Newbie - just brought home my new pup

Hi, i am a new dog owner and have a few questions to ask.
My pup is 8 weeks old, he is a yorkie cross pom. His name is Malky.

We brought him home yesterday.

I want to check if what i am doing and plan on doing is the correct way.

1) i have bought a crate which malkys bed and blankets are at 1 end and a tray with a puppy training pad at the other end. Since yesterday he has had 1 wee on the mat but when hes out of the crate he will go anywhere.
My question is should i keep the mat in the crate? Also do i still need to take him outside? Im thinking i might confuse him if expecting to know that he has to go outside and on the mat?

2) how long should Malky be in his crate? I work from home so am usually home most days however i might have to into the office once every so often.
My question is when im home should he be left to roam the kitchen ? in my room with me whilst im working? Or left in his crate? My concern is if i let him stay with me all day i will have problems when i have to go to work in the office?

3) malky is very playful when he sees us , i have 2 children who are mad for him but i am worried they are getting him too excited / hyper as when playing he tries to bite but in a playful way. Im worried that as he gets older it will start to hurt and they will be scared of him.

4) am i right in thinking he should be fed 4 times a day?

Sorry for the long questions but i want to try and get it right from the start.

Thanks. Any advice would be much appreciated.

Congratulations on your new puppy!!
Now for your questions.
1. Personally i would not put a pad in the crate.You want the crate to be a place where your dog doesn't toilet.By putting a pad in the crate you are basically saying its ok for you to toilet here and you are giving him the opportunity to do so.And clearly training on pads isn't working if he goes anywhere outside the crate.
I house trained by teaching my dog that it was only acceptable to go outside. You just praise and treat when they go outside and ignore them and clean up when they go inside. I also taught him to signal when he needed to go out by ringing a bell,http://www.deesdogs.com/documents/ringbelltogoout.pdf
Here are some bits on house training,
http://www.deesdogs.com/documents/ho...gyourpuppy.pdf
http://www.deesdogs.com/documents/cratetrianing.pdf

2.You will have to let him out regularly to relieve himself,but i would keep him in the crate while you work.Take him out to walk and play then back in again. When you are finished working then you can let him wander around in the room you are in. Do not let him have full run of the house. Also take him out and do some fun training sessions.(3 minutes long maximum of 5min)
You are quite right about problems arising id he stays with you all day,he needs to learn to cope alone.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGxhcb-itO4
Give him kongs and chews(i recommend stag bars)to keep him occupied.

3. Teach them how to play properly with him.And get them involved with basic training.Teach bite inhibition,
http://www.deesdogs.com/documents/te...inhibition.pdf

4.I fed 3 times a day until Oscar was 6 months old,then i moved to 2 meals and then 1 meal. I am back to 2 meals now and i plan to stay that way(oscar is 2) You can feed as many as you want really,but no less than 2.


Some extra bits.
Start as you mean to go on. Get him socialized,teach your kids to play properly and be gentle. Train the basics now,you can do tricks later. What isn't acceptable for an adult dog to do isn't acceptable for a puppy either.
I highly recommend clicker training! Its amazing.
have a look here for lots of training help,
http://www.clickersolutions.com/arti...ndex.htm#basic


Good luck! And have lots of fun and take lots of photos

My Chihuahua is now 3 1/2 he still sleeps in his crate, he goes in there to get away from people he's not keen on and I always pop him in there if anyone with young kids and babies visits as he's not used to them on a daily basis. Saying this he has a bed in the conservatory and a blanket in the room so he knows these are his places, but at night he still goes in his crate, the door is open and he has water in there so he seems happy. Have a great time with your new puppy.

Congratulations on your new puppy! I've had mine for about two weeks now and while he's a handful, I enjoy every minute with him. Now heres my advice on your questions

1. Don't put the pee pad in the cage because then Malky will think its okay to "go" in there. I didn't have much luck when I attempted to train my pup to use them, he started thinking it was okay to go wherever he wanted. I would recommend taking your pup outside; after only a week of trying this with my boy, he now has minimal accidents inside and whines when he needs to go out. Until he learns that outside is the place to go, I recommend taking him out as soon as he wakes up from any type of sleep (my pup sleeps ALOT), after eating and drinking, and after playing.

2. How long to keep him in the crate is really up to the individual. I would definitely put him in while you are working so he doesnt have any accidents, but I would try to have him out as much as possible. The more he is out and able to play with you, the more he can work on his socialization skills and bite inhibition. I put our guy in his whenever we leave and when we go to bed at night, and sometimes he goes in it during the day to sleep. Other than that, he has free range of our LIVING ROOM (I don't trust his potty trained abilities quite yet!). Also, try to make being in the crate a pleasant experience. Putting something that smells like you in with him will help relax, and also give him a toy to play with so he wont be bored. In our crate we have a couple of my shirts, his favorite stuffed animal, and a bone. He doesnt like his bed unfortunately

3. Unfortunately, I can't give much advice on this subject because I am still struggling with it myself. The best advice I received though was to ignore my pup when he does bite, reward him when he licks, and to not do any rough play with him.

4. With feeding, just go with what you're comfortable with. I feed my pup every four hours, but there are times when he simply doesnt feel like eating. It has gotten to the point that I just make sure he has food and let him eat when he wants. He knows if he's hungry better than I do! Starting out though, as long as you have a regular feeding cycle, your pup will get used to it. It will also help with his potty training if he's on a routine schedule.

It will be alot of work, but everything you do now will be worth it in the end. Again, Congratulations on your new puppy and keep us updated!

Hi thanks for all your replies.
Well malky have been up and down! One day is good a d then hes goes backwards!!
He seems to be weeing and pooping everywhere but outside!

What do you do when he goes inside?

His nipping isnt improving, my children and now even more scared of him which i really dont want.

Hi Nicola and welcome to you and your new pup.
My two 'pups' are 15mths old now (brothers) so I have been through the puppy stage ..... which does pass!

Firstly, your puppy is still very young and is still having to adjust to being away from his family. He may well be feeling insecure and don't forget that at the moment he will have little control over his bladder etc anyway. When he has an accident inside don't ever smack or shout at him as this will just encourage him to hide behind furniture or out of your sight to toilet and to fear you. I know its hard, but just ignore it and clean the mess up.
You need to take him outside every hour or so, or whenever he has woken, eaten, played or been left for any time etc as that is usually followed by going to the loo. With my two I'd take them out and wait and wait until they had been. As soon as I saw them 'going' I would say a word (for me it was 'busy') and then give a weeny food treat and lots of praise so there was no doubt that they had done a good thing. Ignore mess inside. Having a word they now associate with going to the toilet means they will virtually 'go' on command.
What you are expecting of him will suddenly 'click' but not yet. It's a little like expecting a 6 month old baby to let you know when they are going to use their nappy

I had a crate in the kitchen which was then surrounded by a pen. Toys, water bowl and food bowl were in the pen. It gave my two a safe place to sleep and an area (albeit smallish) to play, eat and to have a wee mat if I was out).

Prior to getting the room divider shown here, I used a smaller mesh type one as they would have just walked through these bars, but it will give you and idea of what I'm talking about.

About his teething on you and your kids: One of my two would use his mouth (teeth) too much when playing. I tried everything but what did eventually work was yelping and leaving the room for a few minutes. If he is doing the same, get you kids to hold a toy in their hand and if he nips to put the toy in his mouth instead. I'm not sure how old your kids are but they have to learn to play quietly with the pup to stop him getting too excited. High squeaky voices will just over excite him.

It is really hard work having a pup in the house as there is so much to teach. Do remember though he is still a real baby and once he understands what is expected of him life will suddenly become a doddle

Most importantly enjoy him!!