Puppy training

I have always considered the 2 basic dog training obstacles to overcome is - housebreaking the new dog or puppy and training a dog not to chew everything in sight.

I have trained dogs that have been cat killers into cat lovers and shown Chow Chows in obedience classes at major dog shows and I still don't like housebreaking puppies or young dogs. I have had 2 dogs that were impossible to housebreak. They would be fine for weeks on end and I thought that they were finally trained not to pee in the house. Then it would be one day out of the blue that they would just squat down in front of my sight and pee on the carpet. I didn't know if it was a sign of defiance or what else might be going on in their heads. I actually gave up on both of them and they had to live outside. They were quite happy as outdoor dogs since they now had the run of the property.

That brings me to the conclusion that there are dogs that are perfectly content being house dogs and there are others that prefer to be outside all the time. If my theory is correct then no amount of dog obedience training is going to change that dog. We, as their owners must strive to find out more about a dog and try to learn why a dog is doing what they are doing before trying to change them. If more people did that less dogs would end up at the local animal shelter because the owner could no longer handle the dog.