puppy training is hard work

[pumba]

we have not done the puppy thing for ten years and I forgot all the work it takes.......somehow I am not listening to her yelps and cries.....and she ends up pottying on the floor ....I did hear her at two thirty and took her out and she went to the bathroom and then at five got up and there was more potty .........so she is full of it .....she is a good baby and we love her......she is not quite eleven weeks old and we have had her for almost two weeks......I thought I could do it in a week.....but she is still young.......
any suggestions

 

[Christine]

CRATE TRAINING!!!

It doesn't sound like you're doing that. This is a big help to get the dog the idea of exactly where to go. Look it up on the net or get a book. Eleven weeks is very young also and some breeds are worse than others. My German Shepherd was trained in a week. My Jack Russell--well, it took almost 2 years.

 

[summersweeti3889]

if u keep her in a cage at night, it is a good idea to get a rather large one and split it in half with a board and try to teach the puppy that one side is for sleeping and the other is for using the potty and lay that area down with newspaper. also, to keep her calm, try putting a little clock or something next to the cage, the puppy will think its her mothers heartbeat and calm down. hope some of my tips help! good luck and enjoy your puppy!

 

[2tinksmom]

I was blessed with the most perfect puppy 8 years ago...our golden named Penny ( or Perfect Penny). When our other elderly dog passed, we decided to give Penny a friend and added Hershey, a very crazy chocolate lab, to our family. A friend was taking her dog to obedience classes (she has show dogs) and asked me to tag along for company. All the dogs (5 of them) were all goldens, and then there was goofy Hershey. The trainer told me labs were just not as easy to train as goldens, but told me to try and really work with her.

Well, long story short, Hershey outshone all of them and the trainer even tried to encourage me to do obedience trials with her! Hah!! Talk about the underdog comin' into her own...she showed them! I have to give all the credit to the almighty CLICKER!! She was housebroken in two, yes TWO, days (not weeks)! It's an awesome tool. My dad was a nonbeliever. I told him to tell me a simple trick to teach her and I could do it in 10 minutes...she did it! Clicker training is so easy, my DDs, 10 and 5, can work with her.

Go to www.clickertraining.com and you'll get the basics. Most pet stores sell them for about 50 cents. I use hot dogs cut into tiny pieces as rewards!

Michele

 

[ChefBilly]

I'm a big fan of crate training.
We have two German Shepards. When they were both puppies, we decided that since my wife is small (5' 1'', 115lbs) we'd better get control of the dogs while they were still controllable.

Thankfully, it totally paid off. The hard work now will pay off tenfold down the line. They're incredibly well-behaved, well-trained dogs.

It looks as if you've had dogs before, so you probably know all this, but the most important thing I learned was to just stay consistent and fair.

Good luck!

 

[meandtheguys2]

My aunt has clicker trained her dogs, ducks and horses! Never heard of it before that!

Labs are a handful! Bless her little heart! and yours too! Ours wouldn't have trained without the crate. She did really well, but she also had my sheltie to follow and learn from.

best of luck,

Michelle

 

[TexasErin]

Pumba,
I feel ya! We are going through the same thing right now. Our Great Pyrenees is 14 weeks old and she had been SO much harder to train than our Chow was. Maybe I am just remembering the good times since I still miss my Chow so much, but it seemed like she maybe had 3 or 4 accidents during her whole life!!! Whereas our puppy does manage to have this many each week! We try to watch her every second to make sure it does not happen, but it is so hard to do.
I'm also getting tired of taking her out a couple of times during the night. But she is a sweet little girl (okay, sweet BIG girl) and she is worth it.
Good luck to both of us, LOL!

 

[2tinksmom]

Meandtheguys2, I gotta know...what did your aunt teach her ducks??

A lot of professional trainers use clickers to train animals that work in films or on TV...but, ducks!??!! That is too funny!!

Michele

 

[pumba]

we lost our dalmatian two years ago and we decided recently that we wanted another baby dal......Our other dalmatian was Jasmine and what a lady she was.....our little lady now is Megara and we called her Meg for short......she is a good doggie except for pottying on the floor .....we did buy the crate and will put her in it tonight for sleeping....she goes in it sometimes to nap......thanks again for the suggestions everyone

 

[meandtheguys2]

Originally posted by 2tinksmom
Meandtheguys2, I gotta know...what did your aunt teach her ducks??

A lot of professional trainers use clickers to train animals that work in films or on TV...but, ducks!??!! That is too funny!!

Michele

She taught them to be quiet, and to come when called! YOu know, I have seen them used in animal shows...never even connected it! DUH!

 

[KarenC]

Our poodle puppy is 12 weeks old today--we've had him for almost two weeks. We are crate training him. He sleeps in a little kennel that's barely bigger than he is. He manages to hold it all night, but boy is he glad to get out to the yard in the morning!

He does have accidents, but I think they are mostly due to the fact that the kids are not real good about following the crate training "rules" during the day. After he eats, if he doesn't poop, he should go back in the crate for a while. Then take him out again, if he poops, then he can explore the house, if not, back in the crate.

I got a book "Puppy Preschool" out of the library and it is easy to read and seems to have good advice for puppy training.

Good luck!

 

[2tinksmom]

Quiet ducks...I love it!!
Michele+

 

[KristiKelly]

I would definitely crate train. Our Annabelle is 9 monthes old today (Oh! Happy 9 month birthday Annabelle!!!) - Okay, I'm back, she is still crated when we go to bed & are out of the house. She did NOT catch on to this crate training thing, she had no problem whatsoever, peeing or pooping in her crate then making art out of it as though it was finger paint - that's always fun to clean @ 5 a.m. This finally improved about 14-15 weeks.
She cannot be trusted to leave alone, just yesterday she threw up a beer bottle cap (leftover from our July 4th festivities - she's still celebrating). You didn't mention what breed dog you have, but some are much more hard-headed than others. Ours is a Golden Retriever X Standard Poodle, they're "suppose" to be really smart, I think we got the reject , but she is cute. Sorry, I have no real advice, but just know that I feel your pain & it does improve with time. Good luck!

Oh, my vet advised me to take food up by 6 or 7 pm & water up by 8 pm, this did help her get through the night a little longer.

 

[Lanshark]

The crate worked wonderfully for our Golden Jake. He caught on very quickly and long after we needed it for potty training we kept it in our sun room, with the door always open, in case he wanted to take a nap. He loved to sleep in it. We finally had to store it in the garage when he got so big that one end of him was in the crate and the other on the floor when he was sleeping.

 

[2tinksmom]

KristiKelly,
Standard poodles and goldens are usually two of the more intelligent of breeds. I think your dog is gifted!! She's artistic and social and probably thought you trying to crate her was sooo cute of you!!
Michele

 

[KristiKelly]

2tinksmom
I must admit, she is a smart dog (& a beauty), but extremely rambunctious (sp???). We have to keep her leashed when people come over or she would literally sit on their head to get their attention. For a while, we gave visitors the little flags (from our underground fence system) so she would stay off of them - it worked for awhile until she realized one day that she didn't get zapped when she sat in their lap . I just keep telling myself, she's still a puppy & one day she'll be that "good ol' dog".

 

[smilingmouse]

*sigh* We have a 14 month old Maltisse, Snickers (aka Mutt when he misbehaves) who STILL isn't potty trained!!!! We've tried everything we can think of, and he still pottys in the house. How does clicker training work? Do you think it will work even though he's older?

TIA,

SmilingMouse

 

[Efastpitch]

Purchase a dog cage. The cage should be just big enough for your puppy to sleep in. Not big enough to walk around. When you leave for the day, or even when you are at home, put the puppy in the cage. Dogs will not soil their bedding. When the you get home, take the dog out immediately. Make sure he/she uses the restroom before you come back in. Play with your dog, do not let it out of your sight. The dog should sleep in the cage also. This is not cruel, nor will it hurt your dog. In 2 to 3 weeks your dog will be completely house trained. I promise this will work. I have trained 3 dogs this way. Even a dog that was 8 years old learned this way.

 

[Carole]

Pumba,

Congrats on your new Dal. We lost ours two years ago and got a Golden in January. We also crate trained Dusty by using the crate at night and when we weren't able to watch him. The best advice I received was to tie Dusty to us with a ten foot light lead whenever he was out of the crate. Dusty was totally potty trained by 11 weeks - only one accident after using the lead and that was my faught! He's 7 months old now and constantly messes up the house by de-stuffing all of his toys.

Enjoy your pup!

Carole

 

[2tinksmom]

smilingmouse,

Go to www.clickertraining.com and they have some great info. PetsMart also sells a little booklet along with the clicker. Basically, it starts off with an audible click that is associated with a food reward and correct behavior. You catch the dog in the behavior, click and treat. With Hershey, we'd go outside, she'd do her business, I'd click and she would get this microscopic piece of hot dog. She got the idea reeeeal fast. When she was pretty consistent, I faded out the food and gave her a hearty "Good dog!" Whenever I want to teach a new behavior, like healing, coming on call or even playing hide and seek with the girls, I go back to the food reward. Because the food reward is so small, the dog is looking for a positive reaction from you instead of food. If it was food, Hershey would be outside pretending to potty all day long, lol!!!
Michele