[michaelalissa]

Three questions... sorry for the length.

My wife Alissa and I just got Winston, an 8 week old Shih-Tzu puppy, this past Sunday. He'll be 9 weeks on Monday.

1. I am crate training him at night by luring him in with a liver treat, and letting him out every 2.5 hours to go potty. When he goes I give him praise and a treat, then lure him back into his crate with a treat and shut the door. He whines a little, but calms down quickly to either sleep or chew his stuffed Kong. I'm exhausted from waking up every 150 minutes, but this is so far working flawlessly. So far no accidents in his crate. During the day, he is left in an ex-pen with piddle pads... which also works well most of the time. (We had one accident, he shredded his piddle pad and pooped on the carpet because he had no papers to go on).

My problem is this: when we very first got him and would play with him during the day outside his pen, he was only going potty on his papers. Ever since we started him on the crate, he has started having accidents on the carpet during play time. Little tiny pees. This seems like a big step back, in my opinion... what are we doing wrong? We don't want to punish him by putting him in the pen. I had the idea this morning of playing with him in the pen instead of out of it, but haven't tried it yet. Maybe he needs to be crated sometimes while we're home, build up a need for the bathroom, let him out to do his business and then only play with him when he's empty? I see a LOT of whining to get that to happen, but what do you think? (His mommy HATES to hear him whine and cry... but if that's what we have to do it's what we have to do.) Advice?

2. He loves to chew, no surprise. He seems to prefer chewing on mommy and daddy instead of his toys though. We've started saying "ouch" really loudly, and redirecting him to his toys. Much of the time he'll just charge right back to us to chew. How long until redirection starts working? Is there something else to try? He's getting pretty aggressive about it, and I'm worried just shoving something else appropriate to chew in his face is making it worse.

3. Are we doing too much? We're working on crate training at night, increasing the amount of time slowly and taking him potty immediately afterwards. He's used to his collar now, but I want to start using a lead soon. We're working on "come here" and "sit" with limited success. I want to start working on going potty outside. I feel like we need to work on "down" and "leave it" and "lay down" and ARRGH! Am I throwing too much at his little brain? Is he not doing any of them really well right now because I'm working on too much? Are his behavior problems because we're not letting him rest enough when we're home? We're pretty much non-stop puppy time from 4 PM - 10 PM...

Thanks!

Mike and Alissa Johnson (and Winston)

[Curbside Prophet]

1. What's your goal? Is it to be an outside only eliminator? Or an inside on the piddle pad eliminator? Do you have any rooms in the house where you can set up the ex-pen over tile? If your pup is not being watched, he should be in the crate, day or night. Ignore the whinning...turn it into a game. Anytime you dog whines, make it a point to kiss your wife...that's called positive reinforcement, lol.

2. The Bite Stops Here. In some cases the bitting gets worse before it gets better...this is natural. You just have to be consistent.

3. Concentrate on come and name recognition first, and sit second. There's no harm in trying the other commands, as long as the sessions are short (no more than 5 minutes at one time) and spread out during the day. But for pups this young a bunch of 30 second sessions, fun and exciting, is all you'll need.

I wouldn't say he has problems. I'd say he's acting like a normal puppy. They don't come out of the box prewired for human interaction. Well, some do, but those usually require batteries. You're pup is 9 weeks old. If I were you, I would consider a puppy school between 12-16 weeks old. This is a critical window, and socialization with other vaccinated puppies will be important.

[MasonLover]

Well I just got a puppy too like a month ago. I was keeping him in one of those open rabbit cages with a wee wee pad just like you...just so he got the idea to go on them. Then realized he probable shouldn't be peeing and pooping where he is living. So I got him a crate, he whines just like yours. And had made a couple accidents in his crate, but not anymore. I want him to go potty outside, and so if I can't watch him every second of the day that he is out of his crate, I leave him in there. I take him out to go potty, to eat, and to play with me and my other puppy ONLY WHEN THERE IS SUPERVISION. If there is no supervision, he stays in the crate. Because you cannot repremand a puppy if he has already gone potty, you can only yell at him if you catch him while he's doing his business.

Mine bits too, I just let him bite for now, but i also try and steer him away from it but letting him play with dog toys, plus he has another puppy, who may be a billion times bigger, just chew on him.

If this helps or you have any other questions just email me.

[michaelalissa]

Thanks for your response! I love Jason Mraz, by the way.

Originally Posted by Curbside Prophet

1. What's your goal? Is it to be an outside only eliminator? Or an inside on the piddle pad eliminator? Do you have any rooms in the house where you can set up the ex-pen over tile? If your pup is not being watched, he should be in the crate, day or night. Ignore the whinning...turn it into a game. Anytime you dog whines, make it a point to kiss your wife...that's called positive reinforcement, lol.

Someday, I'd like an outside only eliminator. We're in a second-floor apartment, so that shouldn't be too hard, right? My wife and I just simply cannot crate him during the day because we can't come home to let him out often enough for his little bladder. So he has an ex-pen. Can I start taking him outside already? I heard he has to stay inside until he's older... is that wrong? Would it help him to start going from the crate to our balcony at first?

Originally Posted by Curbside Prophet

2. The Bite Stops Here. In some cases the bitting gets worse before it gets better...this is natural. You just have to be consistent.

I keep seeing it both ways: "tug-of-war games are bad" and "tug-of-war games are OK". The arguments for both sound plausible, too. What do you think?

Originally Posted by Curbside Prophet

3. Concentrate on come and name recognition first, and sit second. There's no harm in trying the other commands, as long as the sessions are short (no more than 5 minutes at one time) and spread out during the day. But for pups this young a bunch of 30 second sessions, fun and exciting, is all you'll need.

I wouldn't say he has problems. I'd say he's acting like a normal puppy. They don't come out of the box prewired for human interaction. Well, some do, but those usually require batteries. You're pup is 9 weeks old. If I were you, I would consider a puppy school between 12-16 weeks old. This is a critical window, and socialization with other vaccinated puppies will be important.

Thanks for your support! He does seem pretty normal. I sorta knew "normal" would mean I'd be exhausted for awhile. I think he's starting to get his name and come here, which is fantastic. I also keep telling myself that since I'm so worried about him and putting in so much effort, even if I'm not doing everything perfectly I'm still WAY better than a lot of people that aren't even trying.

[Curbside Prophet]

Originally Posted by michaelalissa

Someday, I'd like an outside only eliminator. We're in a second-floor apartment, so that shouldn't be too hard, right? My wife and I just simply cannot crate him during the day because we can't come home to let him out often enough for his little bladder. So he has an ex-pen. Can I start taking him outside already? I heard he has to stay inside until he's older... is that wrong? Would it help him to start going from the crate to our balcony at first?

O' yes, don't crate him all day if you're not around. I meant in those times when you're home and want a little break, place him in the crate. I agree the ex-pen is the best way to go in your situation if doggie daycare and pet sitters are out of the question. If you're current on his vaccinations, a quick trip outside to eliminate, and then back in shouldn't be a concern. You just want to keep him away from other dogs or from areas where dogs are know to visit often, like a dog park. Otherwise, carry him to a grassy area, and give him a chance to get a feel for it. If he eliminates, praise him lavishly. If he's going to be eliminating outside, I highly recommend when he's had all his puppy vaccinations to get into a routine of walking him to his elimination area outside. The piddle pads then will be temporary, so focus on praising him for successful outdoor excursions, and ignoring indoor accidents.

Originally Posted by michaelalissa

I keep seeing it both ways: "tug-of-war games are bad" and "tug-of-war games are OK". The arguments for both sound plausible, too. What do you think?

This depends on the type of dog you have. If you're dog likes to rough house, use tug-of-war type games sparingly for fun. This is particularly important if you dog hasn't learned bite inhibition, because with tug-of-war accidents can happen, but with a soft biting dog the accidents are minor. So for your pup, I would wait to play with him this way until he understands biting is a no-no. I personally don't find any harm in tug-of-war unless you have a resource guarding dog. I doubt your dog will ever be this way with your diligence.

Originally Posted by michaelalissa

Thanks for your support! He does seem pretty normal. I sorta knew "normal" would mean I'd be exhausted for awhile. I think he's starting to get his name and come here, which is fantastic. I also keep telling myself that since I'm so worried about him and putting in so much effort, even if I'm not doing everything perfectly I'm still WAY better than a lot of people that aren't even trying.

Yes, you do get it! Every dog should be so lucky.