PUPPY TRAINING - Big struggle, advice welcome

Hello All

Im new to this site and have been reading over the forums and can see there is so much knowledge and information here

Weve got a 10 week old shih tzu female puppy (mum is 1/2 shih tzu/ 1/1 jack russell, dad full bred shih tzu, so our little bundle of fun is 3/4 shih tzu) She is obviously adorable, but ive noticed part of her personality is that she has a stubborn streak in her.

She will be 10 weeks old on Sunday 18th December, and we have had her for 2 weeks now. Ive been trying to house train her, to no avail she is doing all her toileting in the house, ive tried puppy pads, she refuses to go on them, ive bought a tray (bit like a cat litter tray, but its for puppies) again she is not interested, to the point gently holding her on it and she waits and struggles to get away and then goes on the carpet as soon as she has got away! repeatedly putting her on there. We have tried taking her out, which has had a little bit of success, but she is more interested now in trying to escape rather than toilet! We are going to make her an area to explore in the back garden in the hope this will work.

She sleeps on our bed at night, ive tried having her on the floor, (im waiting for a bed to arrive that ive bought for her) she gets so cold at night (we have central heating!) even her fur feels cold - ive put blankets on a bed for her, a hot water bottle, etc etc but she still refuses to sleep unless its on our bed.

She is biting all the time, sometimes she is very gentle and other times she gets quite nasty with the biting.

Im at my wits end, I dont know the best way forward for her, at this rate she is going to be an unruly dog, she has the potential to be such a good dog, ive tried teaching her "sit" and she "got" this more or less immediately, she is clever but she does have a stubborn streak.

I have a disability which limits my movement and mobility, ive got her as a companion for me as ive just had to give up work because of my disability, Im wanting her to be a good dog and I know she can do it, I need some direction in the best way forward in training her. I know its down to me at the end of the day to get her to her full potential and its my job to train her and get her to understand who is boss, but I just need some help and advice in how I do this.

Many thanks (sorry this is such a long post) if you require any other information please ask
Debbie

Hi, first of all I am not sure the extent of your disability so some of the advice may not be applicable.

1 Why are you not house training her by taking her outside to toilet? IME it is easier to do this straight away, by taking your dog out on the lead so she cannot amuse herself or get away, toilet and then praise and treat.

2 Have you considered using a crate? That way she cannot decide where she is going to sleep; she can be NEXT to you for comfort but still be in her den and not mess up anything.


3 Biting is normal. Read this link.

http://www.cockersonline.co.uk/discu...c=64170.0;wap2

4 Try to remember that dogs are not "stubborn" they do what works and it is up to us to:

1 Make what we want easy for the puppy to understand
2 PRovide sufficient reward

If these two rules are followed, training is simple (if not easy)

Good Luck

I've always taken my puppies outside to where I want them to go every half hour or so, and especially after eating, they usually want a poo at this age.

It's a known fact, that once they've found a spot they like to "go" in, they usually stick to it, so take her to the area you want her to be doing everything and when she goes, praise, praise and praise again, and lots of treats and she'll soon learn.

As for the bed thing, it's because you have let her, she's not daft, it's the most comfortable place isn't it, especially as you haven't yet got a nice, warm, comfy bed for her. Can't you find an old duvet, fold it over, put a blanket on it and put it next to your bed, and each time she gets up (how can she get up on there at this age anyway?) put her back down onto her bed.

Good luck, she'll learn a lot more as time goes on, but as for the toilet training, I'm afraid most of the time has to be spent by you.

Hi Debbie,
Firstly, welcome to this site - you will get lots of advice and we are all friendly
I have just gone through 'training' two pups together (they are now 10mths old. Your little pup is very young still so don't expect too much - it does all take time and you'll need an endless supply of patience!!

What I did:HOUSE-TRAINING - If your disability allows take her out into the garden every 1 1/2 to 2 hours during the day. She will sniff around and the moment she does a wee/poo say 'busy girl' or some command. Then make a fuss of her and tell her she is a 'good girl'. All pups need to go to the loo as soon as they have eaten or woken up so make sure you take her out then. Trying to house-train inside is much more difficult and there is then the worry that she may only want to 'go' inside and not out. This does take time but she will get the hang of it. If she does have an accident inside never smack her or rub her nose in it. Clear it up and take her outside again. She simply doesn't understand as yet as to what you are asking her to do. I personally gave my pups a treat as soon as they did a wee/poo outside to re-affirm that it was what I wanted. (I permanently have treats in my pocket, even now) I had my pups in a 'pen' in the corner of the kitchen at night time but a crate will do, whether it's beside your bed is up to you. If you use a crate, have her bedding up one end and a puppy mat the other just while she is little and isn't expected to hold herself during the night. Dogs hate soiling their own bedding and she will use the mat.

BITING: This is quite usual and there are various methods that you can try. One of my pups was a biter, the other wasn't. Her litter Mum would have corrected her if she had used her teeth too much, so you now have to step in. I know their baby teeth are razor sharp! If she bites try a high pitched yelp as that is what another dog would do to her. Try removing your hand and placing a toy in her mouth. Try saying 'no' and immediately leave the room, leaving her on her own - dogs hate being ignored - and then return a minute or so later. Or just get up, turn your back on her and fold your arms - no eye contact - for a minute or so. I had to try all of these until one of my dogs eventually got the hang of it.

A calm voice works much better on dogs lots of shouting etc will just excite her more I know some people say dogs aren't stubborn but I tend to disagree. My last dog who I lost aged 15 (a lhasa apso which is very similar to a ****zu) was stubborn and she tended to do things on her agenda.

This is just what worked for me and all dogs are different. As I said, it is really early days at the moment for you and your little pup but just be patient and consistent!!
Good luck, it will all fall into place but don't expect it to happen overnight.

Hi
Thanks for the advice, greatly appreciated.
I have been taking her outside for toilet, on a regular basis, and to some extent this has been successful until the past couple of days. She is wanting to explore and has realised she can get out into the front so she is more interested in doing that rather than go to toilet first then explore. She is making a "run" for the front and because I cant move very fast this is proving difficult, so today we are going to make the back more secure so this should resolve that problem. Also if it is raining - she wont toilet outside (well who does like being out in the rain) lol I think the most successful way will be outside toilet - once we have a secure area for her.
She does have a stubborn streak, Ive been trying to lead train her (she had her final injection this week, vet said she will be able to go out 2 weeks following the injection) She refused point blank to even move when the lead was placed on her. I tried letting her play with it, leaving lead on for a short time, take it off etc. So ive now bought a harness rather than a neck lead, will see if this works.
I know its going to be a long process and im going to need a lot of patience, it helps knowing there are people here I can ask the question and get some knowlegable advice and guidance
Thanks
Debbie

So, the making the run for the front indicates she knows what to do. A puppy's bladder is very small and when it needs to go, it really needs to go. Hence the reason for the 'take it out every hour rule'. Never had a small breed so guessing this length of time may be shorter - maybe every half hour until she is 12 weeks old. My 10 week old pup isn't fond of rain either, so I have to go outside with him when it is raining to give him 'its OK, honest'!

Don't worry about lead training. I have been clipping a lead on my pup at feeding time and enticing him around at my heel with bits of dinner. Initially he did what your pup did, but he soon realised that if he follows at Dad's heel a bit of food goes in the mouth. Once I have this good in the house, I'll do it in the garden, then a very short walk along the road. I really don't mind how long this takes.

My number one recommendation for you is to get the book "The Perfect Puppy" by Gwen Bailey.

Awww, bless her heart with that running out to the front where it's far more exciting!

You need to arm yourself with plenty of little treats in every single pocket, so that you're always armed for praise, no matter what it's for, as just like nick has said there, you can't train too much of that walking beside you no matter where you are.

She's so very young, and they seem to have a mind of their own at this age don't they and you wonder whether anything's gonna sink in Play with her lots, it'll help to get focus on you, so that you are THE most exciting thing in the world, it'll pay dividends in the long run. When you take her out the back, get her attention with her name and let her know you've got something nice and with a bit of luck, she'll stay with you instead of zooming to the front! I hope you get that sorted and it'll make it so much easier for you.

Good luck, they're so much fun at this age so make sure you remember to enjoy her. Although you think she's taking no notice, if you use every opportunity with those titbits, it'll all suddenly slot into place and I'm sure she'll be a really good girl for you

Hi Debbie

First things first, your puppy is perfectly normal and doing perfectly normal things.

I have a 12 week old puppy and can really empathise with all you say

Bedtime - get a cage for her. Put blankets inside and have it at the side of your bed. If she cries, put your hand over the side of the bed and let her sniff it until she settles then bring your hand back into bed. I've found with my pup, that covering the top and one side of the cage helps, as does having a couple of soft toys in there. Puppies wake fairly often to toilet during the night. We've gone from three down to one wake up call now - usually after about 4 hours.

The mouthing/biting - those little needles don't harf hurt don't they . I allow gentle mouthing with soft mouth at the moment and when it gets 'hard' I put her down (if she's on the sofa with me) and ignore her, or I just ignore if she's already on the floor - good slippers and thick socks help. My little one is now 'soft mouthing' most of the time (thankfully), but still tries out the harder stuff from time to time. If your situation doesn't allow this, you might want to try a puppy pen to put pup into when she is over-excited/tired (which is usually when the hard mouthing occurs).

Toilet training is a pig at this time of year. Afraid there aren't any short cuts. Take to toileting area after sleep, after play, after mad half hour, after meals, after drink etc. It will come, but takes time and, in my experience, the smaller the dog, the longer it takes to 'click', but it still comes in like a flick of a lightswitch - problems for days/weeks, then one day, 'voila'.

Not many puppies like the lead the first couple of times out. Attach the lead and just sit the first couple of times until pup starts to sniff around - throw a couple of treats down if need be. From there she'll quickly move onto walking two or three steps, then four or five. My own puppy is happy to walk for 10 minutes now, but that's how we started.

Puppies are such hard work, but they're not puppies for very long so try to enjoy her and persevere with the problem areas. You will look back and smile in the not too distant future

Good advice from everyone
I just wanted to add
It's easier if you stop thinking of her as stubborn
She is a baby and she dosent know any better

Show her what you want and make working with you fun
Feed her one meal while training her to get used to the lead

And unless your bed is on the floor the only reason she is on the bed is cos you put her there
The only reason she only sleeps there is because you trained her that kicking up a fuss gets her picked up and put on the bed, if that's where you want her to sleep then keep her there otherwise I recomend a crate or box with bed in it for her beside your bed

Great advice from every one as usual!

One I would add is start your recall training now! When you are going to feed her call her name and through the day time call and treat over and over and in all different places, you can even get a whistle to blow as her recall, pretty soon she will hear her name/whistle and always come flying looking for food/treat.

Good luck I have a 5 month old and they do really start to get it sooner than later