Lonni

I'm sorry I missed those last replies until now. Thanks so much for your suggestions. Goliath has improved a great deal with the toileting. In the last 5 days he has only peed in the house when he was put behind a baby gate. He seems to have severe separation anxiety, and pees in response. We have moved his crate to a small area near the doggy door (surrounded with baby gates) and leave the crate open overnight. About half the time he wakes up in the morning and takes himself out to pee. Very exciting development! We have our training session with Steve at K9Pro in a week - I'm really excited!

Oh, you guys are the best! Thank you for all your suggestions. I'll save my money and use vinegar from now on - lucky I like the smell of vinegar - Yvonne, I can kinda even understand where your pup is coming from when he licks the floor ;P I'll leash him when I take him out and I'll put a pee stake in the middle of the lawn. And Clyde - thanks for your honesty. Forewarned is forearmed, right? Hehe :)

Thank you!!!! Totally valid about the kids' toys- definitely a problem of our own creating. Although those particular ones on on his lounge, so we realise they are fair game and he isn't disciplined for chewing those. With the going outside, I imagine that many new puppy owners are probably a bit lazy. But we are not one of those - we stay out there every time, even in bad weather, and for extended periods if that is what it takes. A leash is a great idea - We stopped that once he got the idea of going outside, but the cold weather is new, an it's changed his behaviour. Time to reintroduce it then. He does have things to go up against, but they are on the edge of the yard and Id prefer him to go in the lawn. Maybe I should get a pee post for him. His current favourite place (in good weather) is to taunt the chickens in the coop until they try to peck him and then he pees through the wire at them. When he pees in the house I've been using urine-off, but I've run out and I've slacked off since then. Plain vinegar (undiluted) is just as good? I can see the light with most of the other behaviours, but I'm just despairing of the toilet training - I am genuinely doubtful that he will ever be reliably housetrained. Do some dogs never get it? I probably expressed myself badly with the jumping up on cupboards. We never feed him from the benches and he has improved out of sight with that. It is mostly jumping against/up on the dinner table and baby's highchair that is the lingering problem requiring the spray bottle. The kids are messy eaters and the baby can't help but drop stuff on his lap, and the circus pug is getting very good at walking on his hind legs and balancing his head to get the tasty treats of baby's lap - cheeky!! Lamb shanks sound like a good idea.

Thank you all for your helpful suggestions. Just an update on how he is going (and more questions!). Firstly, we have taken your advice and booked into see Steve at K9Pro. Unfortunately there is a wait of several months, so we are on our own until then. - All aggressive behaviour has stopped. We still get barking when someone comes to the door, but no growling, and he has gotten used to children. I think he actually enjoys the exercise of being chased around by a friend's toddler- when he stop chasing, Goliath will actually chase him around a bit to rile him up. Cheeky thing! - Jumping up against the cupboards/table has been tricky because it is self-rewarding. He often gets food out of it. I hope I don't get flamed for this, but I've found that a spray bottle of water is a great deterrent. I only had to spray him 3 times before he got the message that he isn't to jump up. Now I only need to keep the spray bottle handy. - I bought a crate and I've been crate training him. He sleeps in the crate and it is his safe place if he needs it. He will rest in there with the door open, but he absolutely hates being crated (with the door closed) during the day, so I don't tend to do it unless I'm desperate (like going out for 20 minutes, or changing the baby's pooey nappy). - Housetraining is a total disaster! Whenever I take him outside he goes and he gets praise and a treat. I've been using a clicker too, and I've found it great for teaching behaviours. The problem is that it is getting cold, and he prefers not to go outside. He will actually run away from me, off the lawn, back onto the deck and pee against the back door. Other times he will do just enough wee for a chick and a treat, then go straight inside and finish the wee up against a wall. This is driving me batty! I've already gone through a full bottle of urine off. It doesn't appear that I'm not taking him outside often enough - he does the tiniest little wees inside, and much more frequently than he needs to. If I crate him he would be fine for hours. It does seem to be a decision - I think he enjoys marking inside. Is the houstraining likely to get any better? Am I just being impatient? I don't want my house to smell like dog urine permanently! Chewing is also a problem. The kids toys (particularly the wooden ones) are being destroyed. I think this is my fault. I just need to keep the toys off the floor, supervise him properly, and replace inappropriate item with one of his chew toys. I probably need to be more proactive with providing more interesting chew items and puzzle toys. I've heard of Kong wobblers - any good for small dogs? What types of bones would you recommend? Chicken necks? Raw lamb bones? Sorry for the essay. My life has become soooo busy since this little guy arrived! I've attached a picture of where he is right now - snuggling with the kids' stuffed toys :) Thanks in advance. Lonni

Thanks everyone. A friend recommended Steve to me today too - he must be really something! I bought a crate this afternoon and I've been leaving little treats in there for Goliath (the pug) to find whenever he walks past. Up until now Goliath has been sleeping on a trampoline bed with a play pen around him at night. Do you think it is reasonable to put the crate in the play pen but leave the crate door open tonight? That way he'll sleep in the cate because the bedding is soft? Lonni

Yes, he was desexed at 6 months. He came from a reputable breeder who was preparing him for the show ring, so he's not as unruly as I've probably given the impression of.

We have not yet installed a doggy door, so we leave the door open most of the time so he can come and go freely. Being a typical pug, he just seems to want to stay inside with us all the time. On a good day I take him out every 20 minutes of so and we don't have any problems. He goes outside and no accidents. The problems occur only when I'm distracted with cooking dinner or dealing with the kids. It's like he's having a little tantrum! :) I don't think time commitment is going to be a big issue - we are definitely committed to spending the time necessary - I realise it will be well and truly worth it in the long term. It has been a big change for him, and I think he's coping amazingly well really. I just want to have confidence that I'm doing the right thing for him and not making his life more difficult by doing anything silly. We are really trying to be positive in our reinforcement.

Almost 2 weeks ago we collected our 8 month old pug from the breeder. We intentionally avoided a little puppy because we have 3 small children and there are always many people coming and going. The gorgeous little guy came from a breeder who lived alone. He was kennelled with other males, so is not housetrained. We are starting from scratch with all behaviours, including sitting, staying down etc. We have had a few problems (not unexpected) from the start: Growling at the children Barking at softly-spoken people (for no apparent reason). Jumping up on kitchen cupboards, dining table, kids' high chair Jumping up in the lounge (that was our fault, we let him do it for the first few days). Sloooooww housetraining! To combat the growling we let the kids give him treats freely so he would associate them with good things. We also let our 3 year old son (who seemed to cop the bulk of the aggression) feed him his meals. This seems to have largely worked. We rarely get any growling now. The barking at softly spoken people is embarrassing. We had a very shy guest who hardly speaks. The pug was sleeping, and when she uttered her first word he instantly awoke, ran up to her and barked aggressively. Rightly or wrongly, we put him outside, because it was intimidating for our guest. What should we do to discourage this in future? For the jumping up we are making the "uh-uh!" sound and saying down. We push him away from the cupboard every.single.time. It doesn't seem to have had an effect yet. Will this work eventually? Same for the high chair/dining table. I guess the problem there is that sometimes the kids drop food, so he's getting a reward for doing it. Do I keep up the same treatment - the "uh-uh!" sound and saying down while we push him away? With the lounge we wanted him to be able to get up when we picked him up, but not to jump up himself. I came to the conclusion that this was just too confusing for him, so now we've just stopped allowing him up at all. It is very slow going - like the dining table, it's "uh-uh!" sound and saying down while pushing him off. Is this going to be sufficient to train him? It is a nightmare when I'm trying to feed my baby and he's jumping up and all over the both of us. At times like that I've been sutting him outside, but he gets distressed, scratches at the door and often urinates against it. The housetraining is a trial. He now goes outside reasonably quickly when I take him outside. I say "potty", then wait until he's about to go and say it again so I can praise him immediately once he goes. I praise him enthusiastically, and sometimes give a treat. Problem is that whenever he is unsupervised in the house he will urinate against a wall, even when he's gone recently. I'm pretty sure he isn't "busting". He just wants to mark inside. When training him for 'sit' etc he is very judicious with his compliance. He'll do it when he thinks there is a treat reward, but is seemingly disinterested in praise only. I know pugs are very motivated by their stomachs, but I've never known a dog to be so disinterested in praise. It's like I'm trying to train a cat! I've read about crate training. Do you think that this would be a good way to proceed with the housetraining? Or considering pugs are such lap dogs, would it be too stressful for him to be isolated, even in a crate in the common dining area? I would greatly appreciate any advice. I dearly want this puggy boy to be a good family member and the whole family is committed to putting in the hard work to get him there, but I need to know we are on the right track, and if we're likely to have any breakthroughs soon. Thanks in advance! Lonni