Hello everyone. I'm posting here for some suggestions how to wrangle in my new dog. My 'puppy' is named Maya. She is a beagle/shepherd mix between 9 and 18 months old and about 17 lbs. I have had Maya for almsot 3 weeks now. I'm going to bring up a handful of issues in this thread. If anyone has any suggestions for any of them I would be very grateful.
Potty Training - (I know this question is asked a lot.. I understand the principal but I have a couple speciffic issue i could use suggestions on).
Maya and I spend most of our inside time in my bedroom (with a small attached galley kitchen). We have a big 3 story house to run around in. However if we go downstairs it's really easy for her to quickly get out of sight and into trouble.
For this, you can tether her to you with a leash, at least until she's potty trained. You can use a longer leash, 6-10 feet, if you need to, at least she's in your sight and not sneaking off.
So far she has been very good about holding it until we get outside. I think in the past 3 weeks she has had 2 pee and 2 poop accidents inside.
I also don't know how much it matters but her stool has been very soft or liquidy since getting her home. I think perhaps it was the food (they gave her science diet - puppy ... for a 9-18 mo old dog?) I have been mixing that off with pets edge and stopped the science diet all together this morning.
Science Diet isn't the best food. You could switch to something better. Also, nerves can play a big part in that, but, you'd think 3 weeks would be enough to settle her tummy. Did you get her checked by your vet when you brought her home?
1.) She doesn't seem to have any way to let me know she needs to go out. I have a bell on the downstairs door, I've tried to get her to ring it before we go out. However she never does it on her own. Also the initial obstacle is more letting me know she has to leave the bedroom. I have tried to observe her behavior closely - a couple times she has plopped down and just sat quietly by the door... i think that meant she needed to go out (it would be great if that was her behavior to let me know) I took her out and she went right away (YAY) other times she's done the same thing and didn't do anything outside. Other times she seems to get very agitated... she'll run around. I'll try to play with her with a ball or a rope toy she'll play for a second but then drop it and bark. Again though, it's not consistent. Sometimes she shows this behavior and I take her out and she goes immediately.. other times nothing.
Not all dogs have a consistent signal. It's a good idea, at least for the time being to not rely on her to tell you. Instead, rely on a consistent schedule (every 1-2 hours) and supervision in between. And, if you're going to try to teach the bell thing on the downstairs door, it would be a good idea to put bells on your bedroom door as well. Not all dogs get the bell idea, though, and some go too far, and use them any time they want to go out and play. And, as she settles in more, you may see her signals become more defined.
2.) She poops in her crate! The first time this happened she woke me up at her usual time (5:50am) but _I_ had to go.. really bad. I went to the bathroom and she continued to bark. By the time I had come back.. she made a mess. I guess this one is my fault. I take full responsibility. This morning however. She woke me up at 7 (way later than usual) I jumped out of bed at her first bark and grabbed her collar. I went over to her cage and... poop... everywhere. I can't believe she didn't try and let me know. I really don't know what to do about this. I have cleaned her bedding thoroughly (actually discarded her first bed after the first poop and gave her a big pillow now)
Hmmm. Well, not all dogs follow the general rule of not pottying where they sleep. What is her history? Do you know much about her past? If she was held in a crate often, she may just have become accustomed to pooping/peeing in the crate if she really needed to. Otherwise, make sure you follow a schedule, take her out at a set time in the morning, but, at the same time, pay attention, if she starts moving around in her crate or barking, you might need to take her sooner.
3.) Walking - Walking is one thing Maya has down mostly good. I have a prong collar and she does not pull _at all_. The problem however is not walking, it is stopping and that she does way too much of it. Sometimes she'll walk 2-3 block straight, no problem -- this is fun! Other times however she will just dead stop. I think she is scared of something as her muscles lock up and her tail drops between her legs. I don't think she's curious about other animals/bugs/plants. She does not snif, does not walk the other way. She just stops! She seems to sometimes do this around certain houses in our neighborhood but not always. At times she will stop every 10-20 feet! this turns a 20 minute walk into an hour walk. When she stops too.. there is really no getting her to continue. I have tried getting her to 'come'. I have tried treats - even if i stick them right infront of her face, when she gets like this, she will just turn her head to the side and ignore them. The only solution I have is to pick her up walk 15 feet and put her back down. She will then usually continue... for at least another 10 ft.
Again, I will ask, do you know much about her history? This might give you some insight. If she isn't interested in treats when she gets like this, it probably means she is over her threshold, so to speak. In other words, she's too stressed to be interested in something she'd normally like. When she's stressed like that, she will likely not respond or learn anything. Usually, this happens when something scares a dog, or they feel threatened. It's interesting that there doesn't appear to be anything you can determine that is causing the problem. Maybe someone else will have ideas.
4.) Crate - Maya hates her crate. I have read that it sometimes takes dogs months to get used to her crate but the fact of the mater is she was better when i first got her. She used to bark maybe a couple times and whimper a bunch for maybe 10 mintues then she would stop. Now she barks loudly and constantly and tries to dig her way out for up to 30 minutes. This is a problem - I try to put her to bed around 10:30 or 11. However, The only time I have to get any work done for myself is after I put her to bed ... So I usually come back into my room around 1 or 2 and this wakes her again. She continues to complain for up to another 30 minutes. This really worries me that it is driving the other people in my house CRAZY. I try to fill her crate with her toys and some treats but she is uninterested. I've put her favorite meat-treats in there and found them untouched the next morning.
Have you tried covering the crate? Sometimes, you can do some crate conditioning, which is basically starting with a super short period of time, with a treat, in the crate, several times a day until it becomes "normal" to her. For instance, give her a kong stuffed with a dab of peanut butter, and shut the crate door for 30 seconds. Then, let her out. Don't fuss or talk to her. Do this as many times a day as you can. After a few days, try upping the time to 1-2 minutes, still several times a day. After a few days of this, try 3-5 minutes. You get the idea. It's supposed to build up her tolerance for being in the crate.
Also, you can try tiring her out a lot before you need to put her into the crate. First, exercise releases stress hormones, and second, she may be tired enough to sleep.
Last night I had the most progress with this. I watched a good video on youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8hb9aHfjLA and tried that out some last night. I sat by the crate for a while and got her to go in/out with treats. Eventually I put her in and left for a couple minutes, came back, more treats, and left. I did this about 3 times then just left for good. When i came back to go to sleep I think I gave her a couple more treats and stood by the crate for a minute. When i laid down she only barked twice and whimpered for maybe 5 minutes
Ok I think that is it for now. Sorry the post was so long! Hopefully some people can offer me some suggestions to save my sanity. I greatly appreciate any feedback.
Thanks!