how do i solve behavior problems for my doodle?

You mark your stuff by putting your name on it; your dog marks theirs with urine. We've covered why dogs submissively urinate, now here's how to prevent urine-marking behaviors before they happen in your house.

Before doing anything else, take your dog to the veterinarian to rule out any medical causes for the urine-marking behavior. If they get a clean bill of health, use the following tips to make sure they don't start marking their territory.

Spay or neuter your dog as soon as possible. The longer a dog goes before being spayed or neutered, the more difficult it will be to train them not to mark in the house. Spaying or neutering your dog should reduce urine-marking and may stop it altogether.

But if they have been marking for a long time, a pattern may already be established. Because it has become a learned behavior, spaying or neutering alone won't solve the problem. Use techniques for house training an adult dog to modify your dog's marking behavior.

Clean soiled areas thoroughly with a cleaner specifically designed to eliminate urine odor. Read more about removing pet odors and stains.

Make previously soiled areas inaccessible or unattractive. If this isn't possible, try to change the significance of those areas to your pet. Feed, treat and play with your pet in the areas where they mark.

Keep objects likely to cause marking out of reach. Items such as guests' belongings and new purchases should be placed in a closet or cabinet.

Resolve conflicts between animals in your home. If you've added a new cat or new dog to your family, follow our tip sheets to help them live in harmony.

Make friends. If your pet is marking in response to a new resident in your home (such as a roommate or spouse), have the new resident make friends with your pet by feeding and playing with your pet. If you have a new baby, make sure good things happen to your pet when the baby is around.

Watch your dog when they are indoors for signs that they are thinking about urinating and calmly take them outside. When you’re unable to watch them, put your dog in a crate (if they’re crate trained) or consider tethering your dog to you with a leash when you’re distracted (like when cooking dinner) to monitor them for signs they need to urinate.

If your dog is marking out of anxiety, talk to your vet about whether medications may be appropriate.

Consult an animal behaviorist for help with resolving the marking issues.

Don't punish your pet. Punishment only increases their anxiety and may cause them to hide when they need to go to the bathroom, thereby decreasing their ability to give you a cue when they need to go outside.

While it can be frustrating to come home to an accident, simply clean it up and consider what might have caused it. Do you need a dog walker midday or does your dog enjoy their crate and can this help reduce the accidents they’re having while keeping your home cleaner?

Source: https://www.humanesociety.org/resources/prevent-urine-marking

One of the many joys of owning a doodle puppy is being on the receiving end of big wet kisses.

There are instances when licks are inappropriate, especially in animal-facilitated therapy (AFT)and Animal-assisted therapy (AAT) — the planned inclusion of an animal in a patient's treatment plan — and Animal-assisted activities (AAA) — the use of animals in recreational and visitation programs to help people with special needs.

The issue may not be whether the person being visited by a therapy dog wants the kiss. Sometimes, canine kisses are forbidden.

There are many reasons why a doggy kiss may be medically unwise. Most of them involve the animal transmitting something from one patient to another, or, just as undesirably, to the therapy dog him/herself. Staph infections or skin fungi such as ringworm can be transmitted in this way, as well as poison ivy or other conditions involving fluid-filled vesicles. Or, a patient may have a contagious illness, either viral or bacterial, that the dog may vector - of critical concern in patients with challenged or damaged immune systems. The patients at greatest risk are those who have undergone transplant procedures.

Medical paraphernalia, such as catheters, hep-locks, bandages, etc. should not be touched by the dog in any way at all, for the dog's sake as well as the patient's. Additionally, some medical procedures and conditions, as well as age, can lead to extremely friable skin. In these cases, even the lightest of licks can cause either pain or damage. Some medications and medical conditions can alter a person's clotting time and sensitivity so radically that even the slightest touch can lead to bruising or spontaneous bleeding. If a patient has recently had even the most minor of surgeries, the healing skin should be avoided. The same is true of scrapes, scratches, and scabs. Many patients who would otherwise love to have a dog visit are fearful of physical contact of any kind, for good cause.

Then, there are the people who genuinely do NOT want a little lick for whatever reason. They may be afraid. They may believe it to be unhygienic and will consequently react very inappropriately to a doggy kiss. There are also dozens of other reasons why someone may hold to the conviction that lips that touch dog food will never touch them.

With therapy in mind, our trainers do the following:

Teach our puppies to lick only on command. ("Dogs Nam" - Kisses)

Determine if the facility has a licking regulation.

Always check with staff members as to medical situations. If they or you are unsure, don't risk the patient or dog by permitting puppy kisses.

Ask family members and/or friends who may be there if they know of any reason not to allow your pet to bestow a friendly little kiss.

ALWAYS ask the person you are visiting or treating for permission.

These are some good alternatives for a lick:

Teach your dog to put his/her head on a person's lap for petting. The command that we use is "say hello".

Teach a paw shake or high five as an alternative to kisses.

Present your puppy with chew items throughout the day. Do not only offer him something to chew when he is already biting you! Instead, regularly giving him chew items will prevent him from ever instigating the biting in the first place. The best toys for puppy play are not actually toys. An old and torn-up t-shirt will be a much more fun for your dog than a small and hard “actual toy” from the pet store.

If you don’t want your dog to target his “undirected mouthiness” towards you, you need to give him plenty of opportunities to take down this tendency every day, with chew articles that taste really good. That means that they should ideally be made from animal matter – such as bully sticks, cow hooves, yak milk chews or (a big favorite of mine): Stuffed Kongs. Once the chew items taste good for your puppy, he will interact with them much longer, grinding off more and more of his “mouthiness”

While you’re teaching your dog an appropriate greeting behavior, you need to manage their behavior so they don’t get the chance to practice jumping. For example, if your dog has a strong “Go to Your Place” cue, you can send your dog to their mat or crate anytime the doorbell rings. Alternatively, you can place a baby gate at your entranceway so your dog can’t get to visitors. Putting your dog on leash whenever guests arrive can also help you prevent jumping.