Housebreaking the stubborn puppy

When I adopted my dog Nelson he was 10 months old. I've attached a pic of him on his first day in his new home. Isn't he cute?

Well what wasn't too cute is that my 60-pound puppy was constantly pooping in the house. He came from the shelter and before that he lived outside in some idiot's backyard in a small cage for 5 months so had a lot to learn in general.

I knew all the basic tips like praise them for going outdoors and don't scold them too much for going indoors. Basically if you catch them in the act of trying to go to the bathroom indoors just get them outdoors as quickly as possible. You can tell them it's not okay but you don't want to terrorize them as it will only make them do it somewhere you can't see them later. Rubbing their nose in it is just about the worst thing you can do. Don't do that...yuck!

So, step one was to close all the doors to every room in the house and keep Nelson in sight at all times. I figured between that and all the praise for going outdoors we'd have this problem licked in a few days. Wrong! At 10 months of age old habits weren't going to die easily... Especially when he stood right in front of me and had a big dump while I was watching TV. Obviously he figured that was as good a place as any to go.

I read articles and asked everyone I knew. Finally someone suggested that every time he pooped outside I played ball with him for about 10 minutes afterward. This worked like a charm. After about 2 days he was finally accident free. For Nelson, playing ball is the most important thing in the world. So, to receive a reward like that out of the blue - well he just knew he was on to something good.

There is a solution to every problem. Never give up on your dog.

- Angela Granchelli