First Time Puppy Owner - Need Help

[random111]

Hey all

First time poster.

We got our first puppy two days ago. He is a lovely little pug boy that is 12 weeks old. Came from a registered breeder with his papers.

We familiarized him with his crate from day one, put a ticking clock in there under a blanket which has relaxed him. He slept most of the day yesterday, got up for play and to meet new people as they visited.

We have his crate set up in the laundry with a baby gate at the doorway at night. He has around 2m x 1m to move around in the laundry when we put him in there. We set up puppy pads and are trying to teach him to 'go potty' on these with no luck. It's only been a couple of days but we have made no progress whatsover and have not been able to get him to go on the pads.

Here's what we usually try:

1. Get him to sit outside his crate, put his food down telling him to wait.

2. Once he has waited we let him eat his food in his crate and close the door.

3. We leave him in the crate for 30mins to 1 hour.

4. We take him out of the crate and straight onto the puppy pads outside his crate but in the laundry.

5. We wait there encouraging him to go potty with no luck.

6. The minute he gets out of the laundry, he waits until we aren't looking and he does a pee or poo.

Last night he slept fine in his crate with his door open in the laundry and puppy pads about a metre away from it all night, we leave the baby gate on the laundry so he can leave his crate to move around, have some water and chew on some safe toys. We were hoping he would also leave his crate to pee or poo on his own in the laundry. This morning we let him out of the laundry and the poor bugger had been holding his pee the whole night, he pee'd two times in quick succession no where near another pad we had set up in the living area.

Long story but he may have contracted kennel cough when he was leaving the breeders from a stray the breeder had taken in to care for, the breeders Vet advised to keep him indoors, warm, well fed and hydrated and he will get over it. If he gets worse then we can get him on antibiotics but he was reluctant to do so from now. So I haven't been able to take him outside to pee in the morning or evenings as it very cold, plus it is heated indoors so the change in temps i thought would not be good for him.

Can anyone help us with the following:

1. Why is he refusing to go in the laundry, is it too close to his crate where he sleeps so he does not want to go where he sleeps? I'm worried about him holding it all night, last night he held it for 10 hours! We woke up in the middle of the night to let him pee but he didn't. Is this possibly related to kennel cough?

2. What do i do when he goes potty somewhere where I don't want him to? Do i give him an 'Ah' or be negative with him? (first time dog owner here so I am still learning)

I've read other potty training threads but am really struggling with the potty training and also biting, but I had a read of the biting thread and will try a couple of the techniques from there. Just concerned about potty training for now!

Can anyone help?

Thanks

[persephone]

welcome to you & the puglet :)

A puppy that didn't pee for 10 hrs ?? Did you get him vet checked when you got him? if not , I suggest you do - just to check that all is as it should be ...

being 12 weeks , yes he can hold longer than a baby pup ..but it is still a long time .

at 12 weeks - he would be fairly sturdy - so a run around and toilet time outside sounds fine ! Puppies need outside time - even if it's cold :D

What were they toileting on at the breeders? he may not be used to toileting so close to his bed ..or even indoors. Have you asked the breeder?

It will take him some time- and you ,a lot of patience to get into new routines . if you want him to toilet indoors, using pads , forever ..then the way you are training him will help with that . if you want him to toilet outside - then he should be taken out ,so he can learn that way !

is he on a lead or something when he's with you in teh rest of the house? He might be peeing elsewhere that you don't see ....

it's early days - and , like any baby - he needs many many repetitions for weeks , before he will be reliable ( I also have a feeling that puglets can take longer to learn these things ...)

[Dogsfevr]

Pup needs to go outside to toilet ,cold outside means nothing what you train now you train for life .Canine cough doesn't mean he can't go outside to toilet & he is better to go out on the lawn than hang on to long & end up with bladder issues .

Many pups will not toilet in there sleeping area & we find many don't like puppy pads .

I would suggest just popping pup outside to toilet quickly & with fuss or stress unless you want to teach pup to use an indoor toilet down the track??

If you want the indoor toilet option then set it up properly now if you want pup to toilet outside then stick that method now because it becomes to confusing for pup to understand what you what & when especially if ine few weeks time you will then change the toilet plan again to outside .

If you are concerned aboy placing pup outside to toilet then go buy some rolled turf & place in a tray & teach pup to use that inside

[Steph M]

10 hours?!?! I couldn't ask my 1year old, 40kg dog to hold that long. I suspect you'll find he's peeing in his crate or on the floor somewhere. He would only have tiny wees at this point, easy to miss. I'd wash his bedding in biozet and the floors in white vinegar and hot water and start fresh.

Also, 10 hours is way, way too long to crate a pup.

An hour is a long time for a tiny puppy to hold a wee, I'd suggest maybe every half hour you put him on the pad. Also when he wakes up, after eating, drinking, playing, when he gets distracted, wanders off, sniffs or gets fidgety. Basically pup hasn't ever had to control his bladder, his muscles aren't strong and he's always been OK to just go where he needs to, so he needs to learn where you want him to go and build up muscles to hold it.

I'd also suggest using a wee word, like, 'go pee' or something, say this as soon as puppy starts to initiate the sequence, and reward him hugely as soon as its done. Act like its the best day ever! Eventually he will make the link between weeing and his wee word and will go on command.

If there's more than one of you training him, I've seen a wee chart be used to work out when they do it, so everyone is on the same page. Its just a calendar print out where a mark is put when they last put him on the pad and if he went. Also helps work.out what his schedule is like too, IE how long after a meal does he poo, how long after a drink does he wee?

I don't bother being negative or disciplining them for it. As far as I'm concerned pup is just doing what he does and its my fault for missing the signs, just clean it up. No.point telling him off unless you catch him, but he needs to know what you want him to do before he gets told he's doing the wrong thing, if that makes sense.

How far is pad from crate? Also if the plan is for him to go outside eventually might be worth taking him out of a day when its warm? Will he always have pads as a backup or will he have outside access?

Hey guys

Sorry, I didn't realise this post would go here, didn't mean to hijack someone else's thread.

I've moved my post to a post in the puppy problems section.

Thanks for response Steph M.

I don't crate him for 10 hours, last night he fell asleep in his crate with the door opened, which i then placed in laundry where had a bowl of water, some toys, a bowl with a tiny bit of dry food and some pads, plus space to walk around...

i thought they don't poo or pee where they sleep?

I've moved my post so may be best to reply to me over in the new one.

thanks

They still need to be taught where to go, it isn't a failsafe innate response as such. Sometimes accidents happen and bad habits can be formed.

When we had our pup I made sure I could hear him if he got up, or stirred it was out for a wee and back to bed.

They're quick when they wee, get little warning and leave tiny puddles. I'd say he's going in his bed if he didn't go for 10 hours.

[random111]

Thanks all for your responses.

I have taken them all on board.

So we would like our little pug to live indoors with us but would love him to potty outside!

We will be getting a doggy door to outside installed soon to assist with this when we are not home.

Unfortunately I have no grass out side though, just paved area and one with decorative stones.

I will take him out tonight when I get home as it seems the cough isn't such a big deal, i'll see what he does then.

So with a tray and rolled turf, do I just buy any sort of tray (like a baking tray) and a roll of turf from bunnings or so then use that?

Can I leave that in the laundry with him at night?

[tdierikx]

Canine Cough is no real big deal unless you start to see green snot coming out of the pup's nose... then they need antibiotics. Pups are like children when they catch these things, not much will stop them from playing up a storm.

Just remember to tell all visitors to not go touching or interacting with other dogs once they leave your place, OK? CC is pretty contagious... and pup can't go visiting for about 2 weeks AFTER the cough clears up for the same reason.

T.

[tikira]

We potty trained our puppy in the following way.

1. Never took our eyes off him, if we did, he weed. We soon learned his tell tale "I need a wee or poo" sign (poo was easier, we had more warning there)

2. If we coulddn't watch him, he was in his playpen, which he never soiled.

3. For the first couple of weeks, we slept on the floor next to his crate (which he was locked in at night, and set our alarm for every couple of hours, gradually extending that time.

4.In the day time we took him out every hour or so, as soon as he woke up, after food etc. At nine months old we still sometimes do a refresher with his toilet command, so he is relaible when we need him to be.

5. Huge praise, and special treats that were kept by the door for the first few months.

5. If there was an accident (and there were many), no fuss. If we caught him in the act it was an "uh", and carried outside to finish, then big praise/treats. We then popped in his playpen and cleaned the mess with paper towels, then a mix of biozet, and then vinegar and water.

Nights became easy when we made his playpen and crate setup under the dining room table, and put his own doggy door in to his own fenced off area. The problem here was we missed opportunities to toilet train him.

I know this seems like overkill, but I know what it is like to have an unreliable adult (sisters dog)and it soon got very very annoying and unsanitary, so overkill it needed to be with us.

Good luck as you find the best way for you and your puppy. Oh, and we need photo's!

Di

[Dogsfevr]

Thanks all for your responses.

I have taken them all on board.

So we would like our little pug to live indoors with us but would love him to potty outside!

We will be getting a doggy door to outside installed soon to assist with this when we are not home.

Unfortunately I have no grass out side though, just paved area and one with decorative stones.

I will take him out tonight when I get home as it seems the cough isn't such a big deal, i'll see what he does then.

So with a tray and rolled turf, do I just buy any sort of tray (like a baking tray) and a roll of turf from bunnings or so then use that?

Can I leave that in the laundry with him at night?

If your happy with pup to toilet on the pavers then stick with that from day 1 ,easy to hose down & clean.

If you want to do the turf then pup needs to be trained from now to use it .

Decide what you want & train from there .

If you want to do turf then get a big tray like a car oil tray & fill it so the dog has space to toilet .

When we have litters inside we have used false turf in a tray with no drama's & they learnt quickly outside in the day area is paved when the weather is god & the false turf goes there but they love the real grass & ask to go toilet .

As for over night i have never been a person with any of our pups to make a point of getting up every few hrs & all my guys a spotless inside .If they want to go they have all asked but most from an early age just sleep all night no drama's .I prefer to encourage good sleep & asking to go out than making them wake up

[random111]

Thanks all for your advice, much appreciated.

Thought i'd give you an update.

We've been watching our puppy as much as we can trying to anticipate when he needs to go potty, then take him outside where has found a new favorite spot for doing his business.

He doesn't need much prompting now, most of the time when we go outside he tries to play for a minute or two then moves on down and does the deed.

We've had a few slip ups since we have been trying this but it has been much much better in only a few days!

We wake up in the middle of the night now and take him outside, which is such a challenge in itself as he doesn't want to leave his warm bed to go out in the cold, he then does his business in a few minutes and back to bed.

We will get a doggy door for him when he gets a little older, so it is appropriately sized, in the laundry so hopefully he will then be able to go in and out by himself. For now, we have been leaving the back door open when we are home and a few times he has run out by himself without us saying anything!

So happy with what he has achieved in just a few days!

[tikira]

It sounds like things are well on track . Keep up the good work, both of you. It is worth the extra difficuly in the long term.

Di

[twodoggies2001]

10 hours?!?! I couldn't ask my 1year old, 40kg dog to hold that long. I suspect you'll find he's peeing in his crate or on the floor somewhere. He would only have tiny wees at this point, easy to miss. I'd wash his bedding in biozet and the floors in white vinegar and hot water and start fresh.

Also, 10 hours is way, way too long to crate a pup.

An hour is a long time for a tiny puppy to hold a wee, I'd suggest maybe every half hour you put him on the pad. Also when he wakes up, after eating, drinking, playing, when he gets distracted, wanders off, sniffs or gets fidgety. Basically pup hasn't ever had to control his bladder, his muscles aren't strong and he's always been OK to just go where he needs to, so he needs to learn where you want him to go and build up muscles to hold it.

I'd also suggest using a wee word, like, 'go pee' or something, say this as soon as puppy starts to initiate the sequence, and reward him hugely as soon as its done. Act like its the best day ever! Eventually he will make the link between weeing and his wee word and will go on command.

If there's more than one of you training him, I've seen a wee chart be used to work out when they do it, so everyone is on the same page. Its just a calendar print out where a mark is put when they last put him on the pad and if he went. Also helps work.out what his schedule is like too, IE how long after a meal does he poo, how long after a drink does he wee?

I don't bother being negative or disciplining them for it. As far as I'm concerned pup is just doing what he does and its my fault for missing the signs, just clean it up. No.point telling him off unless you catch him, but he needs to know what you want him to do before he gets told he's doing the wrong thing, if that makes sense.

How far is pad from crate? Also if the plan is for him to go outside eventually might be worth taking him out of a day when its warm? Will he always have pads as a backup or will he have outside access?

Hey guys

Sorry, I didn't realise this post would go here, didn't mean to hijack someone else's thread.

I've moved my post to a post in the puppy problems section.

Thanks for response Steph M.

I don't crate him for 10 hours, last night he fell asleep in his crate with the door opened, which i then placed in laundry where had a bowl of water, some toys, a bowl with a tiny bit of dry food and some pads, plus space to walk around...

i thought they don't poo or pee where they sleep?

I've moved my post so may be best to reply to me over in the new one.

thanks

They still need to be taught where to go, it isn't a failsafe innate response as such. Sometimes accidents happen and bad habits can be formed.

When we had our pup I made sure I could hear him if he got up, or stirred it was out for a wee and back to bed.

They're quick when they wee, get little warning and leave tiny puddles. I'd say he's going in his bed if he didn't go for 10 hours.

When we brought home our youngest mini schnauzer pup, for the night he was in a crate and went the entire night from around 11pm to 7am in the morning without needing to toilet and that's how it was through his entire puppy hood. If I remember correctly, it was only twice that he needed to go during the night. Even now that he's over 2 and first thing in the morning, even though he's outside, emptying his bladder is not his first priority. It seems some pups and dogs have more bladder control than others.