Make your dog comfortable

My four-year-old Great Dane
has developed a fear of
walking on tiles, wood, marble
— anything other than
carpet. Since the majority of
my house is uncarpeted, he
refuses to leave the carpeted
bedroom unless I throw
blankets or towels on the
floor for him to move around.
This makes it very dangerous
for the humans in the
house as I have more than
once tripped on them. Any
suggestions?
It sounds like your dog has had
an accident on these floors.
Perhaps when you were not
there, he was excited about
something and while running
from one room to another he
slipped on the floor and
stretched one of his legs or
joints sufficiently to make him
afraid of doing the same thing
again. This is particularly possible
if your dog’s nails are
slightly too long. Make sure his
nails are cut as short as possible
to help aid his paw’s adhesion
to the floor. Try to distract
him with a toy or treat in order
to have him accompany you
over the floor. He will, with
time, learn to get used to your
floors again.

We adopted our dog a little
over a year ago. Six months
ago we moved into our
house and three months ago
she started urinating small
amounts in the same small
area. How do we stop it?
It may have started as an emotional
response to moving, a
feeling of instability. But once a
dog has peed in a certain place,
it becomes his patch and he will
do it again and again in the
same place till you mop it with
a strong disagreeable smell like
Dettol’s. Do it twice a day. It may
be helpful to keep him away
from the area and take him for a
walk in the evening.
I am having a difficult time
with my dog in trimming his
nails. I have bought all the
proper tools, but he is at the
point now where the anxiety
level is extreme.
Your anxiety levels is what the
dogs is picking up on. You need
to make your dog comfortable
with you holding his paws and
his nails again before you
attempt to cut the nails.
Whenever you are relaxing at
home, let your dog cuddle up to
you and make a point of pretending
to cut his nails. It will
help if you position him in the
way he would usually, if you
were about to cut his nails.
Practice asking him to turn
over so you can easily access
the other paws, always praising
him for calmness. Unless he is
unusually stressed by this, you
should keep up this behaviour
until your dog is used to it.
After 10 days or so, when he is
completely comfortable with
your actions, attempt to cut just
one of his nails, remembering
to praise him well for maintaining
his position and calm.
When you are finished, pile on
the praise and treats, positively
reinforcing that it really is not
so bad! However if you want
some better advice than this
rigmarole, why not let the vet
cut them?

How do I stop my 12-weekold
Lhasa Apso from biting?
At times, these are vicious
attacks on us and our other
dog. We do not want to use
violence, have tried distraction
and saying ‘no’ with our
finger on her mouth, but to
no avail.
12 weeks is still very young for a
puppy. Try this trick: you will
need something similar to a
steel Thermos flask and some
gravel. Every time your dog
tries to bite you or your other
dog, you should throw this flask
(filled with a little gravel) at the
ground near him. Be very careful
not to hit him. This should,
if properly carried out, make
him associate this single behaviour
with a very scary noise.
The great benefit of this is that
over time you can replace the
throwing of the Thermos with
a simple rattle. Another suggestion
would be to use a strong
whistle instead of the Thermos
flask.