Dealing with a Puppy - How?

I love animals, I have a young daughter 22 mos. I had a lab cross puppy and it just wasnt working for us. So I gave her away to a friend. Then I thiught little dog would be better! so we got a baby chihuahua...still too much work. And he was even harder to house break. So we sold him. But I still really wanted a dog, so we adopted a 5 year old house trained Min Pin. He is great with our baby too. The point is puppies are alot of work. When we had the lab cross we hired someone to come over at lunch let her out for a potty break and a play. He worked for the RCMP so we trusted them. That being said what kind of dog do you have and how old?

How old is the puppy?
puppies are a lot of work and take time to train them-the earlier you start the better it is. Does your puppy respond to food/treats? if so you can use that as a motivator and training reward for them. For our dogs (we have 3) we used small treats and a shorter leash (easier for control) and had them walk at our side. If they pulled or tugged in a different direction or moved infront of us we would change the path of our walks (i'm sure we looked silly to the neighbors!). Hold a treat in your hand as you walk and as soon as the puppy is at your side where you want them to be give them the treat and praise for a nice walk. good walk etc. do this every time they are at your side, and change paths/directions when they are not. Eventually they will learn what you want from them-this does take time!

As for crate training-we use treats as well-(our dogs will do anything for a treat! ) when we want them to go in a crate we just say crate and when they go in give them a treat. In the begining they HATED the crate and would always try to get out. I would just put their treat in there and they would go in to get it. when they were young we lost a lot of sleep because they wined through the night. A few suggestions for this--have the crate in a different room than the bedroom if possible. put a blanket over the crate-it makes it more den like and cozy. Give it time eventually they will learn to love the crate. The worst thing you could do is let them out when they whine/cry--I know its hard but ignore them-unless its been a while since their last bathroom break. If housebreaking is an issue remember that for every month the puppy is old that is how many hours they should be able to hold and wait to use the bathroom...younger puppies need to go out more often. For mine I would let them out 1st thing in the morning and praise them outside when they did their business outdoors. Let them out again 10min after they were done eating etc...if you see the puppy sniffing around a lot take him outdoors ASAP--this means they are usually looking for a spot. Also if you see them around a door for a while too... Also if they do something in the house--clean it up and take them outside for a few min. Lots of praises outside and time will help this!

Also if you have a fenced in yard, let the puppy run around (you can join him/her) and play for 30min before any training is done--they focus better when they are more tired!!

Is there someone else that can help out with the puppy in the evenings so that you can go work out for a little bit?

Good luck

if you would like to go for longer walks you can always carry your puppy! he will still enjoy it.. my dog is 3 years old and I still carry him up steep hills hehe :flowerforyou:

Everyone loves a new puppy... but its easy to underestimate how time-consuming and stressful they can actually be. I am freshly aware of this, as our lab/walker pup has just turned 7 months. Though he has grown out of some of the more notorious puppy behaviors, my husband and I are still far from returning to our old schedules.

I'd be more than willing to share my recently-acquired puppy knowledge... if you can fill in some informational gaps for me.

First... what kind of puppy is she, and how old?

Second... what is your housing situation, and work/sleep schedule? (I sound like a stalker!)

Let me know, and I'll tell you what we did. Or... offer suggestions tailored to your situation, based on how I handled my four-legged terror.

I have a bullmastiff- so a very large dog- that I have raised since he was a puppy. He HATED walks when he was a pup. We would walk about a block and then he would lay down on a patch of grass and refuse to get up until I started to walk toward the house again. I totally understand the frustration. I finally started to drive to other neighborhoods he didn't know so he wasn;t protective of the house and would walk:o) I would suggest continue to walk your pup and then leave the house for a bit and go to the gym. As far as crate training make sure the crate is the correct size- if the crate is too large your pup will continue to potty in it and if it is too small it won't be comfortable. Kongs with spray in treats is a great way to motivate the puppy to go into the crate and keep it busy while you leave to exercise for a bit. With my bullmastiff we didn't crate train due to his size instead we got pup gates so he was confined to the kitchen where there are laminate floors. Good Luck!

We house trained our four month old pit bull with bells. We hung jingle bells next to the back door and everytime we took him out to potty, we made his nose hit the bells. He caught on in under a week and started ringing the bell himself when he needed to pee. It's important to only ring the bell when the pup is truly going out for a potty break, not playing.

Also, 8 hours is a really long time for you young pup in a crate, if you can afford it, you may consider a day or two a week of dog day care, or hire someone to come in, in the middle of the day to walk them. This is really helpful on long days at work and I can say that day care really changed our pup for the better.

I forgot to say it in the previous post, but that (slowly moving his crate out of our room)was sort of how we handled separation anxiety with Tycho. He still has some issues with it, but being in the kennel curtails his ability to destroy things while we aren't around to keep an eye on him. My husband and I stagger our lunch breaks at work, however... so that we can drive home and walk him during the day. So he gets taken out twice during an 8 hour nap.

Exercise-wise... I would suggest looking up a local dog park.

I know in my city... we have two. Its four dollars per visit, or a year-long membership you can purchase when you get your dog registered with the City. Ours, at least, has a huge fenced in walking track with a grassy area in the middle. We take a bottle of water for Tycho, unhook his leash, and let him frolic until he collapses (often with a sulky groan, because he wants to keep chasing the other dogs).

Most of the people who attend these sorts of places are good about making sure their dogs play nicely. Aside from training classes, it is an excellent way to socialize your dog with other people and other dogs (of all sizes).