:53
Right. Yeah.
WEITZMAN
12:54:55
And it's best done with positive training.
LITZINGER
12:54:57
Give that a try, would you, Melissa...
MELISSA
12:54:57
Okay.
LITZINGER
12:54:58
...and report back to us if you don't mind giving us a kind of report card after Charlie's...
WEITZMAN
12:55:02
Yeah.
LITZINGER
12:55:02
...gone through a little training.
WEITZMAN
12:55:04
And if you need a good trainer, I can, you know...
MELISSA
12:55:05
Sure.
WEITZMAN
12:55:05
...call me at the shelter and I'll be happy to get you somebody in your area that can help you.
LITZINGER
12:55:09
Yeah. Or drop Gary an email.
MELISSA
12:55:09
Which shelter are you at?
LITZINGER
12:55:11
Washington Animal Rescue League.
WEITZMAN
12:55:13
Yes. Thank you for saying that.
MELISSA
12:55:13
Oh, Washington Animal...
LITZINGER
12:55:14
That's where he'd be, and Gary has email address there that you can just drop him a line if you need somebody local.
MELISSA
12:55:17
Wonderful.
WEITZMAN
12:55:18
Yeah, definitely.
LITZINGER
12:55:19
Thanks, Melissa.
MELISSA
12:55:20
Thank you. Thank you.
WEITZMAN
12:55:21
Sure. Good luck with him.
LITZINGER
12:55:22
This kind of follows up to our next email question, because this is gonna be so easy for you.
WEITZMAN
12:55:27
Okay.
LITZINGER
12:55:27
"I have a friend..." this is from Allison. "I have a friend looking to adopt a cat." Say, Gary, where is the best place to find a cat?
WEITZMAN
12:55:35
Well, if you can't get to the Washington Animal Rescue League (laugh) then...
LITZINGER
12:55:39
Would you say an animal shelter would be?
WEITZMAN
12:55:40
I'd say an animal shelter, yes.
LITZINGER
12:55:40
Aah.
WEITZMAN
12:55:41
Go to an animal shelter. You don't even have to go to an animal shelter anymore, you can go to any, you know, pet stores have a lot of rescue groups that are getting cats -- trying to get cats out to -- and that's really the biggest issue, trying to get cats into homes. But definitely go to a shelter.
LITZINGER
12:55:56
And most shelters have what the Washington Animal Rescue League has which is a kind -- a meet your match program.
WEITZMAN
12:56:00
Well...
LITZINGER
12:56:00
So presumably, Allison is looking for a cat that will fit her lifestyle.
WEITZMAN
12:56:04
Mm-hmm. Sure. Yeah.
LITZINGER
12:56:05
And so there is some way to judge how that could be done?
WEITZMAN
12:56:07
You know, definitely there are a lot of shelters with very limited resources, so may have not an elaborate system in place, but they certainly have someone to talk to, and they've got a lot devoted volunteers usually, and caretakers who know the animals and help guide whomever into the right forever companion. So I think definitely go to your shelter, talk to them about what you're looking for.
LITZINGER
12:56:27
That was the biggest, fattest softball question you'll ever be asked on this program.
WEITZMAN
12:56:30
Wasn't the best? I love that.
LITZINGER
12:56:31
Where is the best place to get an animal, and it was just -- that was so easy for Gary Weitzman.
WEITZMAN
12:56:36
That's just to make up for the Chinchilla questions you lobbed at me earlier.
LITZINGER
12:56:39
(laugh) The really tough ones, the tough ones, that made up for it. Thank you, Gary.
WEITZMAN
12:56:43
Sure.
MS. SANDRA TSING-LOH
12:56:44
Is pregnancy a drag? This is Sandra Tsing-Loh with the Loh Down on Science saying it is if you're a Bottlenose Dolphin. Meet Shawn Noren from U.C. Santa Cruz. She filmed swimming and very pregnant people-friendly dolphins in Hawaii before and after they gave birth. She also compared their weights and girth. She found that pregnant dolphins had 51 percent more surface area. That's a whale of a baby bump.
MS. SANDRA TSING-LOH
12:57:13
This actually doubled the drag they encountered in the water, and slowed them to a crawl. Their average swim speed plummeted by 62 percent. They also stiffened up and moved by beating their tails in unusually short and quick stubby strides, the dolphin version of the mother-to-be waddle. As if all this weren't enough, their blubbery bods made them way too buoyant. They had to work four times harder to dive.
MS. SANDRA TSING-LOH
12:57:39
In a nutshell, a dolphin with a well-baked bun in the oven can barely get around, making it harder to catch dinner, and easier to be dinner. And don't even talk to me about water weight. But it all works out, and when baby Flipper comes out, so worth it. Aww.
NARRATOR
12:57:59
The Loh Down on Science online at lohdown.org. Produced by 89.3 KPCC and the California Institute of Technology, and made possible by TIAA CREF.
LITZINGER
12:58:13
We'll close the door of "The Animal House" today with the answer to our Critter Quiz. Earlier we asked if you knew the name of the one place on earth where feral squirrels cannot be found. The answer? Australia. Although Gray Squirrels were introduced there around 1880, their colonies died out. The Indian Palm Squirrel was introduced around 1898 and is confined to the area in and around the South Perth Zoo. Thanks to our guests Mark Pearson, Chris Servheen, Brian Sharp, David Mizejewski and Paul Trout. Also thanks to Dr. Gary Weitzman for his contribution today. Thanks to you for joining us in "The Animal House." I'm Sam Litzinger.
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