New Puppy Owner - Tips?

[deltoid]

After talking about it for a long time and having a trial run babysitting a family member's dog while they were on holidays for a couple of weeks my wife and I picked up a new addition to the family yesterday.

We got a little male Silky Terrier pup (8 weeks) which we have named Thor.

Both my wife and I have grown up in homes with dogs but it has been a long time since we had to deal with a puppy (and previously it would have been our parents doing the caring for the puppies).

So I thought I'd start a thread where I can ask for some tips. I've been reading a lot of material in the past few months on the topic however a lot of it can be conflicting.

I guess my initial questions would be regarding:

Sleeptime:

We have built a little pen for Thor in our bathroom. Bedtime last night we put him in the pen where we have a box containing some soft towels and an old dirty t-shirt of mine so it has our scent. I put in a soft toy that he likes and also put a kong in the enclosure. I also put down one of those puppy mats incase he couldn't hold it. We put him in the pen without making a fuss and closed the bathroom door. We then put on some music at a low volume as I read that could help. He cried/yelped for about 45min. I then got up and took him to the toilet. I then put him in the pen again and he cried for about 30min and then went quiet. I left him for 2 hours and then took him for another wee break, I gave him lots of praise for going outside and put him back in the pen. He cried for about 15min then went quiet. 2 hours later I took him out again. Again I gave him praise for holding it and going where he was meant to. This time he cried for about 45min (not sure why he cried longer this time. Could be because there was starting to be light out?) I plan to leave him for 2 hours again and take him to the toilet again.

Question 1. Did I do the right thing? Obviously I want the little guy to settle in to going down without crying as soon as possible and want to make sure my methods aren't causing more harm than good. I plan tonight to leave him for 3hr stints rather than 2hr (if he has accidents I will go back to 2hr).

Question 2: during the day we are still trying to learn when the little guy needs to go. We were expecting to see clearer signs but we'd be watching him and then all of a sudden he'd go on the floor. Today we will try taking him outside once an hour and see if that helps him. How do we teach him to make indications when he needs to go (eg. Heading to a particular door of the house / getting our attention?). On this note, our house is raised. So we carry him down the stairs, does this have any effect on him making the link between going outside and peeing? I try and make him walk to the door before I pick him up.

Question 3: Eventually Thor will spend his days outside while we are at work and come in with us at night time. But while he is little we plan to keep him in his pen inside while we are at work. Obviously he won't be able to hold his bladder for 9 hours at this stage. Is putting down a puppy mat/newspaper going to affect his house training? (i plan to line the floor of the pen with newspaper and a single puppy mat and then once he decides where he wants to go I will slowly start removing newspaper until just the puppy mat is left)

Question 4: My wife isn't working full time for the next couple of weeks as her work was flooded in the floods up here last week. So she will only be at work 2 days a week for a bit. We are not sure how to get him used to us coming and going though with her home so much at the moment. I was thinking we will start by giving him some treats in his pen and then us remain in the house and him in his pen and just ignore him until he has stopped crying for awhile. Then us do the same and leave and then come straight back in, wait for him to stop crying for a bit and let him out. Then do the same but leave for a minute, then 5 mins, then 15min, etc.

Question 5: Feeding, we've been told to feed him 3 times a day. He seems to be a bit of a graizer, we put the food out and he will eat some, but not all of it. Then come back 10 minutes later to have another little snack. Should we be removing his food after x number of minutes? Should we only feed him in his pen so he associates the pen with good things?

Is this the right way to handle that situation?

All in all he is a cute little guy, he enjoys smuggling up to our feet but at the same time will spend long amounts of times playing with his toys even when we are around. So hopefully he will do fine. I'm just trying to sort out the best way to handle this initial settling in phase as to not upset him too much.

Sorry if there are any typos, I typed this on my phone

Edited January 22, 2011 by deltoid

[Toolz]

im no expert at this but will be doing it myself in a month or so.. but will try and help out

ok so number 1.. what you are doing sounds good.. and i would say you are right on the getting light out and taking longer to settle..

number 2.. make sure you take him outside straight after every meal and also hourly in between would be a good idea. if you take him out the same door every time he will make that connection between that door and going outside... not sure about the stairs thing as to whether it will effect his training..

number 3.. i honestly think 9 hours is a bit long to leave a puppy that age home alone.. have you got friends or family that could look after him during the day? or is there any doggy day cares that you could take him to.. AFTER he has had all his vacs of course..

number 4.. start of with short periods of leaving the house.. put him in his pen during the day and leave the room, then progress to leaving the house and shutting door, then on to going for a drive round the block and take it step by step.. its a slow process but he needs to learn that when you leave you arent abandoning him and that you will be back.. maybe have some special treats that he can have especially for when you return home just while you are training him..

number 5.. yes.. give them say 10 - 15 mins to eat then remove the meal.. well thats what i read on here recently

oh and dont forget the photos lol we like photos

[deltoid]

We were originally planning on taking a couple of weeks off work and get the pup then but I was told/read that it isn't a good idea as the puppy gets into a routine of you being home all the time then you go back to work and they fret more. So they said it was better to get straight into your routine and leave them a few toys to play with.

As mentioned though my wife is only working 2 days a week for the next fortnight and possibly longer so she will be home a bit over the next couple of weeks. She will be trying to not be home all the time though so he doesn't get too used to her being home all day.

[luvsdogs]

Congratulations on getting your new puppy.

Things seem to be going ok with what you are doing. A good resource for getting & settling in a new puppy is Dr Ian Dunbar's books Before & After you get your puppy which are available as free downloads from

www.dogstardaily.com

You may find it a bit daunting if you followed it to the letter, but it gives you a good grounding on what to do. On the site there are also lots of articles, videos & radio programs to listen to.

I find the easiest way to toilet train is to take him outside after eating, drinking, playing, waking up & every hour in between. You can put toiletting on cue whenever he goes by saying something like 'hurry up', go toilet etc. They soon associate the phrase with going & keep praising & rewarding with a food treat for complying. Once your sure he's emptied completely you can give him access to an easy clean floored room as long as you watch him. If you can't at any time watch him put him in his pen.

A lot of ppl use crates to toilet train as well which can also be put in his pen. In the books I gave there are pics of long & short term confinement for your dog. Being a small breed the crate would also be usefull for safe car travel.

Your doing the right thing by ignoring the whining. If you go get him while he's making noise he soon learns what gets your attention. I would not leave him with soft toys because they can be a choking hazard if chewed. Kongs are great & can be stuffed with food & treats.

Don't forget to show us pics of Thor.

[koalathebear]

Congratulations on the new puppy! Puppyhood is so exhausting that it's hard to stop and enjoy how cute the puppy is We had two pups in one year last year so went through the pain twice!

Question 1 (Sleeptime): It sounds like you're doing the right thing. It's pretty normal for the puppy to cry when it first comes home. Our first pup Elbie cried non-stop (seriously NON-STOP) for the first four or five nights. I was wrecked by the end of the first week. Our second pup Hoover only cried for two nights, but that was quite traumatic because by that time Elbie was trained and we had 'forgotten' how traumatic it was. We erred on the safe side and took our pups out every two hours until they were more settled - then it was very 2.5 hours, then every 3 hours then every 3.5 hours. I wouldn't be too worried about the crying - Thor's just missing his litter mates and mother. Elbie cried longer because he used to sleep in the same bed as the breeder's children so of course he wasn't going to like his crate The important thing is to take him out at regular intervals, don't play with him during those times. One thing we found helped with Elbie was to pop his crate on top of a box and put it next to our bed so that he could see us and we could put our fingertipsinto his crate so that he could sniff them before he fell asleep. With Hoover, he seemed to settle by just being close to our bed where he could see us.

Question 2 (Indoor messes): These are kind of inevitable. It will take a little while before Thor realises where he's supposed to go so as others have pointed out, take him out regularly after meals and water. We would grab our two and race outside as well and they learned pretty quickly. The issue we had was getting them to realise that house-training rules apply throughout the whole house eg both of them would wee in the lounge because it's a room that's not used very often and I guess for them it was part of 'outside'. We had lots of paper towels ready and that "Urine Free" spray to spray on the ground when cleaning up after the puppies. It seems like house-training lasts forever but as long as you remain vigilant and consistent, they do pick it up. The next step will be teaching him to tell you he wants to be let out - another whole set of challenges.

Question 3 I can't help you with because we were lucky enough to be at home during early puppyhood for out doggies and also we have a dog door so others can assist.

Question 4: We were home full time with our dogs for ages and both of them adapted to us not being around. We got them used to it by putting them in yard for longer stretches of time (your pup is too young for that right now) but also things like going into different rooms etc. I guess we were lucky that our first dog was quite adaptable and our second dog had the first for company. So that they didn't become toooooo attached, we do take them out separately and sometimes when we leave, once is in the house and one is in the yard - just so that they get used to alone time. For Elbie we left frozen kongs and scattered kibble. These days, we freeze giant ice blocks for them and scatter kibble.

Question 5: Feeding - can't help you here. Both our dogs are total greedy guts ...

Good luck with Thor!

[Kajtek]

Maybe set up the puppy enclosure in your bedroom. We did and never heard a squeak from either of them.

However, we always wanted the dogs to sleep in our bedroom (not our bed!)

[luvsdogs]

This is from the recommended books specifically for the 1st week in a new home.

http://www.dogstardaily.com/training/puppy...-home-8-9-weeks

Also read this thread -

http://www.dolforums.com.au/index.php?showtopic=213727

Edited January 23, 2011 by luvsdogs

[Pretty Miss Emma]

Congrats on a new puppy!!! Exciting!!!

Question 1 - is your puppy always going to sleep in the bathroom? I only ask as I'm a bit of a believer of set them up where they are going to be. I had my pup sleep in a crate in my room, because I knew as an adult she would be sleeping in my room. Now depending on the weather she either sleeps in my room or outside (her choice). But great on the ignoring thing, if you go to her while whinging you'll just get more whinging. And good that when you hear her to take her out to the toilet then pop her back to bed. These things worked well for me too! They do stop crying eventually!!

Question 2 - Take pup outside to go to the toilet after every meal, after every sleep and I would be tempted to say at least every 30 min to start with when they are awake (but see how you go each hour might be ok). Put toileting on command, it makes your life sooooooo much easier!!! I tell my girls to "go wees" just before bed time and it's all sorted in 30 sec!! Another good thing about teaching your dog to do this as it can be a big help for the vet. My old girl is diabetic, often when we visit the vet we need to test a urine sample, very convenient to just be able to take her outside, tell her "go wees" and come back within 1 min with a fresh sample. Others have mentioned the way to train this. I carried my pup out at first, then she figured out to run to the door. They're clever they work that bit out!

Question 3 - Sounds good, is similar to what I did. If possible it's good if someone is around to be able to take them out during the day so far as toilet training goes. But you can only do what you can do.

Question 4 - I had 5 weeks off work when I got my pup. The first week or 2 I think I spent almost every moment with her other than when I had to go to the shops, took my other dog for walks/training, etc. So she got used to me being gone for 1-2 hours at a time. I always tried to make sure she was tired before I went out just so that she would sleep instead of look for someone to play with (makes it a bit easier on the neighbours!!). I then extended the time I was gone very gradually. So I think it's good that your wife can be there for settle in time. All this said, my pup also did get to spend quite a bit of time in her pen and also on her own in the backyard while I was home, just so that she got used to the fact that she wasn't going to be entertained by me every waking second and that she would be ok on her own. Just make sure during this time you give her something to keep herself busy or she will find something to keep herself busy!!! (I learnt this the hard way a couple of times!!)

Question 5 - There was a thread on here not long ago about free-feeding vs set meal times. Either can work for you depending on your preferences and your dog. I don't let my dogs free feed. I find that having set meal times means that they are more willing to work for me (as I will use food treats when training); but also as I said previously I have a diabetic dog so I need to know exactly how much she has eaten and when. So I'm a believer of the put food down for 15min and if they haven't eaten it take it away until their next meal time. However, my pup didn't get food from a bowl for the first 4 weeks I had her (other than any wet food). I used all of her dry food ration to train her in basics. So she was getting dry food when she worked and her set meal times were for wet food only. By doing this she was doing look, go to your mat, sit, drop, stand, shake (both paws), high 5 (both paws), wave (both paws), roll over and spin by the age of 12 weeks because she had so much practice.

As luvdogs said read Ian Dunbars books. They are fantastic. Don't get overwhelmed by them (I had several guilty moments until I made myself realise that not everyone can do everything!!!)!! But there is great information in them particularly regarding socialisation and bite inhibition (I think probably 2 of the most important things for all puppy/dog owners).

Enjoy your puppy, it sounds like things are going great guns for starts!!!

[dunnwarren]

Congrats on the new puppy! I feed mine three times a day, I leave it for them for half hour then pick it up until the next feed. As for housetraining, don't forget they are babies and it takes a while before their bladders are strong enough to hold on. Just keep taking him out after a sleep, feed and play, lots of praise is needed when they go to the toilet, accidents are ignored here, I just clean it up. We need pics!!!!

[deltoid]

Thanks everyone, I will check out those books when I'm at the computer next (on my phone with the little guy asleep at my feet).

Eventually we'd probably get him to sleep outside, however given how young he is I figured we'd start with that when we start letting him have yard access unattended.

I've moved his pen to another less used room today so we can leave it setup all the time. I put his bed and some treats in there and he has done really well so far. I went out for 10 minutes and when I came back he was sleeping in his bed. I went out again for around 40min this time and when I came home he was half asleep and had gone to the toilet on the puppy mat which is great. The only time he has cried in his pen today is when I put him in and took a shower. He only cried for about a minute though.

We have also been taking him outside every hour or whenever he looks like he wants to go. Only 1 accident so far today (using the puppy mat I don't count as an accident as there wasn't much he could do about it).

I'm feeling a lot more settled this afternoon. I've been getting paranoid that I'm going to raise him wrong and make him develop bad habits.

But yeah, things are going great. Only issue at the moment is that we think the name. We always said we'd name our dog Thor if we got a boy. But it doesn't fit his personality so he might have a name change coming today. He doesn't respond to Thor at all yet so I don't think he'd mind

[Toolz]

sounds like things are going REALLY well.. congrats..

[pebbles]

Glad it's going well for you and the bub. Know what you mean about naming - mine have all been nameless for a while. The last pup, a Silky girl, took a while. I'd experiment with a name, didn't suit, this went on for a while then suddenly she was "Abby" and this seemed just right.

Still need pics of your littlie. One of Abby just to get you started -

looking her scruffy best lol.

Edited January 23, 2011 by pebbles

[deltoid]

Well we discussed it while playing with the little guy and we think Thor still suits. So we are going to stick with it I think.

I have no idea how these forums work but hopefully this picture attachment will work.

[dunnwarren]

Cute puppy, can I make a suggestion? I would clip his ears and feet if he was mine. Ears need clipping so they will stand up, sometimes with the weight of hair the ears wont stand up, and his feet will be easier to keep clean and free from burrs and grass seeds. I clip both when my pups are 6 weeks old.

Edited January 23, 2011 by dunnwarren

[deltoid]

Cute puppy, can I make a suggestion? I would clip his ears and feet if he was mine. Ears need clipping so they will stand up, sometimes with the weight of hair the ears wont stand up, and his feet will be easier to keep clean and free from burrs and grass seeds. I clip both when my pups are 6 weeks old.

Thanks, I'll look into that.

What sort of things should you do when your puppy is scared of something? Earlier I went to take him out to wee while the neighbour was mowing his lawn (the mower was near where he does his business). The little guy just kind of sat behind my legs. I just ignored him and then after a few minutes took him back to the house as he wasn't going to go.

Is that what I was supposed to do?

[dunnwarren]

There will be lots of things that frighten him at first, especially if he isn't used to a certain noise. Best to just ignore his reaction like you did, don't make a fuss of him. It wont be long and he will feel safe and secure with you and probably bark at things just to show how big and tough he is lol.

[deltoid]

There will be lots of things that frighten him at first, especially if he isn't used to a certain noise. Best to just ignore his reaction like you did, don't make a fuss of him. It wont be long and he will feel safe and secure with you and probably bark at things just to show how big and tough he is lol.

Thanks, that is what I thought.

The little guy has started wanting to chew everything today. He especially likes my thongs. He has picked up really quickly on a "give" command or at least it confuses him enough that he drops whatever he is chewing. But he just goes straight back to chewing it again. I've tried distracting him with other toys, removing him from the shoes. I've moved the shoes to where he can't get them but that doesn't stop him from trying it in the future.

Any ideas? We have a couple of chew toys for him to gnaw on for his teething, etc.

[Rozzie]

He is very cute.

If you don't want things chewed, don't leave them where he can get them.

[dunnwarren]

Yep I agree, it's a bit like making your house child proof, if it's at groundlevel they will chew it lol. I have a puppy pen in the kitchen area that I put mine in when I'm not able to watch them.

[deltoid]

Say you take the pup out to the toilet and then you put him down to sleep again, he cries for awhile then settles down. Then about 40min after you put him down he starts to cry again. Does that mean he needs the toilet or he wants attention. He did it last night. We just took him out to the toilet and didn't make a fuss about it (i don't want him thinking that crying = attention) but I don't mind if he cries when he needs to go.

I've also read that using a crate can help them feel safe and that you close the door on it when they go to sleep. Is that something I should try (i was thinking of getting a travel carrier for the car anyway so I could use that and close the door at night). At the moment he sleeps in an open top box with some towels and a tshirt of mine which I haven't washed. He has full access to his little enclosure (about 1.2m x 1.2m if he needs to go to the toilet or wants to play)

EDIT: Another photo. This time of him asleep in his pen.

Edited January 23, 2011 by deltoid