First time puppy owner

[Shannon Silver]

Hello. My pupster, a Jack Russell Chihuahua cross has been home with me for 1 week. He will be 9 weeks old tomorrow.

I have been doing a LOT of reading online about what to do with puppies. My husband and I have been taking him outside while holding him to acclimate to the world. We try to do this for an hour a day but the weather hasn't allowed that for today.

I had a trainer come to my house yesterday. We worked on clicker training for Come, Sit...and Stay but I've forgotten what to do for the Stay.

We also have 7 cats and 6 ferrets. I forgot what I am supposed to be doing with him for not chasing the cats.

Logan, that's his name, is in his crate near my bed at night. He may whine for a bit but we ignore it until he settles down. Doesn't usually take too long. I have been waking up every 3 hours to take him to a pee pad in our downstairs bathroom.

Today was the first day I took him out in the garden. He did pretty well. But I'm afraid I have to leave him for a couple of hours sometimes...so we have a pen set up in our kitchen with pee pads and a crate. I put a Kong with small bits of chicken in there for him and turn on some classical music.

Whew. I'm afraid I am going to have so many questions. Yes, I am a bit anxious. I want to do things right because it seems there is such a small window to get things right...and any mistake will set you back.

I guess one main question I have right now is this potty training. Perhaps a few questions.

When should I click? Sometimes it's hard to even tell if he's peeing. But sometimes if I click he will stop peeing. So I've been trying to wait until he's just about finished, which is obviously tough to gauge.

I've read that if we go outside and he's unsuccessful to bring him back in and then cuddle him until you try again in 5 or 10 minutes. Makes sense as sadly I have turned my back for a second and then BOOM Pee. I just clean it up and spray it with enzyme cleaner.

The second part of my question, is related but slightly different...how do I use the crate for potty training? When we go outside and he doesn't go, should I put him I the crate? My trainer said to always put a treat in the crate with him, like a Kong with some bits. She said that is so he has a time out but doesn't see the crate as punishment. (Also to be used when he's biting me and I need to take myself away as punishment. )

I actually ordered a second crate for our downstairs. So when we come inside and he doesn't pee...should I put him in there with a treat?

How do we raise a puppy so he can be self soothing, yet bond with us? I want what's best for him and I want him to be able to self soothe and rest calmly until we come home.
But he does love a snuggle up on the couch with me.

Oh goodness. I'm sorry. I am nervous. Thank you for reading.

 

[BabyBadger]

I've also just got a puppy! He's 10 weeks he's been good at going outside but we have been taking him out religiously every hour. He has done the odd wee inside but no poos since the first day. I haven't used pads at all though as I read that it allows them to think it's ok to go inside and then when they don't fancy going out (it's a wet and wild day in the South East today!) they will go inside. I am by no means an expert as he is my first pup so this is just from my 2 weeks experience!

 

[Shannon Silver]

Hello fellow beginner! (Don't know what else to call us.)

Anyway. I can definitely see the conflict in information. My trainer thinks it's okay to use the pee pads at night. But also we have to use a puppy pen in the kitchen for when we are out for a few hours.

How do you deal with going out? And when you say every hour, do you mean overnight as well? Just curious.

It was pretty miserable today here in greater London. Ugh.

What's your pupster's name and breed?

 

[JoanneF]

I hate puppy pads - they give massively conflicting information about whether toileting indoors is allowed or not.

Toilet training happens when two things come together - the ABILITY to hold the toilet, along with the DESIRE to hold it in order to earn the reward for doing so.

Ideally you want him to not be in a position where he needs to toilet before you have him outdoors, so that every toilet is outside - as far as possible, there will be accidents! So set him up to succeed by taking him out even more than he needs; for example during the day every 45 minutes to an hour and always after sleeping, eating, playing. Overnight you should take him out once or twice - if he is in your room you hopefully will hear him stir.

The time between a puppy realising they need to toilet, and being unable to hold that toilet, is zero. So your aim is to have him outside before he can't help himself. When he toilets outdoors make a huge fuss (never mind the neighbours, act like outdoor toileting is the best thing you have ever seen) and reward him with a high value treat. Clicking for toileting is hard because clicking is all about timing so it's supposed to be instantaneous and a toilet takes time! So although I use a clicker for other things, i don't for toileting. But i do go overboard with praise and reward. And do that immediately, don't make him come to you for the treat so he is clear that it's for toileting and not for coming to you. The idea is that he eventually wants to earn the treat enough to hold the toilet until he is outside - once he is physically able to control his toileting obviously. If he has an accident inside don't react at all. If you get annoyed he may learn to fear your reaction and avoid you if he needs to toilet - the opposite of what you want. As he is actually performing the toilet you can introduce words he can associate with it (like 'do weewee' and 'busy busy') that later when he is reliably trained you can use these to tell him when you want him to toilet.

If he doesn't toilet you can either pop him in the crate if you want to be doing something, or cuddle if it is convenient then take him out again a few minutes later. Crates are useful to help with toilet training but they are just a tool that you use at your convenience. Your other tools like vigilant watching, praise and reward all contribute to toilet training. The self soothing is a separate thing and your crate is also one of the tools (along with the Kong) that you can use. I would use these while you potter about, leaving him on his own but safe.

Back to toileting. Indoors if you see him circling or scratching the floor, that can sometimes precede toileting so get him out fast.

 

[arealhuman]

Welcome to the forum, it's great to see you're getting good advice already and are not alone with your new puppy! With regards to the clicker, I was told to think of it as a camera and you take a picture of behaviour you like to see, with a click, them reward immediately. I like this analogy It is important that the reward follows immediately though so the association is made between the behaviour and reward. My dog isn't a puppy, we rescued him when he was about 6 years old, so have different things to do with clicking, mostly when out and about as I found it hard to use a clicker, give a treat and have a dog on a lead (and in the dark, hold a torch too!). So, over time I dispensed with the clicker and made a similar noise myself and that does the trick. This might be something to think of longer term.

Please keep us updated with your progress (start a diary?) and of course, post some pictures

 

[JudyN]

I really like the book The Puppy Primer by Patricia McConnell. Try not to worry too much though - people managed to raise puppies before the internet and before the deluge of dog training/behaviour books.