Help! Requiring all the help we can get for my new puppy!

fzncloud

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#1
Hi Everyone,

I have a big big problem with my new maltipoo puppy (Kaspar) that I brought home on the 20th of March 2010. Its been 4 days however my girl friend and I are starting to stress heaps as we think our efforts to train and love our little Kaspar is actually training him wrong (or inadvertly our puppy training us..). I would really love for everyones support and assistance with our query. We are first time puppy owners and are need of help from more experienced owners. We do have a pomeranian at home however he was somewhat easily trained (by my sister) like he only needed to be taught once even now, and he is in and out doors.

We thought we prepared pretty well for his arrival home and was really pumped that we were gonna do awesome. But slowly we are starting to think other.

When he first came home, we took him into the backyard to Pee. he did pee on the grass so we praised him and then took him inside the house. What we did was everyone sat down and we put him on the ground and slowly let him adventure as we quietly patted him. Results were great and he began to be comfortable. We put him into his crate with the door open and with snacks inside so that he would like his home. This worked well as whenever he slept, we put him back into his crate and he was getting use to it.

The first night we put him in my room with the crate door open and made him a little play pen in my room, middle of the night he woke us up twice and we attended to his cries (bad for us) as he tried to climb over our makeshift playpen. To our suprise he did not pee in his crate or pen and actually peed on the pad we put in the corner of his pen so that was great. Morning came as we were woken at 7 by his cries. We took him out to the front yard to pee. He peed and we praised him and gave him a treat.

To date he has only made 2 pee mistakes in the house on the tiles and we were there to take him straight outside to the grass patch.

Now second night we tried to move his crate and toys and everything to the laundry. He seemed to like my green blanket so I put it inside his crate (My logic was that it will keep him warmer) I think he agrees with that. We started trying to train him to stay in the laundry when we are away. At 15 minute increments we attemped to leave him inside and then take him outside to the front yard to pee and then back inside the house to play. His Cries never stop.

Came night 2. we put him in the laundry late at night after pee and poop and when he was sleepy. we turned off the light and close the door. He cried all night waking us up twice, and we ended up attending to his cries because it became abit hysterical. with like long yelling like a baby. we were scared so fell for his cries. Turned on the light and now saw alot of pee and poop. luckily on the peepad. one missed tho.

Day 3, our attempts to take him out to pee and poop failed. for some reason, even though we positively (treats and praises) reinforced him for two days straight, when we took him outside, he would hang around the grass and eat the flowers and grass... dont know what went wrong there. That afternoon we continued to leave him in the laundry for short periods of time only opening the door when there was a gap of silence. We had dinner out so needed to tire Kaspar at around 7:30pm and put him into the laundry, to our amazement he cried for 1 minute and went to sleep. We came back from dinner and he was still sleeping (poop and pee on pad) and then we continued to let him sleep through the night. We were more persisting this night with not attending to him and it paid off. he went back to sleep and was out and about at 8:30 am of Day 4 (today).

We took him out to pee and poop on the grass and he didnt once again (decided to eat grass), so we brought him back in the house to run around. Its now mid day and I am now at work. Parents are looking after Kaspar at home but they both will leave for work at 3pm. At that time they will put him back into the laundry without fuss or excitement and then leave. I am worrying now because, as the owner and missing him heaps I worry that he will be ok when i return at around 6:30.

I would just like some advice on our circumstances. We are trying to strategically plan every day so that we make the most of our time however it seems to be working incorrectly. Are we doing the right thing, on the right track? Another problem we starting to see is that he growls at new people sometimes and bites all of us on the hand. I we all respond with a loud "ouch!" and put his chew toy in his mouth. 4 days of this so far shows no affect. :(

Thanks to everyone in advance for your help!

Regards

Jason, Tiff and Puppy Kaspar.
 

AGonzalez

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#2
Rome wasn't built in a day, and no puppy potty trains in only 4 days.

How old is the puppy? Usually the rule of thumb is that take how many months they are in age and that's about how long they can hold it..i.e. an 8 week old puppy can hold it about 2 hours, a bit less for a toy breed (like your mix breed puppy) since they are so small.

So, start there. Crate and take out probably every hour to begin with. Praise for going outside, don't get upset over accidents in the house. Sounds like you guys are doing ok, it's just going to take a bit. Also try to use a word when the puppy does go, like "Go potty" when they start to go. Then lots of praise. Then they associate "potty" with going and it won't take the sitting around outside forever for them to go.

Also, if your puppy is screwing around and sniffing the daisy's during specific potty time, take them inside and go back to crating (such as at night when you're trying to sleep) then try again in about 30 minutes.

Not saying out sniffing the daisy's is a bad thing, they need time to do this as well, but if you are aiming for potty specific outside breaks, that's how I'd do it.

Also try feeding on a schedule so you have a general idea of when the pup needs to poop.
 
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#3
You are doing a lot of things right.

I would stop allowing him access in/out of the crate at bedtime. Honestly, I would crate him next to my bed, or in my room somewhere I could easily hear him. I have a larger breed dog and when he was young, he got up about 4 times a night to potty. Your toy breed may need to go that many times if not more.

If you are wanting to potty train him to go outside stop using the pee pads. It makes it harder to transition to going outside only.

I would feed my puppy and allow him to have water about 1-2 hours before bed. I usually work on tricks and basic commands with his dinner, so it gets him thinking and mentally tired. After dinner, the water is taken up and he goes out to potty. Then we play with toys and he gets time to play with the other dogs. Then right before bed I take him out to potty again. I crate him right after he comes in from his last potty trip. You can cover the crate with a towel if you must.

The next part is the hard part. Maybe you can switch nights with your girlfriend. I would set my alarm for two hours. When it goes off, take him out even if he isn't awake/needing to potty. No fuss, no playing. If he goes, give him a little treat and then back to the crate. Hopefully he will settle right in and go back to sleep. If you suspect he won't, you can slip a kong in with him that has just a smidge of peanut butter inside of it.

Repeat that in another two hours. Like I said, you may want to switch nights with your girlfriend. The good news is you can start extending the time between potty breaks. The general rule is one hour per month old. So by 4 months he should be able to hold it 4 hours at a time.

Try not to let him out of the crate when he's screaming/barking/upset. If you waited too long between potty breaks you will have to let him out when he whines so he can potty, but ideally, you won't be waiting that long. Tell whoever else watches him to follow the same rules. Be consistant and he will get it.
 
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#4
OH! And DO crate your puppy when you are home. Even for just a few minutes at a time. Walk by the crate and drop a few treats in if he's being quiet. You want him to learn that he isn't just crated when you are leaving the house.

I make mine wait to be released from the crate. I open the door and if they try to rush past I just shut it. Then I try opening again and if they wait I reward them and then shut the door. Then open again, reward and say "ok" or "free" or whatever. You can make it a game so the puppy likes the crate.
 

lizzybeth727

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#5
I definately agree with everything that's been said already. I just want to point out that from your OP it sounds like the best night and day were when he spent the night in your room. Puppies don't like to be alone, the litter mates all sleep together so it makes sense that your puppy would feel most comfortable sleeping with his new family. So I'd suggest setting up his crate in your bedroom for him to sleep in, and doing what OutlineACDs said and take him out every two hours or so at night. It's hard work, for sure, but it's the "joy" of having a puppy!
 

fzncloud

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#6
Rome wasn't built in a day, and no puppy potty trains in only 4 days.

How old is the puppy? Usually the rule of thumb is that take how many months they are in age and that's about how long they can hold it..i.e. an 8 week old puppy can hold it about 2 hours, a bit less for a toy breed (like your mix breed puppy) since they are so small.
Hi ACampbell0304, Thank you very much for your quick reply!
Kaspar is 9 weeks old this week. We feed him in the morning at 8:30am. A tiny lunch at 12:30pm and dinner at 6:30-7:00pm. Is it better to feed him exactly the same ammount every meal? also is this a good time to give him puppy milk at breakfast? (The person who sold Kaspar to us said strictly no milks and only water..)

when we leave to go places, is it best to leave his crate door open, seeing as the laundry door is closed?

If we take him outside to the grass and hes fulling around or not showing signs that he is going to do his thing, is it best for us to take him straight back in?

My applogies for all the mini questions!
 

AGonzalez

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#7
That's what I'd do, if he's not going and goofing off after 5 or so minutes, back inside we go.

I would also leave him in the crate only and not loose in the laundry room, unless you like chewed up walls :) puppies do that kind of stuff, he's much safer crated and crates are like a den, he probably won't go in his crate unless he HAS to.

Why give him puppy milk? He is old enough to eat solids and be weaned, I'd just stick with a good quality kibble (look up dog food recommendations using the search function, hope you have a lot of time to do some reading) :)
 

lizzybeth727

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#8
Kaspar is 9 weeks old this week. We feed him in the morning at 8:30am. A tiny lunch at 12:30pm and dinner at 6:30-7:00pm. Is it better to feed him exactly the same ammount every meal? also is this a good time to give him puppy milk at breakfast? (The person who sold Kaspar to us said strictly no milks and only water..)
At this age, and with a small breed dog, it's probably best to feed 4 or more meals a day. They don't have to be exactly the same amount, but it is definately better to feed more small meals than fewer large meals.

when we leave to go places, is it best to leave his crate door open, seeing as the laundry door is closed?
It depends on how long you're gone. If it's less than about 2 hours, IMO you should leave him in the crate with the crate door closed, to teach him to hold his bladder and accept being alone for short periods of time. Leaving him home alone for more than two hours should be avoided for the next month or two, but if you must, you can leave the laundry room closed and the crate open, with a potty pad in case he really has to go.
 

fzncloud

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#9
Thank you so much to everyone for their posts so far, I will be putting all of these ideas into practice.

With regards to some of your advice:

Unfortunately, my Girlfriend is not over most of the working weekdays which makes it a solo task. Hence I moved Kaspar to the laundry at night so that I could ensure he sleeps when im trying to sleep (work causes me to wake up at 6 so I lack sleep already :( ), and I stop giving him water after 8 and try to have him pee several times before bed time.

I dont know if closing the crate at night would help this seeing as he has woken cried and cried for attention and also for potty purposes.

I get home tonight at 6:30 and will be feeding him dinner just outside his crate. I will then play with him for a while and then crate him and stay in the room (just not give eye contact - what most people tell me). I know he goes nuts when i do this so I dont think he will calm down after a few minutes to even treat him. (the crate is like a travel crate with a black reiforced net as the door so he uses his nails and puppy paws to punch the door for like 20 minutes..) I will attempt this tonite and wait for a moment when its quiet to treat him.

all this and the possibly that he may pee in his crate makes me such a worry wart.
 

Saeleofu

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#11
My appologies, but what is a Kong? and does the peanut butter make them sleep?
A Kong is a rubber dog toy, usually with a hole in it, that can be stuffed with things to keep a dog busy. Like this: KONG Pet Toys - Legendary Strength, Quality, and Performance

The peanut butter doesn't make the puppy sleep, but it gives the puppy something to do so that it's distracted, and if it keep at it long enough, then yes, a puppy will sleep after working at a kong for a while.
 

fzncloud

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#12
sorry, just another question. If we were to carry out the "every 2 hours" potty rule, what if he was still crying? we have been trying to ignore his crying and won't go to him unless we hear a gap of silence. will letting him out every 2 hours interfere with this?

thanks for everyone's input. we truly appreciate it.
 

lizzybeth727

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#13
sorry, just another question. If we were to carry out the "every 2 hours" potty rule, what if he was still crying? we have been trying to ignore his crying and won't go to him unless we hear a gap of silence. will letting him out every 2 hours interfere with this?
The idea is that if you let him out often enough - every two hours - you'll be letting him potty before he has the chance to start crying. If he's crying before the two hours, then you will need to let him out more often, maybe every 1 1/2 hours.
 

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