New puppy: Tell me it gets better?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
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First, the happy: this is Bailey, a 3-month-old female Beagle mix who I just adopted yesterday. :slight_smile:

Now, the neuroses: I think I’m training her wrong already. :frowning:

It started when we brought her home: it rained all day, and the puppy had never worn a leash before and hates it, so now she doesn’t like going outside. She has started to avoid coming to me when she sees her leash. I figure this will just take time, and I plan to take her to PetSmart later today as a “fun” leash trip, but it’s not an auspicious start.

Then there was last night/this morning. She got crated around 12:30am, and seemed to sleep for 5 straight hours. She started crying at 5:30 so I got up and let her out of the crate, whereupon she promptly pooped on the rug. I took her outside anyway, in case she needed to pee, but she just sat on the (wet) ground near my feet and whined until I took her back in. I tried putting her right back in the crate, closing the door to the room, and ignoring the barking: it stopped after a few minutes, but then started right up again. So I thought maybe 5 hours straight was enough for a puppy and it was time to let her play for a while. When I let her out she tried really hard to eat me (I believe she’s teething) despite efforts to interest her in two bones, and I wonder if part of that was her being mad about being put back in the crate. I managed to get some clothes back on and bring her downstairs, and I decided to feed her. I know what she was eating at the rescue, but don’t know her schedule. I have a tendency to overfeed animals, but every website/dog food package has different guidelines so I’m just winging it until we can see the vet. Right now I’m giving her chew toy after chew toy and just waiting for her to fall asleep again, so I can put her back in the crate and maybe go back to sleep myself: I am not a morning person, and at this point have only had 3.5 hours of sleep.

Oh, and my SO and I already have a 5-year-old Beagle, and of course when I fed the puppy this morning the other one came downstairs – and then needed to go out and eat something, too. Sigh.

Constantly trying to chew on me is just the teething, right? She doesn’t hate me yet? Was 5 hours of sleep about right, or should I have been tougher about leaving her in the crate for another 3 hours? Should I worry about the leash/outside thing yet? As I mentioned, I’ll be talking to my vet as soon as she can come check Bailey out. I also plan to enroll her in some training at PetSmart. So I know that all is not lost yet. It’s just a little overwhelming (and tiring!) to suddenly have this little thing and not really know what to do with her!

Thanks for letting me have this early-morning rant. She’s already back asleep. :slight_smile: I’m going to hold her in my lap for a while, then bring her upstairs and put her back in her crate. We’ll see how the rest of the morning goes!

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It gets better.

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It does get better, of course, but you are training her wrong. :slight_smile:

You should only let her out of the crate when she’s being quiet. When you let her out when she whines, it just trains her that being annoying=getting what she wants. Not good. And until she’s potty trained, or at least getting the general idea, I’d carry her from the crate to place you want her to potty as soon as you take her out. She doesn’t have access to the floor until she’s gone outside. Bring treats, and treat her as soon as she eliminates in the correct place.

You’ll be fine, really. The first few days are tough, but she’s adorable and will be a wonderful pet. Congratulations on the new family member!

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She’s a beauty. Congratulations!

Yes, it will get better. I have a 5-month-old yorkie-poodle mix*, and she was about at the age of your pup when I got her. What Renee said is right on. You want to reward her (which means praise or giving her what she wants, like attention or freedom) only when she is being good, never when she is displaying a behavior you don’t want to reinforce. If she’s doing something you want to discourage, ignore her completely until she stops.

Pups that age usually can’t make it more than 4-5 hours without going outside. Be sure she goes out right before you want to go to sleep, but resign yourself to getting up once during the night to take her out until she’s a little older. Carry some tiny training treats in your pocket so they’re available right away when she goes. Puppies have the attention span of gnats. They also have the bladder capacity of gnats, so be sure you’re taking her out very frequently, every 2 hours when you’re awake, if possible.

Mouthing things (and people) is how puppies explore. If she’s chewing on something or someone out of bounds, correct her firmly but calmly and give her one of her chew toys. You’ll have to do it a thousand times or so, but she’ll get it eventually. I use my pup’s gnawing on me to get her used to my fingers in and around her mouth for ease of future toothbrushing and foreign body retrieval.

When we got our previous pup (we have 5 dogs currently), we started her out in a crate in the bedroom, and I anticipated at least a week of whining and howling. The first night, she started to whimper a bit, so I started to hum Brahms’ Lullaby to her, and she calmed right down and went back to sleep! Strangest thing I’ve ever seen. That same tactic worked with her throughout those first weeks. I’ve no idea why. You might try having a radio playing softly for her. Whatever you do, though, don’t let her bully you into letting her out. Once they learn that trick, it’s really hard to unlearn it. Take her outside the one time during the night, then stuff her back into her crate and tell her it’s time to sleep.

Beagles are smart, and mixes are even smarter, so I think she’ll be a fine li’l hound for you. Enjoy!

  • Sorry no pics yet. I can’t find my camera cable.
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Thanks for the encouragement, and gentle corrections. :slight_smile:

I’m very afraid/conscious of reinforcing the “barking gets you stuff” thing, but I worry about annoying the neighbors (we’re in a townhouse). I also wonder: how do I know when she’s ready to go out in the middle of the night if I don’t wait until she wakes up (and starts whining, etc.)? I just did it again about 1/2 hour ago. :frowning: We’re still having the problem of “I hate being outside on my leash, therefore I will poop/pee in the house,” and I hate to reinforce that by waking her up to bring her outside – especially if she’s not ready to do anything then. Or is that what I should start doing?

The bedtime thing was no problem: I waited until she fell asleep downstairs before putting her in the crate for the first time last night. I was surprised at how quickly the barking stopped! My SO pointed out the whole “don’t reward barking” thing and helped me be tough, but I’m struggling with the housebreaking aspect. But I’m also starting to think that it’s more important to not reward the barking, and just let the housebreaking take as long as it will take. It’s going to be several months before she’s fully housetrained, anyway. Right?

Man, talking to the vet and going to puppy class can’t happen soon enough. :wink:

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Beagles have a reputation of being hard to train, including housebreaking. So plan on it taking time. If she doesn’t like the leash, is it possible to get a small fence (like a toddler play area) that she could use for potty time - getting used to the leash while housebreaking may be a battle.

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Our whippet was a crate whiner. He’s been quite content sleeping in our bed for about 2 years now. Oh well, he’s a great snuggler, at least.

Anyway, it gets better. Puppies and kittens are cute but very very annoying at times. Once they start figuring out the rules, things get better. Puppy classes should help.

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I did the opposite with my beagle. As has been said, they have very small bladders, and I felt it was wrong to know he needed to go out badly enough to whine about it, yet leave him crated anyway. So, I tried to get him outside before he had to whine for a bathroom break.

I would wake her up, before she starts barking, every 3-4 hours at night and take her out. This is what worked for me- wake her up, and take her out. Give her the command to go to the bathroom, give her the treat while she’s going and give calm praise (since it’s night time, you don’t want to get her overly excited) then back in the crate. If she doesn’t go to the bathroom after ten minutes or so, then back in the house and crate. Try again in an hour.

I let my dog get used to the leash by wearing it around the house. I’d also try to train her to eventually end up on your sleep schedule. Does she have things that are safe to play with alone? I wouldn’t be setting up feeding time and play time during times I’d normally be sleeping, or you run the risk of her expecting it.

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Yeah, this. That’s the same way you keep a kid from wetting the bed…at least, that’s how my mom did it. She’d wake me up every night and make me sit on the pot until I peed. Annoying for both of us but much less annoying than the daily changing of the sheets.

Getting the dog to go on schedule is great. Always take her out right after she eats, and work on this nighttime schedule too. And lots of praise when she does go. My dog is 6 now and she always goes out after she eats and, if I’m around when it happens, she still gets praised for going potty.

Also - does the puppy wear a collar 24/7? Is it the collar or the leash she doesn’t like? Or maybe you have a leash that is just too heavy. Is it a leash that clips to her collar or one that slips over her head in a loop? Is it chain, nylon or leather?

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This training book is very highly regarded.http://www.amazon.com/How-Your-Dogs-Best-Friend/dp/0316604917

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Thanks for the continued responses/suggestions!

My SO and I have agreed that we don’t want to train her using anything that might possibly make her think it’s ever ok to pee inside.

Were you working full-time outside the house when you did that? I would be a complete zombie by the end of the week. :eek: I get that it may be the optimum method for training, but right now I can’t justify that kind of non-sleep schedule. The non-sleep schedule I’ll already be dealing with is bad enough. :wink:

She’s actually getting better with it already. Yesterday/last night was very rainy, but today has been sunny and dry and she’s been able to run around a little and sniff things. She still bucks when she really doesn’t want to be outside, but it’s not every single time anymore. Whew!

Define “alone”: if you mean without supervision, the only thing I’d put in her crate with her would be a bone or other chew toy. She is never unsupervised: either we’re watching her or she’s in her crate. But then we’ve only had her for 30 hours. :slight_smile:

The puppy wears a collar 24/7. It’s the leash she doesn’t like. The leash clips to her collar: it’s a retractable nylon one. It might be a little heavy for her right now, but when she’s distracted she doesn’t seem to mind it. :slight_smile:

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It sounds like you’re doing what many people do: getting a puppy and just assuming that the training will happen naturally, without any research or preparation; that the puppy will just naturally outgrow certain behaviors if you A) want it bad enough, and B) communicate your annoyance with him. It’s more complicated than that. Get a good book. After years of working in pet stores and doing some freelance dog training myself, my number one recommendation for new puppy owners is the excellent, highly readable, and intuitively logical Mother Knows Best. It’s the best investment you’ll ever make.

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Mine was an Xmas puppy, and I had a couple of days to get him into the swing of things, but how long do you sleep? It only took a few days for him to get the idea about why we were out there, thus ending the need for waking up more than once per night. I can fall asleep very easily when I’m tired, so getting up in the middle of my eight hour slumber for a few minutes (so the dog went out every four hours) wasn’t too bad. Having to go out into the snow was worse. YMMV, and of course you’ve got to do what works for you. Some people limit their dog’s water at night for that reason.

Good to hear she’s not as bothered by the leash. If this is her first day with it, she’ll probably be fine soon.

By alone, I mean when you’re not with her, like when she’s crated. A lot of people give their puppies frozen kongs filled with something soft like peanut butter at night. It gives her something to do during those times when she’s not tired but you are. My beagle wanted nothing to do with it, but yours might.

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Yes, agreed. Seriously, Misnomer, you’re asking some very basic questions that you should’ve found out the answers to before taking responsibility for a puppy. I read a puppy book before getting my puppy last winter and two more within the first few weeks I had her and I never had any of these issues.

I’ve never read this but just from skimming the reviews on Amazon I got the impression that this book condones hitting your dog (multiple negative reviews mentioned the book was “too harsh” and the discipline was too “hands-on”.) The book is also over 30 years old which means it almost surely flies in the face of most of the current accepted wisdom on dog training.

This was the best book I found. Its methods allowed me to build a strong bond with my dog and get what I want out of her without ever having to yell, lock her away, or lay a hand on her.

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It gets better. I thought I would share a little poem I fashioned when I was in the same stage of puppyraising:

Demonpup
Oh daddy on this may I chew?
On a toy are you best to teeth.
Oh daddy, is this where I poo?
To astroturf please do bequeath.
Oh, but I want to play with you!
Bed-covers I am now beneath…
Daddy I think tis time to wake,
Mischievous things, I may partake.

Don’t worry too much about the biting and nipping. They’ll continue to do this for quite a while, but the teeth will become a lot duller so that it doesn’t hurt so much.

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When did people start “crating” their dogs? The first I encountered this was back around 2000. I was appalled. You put your animal in a carrier if you’re shipping it by plane or taking it the vet maybe.

When I was young and we got a new dog the dog got gated off in a room until it was house trained, but was usually let out even before that. Lots of accidents until it learns “outside!”

But, crating? I don’t get it. Can we crate kids? Please?

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We like to call “kid crates” playpens or cribs.

When I was a kid, way back in the late 80s and 90s, and we got a new puppy, it’d sleep in a large box. Same concept.

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Playpens are fine for infants who can tumble their way into peril. Crates are cages for youngsters who should be running around.

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I mean a small fenced area outside - we had a six by six plastic fence thing for the kids as toddlers that would provide enough outside space for a puppy to get its business done without needing to be on a leash.

(My dog, at two, still hates doing his business on a leash - strange dog wants PRIVACY and therefore wants to run around to the backyard when no one is looking. He’ll go on a leash, early on that was his only permitted choice, but he hates it.)

Also, if you are working full time, make sure someone stops by the house to let her out. We hired a dogwalker for that purpose with ours. Apparently, if you leave puppy too long she’ll have no choice but to soil her crate - and that will make housebreaking even harder.

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Also, don’t give her water for the last 2 hours or so before she goes to bed. Take her out right before you go to sleep, then, as long as she hasn’t had water before bed, she should make it through the night. We foster puppies a lot, and I’ve rarely had to get up in the middle of the night to let them out.