I Feel Like I Am Going To Fail My Puppy...

[aussielover]

Aww you are just in that hard and frustrating stage at the moment. I'm sure all puppy owners (except those with the most angelic dogs on the face of the planet) begin to feel some frustration at around the 2/3 week mark.

Its not really long enough for them to have fully settled into their new homes and imo they are still too young and silly to really focus and tend to be very forgetful.

There has been some great advice given already and I totally agree with making better use of a crate and puppy playpen.

Please believe me that if you put the effort in, this will soon pass and you will have a very loveable, well behaved and cute puppy.

[Cockerlover]

lots of good advise . cockers r the biggest con artists on this earth !!!dont let a baby cocker run yr life !!!!!or u will end up with a very disobiediant dog !!!!!!

She is still a baby ,& has to be taught ,just like a skin kid .It takes time ,paitiance & commitment to rear both .

hang in there its early days yet .

Crate training would be a good start ,a place that puppy associates with security .start by feeding her in her crate & when u cant supervise her with your skin kid ,then give her the security of her own space .

Pup will be picking up on yr frustration also ,they r extremly smart & really love to please ,so keep up the praise for *good* Behaviour .

[SalTheGal]

Thanks for the encouragement!!!

SBT am going to implement that blanket idea, thanks!

Megan- Have added in the marker now- thanks for that suggestion.

Couple of pics for anyone interested....

THe first day we brought her home:

THIS was taken 30mins ago whilst she was SITTING on my command- waiting for her treat!!! :yay:

[Cockerlover]

IF U REALY CANT COPE SEND HER 2 ME !!!she''s pawsativley adorable !!!!

[PoppyDog]

Is there such thing as puppy clucky???

Coz those big blue eyes make me want another! Even though your post brings back memories of everything we went through!

Hugs!

[corvus]

You have had some good advice, so I'm just adding what I would do.

In terms of training, when she does something we want to discourage, such as jump up on my 1yr old crawler, nip the kids (or us), jump up on the bin searching for scraps, jump up on the edge of the couch to get to us I give a gruff sharp NO... she does seem to be learning that this means stop that activity, but its not seeming to stop her from doing said activity full stop in the first place. When she does the right thing we are trying to go nuts with praise and affection!

As others said, I found it so much easier to concentrate on rewarding my dogs for what I wanted them to do. Beyond that, I would also TELL them what I wanted them to do instead and reward it with treats. I forgot about trying to tell them what I didn't want them to do. I didn't need to anyway. I had a positive interruptor. Whenever I said my pup's name and they came over, I showered them with attention, games, or treats. That way whenever they did something I didn't want them to do I could call them over and they'd come racing expecting something good. Then I had their attention and could tell them what I wanted them to do and reward that.

For eg- she is sitting her on the floor in front of us now, and keeps jumping up on the edge of the couch- we say DOWN, and gently push her down. If she stays down we give her a treat/pat, if she jumps up again we repeat the process.... we've been doing this for the whole time we've had her- and it doesn't seem to be sinking in that she can't jump on the couch. When and only when she is calm and not jumping up we will then lift her up to sit with us.... is this the wrong thing to do? Are we confusing her by doing this? We do want her to be allowed on the couch for a cuddle in the evenings- but we want her to know she has to be invited up.

Aside from what lovemesideways said, which I think was great, I dn't think that this teaches her much. You want to set her up for success. That means you ask for a down, and the second she does it you RELEASE with a release word like "OK" and then reward. Then you ask for a down and release after 1 second and reward. Then ask for a down and release after 2 seconds. If she ever breaks before you release, then you go back to the beginning and work up again. It's called the 300 peck method. I use a release word because it makes life easier. When I say sit or down I mean they should sit or down until I say otherwise. Anyway, if you get to, like a minute long down you can start jumping forwards by tens rather than ones.

Also it is a similar thing with my baby- having a puppy and a crawler does pose its problems- but we really want them to co-exist! My son doesn't pay any attention to the puppy- but alas the puppy likes to pay plenty of attention to my son- she seems to think he is the perfect play toy! Whenever she goes to lick/nip/mouth/jump on him I again use a gruff sharp NO and she desists immediately... but will go in again literally straight away, until I have to physically remove him(often in tears). Again I've been doing this for the 3wks she has been here now- how long should it take before she knows she can't do this? She knows she is doing the wrong thing- she has a sheepish look the minute I get cross- but it doesn't stop her from going in again within seconds!

Yep, this is where an interruptor is good. You can be like "Hey pup!" and she would desist right then and come over to you. I found that was often enough with puppies to distract them for good, but if it wasn't I would then ask them to do something else, like a string of tricks for example. Don't let her keep doing something you don't want her to do. If you can't distract her from it then you need to physically prevent her from doing it.

I must add that I carry liver treats in my pockets at all times, and try to reward good behaviour constantly- I often feel like Jekyll and Hide!.... I will scold- then as soon as she responds I go all gooey happy and give her a treat- then I turn my back and she does xyz behaviour again- I scold, she responds, I reward etc etc.... I feel like she is learning that if she is naughty- then good she gets a treat... could this happen?

Yep, it is possible. That's one reason why I concentrate on rewards. You can guard against the doing something bad in order to be cued to do something good and be rewarded by using different rewards and practising things you might ask her to do instead of something else in other contexts. If that makes sense..

I have been trying to teach her to sit- but she literally goes NUTS at the sight or smell of food, and if she sees a treat in my fingers she will go jumpy crazy, and I have NO hope of training her in the traditional way to sit by encouraging the motion with a treat.... same with the drop command..... any suggestions?

You have to be real quick and use a marker!

The other thing we are getting nowhere with is toilet training- I am religious with taking her out at the appropriate times, but she is showing no signs of telling us when she needs to go out- and no signs that she is learning to understand that outside is for toileting.... she often wets inside (though does not poo) and will go anywhere any time.... several times I have gone outside with her and stood for 5-10mins to no avail, only to come inside and find her doing it within minutes. And alas due to the fact I have 1 and 3.5yr old boys left inside I simply cannot stand outside with her for long periods of time and leave my children inside unsupervised!

She may never learn to "tell" you when she needs to go. It helps to incorporate a signal to wee and rewards when they do. My younger boy started very loudly and insistently telling me he needed to go out when I started giving him treats for weeing in the yard. I tell him "Water the grass" to get him to toilet on command.

It's hard work! Keep at it and in a year or so you will have the model dog and be the envy of all your friends.

[SalTheGal]

corvus, your post makes a LOT of sense!!!

I must say I have had what I deem to be a huge amount of success just by changing my attitude!!!

I am rewarding soooo much, and trying to really focus on the positive behaviour, just in this one day she is now sitting on command, and seems soooo much calmer just in general- I honestly think we were winding each other up and my frustration was wearing off on her.

I spent ages with her this afternoon on the lead with bub, and by the end of although she is still drawn to bub- if I call her away she responds to me straight away (well almost every time! )

We've gone backward a bit in the toileting, because I think I was so focussed on other aspects today that I probably let my attentiveness slip towards her toilet needs, but I know that's my fault not hers- and even when I got back on top of it this arvo she improved!

Its hard to keep on top of everything all at once when you've got young family to tend to aswell!!!

BUT I am SO appreciative of everyone's advice and suggestions, I am feeling 1000x happier now than I did yesterday... and feel like our journey has the potential to be more positive than I perhaps thought it would be after the last week or two!!

Edited July 30, 2010 by SalTheGal

[TsarsMum]

hey salthegal,

i think you will find 101 different opinions. i would reccomend reading above in the stickys and maybe looking at contacts k9pro. his approch made alot of sence to me and also gave me a light bulb moment of where i stuffed up with my old rotti when it came to socialization and that is why even with desexing he was never good with other dogs.

your pup is gorgess

[TsarsMum]

hey salthegal,

i think you will find 101 different opinions. i would reccomend reading above in the stickys and maybe looking at contacts k9pro. his approch made alot of sence to me and also gave me a light bulb moment of where i stuffed up with my old rotti when it came to socialization and that is why even with desexing (which the trainer and vet at the time told me would help with the problem) he was never good with other dogs.

your pup is gorgess

Edited July 30, 2010 by dogluva101

[cornell]

First of all I hear you!!! Some pups are hard enough to deal with let alone with a young child around.

Positive rewards have also made a huge difference to us. They should be your no. 1 focus.

However you also need to find out what your puppy hates for the times when you need to protect your child immediately during desperate times. For us it is a bunch of balloons that are kept up high. He hates the smell, the sound and its physical presence. He also dislikes a rubber dog toy that has a distinct smell. We use this before resorting to the balloons during painful situations.

Be wary of creating a fear issue for your pup but at the same time you need something that will protect your kids immediately without upsetting your child.

Things will get better, don't give up hope!!

O and don't forget to redirect the puppy towards something positive once she stops the annoying behaviour.

GOOD luck!!

Edited July 30, 2010 by cornell

[dancinbcs]

I must say I have had what I deem to be a huge amount of success just by changing my attitude!!!

I am rewarding soooo much, and trying to really focus on the positive behaviour, just in this one day she is now sitting on command, and seems soooo much calmer just in general- I honestly think we were winding each other up and my frustration was wearing off on her.

BUT I am SO appreciative of everyone's advice and suggestions, I am feeling 1000x happier now than I did yesterday... and feel like our journey has the potential to be more positive than I perhaps thought it would be after the last week or two!!

Well done. A change in attitude can work wonders as can thinking about life from the puppy's point of view. You have successfully raised one child till 3 years so I'm sure you will manage a puppy and a baby. Puppies and toddlers have so much in common and if you remember that you will succeed. Teach them how you want them to behave, reward good behaviour, be consistent and don't nag. Same rules apply to both species but puppies learn faster.

BTW, you puppy is gorgeous and that second photo shows the focus you need from her to enable you to train her.

[corvus]

Be wary of creating a fear issue for your pup but at the same time you need something that will protect your kids immediately without upsetting your child.

My second dog has a very strong down. I LOVE IT! When he was a puppy even at his craziest, I could buy myself a few seconds to decide what to do next by telling him to down. He would always throw himself on the ground no matter what he had been doing a moment before. I used it as my main NILIF behaviour, so anything he wanted he had to down for. I then incorporated it into tug games so I wouldn't play with him until he downed. Down turned into the thing you do if you want something, and the precursor to big rewards. He was quickly able to do a down in all sorts of intense situations where he was very excited. He's 12 months old, now, and I still love the default down. I use it daily. If he ever gets over-excited and starts jumping on me or something I can tell him to down and it will focus him on me, give me a few moments to decide what to tell him to do next, and it does calm him a little. It's worth putting a bit of time into, I think. I started with solid sits because they are easier. I shifted to downs because I'd never had a dog with a strong down before. I think it has benefits over a sit. It is more stable as it's harder to bounce out of. And it's inherently calming, I think.

Great to hear you are doing so well, salthegal. Love your work!

[Archerlove]

SaltheGal

I feel your pupy pain. We are in a similar position with our Puppy and while I want to give her the best life I can I`m worried about getting it wrong. Its hard with small children too as basically the pup is the 4th child.Hang in there.Your puppy sounds perfectly normal and is still very young.

I`ve picked up some ideas fromthe other answers on here which I`ll try out today.

I`m up early to let Emma out and give her breakfast and she`s had frst night with no accidents on kitchen floor.Hooray.Small steps!!!

[Archerlove]

Thanks for the encouragement!!!

SBT am going to implement that blanket idea, thanks!

Megan- Have added in the marker now- thanks for that suggestion.

Couple of pics for anyone interested....

THe first day we brought her home:

THIS was taken 30mins ago whilst she was SITTING on my command- waiting for her treat!!! :yay:

Oh yum! How cute. I can see how it would be hard to deny that face anything. Remeber that you are doing her a favour when teaching her manners.