So, we have had Flo for a week now, taking her to 10weeks old.
She is sleeping in an open cage in a closed pen.
Last night she pee'd on the newspaper in the pen, so must have woken up and got out of her cage.
She pee's quite a lot and I think this might be due to her drinking so much +1 pint of water per day. Is this normal?
This thirstiness could be due to changing over from small kibble food to a junior food which had some adverse consequences with the poo being a bit soft (so dehydrating her??) and being deposited very frequently. 6/7 in 24 hours yesterday!
We are using Royal Canin Junior and this is supposed to result in "good stool quality". Not seen them yet but what are yours eating and how are the stools?
Any updates on house training yet. We take Flo out frequently but she still has lots of accidents, especially if she gets a bit excited playing with the kids. Giving her lots of praise when she pees outside so hopefully she will get there soon enough.
I think our expectations have been exceeded as we did buy a manual that suggested a puppy should be house trained in a week! Really? anyone acheived that?
Tips and updates, however trivial, welcome.
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All new puppy owners..can we compare notes on progress and any general advice?
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Posted 4 months ago #
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If you're a first time dog owner then I'd highly recommend that you read The Perfect Puppy by Gwen Bailey.
At 10 weeks she should really still be on puppy food and the same as she was on from the Breeder. If you do change then it needs to be done slowly over a period of about a week as they have very delicate stomachs which would probably explain why she's pooing so often.
What we did to toilet train was to associate a key word with her weeing outside such as toilet or something similar and then praising her. Use the associated word as she squats to toilet and keep repeating it until she's finished. Eventually she'll learn.
A puppy will not be house train in a week. It could take up to a year depending on the breed.
If you email me your address I'll send you my copy of the said book FOC. Email in profile.
Posted 4 months ago # -
I'm sure someone has managed it in a week but not anyone I've met.
Don't sweat it too much. Very tempting to tell off when there's an indoor accident. But try not to. Between three and six months, we still had the odd accident. Between 6 and 9 months, maybe once in a while, because we'd missed her asking to go outside. After that nothing. Just be consistent and encourage any good stuff. It'll come.
Posted 4 months ago # -
My dog isn't a puppy, but being my first, and us getting her from a shelter aged 2, we read up on all the various training points etc.
Sooo....
- 1 pint of water a day sounds reasonable, but keep an eye on it. If it goes up, you might want to check online.
- changing food from anything to anything else can apparently give them the squits - it seems it's a fact of life.
- for the house training, we've been very lucky. But crating is, it seems, the best surefire method - when she's not being watched by you, she goes in the crate. Over time this should (I read) teach her to hold it, and that you will come and let her out.We still have occasional accidents if our dog is out of her crate unsupervised; we think it's because she gets to a point of not knowing that it'll only be 10 minutes before we're back for her next walk (but we're far from experts!).
Good luck!Posted 4 months ago # -
Might that be a rebadged "How to train a superpup" by Gwen Bailey. That's the one we have.
Posted 4 months ago # -
To help avoid accidents, when you have fed her (I assume you're feeding her about 4 - 5 time a day at the moment) you will have about a twenty minute window before she will need to relieve herself. You'll soon learn when she needs to go. When she does, take her outside, but don't carry her, allow her to walk out. Again use and associated word. Also, never punish her for toileting inside, it's not her fault as she hasn't learnt to control her bladder reflexes.
Posted 4 months ago # -
just to clarify the food situ, the breeder told us that the junior meal was the same food just a larger kibble size so the change over was not as critical to blend in.
Feeding her 3 times a day, morning, lunch and tea, as per recommendation from breeder and royal canin.
We are not scalding her for the accidents, only holding our head in our hands!
Unfortunately, there are some open steps down to our garden that she wont go down yet. OK climbing up, so we are having to carry her down.Posted 4 months ago # -
Oh I agree with MM that 10 weeks is a little young to be switching her over to junior kibble. Her tummy will still be sensitive. James Wellbeloved kibbles seem really good. Quite popular amongst STWers too I believe.
Other tips:
Take her out every day for a short trip in the car so she gets used to travelling. Lots of fuss and play at the end of the trip and she'll look forward to jumping in.
Take her out and maybe grab a coffee where you can sit outside. She'll get lots of fuss from everyone so it means she gets used to being around people, noise, cars etc. All a bit scary but good for her in the long run.
Good luck. Enjoy her being a puppy (without spoiling, lol). It'll be gone before you know it.
Posted 4 months ago # -
What breed is she rockhopper?
Posted 4 months ago # -
Miniature Labradoodle!
I was hoping to post a picture but every photo I have taken just shows a mass of jet black hair. It is only the red collar that shows the head end!!!Posted 4 months ago # -
She is going on the school run every few days and getting a lot of fuss there.
She encountered the dustbin wagon today too!Posted 4 months ago # -
I think they say you have till eighteen weeks to get her exposed to as much as possible. Most of her likes, dislikes, fears etc are formed in this period. I'm sure that's a fluid timescale depending on the dog. Sounds like you're doing a grand job already. It took Molly ages to go down steps too.
Posted 4 months ago # -
10 week old JRT here, came to us pretty much paper trained but as above, still lots of small accidents. Doesn't eat too much but is always trying to get the cats food. Tried him on tinned food briefly but what came out the other end was horrendous so won't be doing it again in a hurry!! Put him in a cage if I go out for a couple of hours but he sleeps in the living room at night with a radio on for company. Come down in morning to find him sleeping on the couch, he's mostly gone on paper and nothing chewed as of yet. Not done too much training but he knows he's not allowed upstairs or in the kitchen. Our 3 cats, whilst not exactly friendly, allow him to get surprisingly close with hardly any hissing, which has surprised me more than anything. Jabs on Friday so he's not really gone anywhere yet except for the back garden.
Posted 4 months ago #
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