New Puppy Questions

[keds]

Hi,

I just have a few questions I just brought a little girl maltese Ella.

She is left at home during the day while my partner and I are at work. Is it wrong to make a big deal over her when we get home. Also Is there anything that I should do before we leave in the morning so she doesnt get so upset when we leave.

Also what is the best way to toilet train her and to get her to stop biting.

Thanks

[pmiller]

When I get home from work, I casually put my bags down and stroll over to the laundry to get Shiraz out. I don't say anything to him. I do the same thing when leaving. I think he cries for a bit but then settles (have recorded him on a webcam and he is asleep for most of the day and has a little play with a kong for about 20 minutes).

As for toilet training, I lay down some newspaper. He uses it now. We take him out every hour or so when at home and he is getting very good at it. No accidents for a few weeks, knock on wood.

Finally, we tell Shiraz, "no biting" and a quick growl. His biting has really subsided but he was shocking from 8-12 weeks, although I think most puppies are like this.

Enjoy...

[keds]

Thanks a lot. My partner and i are in a debate about if her biting is really that bad. My case is that she is only young and playing with us like she would her family but he says its teaching her bad habits. I do growl at her if she get too rough but i dont see the harm in a nibble.

[bobchic]

I have my 3mth old puppy at puppy skool now and they keep telling us 'don't let your puppy do something now that you don't want them doing when they are an adult'

Im pretty sure its never too young for a dog to learn manners. Eg not chewing on things that arnt theirs, dont let them eat your food or beg for food, jumping etc...

But playing and chewing/biting are two different things... Fine line though... I was letting my puppy get away with play biting on my hands.. But then he started doing more and more and drew blood. Now I make a 'Agh!' noise and dont allow it at all.. he still trys but stops as soon as I make that noise.

Good luck

[Dogsfevr]

You shouldnt make Big deal leaving or returning.

As for mouthing what you allow now sets the dog up for life.I have gundogs that will mouth so i work with them & they are allowed on my terms BUT you must decide what is cute now wont be in 6months latter & it will be harder to retrain what is so easy at this age.

Also malts as far as grooming goes(i groom for a living) are well known for being snappy if they feel like it simply because people feel there sute,fluufy & to young to be taught but those little mouths can do damage

The best advice though.You have brought a dog,Treat it like a dog & you will have a wonderful pet.treat it like a small white fluffy with no boundries & you will have a monster.

This dog is no different to a GSD,Rottie its just smaller

[persephone]

keds... have a read HERE

and also HERE

Hopefully it will be of help.

[Jen21]

I have a 5 month old Maltese Poodle X, and taught him to stop mouthing/biting me by saying ouch loudly and taking my hand away from him any time he tried. He now just licks me to death instead.

Toby (my puppy) is my little shadow, so I worried how he would cope with me working fulltime, but he seems fine. I always leave him with a bone, a few toys (he has a few, so I change them each day), and usually hide something in his sandpit to keep him occupied during the day, and after putting all of this outside with him, he doesn't really notice me leaving. He gets pretty excited when I come home, but after 9ish hours on his own, that's fair enough, and he calms down in 5 minutes, I don't encourage it, just give him a pat and carry on opening up the house.

Toilet training can be a bit difficult, but Toby had it within a few weeks at home. I spent a lot of time outside telling him to "Go Wee", but he eventually got the hang of it. Giving him lots of praise and a treat or 2 when he managed to wee outside worked a treat for me.

Edited March 31, 2009 by Jen21

[misspup]

Finally, we tell Shiraz, "no biting" and a quick growl. His biting has really subsided but he was shocking from 8-12 weeks, although I think most puppies are like this.

Enjoy...

I too have a 12 week old puppy, and he also has been biting, so when he bites a bit hard, I give a yelp and stop play, he soon got the idea that he hurt me and the game was off and now he just licks me to death.

We had our first week of puppy preschool and they told us that the pup needs to know the difference in a soft bite and hard bite, so when there older and get carried away playing they wont give a sharp bite to someone.

good luck and enjoy them while there little

Maree

[misspup]

sorry I clicked post twice

Edited March 31, 2009 by misspup

[jacqui835]

Oh we have a 9 week old doberman cross puppy who quite literally walks around with his mouth open and bites anything that should land in it. When we first got him he was leaving scratches on us but now 2 weeks later my scratches are all almost healed and instead my arms are often covered in whatever he was last eating and slobber. What we find is the most effective is to just say NO really sternly so the dog knows it's not a game, and then put something he should be chewing in his mouth. We found saying ouch shocked him a few times at first but quickly stopped having any impact, whereas the longer we've had him, the more he reacts to NO and Ah Ah (which is the other thing we say when he starts to bite a bit hard as a kind of a warning, NO when he bites hard). As for the rest of the house, we applied the same approach to stop him eating shoes, the carpet, chairs, clothes, boxes in fact like I said he will actually bite anything but he is learning. Now I see him look at our shoes, and then turn around and pounce on his chicken (one of his favourite toys) and give it a good biting session. The other thing is, anytime we see him biting his toys, we tell him what a good boy he is.

As for toilet training, I take him out every 1-2 hours and put him on the same patch of grass (poor grass) and say go toilet repeatedly. Now he goes on command and it's funny because if he's about to run off into the backyard and I say go toilet he stops and goes to the toilet lol. At the start though, and we still do it now, anytime we see him going to the toilet we keep saying go toilet while he's going, to really build up that association. And of course once again we give lots of praise when we see him do the right thing, and he expects it. Sometimes he just wonders over to you suddenly wagging his tail and looking all proud and then I'll notice over in the corner he's gone to the toilet. At night we put him in the laundry and he normally whines at about 5am in the morning for me to take him out. I just say need to go to toilet? when I go get him and carry him out to the spot, no playing or patting except the usual good boy when he does his thing and then back to bed.

I leave the house without saying anything, and when I get home I always put my bag down, go into the kitchen and ignore the dog until he leaves me alone, then call him and say my hello when he comes-to reinforce him always thinking coming to me is a good thing as well, and that he can't ask me for pats, rather he'll get them when I want. And he doesn't make a sound when we're not there, just sleeps or plays with his chicken. Then again though I'm never gone for more than 4 hours, I wouldn't want to leave him alone for any longer.