Two Questions: Walking And Pooping

[Puppybella]

Hey Everyone!

Before I start asking advice on the difficult things, I have to share how proud I am of my sometimes quite stubborn little dachshund baby Bella...she's had "sit" fairly down pat for a while now, and early yesterday morning when it was freezing cold and all I wanted to do was go back to bed I thought I'd try "drop/lie down" again, and she did it!!! Wheeee! I was so excited - the day started off with an outside poop AND a new command - made my day! Just when you think what have I got into, she'll never learn anything properly, they turn around and surprise you. It's comforting and keeps the hope up

Anyway, on to my questions. Firstly, Bella is nearly 4 months and she gets 3 meals a day. Should I be able to predict when she needs to poop? Some days she'll do one in 24hrs, other days will be 3 in one day. She's really erratic which has me on edge because if she hasn't done anything and I'm expecting one, I can't relax when she's inside. Or even worse when I think she's done her quota for the day and then another turns up in the corner because I relaxed and didn't have my eyes on her every single second. It doesn't appear that she's unwell at all, but I just don't understand why it's so irregular since the meals are given at fairly much the same time and quantity every day.

Secondly, For the last few weeks since her second injection I've been taking her out on short walks. Understandably, everything out there is new and interesting/scary, and the first few times were more 'sits' than walks. We move at what feels like about .5km/h because she's busy smelling everything, and she barks at other people and dogs. She's met a lot of people not on walks, and I'm trying to socialise her with friends' dogs but we don't often get the chance. If we do a there and back walk, there takes forever but back home takes only a few seconds, there's almost no sniffing. If we do a loop, the first half is agony but then she seems to get the hang of it and with a little prompting tends to walk fairly constantly. I presume this is normal, please tell me she'll grow out of it and learn to walk well?! I want to actually go for a walk with her, not spend most of the time within 200m of home coaxing her to move a few inches!

And now for my final trick: combining the two. Since we got her 4 weeks ago, she's only ever gone to the toilet in our backyard, which she's fairly good at. I don't think she realises that it's ok to go to the toilet whilst on a walk. This morning I tried to go for a walk (I wasn't expecting a poop since she did one earlier) and it was worse than usual. She plonked herself down and no amount of prodding or treats would move her. She started whining just sitting there in the sun so I gave up and took her home, where she ran to the jungle for a poop. Presumably that's what her problem on the walk was, any tips how to get her to realise she can do it out there too?

Oops, sorry, turned into a rather long post. I'd be grateful for any tips!

Cheers.

[luvsdogs]

Congratulations on your training success. The more you teach her the quicker & easier it will get.

My dogs sleep inside & are mostly outside during the day so I have never bothered to time when they go to poop. They do it when they need to. Having said that they will wee on cue provided they haven't been recently. My youngest dog is 3 y/o & has never pooped when out unless it's an overnight/weekend trip. We go to training a couple of times a week & will only wee in a certain part of the grounds of my obedience club. Other places I take her she will sometimes hold on for hours even with the cue & won't go until we get home. Other times shell go on cue, depends what's going on around us. But bitches can be more difficult in this area.

Some ppls dogs will wee & poop on command, not sure if they have different cues or use the same one. If you haven't already I'd be using a word or short phrase every-time she goes to the toilet & praise & reward with small treats when she complies. You can download for free Ian Dunbar's Before & After puppy books from -

http://www.dogstardaily.com/

where you'l find lots of helpful advice on raising a happy & healthy dog. There are drop down menus for puppy training, videos etc. He won't take his dogs out for a walk unless they have weed & pooped before hand, the walk is the reward for doing so.

As to the walking, that's normal, Tilba was the same the 1st few times I took her out for walks. It's amazing what ppl drop on the ground for a young puppy to self reward with. Any thing from bread crumbs, chips, fruit to a dried leaf blowing along the pavement. All that sniffing & stopping is likened to a dog reading the daily newspaper where they catch up on all the local gossip.

Being a puppy & a long bodied one at that you don't want to overdo the exercise until she's at least a year old. Give time for those young puppy bones & joints to grow. To dissuade from too much sniffing you have to be more exciting than the environment & encourage her now & then with a yummy treat, but sometimes that doesn't always work because of the above.

On the other hand she could be a puller, & you don't want that either. Good luck with it all & enjoy your puppy as they grow up so fast.

Edited May 29, 2011 by luvsdogs

[stonecutter]

Welcome puppybella!

If Ziva stops to sniff, we just keep walking - she's walking with you - not the other way around Sometimes that means I pick her up, walk a few steps and then put her down and we keep going. There are a few leash walking threads and YouTube videos that were good. Does she get treats on her walks?

As for predicting pooping - Ziva goes about every 4 hours during the day (she's on Black Hawk - she used to poop every 2 hours on Supercoat).

[Fordogs]

I do know what you mean at the moment my puppy takes like 15 mins to go forward and our walk back home is like 5 mins. BUT we are working on it. Put it this way, She enjoys the way out (sniffing, picking up twigs and toileting) But I enjoy the way home (at a very good trot. Don't think that I can do BOTH ways at a trot so I am Happy)

[Puppybella]

Thanks for your responses, I'll keep them in mind and have a look on youtube. I do offer her treats on the walk. She only really accepts them if i get her really excited and we go for a little race, then I'll give her a treat. I try luring her in order to get her to walk, but she just turns up her nose and find more interesting things to sniff at. I suppose it's just perseverence!

Edited May 30, 2011 by Puppybella

[stonecutter]

I try luring her in order to get her to walk, but she just turns up her nose and find more interesting things to sniff at. I suppose it's just perseverence!

The only thing I've found that works in that situation is kibble or banana!