Some problems are simply vexing or perplexing because they are more complicated and therefore harder to figure out. These problems need to be worked at from several angles at once for best results. They include:

• Separation anxiety

• Submissive urination

• Stool eating

Separation Anxiety

Having to leave a dog alone is worrisome if he gets frantically frustrated when he's separated from his owner. Overly-dependent dogs commonly respond to separations by continually barking, whining, and howling, destroying his living space, and attempting to escape by chewing, digging, and jumping over fences and out of windows.

In addition to causing expensive damage, many dogs injure themselves. When panicked, they are oblivious to the physical discomforts of laryngitis, bloody-raw gums and paws, broken teeth, self-mutilation caused by chewing and licking, and even broken limbs as a result of jumping out of windows.

How are you supposed to live with a puppy who practically holds you hostage by not being able to be left alone? First, avoid both after-the-fact corrections, which increase anxiety, and consoling tones or gentle petting, which reinforce the neurosis. Instead:

• Exercise your puppy vigorously and regularly.

• Improve his ability to handle all sources of stress by teaching reliable obedience.

• As you come and go, remain relaxed and refrain from addressing your dog.

To directly increase his tolerance of separations, practice these three exercises:

1. Random time outs: Insist that he remain quiet when you leave. Take your dog to indoor and outdoor areas, familiar and unfamiliar, filled with or absent of distractions. Silently tie his leash short to a stationary object and walk away for a few minutes. Sometimes remain in sight and other times walk out of sight. Ignore noise making; wait for puppy to settle down or become otherwise distracted by giving your attention back to him by approaching him. When you do return to him, calmly untie his leash without acknowledgment. Concentrate on the areas that make your dog most uncomfortable. Practice every other day for a half hour until he'll be silent regardless of where you leave him, where you go and how long you're gone.

2. Out-of-sight Sit-Stay and Down-Stay: This is the same principle as the previous exercise, except you're commanding your puppy to remain in a Sit or Down position as you leave. Don't expect a puppy younger than six months old to sit and stay for longer than a couple minutes. As your puppy gets older, increase the lengths of time you ask your puppy to stay seated or remain down.

3. Whirling dervish departures: Dash from room to room grabbing your keys, brief case, jacket, lunch box, etc. Rush out the door and to your car then back out of the driveway, motor around the block, pull back in the garage and saunter into the house. As you put your keys, jacket, and paraphernalia away, completely ignore your puppy. After relaxing for a few minutes, repeat the frenzied departure and relaxed arrival over and over for an hour. To thoroughly desensitize your dog to comings and goings, repeat this pattern three times the first week, then once a week for a month.

To reinforce your training, make it a habit to periodically confine your puppy while you're at home. Sequester him in a quiet area and place your recently worn sweatshirt or bathrobe on the floor on the other side of the closed door. If your smell permeates his room, he may not even realize it when you finally do leave. Give him his favorite toy only when you confine him.

Reduce the agitating sounds of neighbors or delivery people by creating “white” noise with a motorized fan to soothe your dog. This is a better solution than subjecting your dog to TV and radio stations with their unsettling cacophony (bells, whistles, applause, sobbing, screeching, and laughter). Then, when you do actually leave, follow the same routine.

Since separation problems can periodically return despite these precautions, reinstate these recommendations as needed.

Submissive Urination

If your dog wets when he greets people or is disciplined, he isn't having a housebreaking problem. Uncontrollable and unconscious leaking of urine is common in puppies and certain breeds. If your dog has been given a clean bill of health by a veterinarian, extinguish this tendency by practicing the following:

Teach commands so you can give orders that force your dog to focus on his responsibilities instead of his emotions.

• Keep your dog leashed to enable unemotional, silent correction of misbehaviors.

• Avoid eye contact, talking, and touching during emotional states.

• Make your entrances and greetings devoid of emotion.

• Never yell, strike, or show anger toward him.

Since living with this behavior can be exasperating, consider diapering your dog for the first month so you don't have to continually clean up. To diaper your dog, simply pin a bandanna or towel around his privates and teach him not to remove it. Acclimate your dog to wearing the diaper by umbilical cording and jerking the leash if he even sniffs at it. When he is totally uninterested in the diaper — usually after less than a week of umbilical cording — let him walk around the house unleashed as usual, without concern about dribbling.

Avoid vigorous petting, impassioned tones of voice, and strong eye contact. Only interact with a superficial, brief pat, calm word, or fleeting glimpses when his bladder is empty. When he consistently responds without tinkling, test his control after he's had water. Gradually try a warmer approach, but be ready to turn off the affection and issue a command if urination begins.

Stool Eating

So your dog has a thing for poop. Don't be embarrassed. This tendency is so common that virtually every dog training book devotes a section to it. Nutritional deficiency can be the cause for this behavior, so you should first consult a veterinarian. As a rule however, coprophagia is simply a behavioral problem.

Preventative measures are the best solution. Accompany your dog out-doors on-leash and command him to go potty so you'll be able to clean up immediately and stop the habit before it starts. If he prefers to eat other dog or animal poop, the leash will allow you to pull him away from that, too.

Products such as Forbid can be added to your dog's diet to make the resulting poop less palatable, and therefore may dissuade your dog from sampling it. However, many dogs will instantly resume the behavior once they are no longer fed the supplement. Supervision and attention to cleanliness are the best remedies.