I spanked my sisters pomeranian...?

Question

I spanked him because he peed, I know he didn't mean to I was supposed to take him out but I fell asleep. But he didn't even try to wake me up, he is 5 months old and is about 4 lbs. So when I saw the pee, I rubbed his nose in it and spanked him. When I spanked him he moved and I spanked his head, he started to do this weird stiff thing and his eyes rolled back. I kinda got scared but by the time I got him in his carrier to take him to the vet he snapped out of it. Now when I get close to him he pees himself, which then makes me mad and I want to spank him again. My sister doesn't kow why he is acting funny now. This dog is her EVERYTHING. What can I do to reverse the dammage I've caused. I was taught to spank the dogs to potty train them. Now I've done research and I know its better not to spank. Any suggestions?

Answer 1

How long would it take you to learn to trust someone after they hit you repeatedly for peeing your pants because you were locked in a crate and just couldn't hold it anymore? I think you need to stay away from animals until you can learn to control your anger and learn to live with pets on a positive basis. This pup may never learn to trust you again.

Answer 2

Pomeranians are prone to seizures like that. I've had four and three of them did "this weird stiff thing and his eyes rolled back" at some time in their lives. It is unfortunate that the puppy associates you with the seizure and looses control of his bladder. I believe it is simply a scared reflex. I would advise not going to the puppy and let him come to you instead. Do not look at him until he has made contact with you. The puppy will eventually trust you again.

Answer 3

What the dog is doing when you approach now is called 'submission urinating.' Basically he's so frightened of you (because you hit him) that he's showing how submissive he is by urinating in front of you. This is what submissive wild puppies do when they are confronted by an agressive dog. Needless to say, yelling and shouting and being scary is NOT what you do to fix this. In doggy language he's trying to tell you 'your the boss, please don't hit me again.'

Show him that you aren't so scary. Talk in a soothing voice and try to get him to come over to you by offering treats. Pet him and praise him when you can approach him without him piddling on the carpet. This happens with new puppies and my dad quite a bit. (he doesn't hit them, but he does have a big deep voice and heavy footsteps that can be very intimidating to a young animal)

This is an aggravating problem I know, but believe me, corporal punishment will only exacerbate the problem. Look up submissive urination for more ideas on how to treat this problem. Most puppies will grow out of it, but in the meantime, be patient with the puppy. (And to be fair, you did bring this on yourself.)

Answer 4

You're gonna have to do a lot to earn his trust again. You blamed him for your mistake? You better treat him with total kindness, maybe give him some treats, play with him and hope he comes around. He's afraid of you now and it's gonna take a lot of kindness to undo the damage, if you can.

Answer 5

Toilet training is hard work. Whether you have a young puppy or an older dog who arrives with little or no understanding of the basic toileting rules, it is going to be tiresome.

But, be comforted. It doesn't last for long! A few weeks of kind, consistent training will ensure that you dog/puppy will be reliably house trained for life (give or take the odd regression when ill etc).

Puppies are particularly demanding as they have very small bladders! This means that they wee all the time! The more they are moving about, the more they wee! Older dogs do not need to urinate as often as puppies, however, when they do have an accident, it takes a lot more clearing up!

The first point about toilet training for puppies is the need for a cage. This has already been mentioned in my article on Crate training. When the puppy is small, the cage has a warm, cosy bed at one end and a pad of newspaper at the other. Water should be available at all times and I recommend a bowl that bolts to the cage to save the mess of puppies that like to play in the water or simply knock it over!

When the puppy is left at night (I leave mine in the cage, in the kitchen) I don't go back until morning. They have the other dogs for company and I feel that it is better to ignore crying (unless the puppy is clearly in serious distress). The puppy is not able to be dry all night and people often take the view that when the puppy cries at 5am, it is because he/she wants to go outside to urinate. My view is that, if the puppy is crying at 5am, he/she has woken up, urinated, then wants attention. If you respond to the crying, he/she will quickly learn that you will come when called. I would rather that the pup learnt to urinate on the newspaper,[they will generally avoid soiling their beds] then go back to sleep until a more civilised hour. [The need to urinate in the night will reduce as the pup grows and the bladder capacity increases].

During the day, toilet training is mainly down to vigilance. Most puppies will give some sign that they want to urinate or defecate. They often walk around purposefully, sniffing the ground and turning in circles. They may become more agitated or they may give no signals and simply squat and wee! Through observation, you will note how often your pup needs to eliminate. Obvious times to expect a puppy to need the toilet are, immediately upon waking, soon after eating and often whilst playing.

Ellie was able to go 2 hours or more without eliminating, when she was resting in her cage but, as soon as she was out and playing around, she needed to go out every 10-15 minutes. It is important that the pup is rewarded for eliminating in the right place as often as possible. You should go out with the pup [if you stay inside, the pup will often refuse to perform and ask to come back in - only to immediately have an accident]. You should stand still and wait, perhaps using a word/phrase that will come to mean "do your business". Eventually he or she will perform, at which you reward madly! Titbits are fine, you can even click and treat if you are clicker training.

The more times you are able to reward your pup for eliminating outside, the quicker your house training will be. There will still be accidents inside and you need to be quick to clear them up. Using an "odour-removing" solution is important as dogs will often choose to go where they went before! If you catch the pup in the act, you can say "no" but punishment is not appropriate as he/she is still learning. If you find the evidence some time later, the pup will have forgotten about it and will not learn by being reprimanded at this late stage!

Eventually you will begin to notice that the puppy does not need to go outside so often and may even be "asking" to go out.[you can teach this separately, if it is something you would like your dog to do]. You will start to be able to let the puppy outside without accompanying him/her and he/she may start to eliminate in response to a cue. You will then reap the rewards of a well house-trained pup.

Note: Older dogs that are not fully housetrained can take longer to train as they have to "unlearn" the wrong behaviour at the same time as learning the right behaviour. You should use the same procedure as with puppies but expect the progress to be slower. Fortunately older dogs do not need to eliminate as often as puppies but you should not be complacent. It is better to take the dog out too often rather than too little!