New puppy choice..

[Ytmsn]

That's good advice TT. I would only add crate training. We put Jax in the crate at night and would take her out every 3 to 4 hours through the night until she got older. If she has a mishap during the day, scold her, take her out, bring her in and put her in the crate for a few minutes, and leave the door open (as long as you have been working on "stay, come, okay". The crate becomes her "safe place" and you'll find she often will go in herself anytime she thinks she's in trouble, so leave the door open.

If shes in there for awhile, like overnight or when you come home, take her out immediately. She won't pee in the crate because it has become her den, but she'll go the minute you take her out outside.
We used bells for a short time too, but ended up dropping it because they bang every time someone comes in the door. At our house we always use the back door, and the bells would ring constantly, so it wasn't a good training aid, so we used the crate method.

One more thing... When Jax is called to go outside I make her sit and stay at the door. Then I open it and release her before she gets to go out. That saves a lot of shoving to get out!

[tgrace98]

To add on to what YT said, get yourself a clicker and trainer treats (all dogs love zukes trainer treats) and reward them for everything good they do. When they do it click and give them the treat. I’ve already started this with our puppy and he is already learning come and stay. If your puppy is treat driven this will become simple fast. And we have only had one potty accident in the house so far. But I take him out every hour on the hour.

[Tuscany]

What breed of puppy is this T?

Ready for a mouthful?
She’s a multi Generational miniature Australian Labradoodle.
She a Build-A-Bear stuffed animal that pees and poops.. and is generally a little snuggle bunny..

Do you have the breeders info? My wife now wants a dog and she doesn’t even read cc b:c she thinks we are all intranet weirdos

AJ,
The Breeder is Dr. Clarissa Krose. She is great.. just call her.
www.monarchlabradoodles.com

She responds faster on facebook
https://www.facebook.com/Monarchaustralianlabradoodles/

[Tuscany]

We must be lucky.
Ellie has slept through the night from day 1. Of course, I’m a pushover, and I know it’s not by the book, but she sleeps between our pillows.I literally have to wake her sleepy butt up in the morning right now, picking her up like a wet noodle to go outside.
We take her out every couple of hours, right up to 11-12pm

Now, my vet advocates treats for a single purpose, strictly for potty until the dog is housebroken.
So, Ellie only gets a reward for pee and poop. She is doing great with it. She does her business and then looks for a reward. Of course she has had a couple of accidents, but they have been our fault in not getting her out and seeing the signs fast enough.

I would love to train more commands, but I’m following our vets advice.
Sailor, do you agree or disagree with this approach?

[Tuscany]

To add, Ellie spends her share of time in the crate when we are busy and not able to watch her, and obviously when we are not home.

[ajcampen]

Thanks T

[Tuscany]

Ellie is turning into a running, biting, hurting, super-goofy-crazy-fun machine. I took a major shot right to the nose last night.. I forgot how wild little puppies can get as they grow, and we’re loving every minute of it. It’s 100 MPH, followed by a total collapse to nap time.
Hopefully, it will finally quit raining because she is NOT a fan of wet grass. This weekend should be nice, and hopefully dry enough to let her run free in our yard and spend some of that energy.

[TechieTechie]

YT, I forgot, I did crate train Pumpkin until about 3 months, then open crate, then no crate. Wow, time flies. He doesn't care for his crate any more, but just LOVES his dogbed4less memory foam bed.

I do a similar approach for 'stay', Pumpkin has to sit and stay before he gets fed (actually while I am preparing his food) and before he goes outside. When I give the release command, he's allowed to eat or go outside.

Tuscany at this age, you want to prepare them for training, but not actually train them. Honestly, I sorta disagree with the vet. If you can get them food motivated, it makes training a WHOLE heck of a lot easier. You might consider a really tasty treat for doing their business, and maybe a piece of dog kibble for treats when he comes, etc. Pumpkin really likes Fromm's liver, but goes absolutely bananas for Stewart's Freeze dried liver (might be a bit too rich for a puppy's tummy though). Lots of good training info on the German Shepherd forum (since Germies are smart dogs and most take to training like wildfire).

Keep the pics coming....and good luck getting out of LandShark phase without serious injury. I had a few scratches myself

[sailor55330]

We must be lucky.
Ellie has slept through the night from day 1. Of course, I’m a pushover, and I know it’s not by the book, but she sleeps between our pillows.I literally have to wake her sleepy butt up in the morning right now, picking her up like a wet noodle to go outside.
We take her out every couple of hours, right up to 11-12pm

Now, my vet advocates treats for a single purpose, strictly for potty until the dog is housebroken.
So, Ellie only gets a reward for pee and poop. She is doing great with it. She does her business and then looks for a reward. Of course she has had a couple of accidents, but they have been our fault in not getting her out and seeing the signs fast enough.

I would love to train more commands, but I’m following our vets advice.
Sailor, do you agree or disagree with this approach?

Tuscany--

There have been some great points in this thread. I'll try to give you my opinion on them. It doesn't mean you have to do it the way I do, just giving advice that I have found to work very well throughout the years.

I personally do not use treats when training and I don't like clicker training. In my opinion, the dog is training you to carry a clicker and treats. I have yet to train a dog (about 2500 so far) that would not perform for positive praise. I understand where your vet is coming from and have heard the method for housebreaking and some do have success with it---it's just not the way I was taught to train dogs. Housebreaking is really more of a scheduling thing. The younger the dog, the more frequent the schedule. I do recommend picking a command for the dog to associate time to relieve themselves with. My lab goes on command when I say "get it done" and my Weimer is "grab a tree". With a young puppy, you want them to go out 10 minutes after eating. Give them them 5 mins on a leash with the command and as soon as they do their business, tons of praise and immediately back into the house so they associate time outside and the command with relieving themselves--not playtime. If they don't go, then it's back into the house while supervised or crated and then 5-10 mins later, the process is repeated until the results are achieved. As they grow older, the time between outside and food will increase but the process stays the same---supervised, on a leash and command. Once the command starts to take hold, you can eliminate the leash. I am so happy to read that you realize the accidents are because of you missing the schedule---good for you for starting to understanding Ellie! One other thing I would recommend is when she gets really crazy and goes 100mph, try to take her out during that. Sometimes they get so wound up they forget the bladder is telling them to go....you can always start playing again...

It is a good idea to limit food and water with a puppy. With a young puppy under six months, I would be feeding 3 times a day. I would add water to the food (think of it like milk in cereal) when you feed, not just dry food. I do this for all my dogs--even as adults. It helps with hydration. Not a lot--just enough to barely make the kibble start to float. Once they reach 6 months, I would go to 2 a day feedings and stay there for the life of the dog. Keep it on a schedule--same times everyday as much as possible. I would pick up the water 1 hour before bedtime. I personally think 6pm is a little early as that is forcing the dog to go 12 hours without a drink. Ever have to fast for medical tests? It sucks right? If you pick up the water 1hr before bedtime, and then air them (go outside) right before bedtime, that should be more than sufficient. Also, first thing in the morning is head outside (you're already doing this--awesome!)

It was mentioned about making the dog sit before going out the door and before feeding. I think this is a great approach. What you are actually teaching the dog is the pack order in the house. When it comes to feeding, the Alpha always chooses what to eat and when to eat and who eats first. I actually recommend taking a bite of something small like a cracker yourself so that the dog can see and then feeding the dog. This reinforces the pack order. It's a mental game. The sit command is also a great idea. Again, I would also add a specific command for eating so they know it's time to stop messing around. Where this comes into play is on road trips. I LOVE the idea of the sit stay before going outside. I would add one small step to it.... In the dog world, the Alpha goes first, everywhere. If you put the dog in a sit stay, then go through the door first and release them from the outside, you are subconsciously training the dog that you are the Alpha and in control, even though they don't realize it's a formal training session. This will also help plant a solid foundation to eliminate bolting when the doors are opened. If you instill it when they are young, then you won't have to worry later, and no, you won't always have to go outside to release the dog--LOL Here's an example of dogs trying to be alpha that most don't understand. Ever see a dog on a leash that it always out front and pulling? Sure it's curious, but in reality, it's trying to control the pack by leading the handler!!! It wants to be out front. With a young puppy or smaller dog, you can overpower it...with a full grown large dog....sure, but for how long or why? Just teach them.

My last point is crate training. I highly recommend it. I won't go into how to crate train here, but it's pretty simple. All of my dogs are crate trained and will go in on the word "kennel". The doors are open and they are free to come go anytime they want, as long as we are in the house. Only when we leave do the doors get closed. The crate becomes their safe place or den as someone mentioned. Once they get used to it, it's the greatest thing since sliced bread. They understand it's not for punishment--it's simply time to rest. It's great if you have company that isn't comfortable, or as a quick time out if they are too out of control and the safest thing for traveling.

Now, what's a good age for real training to begin? I would start with the basics like sit and stay at about 3 months. They are still babies and we want to them love life and the new family, so nothing too tough, but they can absolutely start to learn commands at 3 months. I would really start obedience training at 6 months in earnest.

Great job so far and making Elle part of the family! I hope these ramblings come across as trying to be helpful and not critical or dictatorial. There are so many methods for dog training that we just have to find the one that works for you!

[Tuscany]

Thank you so much for all of the pointers Sailor. You don’t know how much I (we) appreciate your insight and experience.
So much great advice and clarification in your post.

When it comes to patience, we have an endless supply! As you stated, we are trying to run a consistent schedule for potty.
Right now at 9 weeks old, we’re letting Ellie enjoy her puppy stage, enjoying her toys, exploring and having consistency to her potty training.

One command I am trying to teach is to come. I use my hand flat palm up, and then curl my fingers up into a fist as a visual to come, but she mistakes it for play time. Maybe from the breeders kids or myself hand playing with her, and she’s confused? She barks, backs up and she’s ready to pounce and play. Pretty funny, but she doesn’t have a clue to come to me.
Too young?
Suggestions?

Thanks again, and I may continue to bore you with questions

[sailor55330]

Tuscany—.

At 9 weeks let her be a puppy. You can work on the biting but she’s a little young for training. Try to remember all training builds from sit. Come is usually the 3rd command. Hand signals are great but is work on the basics then add the hand signals. At this age wiggly fingers are play things and fun. Mentally she’s a toddler. You have to keep that in mind. Right now if you need her to come, bend down and say her name. She should come to investigate and you can snag her. It’ll all come together You’re going to have her a long time—-no need to rush things. You’re doing great and no worries with questions. If I can help I’m happy to. I just hope I can explain things via posts clearly enough for you. So much easier in person

[NautiGirl]

I'll add another thank you as well... It's great info for sure!

It's almost time to get Marzen to the vet for the snip snip...hes moved out of the puppy biting phase with all his adult teeth but now I've noticed he's trying to challenge me a bit and is acting out, getting into things he normally wouldn't bother. Hell, he destroyed his bed in his crate the other day!

Time to step up the training, but also know his hormones are really kicking in!

[sailor55330]

He’s becoming a teenager Nauti—it’s going to happen. my guess is the bed destruction is boredom. You’re right he’s likely trying to move up in the pack. You won’t want to hear this but “snip snip” probably isn’t going to do much for that. Just preparing you. It’s not an instant attitude adjustment most expect. Puppyhood problems—-it’s a hoot!


One clarification—I meant always keep water down and feed three times a day. They should always have access to water and then pick it up 1he before bedtime

[Ytmsn]

Tusc I'm sooo happy for you and Mrs T! Ellie is bring you guys a lot of joy and its neat to see!

Sailor I want to 2nd, 3rd and 4th the THANK YOU for all your advice! So far my training methods have been right in line with what you have said and its good to know we're doing it right!

It seems that we're all as passionate about our dogs as we are our boats. The joy and entertainment this little monkey brings into our families life is pretty special!

20190607_072026-3024x2268.jpg

[AsLan7]

I loce that picture YT.