[RandDDavis]

Hi,

My name is Dawn and our puppies name is Bella. She is 7 weeks old and we have had her for 5 days. We love her dearly, she even sleeps with us. She is loving and very frisky. When we brought her home the first thing we did was show her the back yard which is where we want her to poddy then we brought her inside. This was a tip we got from this website. She does poddy outside and when she does we praise her and tell her what a good girl she is and of course love on her. But, when she goes in the house we have been showing her the mess and telling her no, no, bad girl then take her out. Then when we bring her back in we ignore her for about 10 minutes. This seems to hurt her feelings terribly and she gives us the cold shoulder and ignores us. Does anyone have any tips on this? How long does it usually take to house break a puppy? This is my first puppy. Help!!!

 

[Olie]

Congrats on Bella.

How interesting you post this as me and my BF were just talking about our new standard Olie.

With our 2 Poms we crate trained and we are doing the same with Olie. We were successful with the Poms and Olie is still a work in progess he is 3 months old. (have had him for 4 weeks and still no signs he has to go)

Here is my advise. CRATE train, IMO it's the best way. Allowing them free reign of the home as well as sleeping with you will double the time to train him in more than just potty training as well. This allows too much opportunity to mess.

With crate training, it become their place, enough room to sleep, stand and turn around. When she is not in the crate she is by your side. Take them out faithfully every 30 minutes or so. You can also hang a bell to the door everytime you go out. What I also did was used potty pads. AND it did work on the Poms. I placed it close to the door and after a couple pees pulled it outside and that helped the process so much more, for me. We would train, or play close to the area they would go to potty getting them familiar with the area. It's best to come up with a phrase or worg, Like go Potty, or outside or something so they relate what it is he needs to do.

Potty training you must be very committed and consistent with all puppies. Bella is still young just keep working with her. Good luck with your new puppy.

 

[Mandycasey'smom]

Your puppy is to young to expect it to be able to know it has to go.
I think you will at least till 9 weeks old before you can expect anything.
Crate training is the best and if the pup is out it should be attatched to you with a buck store leash so you can watch for any signals whining turning in circles sniffing.
Good luck

 

[RandDDavis]

Thanks for your feedback!! I do have a couple follow up questions if you don't mind. I hope it's not too late to start the crate training since we have had her for a week already. When I crate train, do I leave Bella in the crate and put her food, water, and toys in there with her? Should I keep her on the leash when I am playing with her in the house and taking her outside to potty?

 

[Olie]

Thanks for your feedback!! I do have a couple follow up questions if you don't mind. I hope it's not too late to start the crate training since we have had her for a week already. When I crate train, do I leave Bella in the crate and put her food, water, and toys in there with her? Should I keep her on the leash when I am playing with her in the house and taking her outside to potty?

No its not too late at all. Heres a few suggestions

Have a soft bed, water and a chew toy. Use treats to get her used to it. Treat her when she goes in everytime IMO and then it will become natural. She may whine at times but it wont last long. Try to ignor it. Some people do feed in the crate and you may want to try that with her favorite food. BUT IMO I woould rather any dog be trained to eat out of the crate to minimize the chances of being aggressive with their food.

If you dont have a small place to keep her inside I would have a tie out of leash yes, just for a while BUT make sure it will reach the area to go outside and potty. Otherwise she wont learn from it.

 

[Harley_chik]

You have the right idea about crate training and supervising when she's out. The leash could be a good idea as she really shouldn't be that far from you at this point. I'm not criticizing, but most puppies don't go to their new homes until 8 weeks (10-12 for smaller breeds, I'm not sure what size Bella is). I mention that so you understand that 7 weeks is way too early to expect much from her. Right now it's your job to supervise her at all times, unless she's in the crate. You need to learn her body language for when she needs to go, usually sniffing in a particular manner, and rush her outside. Praise her when she goes outside. She's much too young to be corrected now, IMO. I tend to look at housebreaking as I'm being trained. I need to recognize when they need to go out. If mine have an accident, it's my fault. One of mine lets me know, the other doesn't. For the one that doesn't: I have to make sure I take him out often and make sure he does something when he is out. This can mean we stay out for 3 minutes or 20.

 

[Olie]

You have the right idea about crate training and supervising when she's out. The leash could be a good idea as she really shouldn't be that far from you at this point. I'm not criticizing, but most puppies don't go to their new homes until 8 weeks (10-12 for smaller breeds, I'm not sure what size Bella is). I mention that so you understand that 7 weeks is way too early to expect much from her. Right now it's your job to supervise her at all times, unless she's in the crate. You need to learn her body language for when she needs to go, usually sniffing in a particular manner, and rush her outside. Praise her when she goes outside. She's much too young to be corrected now, IMO. I tend to look at housebreaking as I'm being trained. I need to recognize when they need to go out. If mine have an accident, it's my fault. One of mine lets me know, the other doesn't. For the one that doesn't: I have to make sure I take him out often and make sure he does something when he is out. This can mean we stay out for 3 minutes or 20.

Agree,

She is a young pup to leave her pack. 2 of my 3 dogs we were not able to pick up until they were 12 weeks. We got Olie at 10 wks only because he had been weened a while, we had 2 low key dogs and he had surgey and could have used the careful attention versus wrestling with 7 sibblings.
Socialization is key. Once she gets her shots to date, start socializing with other dog owners. (because he came with you early)

Good luck! Send Pics!

 

[Purley]

Everyone has pretty well said it all. Seven weeks is really early for a puppy to go to its new home. If the puppy messes in the house - its your fault for not watching it carefully enough. All my dogs have been crate trained. I keep them in the crate - take them out. If they don't pee or poop then its back in the crate.

From a young age, the mother teaches the puppies that they don't mess in their sleeping quarters. Big dogs are a lot easier to teach, in my experience, than little dogs. They don't like to sit in their own mess. You need a crate - I have one that is wire and it has a divider in it so you can start off with a small crate for a small puppy. He needs room to turn round but not a HUGE crate -- if you give him enough room so he can pee and poop one and and go down the other end - he might well mess in the crate. The divider can be moved to make the crate bigger as the puppy gets bigger.

Others may have a different experience but I have found with big dogs that it takes no time at all for them to learn not to mess in the crate.

And as to socialization - I have a warning about this from personal experience. I would not be taking a puppy out on the public sidewalks until it has had all three Parvo shots. The breeder of my son's puppy brought two puppies to my city. My son and the other puppy's owner put leashes on the puppies and walked them in the store parking lot. Five days later both puppies got Parvo. The other puppy died the fifth day. My son's puppy survived but spent a week at the vet's. I paid the bill and it cost me around $1,800 Cdn. Its not the money. Its the fact that even with the best treatment from a vet - the puppy can die. Other people may say its fine after two shots. But once you have had a puppy with Parvo - you don't take any chances.

 

[Poodle Lover]

You've got a great advice about your puppy already, just wanted to add a couple of things. You should look into getting a book on rearing a puppy, a great one is "How to Teach New Dog Old Trick". It's a great book by Dr. I an Dunbar. Here's the link:
Amazon.com: How to Teach a New Dog Old Tricks (9781888047066): Ian Dunbar: Books
Also, when your puppy has an accident, you can only correct her, if you catch her in the act. The puppy lives in the present and if you find puddle a minute later, you are too late. She will not understand why you are angry at her and won't connect it to the act. Anywhay, if the puppy had an accident, it's not her fault, it's your for not watching her. If you catch her in the act, grab her, say no and take her outside. This way she will understand.

Good luck,

 

[Marian]

Pssst! You guys, this thread is from last October. I sure hope that puppy is housebroken by now! LOL