New Puppy - No owners Manual

[gonzoron]

See subject. Yeah, there’s a million dog websites out there, with mostly conflicting info, so why not ask here, right?

Info: First dog for both my wife and I. She’s an 11 week old, 4lb, mixed breed. The shelter said her mother was a “Pinnypoo” (Miniature Poodle/Miniature Pinscher) and father is unknown. She doesn’t look anything like the Pinnypoos I’ve seen online. More like a Pinscher, not at all like a Poodle, with short brown, non-curly fur, but droopy ears like a lab.

So onto the questions:

1. We’re trying to housebreak her, but running into issues because it’s really cold out, and she’s very reluctant to go out in the cold or rain. (And we’re reluctant to take her out because she’s just getting over a case of kennel cough/pneumonia). If I do take her out, and she thinks it’s too cold, she tries to dart back inside when I put her down. Should we wait for spring and just deal with the mess inside until then? Will she be too old to train then? Would a sweater help?

2. We’ve tried using “puppy pads” inside to at least limit the messy area. She pees on it fine, but poops wherever she likes. Is she supposed to poop on it too? She also tends to bite at the pads, tear them up, and fling them around when we’re not looking. Ideas on that?

3. So far we’ve tried two different spray products that are supposed to be foul-tasting so that she doesn’t bite important stuff. Neither Bitter Yuck nor Nature’s Miracle seem to work. She likes to lick the table legs that I sprayed with NM, and chew the blinds that I sprayed with both. Is our dog just crazy? or is there a better product? The next one to try is “Bitter Apple” but the label is unclear if that one is for objects or just wounds. Anyone use it?

4. Trying to “clicker train” her as well. It seems to be working. She’s got the connection between click and treat, and passed the “look at me” stage, and starting on Sit. But what do I do when she does the right thing at the wrong time? She’s been sitting at random intervals and looking at me like she’s expecting a treat. Sitting is good, but not when I’m trying to get her to pee or poop outside. Do I reward good behavior at the wrong time? Do I reward her for peeing on the puppy pad? (which is good, but not as good as outside)

5. any tips for getting her harness on/off without her biting at it?

6. How many treats per day is too much? We’ve been feeding her the recommended 1/2 of dry food per day, but on top of that, with all the training and miscellaneous rewards, she’s going through several little biscuits (crumbled into pea-sized nibbles) per day, plus the occaisional “munchy stick” rawhide treat.

7. Any good tips for liquid medication? she’s on two of them, and loves the chicken flavor one, but hates the banana one. She’s very squirmy and it’s tough to get her mouth open long enough to squirt it in. She’s caught onto my trick of letting her chew on a toy and sneaking it in the side of her mouth, and won’t fall for it again.

8. She chews on the end of her tail a lot. She’s been treated for fleas, so it’s probably not that. Any ideas?

9. Is there a website out there somewhere that lets you describe your dog and then tells you what breed(s) she might be?

10. What are the best dog info sites in general?

Thanks for any help…

[Omega_Glory]

1. We’re trying to housebreak her, but running into issues because it’s really cold out, and she’s very reluctant to go out in the cold or rain. (And we’re reluctant to take her out because she’s just getting over a case of kennel cough/pneumonia). If I do take her out, and she thinks it’s too cold, she tries to dart back inside when I put her down. Should we wait for spring and just deal with the mess inside until then? Will she be too old to train then? Would a sweater help?

I just took my dog out. I’m in NY, and got a puppy in the winter, so it was cold and wet a lot. He learned to deal with it. He had a little coat, but he hated it, so we gave up putting it on him. Maybe you’ll have more luck. Just keep the outside time short.

2. We’ve tried using “puppy pads” inside to at least limit the messy area. She pees on it fine, but poops wherever she likes. Is she supposed to poop on it too? She also tends to bite at the pads, tear them up, and fling them around when we’re not looking. Ideas on that?

No idea. Never used the pads. It seemed like it would confuse the dog, since my ultimate goal was to get him to go outside for that. I did crate training. Worked great.

3. So far we’ve tried two different spray products that are supposed to be foul-tasting so that she doesn’t bite important stuff. Neither Bitter Yuck nor Nature’s Miracle seem to work. She likes to lick the table legs that I sprayed with NM, and chew the blinds that I sprayed with both. Is our dog just crazy? or is there a better product? The next one to try is “Bitter Apple” but the label is unclear if that one is for objects or just wounds. Anyone use it?

I used bitter apple. Apparently, you’re supposed to let the dog taste the spray by itself (put a little in it’s mouth) first, then spray down the furniture.

4. Trying to “clicker train” her as well. It seems to be working. She’s got the connection between click and treat, and passed the “look at me” stage, and starting on Sit. But what do I do when she does the right thing at the wrong time? She’s been sitting at random intervals and looking at me like she’s expecting a treat. Sitting is good, but not when I’m trying to get her to pee or poop outside. Do I reward good behavior at the wrong time? Do I reward her for peeing on the puppy pad? (which is good, but not as good as outside)

No idea.

5. any tips for getting her harness on/off without her biting at it?

Teach her the command “leave it” and distract her with treats.

6. How many treats per day is too much? We’ve been feeding her the recommended 1/2 of dry food per day, but on top of that, with all the training and miscellaneous rewards, she’s going through several little biscuits (crumbled into pea-sized nibbles) per day, plus the occaisional “munchy stick” rawhide treat.

Instead of using biscuits, feed her pieces of kibble out of her bowl as treats. Also, be careful with the rawhide. Dogs that eat large chunks of it are at risk for choking on it and dying.

7. Any good tips for liquid medication? she’s on two of them, and loves the chicken flavor one, but hates the banana one. She’s very squirmy and it’s tough to get her mouth open long enough to squirt it in. She’s caught onto my trick of letting her chew on a toy and sneaking it in the side of her mouth, and won’t fall for it again.

Ask the vet if you can mix it in with a little wet food.

8. She chews on the end of her tail a lot. She’s been treated for fleas, so it’s probably not that. Any ideas?

Could be an allergy, could be normal puppy stuff. They do like to chew on themselves.

Good luck with your new dog.

[Athena]

#1: Housebreaking:

I’ve housebroken 2 puppies in the past three years, both in the middle of cold snowy winters. You can’t ask the lil’ girl to go outside, you have to take him out. So bundle up, pick her up, give her a cuddle, and head out to the poopy spot. Put her down, tell her “Go poopy” or whatever you decide your catch phrase is (training your dog to go on demand is very handy, so I strongly suggest a catch phrase) and then proceed to ignore her. She’ll try to crawl up on your shoes or head to the house or whatever. If she strays too far, pick her up, bring her back, put her down and say “go poopy” again.

When she does go, go nuts with the encouragement. 'Oh what a SMART girl! GOOOD doggy! GOOOOD poopy" and lots of cuddles and pets, too. Pick her up and bring her back inside.

Rinse and repeat every ~3 hours or so for an 11 week old puppy, and about an hour after you feed her. My dogs figured it all out pretty quick.

#2: pads:

I used pads as a backup. If puppy started to go potty inside, I’d pick her up and put her on the pad. Praise her copiously when she’s done. She figured it out pretty fast. And yes, they do poop on the pad as well as pee.

I worried about them getting confused between the pads and outdoors, too, but it never seemed to happen.

#3 Chewing:

Rather than trying to keep her from chewing on stuff you don’t want chewed up, concentrate on making her chew on appropriate chew toys. A puppy needs LOTS of chew toys. Get nylabones and plush dog toys. When you catch her chewing on the bad stuff, take her away, say NO! and stuff a toy in her mouth. She’ll learn very quick. None of my dogs ever chewed up anything I didn’t want chewed, but we do have a toy box of waaaay too many toys.

#4 Clicker:

Never did this, so no idea.

#5 Harness:

It’s impossible. Give up.

#6: treats:

As long as she’s not gaining too much weight, I wouldn’t worry too much about treates as long as they’re healthy. You have to worry about this more with older dogs.

#7 medicine:

I’m not much good at this either. I’d ask your vet to show you the best way - I had good luck with learning how to medicate cats by sitting down with the vet tech, but none of my dogs have required medication so I never learned on dogs.

#8 tail chewing:

Between #3 and #8, I’m getting the idea that she doesn’t have a lot of chew toys, or maybe she doesn’t like the ones you have. Dog have to chew, there’s no two ways about it. They’ll either chew on their tails and your furniture, or on their toys. Get them toys, lots of them.

#9 & #10:

I’m not sure on these, so will let others answer.

[gonzomax]

Poo training is patience and repetition. It will come.
Harness-2 beagles -1 uses harness wiythout trouble-The other laid on his back and wailed like he was being killed-neighbors came to the rescue.-we gave up
chew toys -leave them everywhere-he will pick out favorites-ours like them to look like squirrels

[gonzoron]

Thanks for the advice so far folks. We’re aware of the risks of the rawhide treats and always supervise her closely while she eats them, taking it away when it gets small enough to be chokeable. Our vet says they are fine with supervision and she gives them to her own dog.

Why reward her with kibble instead of biscuits? Everything I’ve read recommends using something different than their regular food as rewards.

How many chew toys are we talking here? She’s got 6 thus far, of assorted textures and toughness. Is that not enough? I’ll try the replacement strategy next time I see her go for the pad, but it’s usually only a problem when I’m not looking… call for attention maybe?

[Scarlett67]

@gonzomax

Poo training is patience and repetition. It will come.

And consistency. Make sure you and your wife are using the same routine, commands, etc. I’ll add another vote for crate training – it serves a dog well throughout its whole life.

Also another vote for providing lots of chew toys and praising her copiously for chewing on them. It’s much easier to teach a dog to DO something than NOT to do something.

[Poysyn]

Potty training is greatly aided by crate training. My lab puppy learned to go outside in the last coldest winter we had, the crate made all the difference.

[Baron_Greenback]

@gonzoron

How many chew toys are we talking here? She’s got 6 thus far, of assorted textures and toughness. Is that not enough? I’ll try the replacement strategy next time I see her go for the pad, but it’s usually only a problem when I’m not looking… call for attention maybe?

Honestly, extra treats are no use. Praise when the dog does the right thing, and scold when they don’t. You don’t have to be all the nasty when scolding, a wee skelp for the worst misdemeanor, and a lot of rolling around and playing when the right thing happens. Unless you’ve got a nutter it’ll work out fine - the dog wants to be part of your family. The longer you know your dog the easier it gets.

[Omega_Glory]

@gonzoron

Why reward her with kibble instead of biscuits? Everything I’ve read recommends using something different than their regular food as rewards.

Everything I’ve read recommends using kibble because of the concerns that you brought up in your first post. I’ve read to use kibble for the little stuff, and a “jackpot” type treat like meat for really important things, like teaching recall.

[QUOTE[
How many chew toys are we talking here? She’s got 6 thus far, of assorted textures and toughness. Is that not enough? I’ll try the replacement strategy next time I see her go for the pad, but it’s usually only a problem when I’m not looking… call for attention maybe?[/QUOTE]

Six things should be good. When I asked this question, someone recommended keeping a few things out, then rotating them every so often so the dog doesn’t get bored with the toys she has. My dog book says no more than three toys should be out at a time, so the dog can learn what’s hers, and what belongs to everyone else.

[Athena]

@gonzoron

How many chew toys are we talking here? She’s got 6 thus far, of assorted textures and toughness. Is that not enough? I’ll try the replacement strategy next time I see her go for the pad, but it’s usually only a problem when I’m not looking… call for attention maybe?

Does she chew on them?

If she does, then 6 is more than enough. If she chews on the baseboards or the couch instead, then you need to find other chew toys that she likes better. I agree with the other poster who suggested rotating the toys. A toy they haven’t seen for a week is as good as a real toy.

Resist the urge to buy a new toy every time you go to the store. And if you figure out how to do that, let me know, so I can teach Mr. Athena the trick.

[Mame]

Can I heartily recommend the Kong toys? You can stuff treats into them, and the dogs keep busy trying to get the treats out. Kongs come in different shapes and sizes are VERY robust.

Also the everlasting treat and fun balls and everlocking treats.

For discouraging chewing on things which are not toys, our vet recommended tabasco sauce. Obviously, if you have stuff which will stain (eg a cloth covered couch) it isn’t a great solution. But otherwise, it works! The item itself teaches the dog to not chew, as the dog gets a snootful of tabasco when it tries to chew.

[Caridwen]

@gonzoron

See subject. Yeah, there’s a million dog websites out there, with mostly conflicting info, so why not ask here, right?

Info: First dog for both my wife and I. She’s an 11 week old, 4lb, mixed breed. The shelter said her mother was a “Pinnypoo” (Miniature Poodle/Miniature Pinscher) and father is unknown. She doesn’t look anything like the Pinnypoos I’ve seen online. More like a Pinscher, not at all like a Poodle, with short brown, non-curly fur, but droopy ears like a lab.

So onto the questions:

1. We’re trying to housebreak her, but running into issues because it’s really cold out, and she’s very reluctant to go out in the cold or rain. (And we’re reluctant to take her out because she’s just getting over a case of kennel cough/pneumonia). If I do take her out, and she thinks it’s too cold, she tries to dart back inside when I put her down. Should we wait for spring and just deal with the mess inside until then? Will she be too old to train then? Would a sweater help?

Yes, she’ll be hard to train if you wait and you’ll have a lot of bad habits to try to correct. The key is don’t let them do anything that you have to go back and correct. Don’t let them go inside so you won’t have to correct them. Don’t let them chew so you won’t have to correct that behavior.

**I got my dog this time of year too and it is a mess but just be persistant. Crate training is the key because it makes training much faster.

a. First thing in the morning, take her out immediately. As soon as she goes, bring her back in. Don’t hang out outside.

b. Feed her. Take her out again and stand where you want her to go. Don’t play with her. If she goes, great! Give her a small treat, and bring her in.

c. If she went, let her play 10-15 min, take her out again. If not, wait 5 minutes and take her out again. Then re-crate her.

Do this throughout the day. **

2. We’ve tried using “puppy pads” inside to at least limit the messy area. She pees on it fine, but poops wherever she likes. Is she supposed to poop on it too? She also tends to bite at the pads, tear them up, and fling them around when we’re not looking. Ideas on that?

**Didn’t work for me. **

3. So far we’ve tried two different spray products that are supposed to be foul-tasting so that she doesn’t bite important stuff. Neither Bitter Yuck nor Nature’s Miracle seem to work. She likes to lick the table legs that I sprayed with NM, and chew the blinds that I sprayed with both. Is our dog just crazy? or is there a better product? The next one to try is “Bitter Apple” but the label is unclear if that one is for objects or just wounds. Anyone use it?

**I tried it but I think it’s better just to correct her if she chews by a ‘no’ and give her her toy. Keep her in a confined area so she doesn’t get into stuff.

My dog wasn’t allowed in any room in the house except the kitchen which was blocked off until she was fully housebroken. **

4. Trying to “clicker train” her as well. It seems to be working. She’s got the connection between click and treat, and passed the “look at me” stage, and starting on Sit. But what do I do when she does the right thing at the wrong time? She’s been sitting at random intervals and looking at me like she’s expecting a treat. Sitting is good, but not when I’m trying to get her to pee or poop outside. Do I reward good behavior at the wrong time? Do I reward her for peeing on the puppy pad? (which is good, but not as good as outside)

**My best friend is a dog trainer and she uses a clicker. It’s a great idea. **

5. any tips for getting her harness on/off without her biting at it?

**They all do that. Everything’s a toy to them at this age. How about just leaving her collar on and using a leash until she’s older? **

6. How many treats per day is too much? We’ve been feeding her the recommended 1/2 of dry food per day, but on top of that, with all the training and miscellaneous rewards, she’s going through several little biscuits (crumbled into pea-sized nibbles) per day, plus the occaisional “munchy stick” rawhide treat.

**
During training that’s not too much. I wouldn’t give the rawhide until she was older. **

7. Any good tips for liquid medication? she’s on two of them, and loves the chicken flavor one, but hates the banana one. She’s very squirmy and it’s tough to get her mouth open long enough to squirt it in. She’s caught onto my trick of letting her chew on a toy and sneaking it in the side of her mouth, and won’t fall for it again.

8. She chews on the end of her tail a lot. She’s been treated for fleas, so it’s probably not that. Any ideas?

**It could be allergies, get her checked by the vet. She could also be playing with her tail. **

9. Is there a website out there somewhere that lets you describe your dog and then tells you what breed(s) she might be?

10. What are the best dog info sites in general?
    **I can’t recommend enough taking her to puppy classes. They are so helpful and you can get so much great information.

Think of it this way, put the 6 months into training her now so for the next 15 years you’ll have a well trained, housebroken, happy dog.

It’s better than cleaning up dog poop for the next 15 years.**

[Savannah]

@Omega Glory

Instead of using biscuits, feed her pieces of kibble out of her bowl as treats. Also, be careful with the rawhide. Dogs that eat large chunks of it are at risk for choking on it and dying.

Kibble that comes out of mum or dad’s pocket TASTES TEN TIMES BETTER!!! than kibble in her bowl. Kibble as reward treats worked fine for our puppy, and keeps her food consumption on a fairly even level.

[Savannah]

And where are the PICTURES of this dog?