puppy training About This Page:

[disneyknut]

Well, it's been almost 3 weeks since we got the new puppy & for the most part things are going well. Plus, who can resist this face?

Leia has taken to crate training like a pro.. from day 1 she hasn't whimpered or cried while in there.. all I have to say is "lets go night night" & she goes right in there by herself. She even goes in there without prodding just to relax.. She loves to be in a box.. her new thing is to overturn her toy basket & lay in there..


she doesn't chew furniture ( but loves to bite your ankles when she wants you to play with her)
BUT... there are a couple issues that I'm not liking.
one is houstraining.. 90% of the time she is GREAT ..we are paper training her inside the house.. she doesn't 'get' outside. .to her it's the place to chase cars.. She is obsessed with cars & even if she's in my backyard which is far from the street she sits there watching the cars & doesn't think of doing her 'business'.. like, I said for the most part she 'goes' on the paper but the other 10% of the time she loves to go in front of my sliding door of my office which is also the only carpeted room in the upstairs (we live in a ranch) I want to stop her from going there, any suggestions? I've cleaned it but she still goes there.. I'd love any tried & true hints to get her to only go where she's supposed to.
Next (small) issue & it's my issue.. how can I get her to come to me? If I call her she turns the other way & god forbid, I make a move toward her, she runs away.. I know she's only 10 weeks & is still little but all of the books I've read say start early..
Any suggestions would be appreciated.. Like I said..I think she's pretty advanced in her 'training' but I'm being proactive too.
Last puppy question.. how much should we expect to spend on outr first vet visit. She had her initial shots from the breeders vet but is coming due for her 12 week & DS is paying for it & would like an idea of how much it will cost..
Thanks for letting me share my fur baby

[DisneyFanAnn]

No advice but I just needed to tell you that her cuteness is almost too much to handle!!!

[disney_duke]

She's adorable!! It's been awhile since I've trained a puppy, but remember that they're all different - just like people! Be patient. It will all come with time and persistence. We once had 2 different goldens. One was housebroken in 2 days, and learned all the basics within a month. She was only 6 mos. old and could do "everything." She was one smart cookie! Then we had another..... it took her a good month to be completely housebroken. And while she was a good dog, she never quite took to listening all that well. Personalities!! Be patient, and I'll say it again, most importantly be persistent. Don't change what and how you're teaching your pup. How your voice sounds today must remain the same in 2 weeks. Be patient and she'll eventually get it!!!!


Oh, and the vet bill. Well, again, it's been awhile since puppy shots and whatnot, but we currently pay about $250 for our annual visit for our 9 year old. Maybe that's alot, but to me it's worth it because he doesn't have little doggie panic attacks like he did at the old vet's place!!

[Huntermom]

Cute and very young puppy. I don't think she has the bladder capacity yet to be fully trained. I think it's usually closer to 12-14 weeks and they may still have accidents if left too long.

I have not heard of crate and paper training at the same time. It may be a little confusing to her. You want her to understand no using the house as a toilet facility period. When you take her out, have her on a leash. You can also teach her to go on her walks. We would say "go pee" and "go poop" as our puppies did and they would learn to associate the word and eventually go on command. I have not been able to teach this to our current rescue, whom we adopted at 1 year.

If they have accidents, you need to use an odor neutralizer in the very least. If the smell remains at all, it means toilet, to them.

I found the easiest way to begin training was to go to a class. You will work on commands in the class and then have the incentive to practice all week. It takes lots of practice. You can teach come on a leash. Have the dog on one end, you on the other and ask to come, giving a good treat when she comes. Eventually she'll learn to do it off leash.

I think vets really vary in their charges. One thing I have done is get routine shots at Petco/Petsmart. They are much less expensive and you can bring the documentation to your own vet to get it recorded.

Have fun and enjoy!

[SarahJ]

This comes from 30 years of raising puppies with my mom and learning along the way.

First of all, if your puppy is not fully potty trained then you either need to confine her to one room of the house until she is or you need to keep her on a leash while in the house and that leash must have a human on the other end. This is regardless of where you want her to do her business. She is most likely going next to sliding glass door because she needs to go outside but her cues are not being picked up by the humans in the house. You also need to clean the spot with an enzyme remover to get out all the scent. Nature's Miracle is awesome stuff for cleaning up accidents.

Keeping her on a leash will also help with training her to come to you. Give a simple tug when you call her name and reward her with a treat when she comes to you. Also, get down on the floor when you call her. You're a lot bigger than she is and that can be intimidating. If you're the disciplinarian, yelling at her when she has an accident, etc, then she's not going to want to come to you. You have to make it fun for her so she doesn't see you as always being the bad guy.

As for the vet bill, it's going to vary and everyone will have a different number to tell you based on their location, what kind of visit and if the vet is a chain or independent clinic. Your best bet is to call the clinic and ask. They'll be happy to give you an estimate, especially if they'll be getting a new client.

Good luck!

[chezp]

That face is just too cute!

[disneyknut]

Originally Posted by Huntermom

I have not heard of crate and paper training at the same time. It may be a little confusing to her. You want her to understand no using the house as a toilet facility period. When you take her out, have her on a leash. You can also teach her to go on her walks. We would say "go pee" and "go poop" as our puppies did and they would learn to associate the word and eventually go on command. I have not been able to teach this to our current rescue, whom we adopted at 1 year.

Have fun and enjoy!

I'm curious, why not crate trained & paper trained? the crate is simply her sleep/relax area..it's not associated with her doing her business?

She does know the pee poop words .. when she gets up in the morning, I immediately take her to the paper & say 'go pee poop" & she does & if you see her needing to go & tell her 'go pee poop, she goes to the paper..

She is most likely going next to sliding glass door because she needs to go outside but her cues are not being picked up by the humans in the house. You also need to clean the spot with an enzyme remover to get out all the scent. Nature's Miracle is awesome stuff for cleaning up accidents.

we thought that too (& still do to an extent) but outside to her is to sit on the deck & crane her neck to watch the cars.. she isn't focused to go potty.. DH has been walking her outside & she'll hold it until they come back in .. BUT.. it seems that she also gets fixated on the sliding door & a few minutes later does her 'stuff' so I still wonder if she isn't giving us clues.. not sure what we can do to get her uninterested in watching cars..

Thanks for the Natures miracle recommend.. where can I buy that?

thanks everyone for the compliments too.. I am so enamored by her already.. my FB is filled with Leia pictures

[KMB733]

No advice, but she is just too cute!!

[SarahJ]

Originally Posted by disneyknut

we thought that too (& still do to an extent) but outside to her is to sit on the deck & crane her neck to watch the cars.. she isn't focused to go potty.. DH has been walking her outside & she'll hold it until they come back in .. BUT.. it seems that she also gets fixated on the sliding door & a few minutes later does her 'stuff' so I still wonder if she isn't giving us clues.. not sure what we can do to get her uninterested in watching cars..

Thanks for the Natures miracle recommend.. where can I buy that?

As soon as you notice her getting fixated on the door, take her out and encourage her to do her business outside. Puppies that age don't have the capacity to hold it for long periods of time. If she's going for walks and not doing her business, then you're doing the walks at the wrong time or not long enough. We like to do walks right after eating.

I wouldn't worry about her watching cars. As long as she is in a fenced yard, she's fine. The sound and movement probably fascinate her right now. All of our dogs have always watched for cars out the front window and from the back yard, especially when one family member was not home. As soon as they'd hear or see a familiar car they would go beserk and we'd get the best greeting when we walked in the door.

Nature's Miracle can be purchased at most of the big pet box stores like Pet Smart and Petco. I've also found it at Target and local grocery stores.

[Huntermom]

The reason you don't want to paper train too is that you are teaching her that the house can be a toileting area. Her crate is her personal space that she wants clean but the rest of the house should be her shared space which she should also respect and want unsoiled. . By papertraining her you are discouraging her from using the outdoors, which I hope is your goal. She may not be going outside because she thinks the papers are her toileting area. When you tell her go pee-poop on the paper, she is thinking this is where I go.

If you feed her and walk her, she should eventually go to the bathroom. I think people underestimate how much a dog should be walked. I take my Charlie out for at least three one mile walks a day. I've been told that's the minimum he should be exercised. If there is a place other dogs go in the neighborhood, take her there (and scoop). Dogs will go where other dogs have. We have two dogs and the puppies were pretty easy to get to go right ofter the other dog did.

I would clean (with Nature's Miracle or a similar product) both the area by the slider and where you have been paper training. Maybe you could try putting the papers outside. You could also take her out pretty early in the morning, before there is much traffic.

[PixieMichele]

Congrats on the new addition to your family! I recently had to put down my 12 year old Mini Daschaund as well as my Shit-Zu and my broken heart couldn't bare it anymore. One day I woke up and saw their pictures on the wall and started crying, like I did every morning. I couldn't take the stillness in the house anymore, so we bought 2 Shit-Zu's =) They are the love's of my life! I had forgotten about all the "puppy" things, as it had been SO long since I was in that stage....but it's ALL coming back now!!!
One thing I have been doing that's working really well in the potty training department is using a bell. It might not work for you if you are paper training but...just incase....
I went to JoAnn Fabrics and bought a 2 pack of jingle bells for $.99. I took a scrap piece of ribbon that i had and tied the bells on to the ribbon and attached the ribbon to the lower part of our back door molding via a command hook. Everytime I would take the girls out to "go potty", I would ring the bell and say "let's go potty outside" before I opened the door. Then of course when they came in they got a treat. Anyway, now when they have to go potty, they go right to the backdoor and ring the bell!!!! It comes in handy for those times where they momentarily disappear and you wonder if they are "making" trouble or just playing and exploring!
It does take a while, patience is key. Sounds like you are on the right track though! There is a spray that you can mist on the area you'd like to the dog to go to the bathroom, it draws them to the spot. It's kind of outdoorsy. I used it the first few days we had them home (it came in some kit we received) and i did notice them migrating to that general area where i had sprayed to do their business.
Enjoy the "puppyhood!" everyday is a new adventure!

[pflamingo]

Lots of good advice here! I agree with Huntermom - most of what I've read about housebreaking suggests using one or the other - paper train or housebreak. Trying to do both is confusing to the dog. And as others have said, she's still young and needs to develop the muscle control, too. It's great that she loves her crate. All of my dogs have been like that, except for one of the current pack. He's okay if he can "share" with his "sister," but he doesn't actually like it.

I've used the bell technique, too. I really liked that. The tether method is a really good technique, too. If she starts to "go" in the house, make a noise to distract her (I use "ah-ah-ah"), pick her up, and get her outside fast. Then tell her to go. Don't do it in an angry voice, just loud enough to be distracting. (I'm currently working on this with our latest addition, and she's something like 6 yrs old. So it's not just puppy-parents who have this problem! )

If she's watching the cars instead of pottying outside, you need to redirect her attention. First, teach her the "watch me" command inside. When she does that reliably, take her outside and work on it. Once she learns "watch me" you can tell her "let's go pee and poop" (or whatever words you're using) and walk her in the yard til she goes. As soon as she goes, give her treats and lots of praise.

The "watch me" command is easy. Hold a treat up at eye-level (your eyes) and say "watch me." As soon as she looks your way, treat and praise. Keep doing this, and she will start attending to you faster. Then you can make her wait a bit longer (a couple of seconds), holding her gaze, before you treat her. She'll soon get the idea that watching you results in good stuff and watching cars results in... nothing. Then you can link the "watch me" with "let's go potty," to get her focused on the business at hand. Oh, yeah, when you do this outside, have her sit or stand so that her back is to the cars. That way she'll have to make the choice to watch you instead of cars.

I used this recently on a friend's dog. She was convinced he couldn't be taught to sit. I had him sitting reliably inside of 10 minutes.

Hope this helps! She is a cutie-pie!

[PixieMichele]

Pat, that is a great idea about the "watch me" command! I like that one! We are working on the "come". I haven't tried it with the treats extensively yet, that's on the agenda. When I say, "do you want a bacon?" they come RUNNING. "Bacon" is our word for treat b/c i used to give them beggin' strips before the organic treats came in. I'm gonna try the watch me thing, if it doesn't work for me, do you do house-calls?!

[Huntermom]

We were taught to use the dogs name for focus and attention, although I like using another word.

One suggestion they made in one of our classes was to have special training treats. We use end pieces from the deli section, cut into small cubes. We just use it for introducing new commands, not reinforcing old. Right now for commands they know, I use a different kind of kibble of which I have samples.