Will squat for food

Oh dear. We throw a party with treats when puppy potties outside- and Stormy has interpreted this as, When I squat, I get food!

I noticed she seemed to be peeing pretty frequently the past few days. Today, we were romping outside, and she ran in front of me, squatted, and then came up for a treat. DH and I noted she had peed just 5 minutes previously, and this squat was slightly different. I even patted the ground- no wetness. I gave her verbal praise and a good head scratch; she was obviously disappointed.

Im keeping an eye out in case this is a UTI, but signs point to her finding a pattern and working it...

I bet she's playing you.

When I first started walking my Hershey to the park, I had him sit every time we came to a street crossing. "Sit." Pretty soon, he was periodically sitting on our walk for no reason at all....didn't quite get the intended concept.

With these two, we just wait a second (or sit if there's actually traffic to wait out) "Wait."/"Sit." and then "Let's Cross". Of course, now, even if I don't have a dog with me, I think "Let's Cross" every time I cross the street. Do I get a treat?

You know, it only took her a day to figure sitting got her a treat, and she began randomly sitting whenever she wanted a snack...

She sounds super smart

Sounds like training is going pretty well. Miss Stormy will have you two fully trained in no time!!!:amuse::amuse::amuse:

That's why I didn't treat at potty training. Or put bells on the door. Darn dogs are just too smart. :)

Barley did the same thing around 9 weeks old! I also thought he might have a UTI until I looked more carefully and realized he was faking it. Luckily we caught on pretty quick and started paying close attention, only praising/treating the *real* squats. Little stinkers are too smart.

What a little smarty! Good girl, Stormy, way to work mom and dad for a treat.

This makes me laugh out loud.

You may want to keep the treats on hand but hand them out less and less using just praise instead.

I don't give treats either, because I have been through this and then I'm opening the door every two seconds and at night, you just can't tell. Also, with girlies, it's hard to tell. But, as long as she is going, it's not the end of the world. She'll end up potty trained and eventually you'll stop going out with her and it'll go away. And, don't look at it as "playing you"; dogs don't do that. She understands that squat = cookie. It's just that simple!