Belly Bands

[Rip's Girl]

I've been considering following a fellow Papillon owner's suggestion and getting a "belly band" for Ripley. (Who still pees in the house on an almost-daily basis)

What I was wondering (I didn't get to ask her these questions) is, what exactly are these meant to do? Are they simply there to keep the dog from peeing on everything, or are they helpful in training a dog not to mark in the house?
If any of you are familiar with them, would you recommend using them? What would the upsides/downsides be, training-wise. (Don't want to have a dog in a belly band all his life)

[GreenleafGreyhound]

A lot of Grey owners use belly bands. It prevents the dog from actually getting urine on your furniture, but it also provides an "icky" feeling after the dog has urinated. The urine stays in the belly band (which acts like a diaper), and most dogs do not find this comfortable. I personally haven't used it but almost everyone who tried it, said it worked and worked well. And these are people whose dogs had been left intact for 2-5 years and were socialized in male-only pens so you can imagine the amount of marking.

[Bendigo]

So they actually do help retrain a persistant marker?

[Bendigo]

Sorry I should have put more, I am moving house shortly and wish to retrain my Male Lab, I would love him to come inside but he is intact and also used for breeding with my female.
He is now 5 years old, where do you get these bands from? How do you use them? Very, very interested.

[flyndog]

Just a note, they aren't good for general housetraining. You can get them at pet supply companies like JB and maybe Petsmart (I don't go there very often). Maybe Greenleaf has a good source for belly bands.
The band wraps around the dog's "waist". You have to buy the absorbant "diaper" part yourself. You can use disposable underpads for people incontinence that you can find at drugs stores.

Kit

[GreenleafGreyhound]

Yeah, they're good for incessant marking males, but definitely aren't good general housebreaking tools. They're greyt for dribbles, though.

Let's see, Bendigo you have Labs, right? Assuming yours is more of the field-y type, it should fit a Grey's belly band. I just did a search for belly bands, and, apparently, Cottage Hound Designs make belly bands. I can't find it on their website, so you'll probably have to special order anyways. Another one is: Belly Bands
And K9 Designs

I think you can find them on E Bay, as well, but it's only 15$ seller-direct.

[Bendigo]

Hey thanks for that will check it out, they aren't the field type Labs though, they are the traditional stocky, conformation Labs.

Put the young lad in my avator now, give you an idea, he only stands at 22" and is really stocky, big chest etc. Just like his boof head you can see. big smoochy, boofy adorable lab. Thats my Wally.

[Rip's Girl]

thanks for the links Greenleaf.

I have a feeling that might be helpful to me in trying to get Ripley to "let me know" when he needs to go outside.. He absolutely hates being wet or dirty.. I'll see about buying some.

[GreenleafGreyhound]

Well K9 Designs said their bands fit waist circumferences of 24"-28", I think. So, methinks that should fit your Lab. Your Welcome You might want to e-mail them for a special order, though. The people who do Belly Bands that I posted are Grey people.

[Crossfire Bulldogs]

Originally Posted by Bendigo

Sorry I should have put more, I am moving house shortly and wish to retrain my Male Lab, I would love him to come inside but he is intact and also used for breeding with my female.
He is now 5 years old, where do you get these bands from? How do you use them? Very, very interested.

Just a thought here but I'd try re-training him inside without the belly band and see how he does before going straight to it. Although your male is being used there are many intact studs that live in the house without marking non-stop.

I have two intact boys who although began to mark once trained that this was not acceptable inside never gave it another thought.

[Bendigo]

So you think I would be able to retrain him first, I never heard of anyone being able to do it in all honesty that is why I didn't think to really try.

So if yours are intact still, then I should hopefully be able to do it with mine. I have had him in this house before, but he lifts his leg at every and any object, I ended up putting him on a lead and making him lay down beside me, that stopped him, but couldn't keep him laying down for hours on end, poor guy.

[Crossfire Bulldogs]

My boys do very well with it actually. Now one thing I won't do is allow them free run of the house when I have a bitch in season though. You can't obviously expect an intact male to not want to mark his way straight to her heart as well as keep others away when one of "his girls" is in.

My boys know that it isn't allowed; I started off by keeping them on leash and every time they even so much as got that glint in their eye I'd remind them that MOM says NO. It took time but they can in fact be trained not to do it even though their intact.