Suki's Puppy Questions

[Shamad]

We have named our new shitsu puppy (who has just hit 8 weeks) Suki and it seems that with the new name she's developed a mischievous personality to go with it. Having never had a puppy before I have many questions, so I hope its ok to list them here.

The number one query I have is about the level of supervision I give her. She's getting alot better with the toilet training and she goes five or six hours throughout the night in her crate before I let her outside. She's also starting to wait at the door during the day before we let her out to toilet - so in that respect she's doing very well (although still has the odd accident). However, I've read that its very important to watch them *all the time* that they're not in their crate and now that she's suddenly begun exploring the house that's become much more difficult. Where before she was happy to sit with me now she's desperate for attention and will explore the entire house and get into mischief. Some people have encouraged me to just leave her be whereas other things I've read tell me to stay nearby all the time. Obviously, there are going to be some practical problems with me hovering around her whenever she wants to go explore - at some point I need to do my own thing

Another issue is with her biting / chewing. While I can easily ignore her when she bites me too hard (and this works well) I'm not sure if I should ignore her when she's chewing shoes / furniture etc. I've read that there are some sprays that will use taste to stop her chewing items in the short term but I'd prefer to do something else if possible. At the moment i've been slack and turned a blind eye to her chewing thongs (I justify it by telling myself it will keep the floor free of people's thongs ) but I get the feeling I should do something. Then again she's supposedly teething at the moment - will she grow out of it?

Last question - while I have many more I know this is getting too long - She will be going to puppy preschool soon I believe and while she's getting the hang of the 'sit' and 'drop' commands - I'm not sure if there's other prep I should be doing to teach her that I'm the master. So for example, I've read some people use this 'triangle of temptation' method, is it too early for that? Others have managed to somehow teach the dog to sit before playtime / foodtime etc etc. Is this something I should be looking at doing at her age? If so, how? heh.

I apologise for the long post - if these Q/A sessions arent really welcome I'll save my Q's for puppy preschool ;)

[rugerfly]

I've read your post and find that you are a fairly good speller. Just wondering if you do know how to spell your dogs breed ;)

Seriously though, sounds like your on the right track..... it will be really hard for you to follow her all over the house to check she isnt going to wee, and you will un do all your good doing training her if you let her roam too much. She will learn that she can just go anywhere if you cant monitor her. Just keep her where you can see her or in her crate

Dont over do the training unless you really know whats what. Sit and drop are great, but you will learn it all at obedience. I guess if your not a freak like me it wont matter, but you may find it hard to break habits she gets into by sitting or dropping incorrectly . Puppy pre school is really only good for socialisation, unless its run by trained instructors.

I dont think its ever too early for TOT Good luck!

[WinGus]

Welcome Shamad!

1) You may need to restrict the areas that she has access to until she's fully toilet trained. That would make it easier for you to watch her. You can take her to different parts of the house at different times to let her explore, but let her know that she has boundaries. I was lucky in that Pepper was a very nervous dog and didn't venture much away from the sofa area, not even to the other side of the room where the dining table was!! With some work, she is a lot more confident now and has free run of the house because she's fully toilet trained.

2) Train her to only chew toys. Give her a range of chew toys to play with. I found a stuffed kong great for that. Again, because I had a nervous dog, she only chewed items that I gave her, namely toys. We have electrical cords all over the house, but she doesn't go for them or the furniture. When she did look like she was going to mouth something, we "growled" at her (deep "uh uh") and she would back off. Her reward was a toy that she was ALLOWED to chew. Always give the puppy an alternative to show the behaviour that you want, not just the behaviours that you don't want.

3) What Rugerfly said!! No dog is ever too young for TOT!! The earlier the better!! I wish I had started with Pepper at 8 weeks! It was more like 6mo by the time I did it with her. But the results are pretty good.

If you want more on leadership, read some books that will help you, ie. The Dog Listener by Jan Fennell and Before And After Getting Your Puppy by Ian Dunbar. Some other ones are The Other End Of The Leash by Patricia McConnell and Don't Shoot The Dog by Karen Pryor. I'm yet to read the latter two, but am on a waiting list to get them!!

Don't expect too much of your dog in terms of obedience. Go at her pace. If she's learning fast, that's great, but it's to her deteriment if you expect too much. I do out of my dog, and it just gets frustrating for me, not her!!

Good luck with your new baby! Any photos?

[Shamad]

Its been about three weeks now and I have more quesions :D

Suki really is a good dog, and I'm over the moon at the way she's turned out. She's taken to the crate very well and we've not had a single accident during the night. At the moment she's 9 weeks and we're letting her go about 6 hours during the night before we wake her up to go wee outside. She's also starting to respect us when we yell at her if she does something naughty.

My questions are about how to handle her when she gets super extreme naughty and wont concentrate on what we say. For example, I've had to go back to uni this week which means she's being left in the bathroom, with her crate in there (with the door open). When she gets home, she's pretty excited and goes nuts. She will also go nuts whenever she's wet and drying off (she's fallen in the pool and also whenever we wash her). She bites and barks at us, she chases the other dog (Mickey) around until he snaps at her and she wont listen when she's yelled at (in fact often she choses to run crazy around the room instead of listening to us). Obviously, she's a puppy and that's cool, I understand that, but at the same time I want to be sure I'm not creating problems for the future.

How should I handle things when she goes crazy? Can anyone offer any advice?

[Faolmor]

I'd try a time-out with her. If she's going completely mental, and won't listen, simply put her in her crate for a minute or two of "quiet time." Ditto when she's having a mung on the furniture. Warn her first. If she continues to disobey, simply put her into time out. She will soon learn that a warning is very much that - a warning, and it should be taken seriously!

[Dogsfevr]

she wont listen when she's yelled at (in fact often she choses to run crazy around the room instead of listening to us

Do you listen if someone is yelling at you or do your prefer to respect someone who is calm & understanding??

Dogs are the same.If your yelling it means the dog has switched off to the verbal overload as it has no idea what your talking about or expect,

"She's also starting to respect us when we yell at her if she does something naughty."

So she listens to one type of yelling but not another??

You dont need to yell .This is a 9 week old pup that is totally reliant on you to teach it.It will do naughty things & thats when you teach & earn respect but if all your doing is yelling your just razzing the dog up with your voice tone & getting no response to all tha vocal overload.Your voice is the one item you have with you at all times but you must use it wisely .This is a dog it doesnt understand conversations,yelling or anything else .infact it most likely looks at you like your silly & goes on with being a pup.

You need to use your voice TONE to differ praise to respect but you need to use precise simple words & everyone in the house must do the same.

" For example, I've had to go back to uni this week which means she's being left in the bathroom, with her crate in there (with the door open). When she gets home, she's pretty excited and goes nuts."

Ofcourse she will go nuts,being locked in the bathroom on your own is very boring & shih tzus being people dogs thrive on showing off & being with you.The pup is just using up its energy from being confined.

When you get home do you take pup start outside & ignore it or do you make a big deal in your greeting & then take pup out??

Be calm pups/adults having zoomies is very normal & a away to express themselves & very rarely do they listen in those 5 mins but once your pup is into a routine & has adjusted to the humans that follow a consistant & rewarding rouine your pup will settle quickly

[Shamad]

Hello, thanks for the replies.

Faolmir, I will try to do the timeout thing, though I've read that the crate was always meant to be something special, a place for her to feel happy and safe - is there any problem with using it as a punishment? Do you (or anyone else) have any thoughts on this? Thank you for the suggestion though, I've always read that ignoring her is a better way of correcting her than paying her attention in any way - so a time out might work really well.

Settylvr, thanks for the reply, but it would be helpful if you could make a few more specific suggestions. I've not had a puppy before, when she is misbehaving how should I correct that? What works now is for me to loudly say 'Ah-Uh', generally as long as there are no other big distractions, she stops what she's doing. I get the feeling from your comments that this is a stupid thing to do - that's fine I'm definitely no expert, but what should I do instead?

As for keeping her in the bathroom when I'm out, this is mainly to protect the house from her attacking furniture out of boredom. It's also to keep her cool as the tiles seem to keep her happy during the heat. Is there a better option that I'm not thinking of? Giving up university and becoming a full time puppy carer is unfortunately not an option, so I will need to put her somewhere.

[Faolmor]

It's fine to pop her in her crate for a time-out - bearing in mind that a time-out isn't a punishment per-say, it's literally just a time-out. That is, time to let her calm down a bit, and chill out until she is in the right frame of mind (ie, not being hyper) to rejoin the pack. You're right, though, that the crate should never be used to punish her. So when you put in her there for a time-out, simply keep things calm, put her in the crate, and let her calm down. Then, let her out again as if nothing has happened.

If you're comfortable keeping her in the bathroom for the time-being, then this is okay too. The tiles will keep her nice and cool in the heat, and it's a safe area for her to be left in. You said she has the crate for sleeping in too, so she has her own bed and space there too.

I think what Settrlvr is trying to say is that, when you come home and Suki is going crazy with happiness to see you, don't make a fuss of her until she calms down. This is good advice. If you get in on the whole "excitement dance" and hype her up, you'll only teach her to go MORe crazy when she sees you - and you're at risk of creating a separation anxiety problem later on. So, when you get home, just take her straight outside (to reinforce the toilet training), and let her burn off steam, but don't pay any attention to her (save to keep an eye on her to make sure she isn't getting into mischief). Once she is beginning to calm down, then you can call her to you (ie, on YOUR terms), and give her some attention. It is completely 100% normal, btw, that she is going crazy when you first get home. By all means, let her run off steam outside, and don't punish her for being happy to see you. But on the other hand, don't REWARD this behaviour either, by pandering to it. Ignore her until she has calmed down.

By tone of voice, Settrlvr means that dogs don't understand what you're actually saying in words - but they DO understand tone of voice. I quick, firm - "uh-uh!" means far more to a puppy than, "why are you chewing on that shoe? You're not allowed to chew on shoes! Bring that shoe here and give it back to me right now!" Similarly, a happy, excited, "Good girl!" means far more than, "congratulations! you finally learned how to sit! I'm so proud of you!"

You might MEAN all those things. But she will only understand your tone of voice, and your body language. The words themselves mean nothing to her at this young age. As she grows, she will certainly learn and understand certain words. Most dogs can comprehend up to 1000 words, I believe. This is advanced language skills for any animal. But just like a child, she needs to learn how to comprehend words in context, and tone of voice will help her learn this.

It's up to you to choose how you will correct her behaviour under certain circumstances, and stick to that method each time. Make sure everyone else in the house sticks to the same method. The more consistency you can give her, the quicker she will learn. If you decide that a time-out will be employed for chewing on things she shouldn't, then this is the method you should stick to until she gets the message.

Good luck with her. She sounds like a real cutie!