More assorted noob questions

ps2v12

Hi guys.

Thanks for the feedback on some of my other questions. Here are a few more, hope someone can help.

Just to give you some background, puppy is female, 8wks old (we have had her for 1 week) and is a Tamaskan (Husky/Malamute/Alsatian cross).

1. Crate-hate

Contrary to what most books/articles say, our puppy is definitely not treating her crate as a 'den' or anything like it. We've reached the stage where if she's fairly sleepy we can crate her no problem, but she never ever chooses to go in it to sleep of her own volition, no matter what. If given the choice, she will always sleep at one of our feet, or somewhere on the floor if we happen to have nipped out to the loo or something when she lies down.

She has been fed in the crate from day 1, her favourite toy and blanket are in there, her water bowl is in there, but she still doesn't seem to associate it with anything other than grudgingly accepted incarceration. Is there anything we can do to encourage her to 'own' it?


2. More biting problems.

Our puppy's biting habits are really starting to get annoying. As mentioned in another thread, we've been trying the method of yelping and then ignoring her for several minutes when she does it, but she really doesn't seem to care - she just goes and does something else until we're ready to try again and then immediately goes back to biting. If we try to play with a toy with her, it is ok for a couple of minutes, then the toy gets dropped and she starts going for hands and face again. It's very concerning because we want to socialise her with children, but don't dare while she is nipping at faces.


3. Won't take a telling.

Puppy seems immune to telling-off. We've tried 'Ah-ah!', 'No', Clapping etc. etc. but nothing daunts her for more than a couple of seconds, then she goes right back to what she was doing. Can anyone suggest any other methods of disciplining bad behaviour that might be effective?


4. Mixed signals.

Having done a lot of reading on sites like this one and various dog training books such as the Dog Whisperer etc, we're finding it hard to tell whether puppy's behaviour is just plain old too-young-to-know-better exhuberance (the nipping, chewing etc), attention-seeking, signs of a dominant dog or even just her pushing the boundaries to try and find/improve her place in the pack. We're frightened of either being to harsh if she is just young and enthusiastic and clumsy, or too soft if she is trying to move her way up the pecking order. Can anyone suggest signs to look out for to help us figure things out?


4. Peeing in the rain.

Last but by no means least, and I know that this is a fairly common problem, our puppy absolutely will not pee outside in the rain. If we take her out in it, no matter how bursting she clearly is, she will not go. She simply darts under the nearest bush for cover and waits us out. When we finally give up because we're soaking ourselves, she runs back into the house and immediately squats on the carpet. We could just shut her out there in it on her own, but I'm not sure that this would accomplish anything. Has anyone found a way to crack this one?

Phew, I know thats a lot, but I'm getting desperate. PLEASE help us if you can!

Thanks.

briteday

1. Try putting the crate in your bedroom at night. But none of our dogs immediately loved their crate. It took months with one of them. But eventually all of them like to have spare crates around the house so they can find one to enjoy their favorite cheew toy in private or just take a snooze away from the chaos. Give it time, lots of time.

2, 3, 4...I'm sure someone more experienced will chime in...but most breeders leave pups with the litter until 10-12 weeks just for these reasons. The littermates teach each other what is appropriate biting and when it's going too far. That being said, I'm sure someone will have some hints for you on those questions.

5. Our dogs (toy breeds) absolutely hate the wind, rain, snow, or just "don't feel like it" some days. I have purchased an exercise pen (known as ex-pen, wire panels that you can form into an enclosure, comes in different sizes and heights), placed it in the best spot, however, near the back door in case I have to shovel a path in the snow, covered it with a tarp for protection from rain, snow, whatever...and when they won't go to the regular spot due to weather I take them to the protected/covered expen and enclose them in there until the deed is done. Since it has a tarp over it and they aren't getting wet or sitting in mud, they can stay out there quite a long time if necessary. They have learned over time that if they do their business in the pen quickly they get to come back in faster.

BoxMeIn21

Unfortunately teaching a dog how to properly use her mouth is not an overnight event, it's going to take weeks perhaps even a month or so to get it through her puppy skull. You may feel like it's not working but you can't give up - you have to be consistent and one day it will more than pay off. So be patient, pups that age have a very small learning curve, you will have to repeat yourself many, many times. Here is an article on Bite Inhibition
The Bite Stops Here

Here is another place that you are going to have to invest some patience. You can't just merely tell the pup to stop what they are doing, you need to show them what to do as well. So say the puppy is knawing on the table, get it's attetion with a AH-AH! the minute you get her attention, shove a puppy approved chew toy in it's mouth and praise the hell outta it. Again this is not an overnight event - but it's your responsibility to show the pup what is acceptable and what is not - if you are just telling the pup NO all the time, you will have a very confused dog on your hands.

Your pup is just trying to figure the world out right now, I would take any of it's behavior right now as an alarm of something worse to come. One good thing to put into place while they're young is NILIF, Nothing In Life is Free, here is a great article on that.
http://www.k9deb.com/nilif.htm

Curbside Prophet

4b. Is she on a leash? Do you stand out of the rain and just watch?

Mdawn

For the crate training, maybe it would help if you throw some REALLY SMELLY treats inside the crate while she is watching. Let her smell them first, then throw them in. I did this with my Mastiff puppy when trying to get him to enjoy his crate more. I didn't let him even so much as take a nap anywhere but in his crate. If he fell asleep on the floor, I'd wake him up and move him toward his crate. I associated everything with his crate; food, water, toys, naps...everything was done in the crate. He still gets fed in there, but is allowed to have water out of it now and toys. When he wants to take a nap, he goes to his crate to do it on his own. He isn't disturbed while he's in there. Our Lab Eddie isn't allowed to bother him, I make Eddie stay in the kitchen. This method has worked well for us.

havmum

Sorry to ask a dumb question (first-time dog owner here), but what kind of treats are "really smelly"? We are also trying to get our puppy to like his crate but he doesn't seem very interested in the treats we're offering him (Solid Gold liver nibbles or something like that) - just gobbles it up and then starts crying again. I've also tried bully sticks and a kong but he just gnaws on them and cries.

Thanks for the help!

BoxMeIn21

Try filling the kong up with a mixture of creamy peanut butter and plain non-fat yogurt, then freeze it - It makes for a long lasting yummy treat.