Hi everyone,
I am a full-time working mother with two young boys and now have a puppy to throw into the mix (crazy? maybe). Rosco seems to be doing really well, we keep him in a pen when he's indoors but he usually spends a lot of time outside during the day. He sleeps next to our bed at night in a crate.
Issues/Questions:
Because he's usually confined in the house, he doesn't think of the indoors as a "no go" zone (i.e. he wees indoors). I've just started letting him have supervised playtimes indoors hoping he'll understand that indoors is our "den" but if I take my eye off of him for one second he is chewing something or pee'ing. Needless to say, with a toddler and a 3-year old, it's hard to stay 100% focused on pup (even when my partner is home). Apart from what I'm doing, does anyone have any other tips?
Secondly, I've often wondered if Rosco has a urinary tract infection or some other abnormality. Although he seems otherwise healthy, he does a LOT of urinating...small amounts, very frequently. Sometimes it looks like he doesn't know he's even doing it. Maybe that's normal for a 12-week old pup? I shoud also add that he sleeps through the night with no mistakes (from 9:00-5:00).
Lastly, I have been considering taking him to a puppy school but have limited time. I live in Yanchep so would need a location in the northern suburbs. Does anyone have any suggestions? Is it worthwhile? Or is it possible to train a pup successfully with the right amount of research, time & effort?
Apologies for sounding like a nit-wit. I did have a puppy about 20 years ago when I had just turned 21 but at that time I didn't think much about training. Now I want to do everything possible to make sure Rosco fits into our family with minimal chaos.
Thanks everyone!
