Puppy owner needing some words of encouragement.

[mad madam mim78]

I got a Standard Poodle puppy 6 weeks ago. It's the first time I've had a dog in probably 15 years. I've been working as hard as I can with him. I take him to obedience classes at Petsmart, I do my best to reward and use positive methods to get him to listen. As far as tricks go he's a pro. When it comes to disipline and pottying outside....not so much. He's 14 weeks old and I'm hoping it's just the puppy phase. I keep plenty of chew toys and things for him to play with but he insists on shoes, cords, kids toys. He's constantly stealing food off the table if we turn our backs. I take him out all the time to potty and he goes but he doesn't get that he needs to not go in the house.

I keep him kenneled at night and while I'm gone. He's a very sweet, rambunctious pup, but I want to beat him!!!

Please tell me that you had puppies like this and they get better and eventually come around. I know he's smart and I think that's what's making me so mad.

 

[mickeyboat]

We have a 5 month old yellow lab, who keeps us on her toes, that's for sure.

She potty trained pretty easily. We make sure to let her out as soon as she barks at the door. We also praised her like there's no tomorrow when we saw her pee outside - even still now that she is fully trained. (She was spayed last week and has had a couple of accidents inside since then - we think she may have a UTI.) Your dog will get it. 14 weeks is still pretty early to expect her not to have an accident here and there. We treat her all the time. She lives for food. We buy very tiny milkbones, and make sure to treat her when we are learning and practicing tricks, and when she does what she is supposed to do. Some trainers recommend treating after they go potty outside.

Sophie chews and chews and chews. We make sure all shoes and other things are picked up. We have bought her lots of toys and bones. She likes it when we hold a bone in her mouth and twist it back and forth. She has lost two puppy teeth recently, so I am sure they are really bothering her. (DD12 put them in a labeled baggie, just like we did her teeth, and said she was putting them under Sophie's pillow for the tooth fairy).

We have never purposely fed Sophie people food. She likes the smell of it, and sits under your feet while we are preparing it, but she has never tried to steal it off the table, and doesn't beg. We have a couple of small cabinets in our kitchen, low enough for her to steal food from, but she doesn't bother it at all.

Good luck! I know that while the puppy phase is fun, it is also challenging. I am sure your pup will come around.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

I got a Standard Poodle puppy 6 weeks ago. It's the first time I've had a dog in probably 15 years. I've been working as hard as I can with him. I take him to obedience classes at Petsmart, I do my best to reward and use positive methods to get him to listen. As far as tricks go he's a pro. When it comes to disipline and pottying outside....not so much. He's 14 weeks old and I'm hoping it's just the puppy phase. I keep plenty of chew toys and things for him to play with but he insists on shoes, cords, kids toys. He's constantly stealing food off the table if we turn our backs. I take him out all the time to potty and he goes but he doesn't get that he needs to not go in the house.

I keep him kenneled at night and while I'm gone. He's a very sweet, rambunctious pup, but I want to beat him!!!

Please tell me that you had puppies like this and they get better and eventually come around. I know he's smart and I think that's what's making me so mad.

All I can is do not allow free roam with puppy in the house. It makes learning go so much faster.

The dog is either in the crate OR on a leash with you in the house.

This is called the "tethering method". Basically you are able to show your dog the ropes on what is allowed and what is not. The key about correction is timing. If you are not there to STOP the behavior the second before the pup does it, like peeing or chewing, it is harder for them to learn the rules.

If they are on leash with you in the house you can correct, correct, correct....

I had a border collie of course smart as whip and she had learned the behavior of peeing on carpet (she was a 4mo rescue). So after a couple of corrections on leash, she got it!

Also if your pup is not housebroken they should not be allowed free roam. You are making it harder to train the pup.

Good Luck! They do eventually get it. Esp. a standard poodle. You just have to up the training a bit more.

Oh and do a lot of walking outdoors with training, heel, sit, stay, etc...It helps with bonding and leadership.

 

[design_mom]

Is he going in a certain place in the house, or just everywhere?

We had trouble with one of our dogs going in the dining room. I read a book that said that dogs will not go where the "pack's scent" is strong. (The pack's space is off limits.) However, sometimes the seldom used rooms don't contain enough pack scent. The family spent some extra time in the dining room (reading, doing puzzles, etc.) and that seemed to help. And once she realized that space was "off limits" we haven't had anymore trouble even though we don't use that room very often anymore.

 

[hsmamato2]

oh,puppies are horrible,yet so cute as I sit here now,I have a fully grown dog (rescued a few mos. ago from shelter) who is either outside,in her crate,or on a leash(she's leashed right now,the little monster.)
She is sneaky,and hates peeing outdoors! So those are her options,so I don't kill her (lol)
It takes a lot of time,for some dogs. keep working at it,he'll improve!

 

[mad madam mim78]

Is he going in a certain place in the house, or just everywhere?

We had trouble with one of our dogs going in the dining room. I read a book that said that dogs will not go where the "pack's scent" is strong. (The pack's space is off limits.) However, sometimes the seldom used rooms don't contain enough pack scent. The family spent some extra time in the dining room (reading, doing puzzles, etc.) and that seemed to help. And once she realized that space was "off limits" we haven't had anymore trouble even though we don't use that room very often anymore.

It's pretty much everywhere. He holds no peeing prejudice.

 

[yoopermom]

Tether, tether, tether! Just loop the leash through your beltloop, and you'll always know where he is and what he's doing! Seriously....

And puppies are really still puppies for a VERY long time, depending on how fast maturing the breed is. After a year, I could finally take a breath, after 18 months I could see the light, and at 2 years, I finally could leave a Croc out without it getting toothmarks!

Doggy mom or child mom, patience and consistency are the keys....

Terri

 

[MichelleVW]

Puppies are an insane amount of work!! Thank goodness they are so cute!! We've got 4 dogs and one of them is a 7 month old puppy. I forgot what a pain puppies are when I got the last one!

Biggest thing is "NO FREE ROAMING!!" That was the hardest thing for DH to learn, but you can't get mad at the dog for chewing up your computer cords if you're not watching her.

 

[Tuffcookie]

Gracie, my standard poodle, was 12 weeks old when I brought her home. Housebreaking took a while, since I brought her home the week of Christmas! I started out with puppy pads and quickly learned that was a mistake! Take your little guy out at frequent intervals and always right after eating.

There will be accidents, but don't make a big deal about it. It won't last long.

Lucky for me, Gracie never chewed anything she wasn't suppose to.

I crated her when I was at work and at night time. Although, as soon as I was confident she was completely house broken, I caved, and I now allow her to sleep with me.

TC

 

[The Mystery Machine]

It's pretty much everywhere. He holds no peeing prejudice.

Let me put this into perspective for you....

Allowing a non house broken puppy free roam is like allowing a non toliet trained toddler to run around your house without a diaper.

He is either on a leash or in his crate until he is housebroken.

 

[KWithers]

My advice is do NOT use puppy pads. The crate method works best. If you're not right by her side, she needs to be in the crate. Dogs typically will not soil their sleeping area. Hang in there!

 

[I Love Pluto]

We were ready to get rid of our 1 year old cockerpoo/poo because he was so hyper. He ate two couches, and one stuffed chair. He chewed everything in sight. But - we didn't.

Our vet suggested that we put him on a dose of puppy Prozac because he couldn't calm down. He had puppy ADHD. His behaviors were really not his fault.

We did what she suggested. A year later we have the sweetest dog that anyone could ever imagine! He is so loving and adorable - he loves everyone he sees. He is so friendly to both people and other dogs, and he listens perfectly.

Oddly - his potty training is the weirdest I have ever seen, but we love it. Usually, he relieves himself outside. However, there are occasions when he still uses the large puppy training pad that we leave by the patio door. He is rewarded for inside or outside bathroom deposits - because he will only use that pad by the patio door to go on.

One bonus is that he can still relieve himself in the worst of storms because he uses his training pad. It may not be the way most dogs are trained, but it surely works for us.

Good luck to you. Realize that potty training is hard for a little pup. They just don't get it - then finally they do. You can do it - I know you can! Patience & Prozac!

 

[pixiewings71]

My advice is to take your pup out every hour to do his thing. Have a special treat that you give him only when he does go potty outside, we used a jerky type of treat and just kept it on a shelf in our back yard (by the hose, it was for keeping nozzles on), take the dog out, tell him over and over and over to "go potty" and then when he does make a huge deal out of it, praise like crazy, tell him how great he is and then follow up with a couple of the special treats. That worked great for our dog, she's a mini Doxie and DD's dog, he's a mutt.

As for chewing, we had toys for chewing but we also made sure to keep shoes put away behind a closed door. Otherwise both dogs chewed on our shoes. After a while we would put the shoes in the living area of the house and we also had toys out, if the dog went towards the shoe we said "NO" in our corrective voice and if they went towards the toy we praised and gave a treat. Worked great for us.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Oh gosh, he's just a baby still!

I know he's smart and I think that's what's making me so mad.

You're mad?

I think you need to adjust your expectations.

It sounds like you're on the right track, with some tweaking.

Stay firm and consistent.

And give it time.

Pick up a copy of Good Owners, Great Dogs and read it asap.

Please tell me that you had puppies like this and they get better and eventually come around.

My current dog came into our home when I was in the midst of chemo. I remember feeling like it was probably a mistake at around the same age yours is now. I know now that was silly. It's just a trying time. And granted, our timing was probably off, but I''d just lost one of my dogs and another was dying, and spiritually (!) I really needed a dog. She had issues that made her a *lot* of work, but it all worked out really well (probably" meant to be", as they say) and I love her to pieces. She's very special to me having helped bring me out of one of the most difficult periods of my life. She's 8 1/2 now. It will get better. It's not unlike having a baby for a while.

 

[I Love Pluto]

Continuing - I almost forgot -

When your pup gets to the point that he is driving you crazy and won't settle down, put him on a leash. You can take him with you and go about your business, or you can tie him to the coffee table, etc. Don't yell. It's not a punishment - it's a way of explaining to him that he needs to calm down.

I hope my tips have helped. I want you to enjoy the love and sweetness that your puppy really can bring to you.

Again - Good luck. Please believe in yourself!

 

[KWithers]

Wanted to add--make sure she gets enough exercise! A tired dog is a well-behaved dog.

 

[TifffanyD]

I got a Standard Poodle puppy 6 weeks ago. It's the first time I've had a dog in probably 15 years. I've been working as hard as I can with him. I take him to obedience classes at Petsmart, I do my best to reward and use positive methods to get him to listen. As far as tricks go he's a pro. When it comes to disipline and pottying outside....not so much. He's 14 weeks old and I'm hoping it's just the puppy phase. I keep plenty of chew toys and things for him to play with but he insists on shoes, cords, kids toys. He's constantly stealing food off the table if we turn our backs. I take him out all the time to potty and he goes but he doesn't get that he needs to not go in the house.

I keep him kenneled at night and while I'm gone. He's a very sweet, rambunctious pup, but I want to beat him!!!

Please tell me that you had puppies like this and they get better and eventually come around. I know he's smart and I think that's what's making me so mad.

We adopted our puppy at 13 weeks and he def had all these issues. Prepare to deal with them for awhile. There were several days when, during walks, I nearly dropped the leash on purpose in hopes he'd run off It does get better and you will love your puppy!!! Ours is 8.5 months old now and we are still crating at night/when we are at work and working with a trainer. So don't expect to be done soon!

We do a private trainer vs obediance classes at Petsmart because we need to teach our dog to behave AT HOME. That's when he is most bad - lol.

Buy some bitter apple spray and spray all the cords and stuff. It tastes bad to dogs and should teach them not to chew on things you don't want. Also, when they do shove a toy in their mouth. I mean - shove it in there.

Do you have nylabones? That is a good chew toy for them. You can also freeze them and they are good if they're teething. Make sure you watch him closely and tell him NO everytime (or whatever you do to correct - we don't do NO we do something like growling). Each time they get away with it sets you back.

DO NOT turn your back if your dog is not potty trained. NEVER EVER. If you can't keep a constant eye on him then crate him. If you want him out but he runs out of view, put him on the leash indoors. Put it around your waist if you want. Never leave him alone to chew things he shouldn't or potty! Every time he does, it's a setback.

I remembered some more things... don't let them nap in the evening. Seriously like after 5pm NO NAPS until bedtime. This will make sure they are tired and more likely to sleep through the night. Also - are you waking up to take your pup out during the night? If not... are they soiling their crate?

 

[minkydog]

I got a Standard Poodle puppy 6 weeks ago. It's the first time I've had a dog in probably 15 years. I've been working as hard as I can with him. I take him to obedience classes at Petsmart, I do my best to reward and use positive methods to get him to listen. As far as tricks go he's a pro. When it comes to disipline and pottying outside....not so much. He's 14 weeks old and I'm hoping it's just the puppy phase. I keep plenty of chew toys and things for him to play with but he insists on shoes, cords, kids toys. He's constantly stealing food off the table if we turn our backs. I take him out all the time to potty and he goes but he doesn't get that he needs to not go in the house.

I keep him kenneled at night and while I'm gone. He's a very sweet, rambunctious pup, but I want to beat him!!!

Please tell me that you had puppies like this and they get better and eventually come around. I know he's smart and I think that's what's making me so mad.

Our last dog was a Standard Poodle. Smartest dog I've ever had, too. And a counter surfer to the day he died. But as the saying goes, you can lead a horse to water but you can't make him pee. We kenneled him any time we couldn't pay direct attention to him, especially during meal prep. Oh good lord! you couldn't turn your back on him--he would eat anything in sight.

As for the housebreaking, we did several things. Obviously, any time we couldn't see him, he had to go in the crate. We took him outside within 30 min after every meal and every 1-2 hours after that. We leashed him to our belt, so he had to go everywhere we went--no hiding in another room to do his business. No pee pads, ever. And finally the bell method--hang a bell on a loop on the door knob. Every time you go outside, ring that bell a little. It didn't take too long for him to associate the bell with pottying--I could ring the bell and he'd come running. Of course, he didn't alway "do" anything and we had a lot of accidents during the learning process.

It took our Standard almost 6 months to become reliable. I know that sounds like a long time, but once he finally got it he almost never had another accident in the house. He would have rather explode in a pile of brown than let loose anywhere but his special bathroom spot--OUTSIDE.

Good luck. Try not to take it personally.

 

[sksjasams]

My best advice is to never let him out of your sight, even for a second. I think the indoor leash may be helpful, but we did not use it. We have a play yard (like an octagonal gate) and would put him inside when we couldn't watch him continuously. We did not take the play yard down until he was 10 mos old. As he got better and better he would spend less and less time in it.

Regarding the chewing, we have a teddy bear dog who is extremely oral. He sucks the nose of his favorite stuffed puppy. We get him durabones - very tough nylabones - and he is chewing on them constantly. He can chew them down to nubs and them we give him a new one. We did use bitter apple spray on wooden table and chair legs when he was a puppy.

We don't give people food, except for occasionally a little watermelon, apple or carrots.

Good luck!

 

[Pooh_Friend#1]

I was taught that a puppy could hold their bladder for 1 hour per how ever month old they were, so I was constantly taking my puppy out once an hour at that age. When she got older and understood where she had to go to relieve herself, we were told to do the hour per month plus 1 additional hour. It didn't take my puppy long at all to be housebroken. She was never allowed to roam and was also crated.

For walks my puppy is crazy. She is now 2 and I wish I would have hired a private trainer before now instead of relying on Petsmart. For my girl how they taught loose leash walking in Petsmart did not work at all, she is just to excitable and hyper! Now that I have hired a private trainer and her teaching us to do "pack walks". she now walks a heck of a lot better. I wish I learned this way, way before now! Basically it is walking quickly with the puppy, only allowing her to walk beside me. If she tries to pull, walk ahead of me, or far away from me, I pull up on her leash while walking and say heel. This beats stopping everytime she pulls on the leash. It use to take up an hour just to walk down the street, but now we have a very stress free long walk for 30 minutes twice a day and another leisurely walk where she can sniff around.