Should I scold my dog for messing in the house if I couldn't get home to let him out?

No that would be cruel. The dog had no choice.

We have 3 perfectly housebroken dogs. If I lock them in and they have an accident it is my fault. They do not like going in the house and would have gone out if they were able to.

Never scold the dog for the mess UNLESS you catch him in the act. The dog does not have a memory like a human, and will have no idea what you are mad about. If you are able to catch him in the act of messing in the house, grab him up and take him to the outside with a firm “NO!” and he will get the message. If the dog is an older dog, he may be upset that he has been left behind by his master. Lots of love and attention will overcome this in time, but please be patient with him.

NO, don’t scold him. You just said you know it wasn’t his fault. It was YOUR’S. You weren’t there to let him out. It’s as simple as that.

why would you do that to the dog? :(

Don’t scold him. It would be confusing and cruel to the dog.

Your job as a pet owner is to treat your animal well. Keeping a dog in the house all day with no way to relieve itself is not living up to your obligation.

Find a neighborhood teen or a friend you can pay to let your dog out when you’ll be unable to come home. Install a doggie door. Send the dog to doggie daycare for the day. There are other options besides forcing the animal to go in the house.

Scold yourself instead.

Matter of fact, I’d suggest consoling and petting the dog even. Generally, dogs that have been house trained don’t like to make a mess. Very possibly, your dog will already acknowledge the “wrong-doing” by keeping its head down and tail tucked when you arrive.

I agree with those above who say don’t scold. I would in addition take the dog out as soon as you get home and praise him if he goes again.

In addition, if you have a fenced yard you might consider a dog door.

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If the dog is locked inside all day with no place to expel its waste, the dog doesn’t have much alternative.
Get some nature’s miracle, clean up and do what you can to provide a place for your new dog to do its business.

Disciplining a dog hours after the fact does little.

How can I put it in a nice way?..... What the hell! There’s no need to hit the dog because of your mistake, it’s not his fault his owner is away and you have to watch him, if you didn’t want to why did you accept? And it’s just fucken stupid that you would hit him and he’s not even yours! There are other ways to discipline them other than scolding.

@Tink1113 I think the OP would 100% wrong to discipline the dog in any way because of her (his?) irresponsible actions. However, as far as I know, scolding=/=hitting. Scolding is verbal.

Nope. It will only confuse the dog.

@Tink1113 – The OP hasn’t done anything at all to the dog yet and doesn’t even know if the dog has had or will have an accident as this is the first day the OP hasn’t been able to run home from work to let the dog out. In addition, the OP is asking about “scolding,” which is saying things such as “Bad dog!” and does not imply any sort of hitting.

@Tink1113 No one said “hit.” Except you.

I actually think that you should scold the dog.
To scold the dog would serve the purpose of reinforcing the rule of no poop in the house.
To not scold would do the exact opposite of the above.

@VS I am glad you mentioned about not scolding the dog for “bad behavior” even though, obviously, the dog messing in the house because no one waqs there to let him out is certainly not bad behaviour unless you catch them in the act. It is pointless and may lead the doog to associate a scolding with another act which may be perfectly well behaved.

When I am helping to train other peoples dogs I am always amazed by the amount of times people will catch their dogs doing something wrong and then call the dogs to them in order to tell them off. They don’t realise that all they are doing is teling the dog of for coming to them when called!

Sorry about that guys, apparently i don’t know the difference of those words. And I never said he hit the dog, I just said it would be stupid if he did. Either way it still applies.

OKAY to clarify, I’n not going to HIT the dog…I took the dog permanently, I knew the responsibilites and expenses involved…I have never trained a dog to be inside before so my question was only asked if I should SCOLD him NOT HIT him because I want to uphold any training he does have…if it’s an accident beyond his training that’s MY problem…I understand this and was only trying to make sure I should or should not discipline him for it….I would rather not BECAUSE it is MY fault for not letting him out

NO

@MerMaidBlu This is what happens when everyone knows better.
Glad you asked?

I think if you don’t let the dog know he did something wrong then how is he going to learn.

A lot of dogs do nothing but sleep all day and don’t go out even if they have the opportunity. My dogs have a walk in the morning and then rarely venture out of the air conditioning until I get home in the evening. The door is open all the time, they could go out if they wanted.

So to me, common sense says, let him know this is not acceptable but don’t physically punish, saying bad boy and talking in a stern voice will make your point without having long lasting deleterious results on your dogs psyche.

@rooeytoo but if the dog messed in the house hours before she noticed it then it’s too late to tell him off as he won’t know what he is being told off for so the chances are he won’t learn anything. As @VS dogs memories don’t work in the same way as our do.

@Leanne1986 – So you walk into the house and there is crap on the floor and you don’t say anything. How exactly is the dog ever going to learn that crapping on the floor is not a good thing to do?

This has nothing to do with how its memory works, this is about crapping on the floor. The dog doesn’t have to remember anything, the crap is right before its eyes and it has to get the idea that it shouldn’t do that.

Sorry that is not dog training, that is ignoring bad behavior.

@rooeytoo Seeing as dogs don’t speak the same language as us it has EVERYTHING to do with memory.

For example, if a child craps where he isn’t supposed to, whether he remembers doing it or not, you can tell him that it is wrong and he will understand what you are saying. This doesn’t work for dogs. You cannot say to a dog “what you did two or three hours ago is bad”. He won’t understand that. So, short of rubbing the dogs nose in his own mess (which, personally, I don’t agree with), on this particular occassion she has no choice to ignore it.

She can still train the dog not to mess in the house without scolding him for this occassion (which, as she has admitted herself was her own fault and not the dogs as she couldn’t get home to let him out). I would also recommend that she cleans the area where he messed so much that the smell is no longer there (sometimes even if we can’t smell it the dog still can) as that could cause a problem in the future if the dog can still smell that he has been there before.

@Leanne1986 – The question asked for opinions, I gave mine. You decided you know more than I do and decided to point out the error of my ways. All I can tell you is that I have been making my living training, handling, etc. dogs since the early 70’s. I have had thousands of dogs in my care during that period of time. I discovered that no 2 dogs are the same nor should the training methods be rigid and unbending but there are certain facts that are true about most. You can go on about how dogs remember but I will stick to what has worked for me and give my opinions based on that.

If you choose to enlighten and inform me differently I will tell you what I think. Dogs have to learn to hold it, unless it is a pup with limited bladder and bowel control, which the question doesn’t indicate or the dog is sick and there are piles of diarrhea everywhere, then it should be scolded so it learns that if no one comes home, it should lay around and not crap on the floor. As I said, this is not a big ask for the average dog who does nothing but sleep most of the day anyhow. That is my opinion.

I feel that the best way to train a dog is using positive reinforcement, not punishment. Please try to read some articles on line or buy a book on training. There is a tv show on Animal Planet called “It’s me or the Dog”. This female trainer is so good and she uses positive reinforcements (food, toys, praise ), whatever works with your dog. She uses body language and voice tone to let the dog know that she is firm. Please try to catch this on tv. Remember, your dog wants one thing and one thing only from life…to be with you. In his mind the two of you are a pack and he will be loyal to you and forgiving and loving. Keep those thoughts with you as you work through this new relationship.

@rooeytoo I think you are being slightly too defensive here. You disagreed with me and told me why and so I disagreed with you and told you why. That’s usually how a debate works.

Now, I feel that you have patronised me slightly in the above answer although I doubt you meant to. You see, you’re not the only one who has made a living out of dog training and handling and although you may have been doing it for longer than me I wasn’t born in the 70’s! I didn’t just pull what I said in my previous responses out of my backside. My Aunt, like you, has been a dog trainer and handler since the 70’s and I have followed in her footsteps. I am studying Canine Psychology as well as taking training classes (although I want to be a Canine Behavourist rather than a basic trainer eventually) as it is a subject I am very passionate about which is why I questioned your methods. Usually I agree with your input on Fluther when it comes to dogs but this time I don’t. That’s fine. My methods work for me and your’s work for you. No problem.

However, I do feel that you have contradicted yourself slightly on this thread because you say that memory shouldn’t have anything to do with it in this case:

“This has nothing to do with how its memory works, this is about crapping on the floor”

If that is the case even if you scold the dog straight after it’s misbehaved, if memory has nothing to do with it, how do you think the dog will learn not to do it again? If that were the case then training would be near impossible. I may have misunderstood what you meant and if that’s the case please explain to me.

http://www.gopetsamerica.com/training/how_dog_learns.aspx

http://www.garvinsdogtraining.com/Psychological-Approach-to-Behavior-Problems.html

I don’t usually produce links to prove a point but here are a couple that back up what I am saying (although EVERY dog training advice I found online gives similar advice).

If you have any links or can refer me to any books that back your theory up (ie: that it is a good idea to scold the animal after the event) I would be interested to read. But it seems to me from my studies, books, internet, mentors etc that what I am saying here about the way a dogs memory works and how we can use it in training is a fact.

@Leanne1986 Now you sound patronizing.

@avvooooooo It wasn’t meant to and I apologise to @rooeytoo if it does sound patronizing. I have simply challenged her methods and asked her about something in one of her previous posts that I found confusing. I am willing to agree to disagree with this but I like to explain exactly why I believe in something first because, like I said, it’s not something that I have pulled out of my ass, it’s been proven by people who know far more than I do that scolding a dog for a crime after the event is pointless and the only thing you will achieve is hearing the sound of your own voice. The dog may be aware that you are mad at him but he will not know what you are mad for.

Usually I agree with @rooeytoo when it comes to stuff I have read on Fluther regarding dogs. In this case I don’t but if she can come up with anything that I might find interesting (that doesn’t include “I have been doing this for X amount of years so it must be right”) then I would like to read/hear it. That’s genuine and not patronizing I promise After all, I am still learning myself and I am always gathering information from other trainers. Some of which I will use and some of which I discard.

@rooeytoo I apologise if my previous post did sound patronizing.

I base my opinions on my experience with probably thousands of dogs.

The question asked for my opinion. I gave it.

@Leanne1986 – made a response directly to me telling me I was wrong.

I don’t want to debate with @Leanne1986, I am telling what will work quickly and easily. And I listed only some of my practical experience and none of my academic credentials because I did not want to sound like a know it all. But I do get tired of people with a fraction of my experience telling me I am wrong and they know better.

There are many theories of dog training, I relate the ones that I KNOW work with MOST dogs for the AVERAGE dog owner who does not have the time nor the inclination to spend hours trying to teach something that can be learned in a couple of minutes.

@rooeytoo Let’s approach this another way because you don’t seem to realise that I am interested in what you have to say.

How would you recommend she go about scolding the dog or teaching the dog he has done wrong in this instance?

Would you show the dog the mess and then scold it, rub his nose in it? I want to know but so far you have been so quick to defend yourself and talk about how experienced you are that you haven’t explained how you would go about doing it. You say that your way willl work quickly and easily you haven’t explained what your way is. I genuinly want to know because, yes, I may have a “fraction of your experience” but I have and still am studying hard, worked with many trainers/handlers and even more dogs etc and yet, you’re the first trainer that has ever told me that you think that scolding a dog way after an event really works.

You obviously have a theory that works but as we all know, there is more than one way to teach a dog he has done wrong. Please tell me what you would do in the instance.

@Leanne1986 – You have already told me my methods are incorrect, why would you want to hear me elaborate.

I answered the question, should I scold (def. rebuke or remonstrate angrily) I said yes. If you want to start a new thread asking how to correct a specific problem, I will respond accordingly.

In the meantime I would suggest you investigate all training techniques from Schutzhund, police, military on down to guide dog and clicker. Broaden your horizon so to speak. I am always learning new ideas, some work better than others.

@rooeytoo I have used or looked into all the techniques you suggested in my studies (some more than others obviously) as well certain bits and pieces when working with dogs (if relevant) and I ALWAYS want to broaden my horizons when it comes to dog training/activities.

I’m sorry that you don’t want to answer my questions on this thread and as it is only you that I want to hear from on this matter (as, like I said, you are the first trainer/handler that I have come across who claims that scolding the dog after the event really works) I probably won’t start a new thread.

Like I have said a couple of times already, I enjoy reading what you have to say on Fluther and this is the only time that I haven’t agreed with you on a dog issue. I hope there will be no hard feelings and if you change your mind and decide to answer my questions on here I would be interested.

By the way, you aren’t the first (and you certainly won’t be the last) person I have challenged on dog issues so please don’t take it personally. If I don’t agree or understand someones methods I will tell them why and ask them questions (as I have here) and sometimes I am enlightened and learn something which I then go onto use and other times (as you may have done yourself) I discard it. I am more than happy for others to do the same with me.