A Few Questions, New Puppy Owner

[Alec]

Hi All,

Sorry for all the new threads and the following novel! As you may have noticed, my wife and I have a new Japanese Spitz pup, 8 weeks old.

A few questions to ease some concerned parents minds...

- Crate training. Our pup quite happily walked into her soft crate and slept from day one. The first night, she was exhausted and very sleepy but was a little nervous when putting her to bed (her bed is beside ours). We simply patted her softly for a few mins through the top of the crate then zipped it up when she dozed off. No problems and she slept soundly through the night with a short potty break at 3am This is all ok when shes tired, its a little more difficult when shes amped up so we just tire her out first :D

My question is...We want to give her a command such as 'nap time' or something to get he to go to her crate on command, but how do we teach her a command if she willingly goes to her crate!? Do we praise her and say 'nap time' when shes just gone in and give her a treat anyway? I'm afraid once shes in the crate if we distract her she will come out to play lol

- Food. We are slowly changing her food from Purina Pro Plan to Canidae and giving her about 1 1/2 - 2 cups of kibble over 3 meals per day (Canidae/Purina + Whole milk powder + water). She seems to get about 1/2 way through a meal and stops eating, usually after all the milk is gone. Every so often she will go back for a bite or 2 but never finishes her meal. Could this mean shes full and we are feeding her too much? Should we remove her bowl after she stops the first time? A few seconds after her morning meal she vomited a little (milk power water only). I've read this can be due to over feeding? We heard her tummy rumbling for a few hours after her midnight potty break, so maybe she ate too quickly on a empty stomach?

- Outdoor potty training. She wont go outside even if she was planning on going inside and we catch her I think she may be overwhelmed by all the sights and smells outdoors and forget she needs to go lol. Its cold and wet outside (about 6 degrees during the day) and she shivers alot so I don't want to be outside long, but even if we give her say 10 minutes she wont go.

Should we introduce her to the outside world first to get her used to it before we potty train her outdoors? We are training her inside in the mean time because there will be times when we are out and she will need a place to potty inside anyway.

- Inside potty training. We have the floor of her pen covered in newspaper, and have set aside a corner (furthest from her crate) with a litter box and litter. We caught her in the act a few times doing #1's and #2's and successfully moved her into the litter box and praised her etc when she did the deed. Shes learning fast and the last time she pooped, she nearly went in it herself but missed by about 10cm (front in the box, rear end outside :p).

She now thinks its a good idea to sleep in her litter box! And if she wants praise or attention she will sit in it! How can we stop this? I think this might be because on the first day she sat in it a few times and we (wrongly) thought she was going potty and praised her :/

We get the odd wee accident (only 1 poo accident) on the carpet despite moving her quickly to the litter box, she goes quicker than we get get to her. So we clean this up and spray the area with a deodoriser.

Also, from time to time she takes a nibble at the litter material. Is this harmful?

- Ignoring her crying. Do we have to! Shes too adorable lol...this ones my attempt at a joke ;)

Thanks!

[Sandra777]

Why are you adding milk powder to a complete food? I would've thought that would unbalance the commercial food. Yep, quite likely she is full up with the milk so won't eat any more. Me - I'd dump the milk.

What's with the litter tray? Dog's don't use litter trays like cats do. Cats are instinctively drawn to crumbly surfaces to eliminate in (as they bury their waste) Dogs are instinctively drawn to grassy surfaces (so like carpet) If you want her to use an indoor doggy loo when full grown, use it now.

As for the "nap time" command, every time you see her voluntarily taking herself off to bed, use the command. Every time you put her in there, use it too. She'll get the idea in the end.

Other than that - enjoy!

[Alec]

Hi Sandra,

The milk power+ water is to soften the kibble a bit. That's sort of what I was thinking too, we will cease the milk and see how she likes it Id rather she get solid food than watery milk!

I've read a few places which say litter trays (with litter) are good, so we thought we'd try it :/ I'll replace the litter with a wad of turf and see if it helps...homemade doggy loo

Thanks for the help!

[Sandra777]

Do you WANT to train her to toilet inside or do you WANT to train her to toilet outside?

At this stage if you intend for her to use an inside loo my opinion would be get for the real thing and train her right from the start. If you intend for her to go outside then IMO you should use newspaper or puppy pads (although everyone seems to find the pup just rips up the pads) for her "emergency" play pen loo.

In this way you are training her to eliminate outside on the surface you have out there (be that grass, concrete, pavers, whatever is in your yard) with the associated reward but if she can't hold on she pees on a different surface (paper/pads) but gets no positive feedback over it. Dogs are more sensitive to surfaces than to position so grass inside or grass outside isn't as important as the GRASS itself, so turf in a litter tray might encourage her to prefer turf over tiles (or carpet) but if you aren't there to praise the peeing on the turf and someimes she gets the turf and sometimes the newspaper, then she could get complacent and decide it really doesn't matter, peeing gives relief so is self rewarding so that'll do for her!

As for softening the dry food - assuming it's the right size for her (small breed or whatever is appropriate) and she has normal teeth, then I wouldn't be softening it for her. She has teeth for a reason

[stonecutter]

Alec - 1.5 cups a day sounds like quite a lot - is this what your breeder recommended? As a guide, Ziva ate about 3/4 C per day until she was about 4 months old - now she gets 1/2 C and 1 small chicken neck (it's also a premium kibble, which you often feed less of)

[Alec]

Sandra,

We want to train her outside, so maybe we leave an area of newspaper for accidents. I expect we will find a lot of poos and wees when we get home from work so will put something waterproof under it to protect the carpet lol

Is trying all these different techniques going to confuse her? Have we done something terrible by not getting it right dat 1?

[Red Fox]

Is trying all these different techniques going to confuse her??

Yes. Best to start as you mean to go on. If you want her to go outside train her to go outside from the get go. You really have to wait her out, even if it takes 20 minutes for her to go. If it's very cold put a coat on - her AND you.

For inside when you are at work/out put down a puppy pad (or even some grass if you can) but make sure you remove it whilst you are home and continue with the routine of taking her outside. Take her out after naps, after meals and after play.

Have we done something terrible by not getting it right day 1

No, I'm pretty sure she won't be broken just yet :p

Re your first post,

1.5 - 2 cups sound like an awful lot of food for a small dog, she is probably over-full! How much was the breeder giving her?

[aussielover]

1.5 cups is probably too much for such a small dog.

My labrador puppy was on that at 8 weeks.

Ditch the milk, its absolutely not necessary and also probably contributing to her feeling full.

If you want her to toilet outside eventually-

when you are home, take her out there frequently- reward like crazy when she goes the the right spot, maybe even play an exciting game. It can really help to have a dedicated "toilet area" (not to mention make tidying up a lot easier!) and also to use a command such as "hurry up" or "wee wee" etc. I use "quick quick" and its very useful especially for travelling and training and competition.

Basically you initially just say the command word/phrase when the puppy is in the act- as you get to know you're puppy better and are more able to read the signs of imminent toileting (often sniffing the ground, circling etc) you can say the phrase just before they go.

I would personally leave puppy pads or newspaper down for when you aren't home. when she starts to get the idea of going outside, you can start leaving some turf down in the litter tray inside, as this will be her preferred surface. In fact for most puppies its natural for them to want to toilet on grass.

PS very few people get it right from day one ;)

I'm sure she'll be fine, puppies are very adaptable and clever!

[Alec]

Hi All who have replied since my last reply, its hard to keep up lol

I have removed the litter box and put down a small bit of artificial lawn, from the moment I put it in her pen she went poos and wees on it without us having to put her there! She has not had an accident all evening! Our alternative to a puppy pad seems to be working

While we can supervise her, we are training her to go outside as suggested. Patience is a virtue I guess ;)

The breeder topped up the food bowl when it was empty (about 1/4 cup each time, not sure how many times she had to top it up over the day though)

We will reduce her food intake and remove the milk Hopefully she eats her entire breakfast tomorrow morning, which will be a big encouragement to us

She's a very good pup overall, learnt to sit today :D

Thanks all, will keep you updated.

[alli78]

Our breeder recommended adding water to our puppies food- just enough to make it float, this is not to soften but to reduce the risk of bloat, she told us that the puppy will be less likely to gulp at water too quickly after eating by doing this

[Mrs Rusty Bucket]

For the crate, it's wonderful she likes being in there.

My crate rule is - if I give the go in the crate command - "Crate", then she's not allowed to come out unless I tell her to. But if she puts herself in there, I might still give her treats for being in there, but she can let herself out any time she wants.

So if you want her in the crate and she's already going - use your command word, and make sure you call her out when it's ok for her to be out.

The amount of dog food required should be written on the pack and the low end of the range is usually enough. I agree with everyone else 1.5 cups seems like a lot.

what the others said about toilet training, try to get her going outside. Mine had a one or two explosions she couldn't hold when I was out and they were always right next to the back door. There was a couple of pee accidents when I was home - but they were my fault for not spotting the signs before she was fully house trained. Ie nose to the floor sniffing and/or circle work.

Before mine was 14 weeks old - I set the alarm and took her out at 1am and 3am (bed time was 10:30pm we went out then, last feed was 6:30pm and we went out then too) just to make sure there was less chance of accident during the night. There were no night time accidents. Lucky me. And I was pretty boring about it, took her out, told her the go potty command, stood around and waited, and then repeated it when she went and praised her - no game - straight back in to bed.

[Danois]

Alec - 1.5 cups a day sounds like quite a lot

I agree - it sounds a lot! My 60kg 3 year old eats about 4 cups of Canidae a day.

If you are feeding a grain free version of Canidae then you actually need to feed less than other foods as it is more filing.

Like the others I'd be cutting out the milk powder.

Are you feeding something like chicken wings or necks?

Our breeder recommended adding water to our puppies food- just enough to make it float, this is not to soften but to reduce the risk of bloat, she told us that the puppy will be less likely to gulp at water too quickly after eating by doing this

Bloat is more of an issue for deep chested breeds.

[Alec]

Morning update

Again, Lilly slept without a peep. She woke up at 1am and 3am for a potty, no playing then back to bed She wanted to play, but her Mum & Dad needed sleep!

She woke up at 6am and we gave her 1/4cup mixed kibble with a little water (just enough to make them float). This seemed about right as she finished all but a few pieces. We plan to feed her 3 times per day, so this will be 3/4cup total per day, on the low end of the recommendations but inline with all of your helpful suggestions

The artificial grass in her pen seems to be working. If we arn't around to take her outside every hour or we simply miss our opportunity, 90% of the time we will find shes gone on the 'grass', the other 10% she's has just missed but is getting the general idea.

As a side note, I think her tear stains are slowly fading...but that might just be my imagination ;)

[stonecutter]

Alec - she should hopefully grow out of the tear stains - most JS do

[Alec]

Yeah Looking forward to having a pristine white fur seal as a pet lol

[Sandra777]

Sounds like she's doing great (and you too ) Just relax and enjoy - pup's are pretty resilient!

Edited August 18, 2011 by Sandra777

[Tassie]

+1 - Sounds like she's a lucky pup to have you as parents, and a smart pup too. Just keep being consistent with setting your rules - have confidence - you're doing really well.

[Alec]

Thanks guys