Getting or Gifting a Puppy for Christmas?

If you know you are getting a new puppy for Christmas, prepare for the arrival!

If you are gifting a puppy for Christmas, make sure the recipient is a willing, responsible individual and that they are prepared for taking care of a baby dog.

Recipient of gifter - doesn't matter - read this post:
http://designerpuppys.blogspot.com/2009/06/bringing-your-new-pup-home-are-you.html

and consider a housetraining tutorial such as
The Perfectly Housetrained Puppy

How You Can Have a Perfectly Housetrained Puppy

One word explains how you can have a perfectly housetrained puppy.

That word is R-O-U-T-I-N-E.

Whether you work, are a stay-at-home person, live in an apartment or house, have limited access to an outdoor area or not - it doesn't matter.

Establsh the correct routine for your puppy or dog and as long as the dog is sufficiently mature (about 4 months on average), you will get into the no-accidents-in-the house zone in a few weeks or less.

Want to know how to etablish dog or puppy housetraining routines?

Read The Perfectly Housetrained Puppy and start today!

Introducing The Perfectly Housetrained Puppy

Frustrated with a puppy or older dog who cannot get that your home is NOT his toilet?

What if you could stop the endless cleanups and the god-awful smell?

Transform your dog into a perfectly housetrained puppy by building the doggie routines that fit your lifestyle. As long as you stick to the established routine by practicing patience, persistence, and consistency, you will reach your goal. Sooner than you think, your dog will associate the door you go out of (to the outdoors or to his indoor area) with eliminating.

Sticking to a routine results in less frequent accidents and a cleaner and happier household.

How do you know when your puppy or dog is perfectly housetrained? If he hasn't messed in the house in the last two to three months, you're there.

How do you learn about these routines customized to your lifestyle?

Buy this new ebook: 

The Perfectly Housetrained Puppy

Get your pup started on his routine today!

Read This BEFORE You Get A New Puppy Or Dog

This post is written by the frustrated owner of 2 puppies, 8 months and 4 months old. Honestly, I would never give up these dogs. They're adorable, sweet pups.

On the other hand, when they've both peed on the rug, like this morning, I wonder if I'll ever have 2 housebroken dogs. Or if they'll ever walk on a leash without pulling. Or if both of them will sleep through the night.

I won't give up. There is no giving up in dog training. They will be housetrained and (relatively) well-behaved dogs.

So, before you get a new puppy, think about the time and effort you'll need to invest in training and caring for your new pet. It's worth every second, and your investment will return positive results. AND it won't happen overnight. Or over a few months.

Best of luck with your new pup! Be patient! Be consistent! Be calm!

Here's an effective obedience training DVD for owners with new puppies or dogs.

See my review of this training DVD It's PAWSible! Dog and Puppy Training DVD

valmillsy

Housetraining Your Puppy – Five Reasons for Failure

Sir Simon Sez, "I'm getting an A in Housetraining 101."

I’ve housetrained two puppies in the last few months and admittedly have made a lot of mistakes. At least I learned enough the first time so that I did not repeat most of the errors. This blog explains 5 mistakes you should avoid when housetraining your puppy.

So here they are - from my recent and somewhat painful experience - the 5 major reasons for housetraining failure:

Mistake #1 – Not using a crate or using a crate incorrectly.
A crate is a must-have item, especially if you plan on getting some sleep at night. I’m not recommending crating a dog at night AND during the day, that’s crate overload. But crating at night is mandatory.

Beware the possible whining, crying, or moaning associated with night crating a puppy. If you take your puppy outside just before you crate him, leave him in the crate until he falls asleep regardless of how much he whines and cries. Very important: if he usually pees and poops the last time he goes outside, don’t bring him in until he’s done both duties.

An example of using a crate incorrectly is to use it for punishment. Suppose your puppy messes in a corner repeatedly. You get fed up and throw him in the crate, knowing that he’s not supposed to eliminate in his sleeping area. He won’t know why he’s suddenly thrown into prison. So exactly what have you accomplished by using the crate in this instance?

Mistake #2 – Not communicating with other household members.
Do NOT assume that someone else in your household has taken the puppy out at the designated time and communicated the results OR knows where the little monster is hiding at the moment (13-week old Simon is the current little monster). Always keep each other informed.

Mistake #3 – Not sticking to the housetraining schedule of activities. The typical schedule for housetraining your puppy dictates that you bring him outside after he eats or drinks, wakes up from a nap, or plays for more than a few minutes. Other times to take him outside are first thing in the morning and the last thing at night, and when he’s suddenly agitated, hyperactive, or is walking in circles. Refer to this book: The Perfectly Housetrained Puppy.

Yup, it’s a lot of things to remember, but if you don’t pay attention to the activities and whereabouts of a young puppy, you’re asking for trouble. After stepping in a pile of poop and tracking it all over the house, I pay attention to Simon’s activities very closely.

Mistake #4 – Not listening to dog training experts about housetraining. I bought one of the best-selling dog training packages written by dog training experts which includes a separate pdf on housetraining (Kindom of Pets Secrets to Dog Training). Unfortunately, I disregarded one or two key suggestions. I paid for those mistakes too.

One of the biggest myths about housetraining is to rub a puppy’s nose in his pee. The experts say it doesn’t work because he’ll have no idea why you’re forcing him to smell his own urine. Too much time has elapsed after the event, even though you may do it a few seconds after it happened. Catching him in the act is a different story.

In fact, the current trend in dog training is that punishment of any kind does not work; only rewards and corrections (interrupting a bad behavior and substituting a good behavior) are effective.

Mistake #5 - Failing to understand that every dog is different.Yes, you need to listen to the experts. But something that works in general may not work for your dog. Then what do you do? Easy – try a new approach. Give the new way a try for a week or so. If it’s not working, try something else. Patience is absolutely necessary while housetraining your puppy.

I mentioned that I am training 2 puppies. Their habits, temperament, and intelligence levels are different, even though they are both Cockapoos.

Alvin, 7 months, is supposedly housetrained. It took about 4 months before he would let us know he needed to go outside. Simon is not mature enough to hold his urine for any length of time during the day (experts say they are mature at about 16 weeks). I am still putting Simon through the night crate and daily schedule routine because I’m sure he will be ready very soon. In fact, he will go to the door to be let out and then promptly do his duty. My bet is that Simon’s training period is going to be shorter than Alvin’s.

Hope this discussion about housetraining your puppy was helpful. Comments with your experiences are welcome.

FREE Dog Training Ebook - Resources and References

This picture of tranquility is NOT the result of training, just too much lunch.

Afternoon Siesta featuring The Boys

For those of you who'd rather see the resources in my free dog training ebook and not review 17 pages of text, here's the list of resources by section. I've used all of these for training Simon and Alvin.

Foreword
Gives credit for the title of the ebook to trainer Beth Ostrowski-Parks in the It's PAWSible! Dog Training and Puppy Training DVD

Introduction

Training Foundation: 8 Concepts to Understand Before You Begin Dog Training
Kindom of Pets Secrets to Dog Training
(the bible and reference manual)

HouseTraining
How To Housebreak Your Dog in 7 Days (Revised)
Kindom of Pets Secrets to Dog Training

Obedience Commands
It's PAWSible! Dog Training and Puppy Training DVD

Overcoming Aggressive Behavior
Victoria Stilwell's It's Me Or The DOG
Kindom of Pets Secrets to Dog Training

Advanced Commands
Kindom of Pets Secrets to Dog Training

valmillsy

Are YOU Training Your Dog or Is HE Training You (3 0f 6)?

This is the third in a series of blogs about dog training:

Introduction
Training Foundation
HouseTraining (you are here)
Obedience Commands
Overcoming Aggressive Behavior
Advanced Commands/Tricks

HouseTraining

Search for “crate training” and “housetraining” on the net and you will get hundreds of references. Read just a few of them and you will find that “crate training” and what I call “scheduled housetraining (no crate)” are the two major methods.

Alvin did not respond well to crate training, but scheduled housetraining is (95%) successful. At 6 months of age, he does have accidents occasionally; mainly because he decided that one particular area of the house is his potty. I’m guessing that we were not diligent in completely deodorizing his mistakes with the enzyme cleaner. Anyway, he’s banned from that area.

In retrospect, I wish I had access to the Secrets to Dog Training coverage of housetraining. All key points and “how-tos” are captured in one pdf document, including the correct way to handle accidents (no punishment involved).

Note: In this series of blogs about dog training, I am referencing Secrets to Dog Training quite frequently. But you need not rely on my recommendation – google “review of secrets to dog training” and you will find that several independent sources have critiqued this product.

valmillsy

Are YOU Training Your Dog or Is HE Training You (1 of 6)?

Alvin Showing Me How To Leash Train

This is the first in a series of blogs about dog training:

Introduction (you are here)
Training Foundation
HouseTraining
Obedience Commands
Overcoming Aggressive Behavior
Advanced Commands/Tricks

When you hear or read about “dog training,” it might suggest teaching obedience commands like “Sit” and “Stay.” Or it might suggest puppy housetraining. Or teaching a dog tricks. Or specialty training like guide dogs or the police canines who sniff out drugs.

Dog Training as an Ongoing Process
All of these types of instruction fall under the category of “dog training.

It’s an ongoing process and never ends.

Either you are training your dog from the day he arrives in your home or he’s training you. Hopefully, it’s the former activity.

Why Dog Training is So Critical
I did not think about dog training as an ongoing process until I saw the movie “Marley and Me.” Soon after, I got a pup and realized that unless I took control of his education, he was more than likely to show signs of behavior problems. Also, I’ve seen animal-lover friends face serious behavior issues with dogs whose training was sporadic.

At this point, I believe the major reason dog shelters overflow with unwanted canines is owner lack of commitment, especially regarding training. Obviously, in these economic times, some people cannot afford their dogs. But the majority of dogs are given up because owners fail to understand the amount of time and effort a dog requires. Untrained dogs are frequently left in a shelter or abandoned.

Types of Dog Training Covered Here
Because I want a well-trained dog in my present and future, I decided to research what was available for certain types of training. I am continuously searching the Internet, talking to people who have dogs, watching trainers in action, and evaluating training DVDs. And I am determined to use what I learned. Any recommendation I make in this blog is a product I’ve used myself.

By the way, I’m NOT discussing specific training methodology (dog whispering, clicker training, reward training). How a particular type of training gets performed (methodology) is not talked about except in passing.

I consider the following types of training/information under the umbrella of “dog training:”

Training Foundation
HouseTraining
Obedience Commands
Overcoming Aggressive Behavior
Advanced Commands/Tricks
Specialty Training (example: guide dog, performance training)

In future blogs, I will recommend specific aids based on my research and application for each of these training types, with the exception of Specialty Training.

Crate Training 101 - Lessons Learned

Prince Alvin During One of His Rare Moments of Rest
in His Crate

Your "dog whispering" friends are recommending crate training because of course it worked for them both during the day and over night.

You google "Puppy Crate Training, " read the articles, buy a crate, and are hopeful that this will be THE solution to your housetraining nightmares. Here's a link: Crate Training a Puppy or Adult Dog.

I agree that crate training will work for your puppy under these conditions:

• you are disciplined,
• the pup is healthy, and
• you follow the crate training guidelines outlined online.

Prince Alvin the Bichon Cockapoo was NOT blessed with owners who stuck to crate training rules. We used a crate at night and when we were out for short time frames.

During the day, I stuck to the standard schedule -

pup goes outside

• when he gets up,
• after meals,
• after a nap,
• after playing,
• before bedtime

Also, take away the water bowl after about 8 pm.

The rules are that you take the pup out every few hours at night (hours = dog's age in months plus one). Alvin's time interval should have been 3 - 4 hours. Except that Alvin had a urinary tract infection (the infection was being treated with antibiotics) and cried every two hours to be taken out. Over a two-week period, I probably logged about 3 hours of sleep every night and was showing definite signs of sleep deprivation.

When he started peeing in the crate repeatedly, it was time to change the method. Remember this is NOT supposed to happen because dogs do not like to soil where they sleep.

Here's what I learned from this experience:

1) Know the signs of a urinary tract infection.
Try this link Urinary Tract Infection in Dogs and see if it helps you determine if your dog has a UTI. Alvin was peeing every 1 - 2 hours and drinking a lot of water. A lab test at the vet's confirmed the UTI.

2) When the pup crate trains YOU, it's time to change the method.
By the time Alvin's UTI started to clear up, he was fed up with the crate and wanted out. He developed the every 2-hour whining routine. This leads to #3.

3) Stick to the guidelines.
If your dog is healthy and you just took him out, but he's whining, put the crate in another room on the other side of the house/apartment, and set an alarm for the next time he's supposed to be let out (hours = dog's age in months plus one). Alvin's other family members can't handle his whining, so this did not work for us.

Hope this helps eliminate problems with your puppy's crate training.

Bringing Your New Pup Home - Housetraining Prep

Prince Alvin sez, "Yes, I will destroy these Poop Bags!"

Why bother to prepare yourself for housetraining BEFORE your new pup arrives home for the first time? Failure to think about how you will housetrain your pup = lots of accidents = much frustration and sleep deprivation.

Housetraining is clearly the most important type of dog training and sets the ground work for other training. It requires scheduling, persistence, patience, consistency, and time. Your pup may follow the breed housetraining trend (for example, pugs are notoriously difficult to train; so it figures that a pug mix may follow the trend) or not. Depends on the trainer - YOU!

I am not going to repeat housetraining procedures in this post, nor will I debate the best method to housetrain. There's plenty of this type of information on the web. Instead, I'm asking that you do some research, talk to your friends who have dogs, and answer the following questions about housetraining:

1) What method will you use?
Crate training, sticking to a strict schedule (outside after meals, after playing, after a nap, when the pup wakes up in the morning, and before he goes to sleep at night), or some other method you discovered?

We were new to dog training and Alvin cried in the crate way too much for our comfort level, so we decided to stick to a strict schedule. During the day he goes outside according to the schedule listed above.

At first, whenever I deviated from the schedule one little bit, there was an accident. Two months later, accidents happen much less frequently, but the Prince is still on a schedule. We need to know his whereabouts at all times. For example, today he was confined to the deck while we were weeding next to the deck. He started to bark at the gate, seemingly for no reason, and then disappeared. A few minutes later we discovered he left us a present on the deck. Our double bad – he let us know by barking at the gate (door), but we ignored him AND we broke our own rule by leaving him unattended.

2) How many puppy caregivers are there? Are all the caregivers in agreement about the housetraining method? Who’s responsible for what puppy housetraining activities?

You’ll experience fewer panic situations (where IS that pup?), blaming and arguing if all caregivers know what to do and when.

3) Have you bought the essential equipment needed for housetraining?

Refer to the following blog entries for the equipment you need:
Bringing Your New Pup Home - Are You Ready??
Bringing Your New Pup Home continued

Note that these lists do not include “pee pee pads” and diapers. Alvin shreds pee pee pads and dogs look real dumb in diapers. I'm sure they serve a purpose, but they're not for Alvin.

4) What location will the pup use for elimination??
I know this sounds like a relatively insignificant question, but remember the word consistency I mentioned above. Taking the pup to the same spot every time expedites the dog’s association with one outdoor spot as the place to eliminate. Watch – your pup will start leading YOU to his spot sooner than you think.

Similarly, once you get into the habit of exiting through the same door every time you go out, another association will develop for your pup. I always wonder how a New Yorker in a high rise teaches housetraining. That’s a lot of associations and a long time frame to wait for a young pup. Maybe that’s where the pee pee pads come into play.

We use the word “Outside” every time we open the door to let Alvin out on his lease and “Hurry Up” when we arrive at his spot outdoors. You have to be careful not to say “Hurry Up” indoors.

Bringing Your New Pup Home continued

Besides the items mentioned in my previous post “Bringing Your New Pup Home – Are You Ready??,” what else do you need before your new pup arrives? You may read some of these items or activities and decide that you don’t really need to get or do them, but that’s up to you.

Dog bed
A dog bed is intended for a dog to sleep in overnight. That’s D O G, not P U P P Y. For a puppy, you set up a confined area with the dog bed in the area. Then you’re supposed to get up at approximately 3 hour intervals to let the puppy out. As the puppy gets older, the interval lengthens and the theory is that eventually the pup will sleep through the night.

Needless to say, Alvin disproved the theory and soiled the designated area well before the time limit was up. The other more-accepted method is using a crate (see below) during the night.

Crate and/or Carrier
Most experts recommend a crate for house-training and sleeping at night. Crates come in different sizes according to the puppy’s weight. Some dog lovers believe it’s cruel to crate a dog; but supposedly, if you crate-train properly, puppies accept the crate as a sort of den and will sleep in it on their own.

Initially, we decided Alvin would use the crate for the times we would leave him alone (if it was only for an hour or so) and during the night. Bottom line – he hated his crate and whined every two hours throughout the night.

And a tip you may want to consider – if you put padding in the crate because you want the pup to be comfortable, be prepared to wash it frequently. Alvin violated the crate law that dogs will not soil their sleeping areas when the padding was in the crate. When I removed the padding and he slept on the plastic bottom, the soiling lessened.

Carriers can be used for car trips. Alvin arrived from Missouri in a small dog carrier. Car trips with Alvin in the carrier are pure torture for both of us. His I-want-to-get-out-of-here bark is ear-splitting!

Grooming Equipment
This includes puppy shampoo, a comb, brush, and if the dog is long-haired and you plan to groom the dog yourself, consider buying clippers, scissors, and an electric shaver. Lots of luck grooming a pup yourself. I have no idea how groomers keep a dog still while they clip fur/hair and nails.

Lead and Ground Spike, Electric Fence
If you have a yard, but no fenced-in area, a long lead and a ground spike will give the dog some running room. Alvin’s main activity when on the lead is to chomp on the plastic covering the lead. To satisfy his need for exercise, we built him a makeshift 24 X 16 fenced-in area using 2-foot high trellises, wood posts and plastic ties.

Consider an electric fence; pups need to weigh a minimum amount, so read the instructions carefully before buying one.

Deodorizer, Rug or Other Surface Cleaner, and Paper Towels
When the pup eliminates on an indoor surface, experts recommend deodorizing the area to neutralize the odor. Pet stores sell a product created for this purpose. Face it, an untrained pup will soil in the house, no matter how conscientious you are about housetraining. Sop up urine or pick up poop with a paper towel, apply the deodorizer to neutralize, and use the cleaner as the last step. Fail to follow this process results in the pup using the same spot again and again. You need to do it right the first time.

Schedule a vet appointment
First, find a vet through friends’ referrals and schedule an appointment when you know the date of the pup’s arrival. It’s important to take your pup to the vet as soon as possible after you bring the animal home. An independent checkup is sometimes specified in a breeder contract and you need to know if the pup has any conditions that require attention.

Bring the breeder information about vaccinations, microchips, etc. with you to the vet.

Read about Alvin’s initial vet visit in this post: More on Designer Puppy Breeders.

Training Information (Internet notes, DVD(s), books)
Read about housetraining, socialization, and general dog raising, especially if it’s your first dog or you haven’t had a pup in the last few years. Catering to the needs of dogs and puppies is big business and you’ll be amazed at the amount of information available on the Internet, DVDs, and books.

The DVD "It's Pawsible" leads you through 5 weeks of training for the basic commands. If you have the time to train a few minutes a day, you'll be amazed at the results. More on training in future posts. I mention this DVD because it's structured and consistent in the approach to each command as well as using untrained dogs for demo purposes.

Anti-chew spray
A pup WILL chew everything if allowed to do so. The first line of defense is to remove everything the pup can chew from the floor (for example, area rugs, shoes, electrical cords). If furniture becomes a target, you can spray the area with an anti-chew spray purchased at the pet store.

Among other things, Alvin chews his dog tags (microchip identifier and rabies tag) to the point where he started to remove the rabies info. I tried the spray and also a little hot sauce, but Alvin persists in obliterating the tag data.

Bones
Dental cleaning bones, edible bones, and plastic chewing bones satisfy the pup’s teething needs. Remove bones when the pup starts eating plastic pieces. Although these pieces are supposedly not a problem, a persistent chewer (you guessed it – Prince Alvin) will break off pieces and swallow them. I always wonder if he’ll choke and how pieces of plastic get through his small digestive system.

A bell for the door
Dogs can be trained to hit a bell hanging from the outside door knob each time they need to go outdoors to relieve themselves. Alvin rang the bell a few times during his first two weeks in the house. Now, he ignores the bell and locates the first outside door he can find when he needs to go out. Without a bell sounding, we have to be vigilant about his whereabouts.

Hope these pup preparation tips are helpful!