# All Advice Needed (And Welcome!)



## Katsura (Aug 23, 2013)

Alright guys, I am going to apologize in advance for the lengthy post. I want to be as detailed as possible so I can get the best responses, if that makes sense.

Also, please be aware that I am being flat out and blatantly honest with you. Please try not to be overly harsh and mean over my mistakes.

Now down to business. I have a new pitbull puppy. He's black with white, he has a perfect white triangle on the back of his neck. He's approximately 8 weeks old. His name is Rod Serling.

Now, I have never had dogs before in my entire life. My grandma and one of my aunts have dogs, but they are all horrible dogs. Well, they're not horrible but nobody bothers training them. They beg, they're jumpy, they're flighty, they bark at other dogs and people, they pull on the leash, etc.

The point is, I have very little idea of what I'm doing but I know for sure that I don't want my pup to turn out anything like the dogs my family members own.

So here's the scoop.

At first, I didn't have a kennel. And I was having a huge problem with him deciding to pee every thirty seconds and poop every ten minutes. It drove me ESPECIALLY nuts when i took him out to go potty and he would come back in and pee not even 2 minutes later. Both times I let him sleep in bed with us, he would take a nice little tinkle on the bed literally in the middle of me getting my shoes on to take him out.

I am ashamed to say it, but I got more than a little frustrated with him. I, er, got to the point where I ahh... may have spanked him once or twice... I didn't know that this was detrimental to potty training and quite frankly I just feel flat out horrible about it, so I have not done it since. :redface:

I don't think he hates me though, because he still cuddles up with me and plays with me.

However, the second time he peed on my bed I got so mad and fed up I just decided I was going to get rid of him. This is a challenge unlike anything I have ever faced before, and I'm still learning how to cope with it and take care of him properly. Luckily Nathan flat out told me we're not getting rid of him. He told me i'm going to have to deal with it, because if I can't take care of a puppy, then he doesn't see how we're ever going to have kids. You know how it goes.

So I sat there and said to myself that I can get through this, and once he is trained, we will be best friends. I have to keep telling myself that this is not a permanent problem.

Well, luckily, we have a kennel now. I've only been putting him in it overnight and in the daytime ONLY when I am busy and can't keep my eyes glued to him (things like cooking, or taking a shower). It seems to have helped the potty training along fairly well; now when he's out and about in the house he isn't so inclined to just let it go whenever he feels like it. However, I'm not going to be super confident and think my dog has been potty trained after a single day. That would be ridiculous. 

Anyway, when he goes out for potty time I praise him and get happy with him after he's done, like I've read that you're supposed to do. He doesn't seem to really care when I get all excited and say "good boy!". He just looks at me like, "um okay whatever". So I don't know if the positive reinforcement thing is working or not.

Seriously, I have an easier time reading my snakes' body language than I do this dogs'.

So when he's in the crate, he whines and starts howling and yipping. I understand that when he does this in the morning or after he's been in there for a while it is probably because he's gotta go, but when he does it a minute after I put him in there, it makes me go bananas. I have him in the living room in clear view of everything I'm doing, but he still makes those noises. Earlier when I was cooking dinner I had to put a movie up on Netflix just to make him stop it.

I usually ignore him when he does this and I won't let him out of the kennel until he quiets down (unless it's early morning). But when I had to put the movie on it's because he was going on for ten minutes straight. Oh and I have a blanket in there and when he's in there I make sure he has all of his toys in there with him.

Another problem that I'm having is that he wants to chew on everything. I gave him a tennis ball today and he was having a real blast with that, but soon after he was chewing on a chair. I have a rope toy that I use to play tug of war with him, and I got him a couple teething chew bones, and when he tries to chew on something he isn't supposed to (shoes, socks, chairs, cords) I will direct his head away from what he's chewing on and put one of his toys in his mouth. It will only work for a couple minutes before he's off trying to chew something else.

Another problem I'm having with him is taking him for walks. He doesn't seem to like it very much. Initially I just put his collar on and let him get used to it for a couple days before I did anything else. I made sure it is tight enough so he can't pull his head out of it, but loose enough that I can slip fingers under it no problem.

The problem is that when I try to take him for walks, he fights me every step of the way. What he likes to do, and I don't understand why, is pull against the leash, jump up and down, and shake his head back and forth all while yelping and whining like he's being tortured. Now, i don't pull on the leash. I'm trying to teach him to heel, so I've got a short lead on him, but the line definitely has slack. He has no problems breathing, I know I'm not choking him.

I'm trying not to force him to go too fast or where he doesn't want to go, but at the same time I'm trying to show him that I am the boss and he needs to do what I want him to. I honestly don't understand why he is freaking out like this.

I have been able to get him to walk with me successfully, but when I start walking he will just sit there and watch me go, so I have to give an ever so light tug on the leash to get him moving. Then he will do pretty well for a little bit. But then he will either have one of those freakouts again or just stop and refuse to walk and just look at me. I know he's not tired when he does this, he's just being stubborn, because he'll do this only a couple minutes into the walk.

When I walk him I will try to have an air of purpose and confidence to let him know I'm the boss. But when he flips out or stops suddenly it makes me unsure so I either stop completely or I hesitate.

I think the whole yelping like he's dying and jumping and flipping out thing is a big problem because when I'm out and about trying to walk him I'm pretty certain that people are going to think I'm abusing my dog. How do I get him to have better walks with me?

Oh and every now and again I will take away his food or his toys while he's eating or playing to make sure he isn't getting possessive or aggressive over them. Is that alright?

Along with food though, we don't have a table so when I eat I sit on the floor. Every single time he gets up on my lap and tries to get my food. I tell him no and push him away but it takes a while before he gets it. Should I just kennel him while I'm eating?

ONE LAST THING (I hope); he keeps running after and biting my cats. I think he's trying to play but my cats don't really appreciate him chewing on their tails or paws. My one cat is pretty good about staying away from him or swiping at him to get him to go away, but my other cat just hangs out and doesn't seem to understand he should stay away from the dog if he wants to be left alone, and he's declawed in the front (not my doing, he was a shelter kitty) so he can't do anything about the dog biting him. I try to tell him no and distract him from the cats but he keeps doing it. And he'll chase them around.

And tying onto that, sometimes when I pet him or scratch him he'll try and bite my hand. It's not a mean bite, but a "hey what are you doing" thing. Is this just play, or is he doing it because he doesn't like it?

Also, at what age can I start teaching him basic commands (sit, stay, etc) and tricks (like the "bang you're dead" one?)

Do you guys have any advice for me, over any of this? Please, this is really difficult for me. I am trying so hard to do this right but when I don't understand why he's doing what he's doing it makes it really hard. 

Thank you!


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## CptJack (Jun 3, 2012)

This is going to be short because it is 4 a.m for me, but I wanted to give you some feedback. 

What he's doing is being a puppy - and that's why he's doing it. 

Try food treats for potty rewards if he's not interested in your praise right now. Keep up the supervision and crating. Expect him to figure out housebreaking somewhere around six or seven months old. Don't expect him to be reliable before then; he won't be. 

Trying to get him to heel and being 'confident and purposeful' with a puppy his age, this new to a leash is a large part of your problem. Get some treats, call and coax and give him a tiny treat for walking to you. He'll figure it out and stop freaking out soon enough. Your goal is a loose leash, right now, NOT heeling or staying right beside you. 

Playing with his food/messing with his toys while he's playing with them and eating isn't the greatest thing in the world. It can actually make him more insecure and more inclined to guard them. If you want to take something away from him, 'trade up'. Ie: give him something better. 

Honestly, and I say this kindly, most of this is that you're trying to be his boss, and he's... a tiny baby. The equivilent of a two year old human. He doesn't need a boss, especially right now. He needs patience, encouragement, all the praise in the world, lots of positive experiences, reason to see you as nothing but the best thing ever, and love. That isn't to say you shouldn't be working on things with him, but your expectations are too high, for this stage of development. What you want of him is... what you might reasonably expect of a two or even three year old dog. 

Relax. Breathe. Play with him. Enjoy him. Dig deep, find patience, and adjust that goal line out by a couple of years.


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## Laurelin (Nov 2, 2006)

Yep you've got yourself a normal puppy.  Puppyhood is fun but can be trying. They are little sponges but also little hellions.

To add to what CptJack said (all great btw)

Trying to fully walk a young pup is pretty futile. Mia would scream bloody murder if you attached a leash to her. Think of it from their perspective- they have no idea why suddenly there's this thing attached to them and it won't let go of them! That's pretty scary to a baby dog. She'd flail about, shrieking with it even on her, let alone me trying to walk her. I would get the leash on her in the yard and just let her drag it a while. And treat her for being calm and also for following me. Soon she realized the leash wasn't eating her and was more focused on following me and getting cookies than the leash being attached. Then once the panic attacks had died down we started working on actually walking. Very short distances at first. A few steps with no freak outs- treat! Around the yard with no freak outs. Then down half the road with no freakouts, etc. It did not take long before she started associating the leash with her getting to do fun things and get cookies.

You can train behaviors as young as you want. Just remember- puppy. Don't expect too much too fast.

When I have pups, I have treats on me more often than not so I can reward what I like. The biggest things though are to just have some fun with him. Laugh off the mistakes and wild stuff he does (there will be a lot of it). Reward and guide him to be the dog you want in the future, but don't expect him to behave like a full grown and trained dog. He's needs maturity before he can get there.

The best thing you can do is teach him that you're awesome and make sure he gets socialized well.
If you can't watch him 100% or he's getting into trouble chewing, then either kennel him some, put him in a playpen, or you can do what I did and tie him on a leash to you (assuming you've worked through the leash freak outs).


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## trainingjunkie (Feb 10, 2010)

How long have you had this puppy? What age was he when you got him?


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## HollowHeaven (Feb 5, 2012)

Katsura said:


> Well, luckily, we have a kennel now. *I've only been putting him in it overnight and in the daytime ONLY when I am busy and can't keep my eyes glued to him (things like cooking, or taking a shower).* It seems to have helped the potty training along fairly well; now when he's out and about in the house he isn't so inclined to just let it go whenever he feels like it.


This is very good. The key to house training is preventing accidents so keep up with this.



> Anyway, when he goes out for potty time I praise him and get happy with him after he's done, like I've read that you're supposed to do. He doesn't seem to really care when I get all excited and say "good boy!". He just looks at me like, "um okay whatever". So I don't know if the positive reinforcement thing is working or not.


Try treats or a toy.




> So when he's in the crate, he whines and starts howling and yipping. I understand that when he does this in the morning or after he's been in there for a while it is probably because he's gotta go, but when he does it a minute after I put him in there, it makes me go bananas. I have him in the living room in clear view of everything I'm doing, but he still makes those noises. Earlier when I was cooking dinner I had to put a movie up on Netflix just to make him stop it.
> 
> I usually ignore him when he does this and I won't let him out of the kennel until he quiets down (unless it's early morning). But when I had to put the movie on it's because he was going on for ten minutes straight. Oh and I have a blanket in there and when he's in there I make sure he has all of his toys in there with him.


You have to keep ignoring him. He'll get over it. Leave him with some toys or things to chew while he's in there, something to distract him.



> Another problem that I'm having is that he wants to chew on everything. I gave him a tennis ball today and he was having a real blast with that, but soon after he was chewing on a chair. I have a rope toy that I use to play tug of war with him, and I got him a couple teething chew bones, and when he tries to chew on something he isn't supposed to (shoes, socks, chairs, cords) I will direct his head away from what he's chewing on and put one of his toys in his mouth. It will only work for a couple minutes before he's off trying to chew something else.


Pits are very chewy dogs. They play rough and like to bite and chew and gnaw on things, more intensely than most puppies. Keep offering him a toy instead, and if he keeps up, take him away from the object. If he keeps going back, put him in his crate for a minute. Eventually he will learn that chewing on those things gets him put away and that's no fun. Mostly, puppy proof the house as much as you can. Put cords away, into tubes, pick up shoes, socks, anything that's got no business on the floor that can be moved, should be moved. 




> Another problem I'm having with him is taking him for walks. He doesn't seem to like it very much. Initially I just put his collar on and let him get used to it for a couple days before I did anything else. I made sure it is tight enough so he can't pull his head out of it, but loose enough that I can slip fingers under it no problem.
> 
> The problem is that when I try to take him for walks, he fights me every step of the way. What he likes to do, and I don't understand why, is pull against the leash, jump up and down, and shake his head back and forth all while yelping and whining like he's being tortured. Now, i don't pull on the leash. I'm trying to teach him to heel, so I've got a short lead on him, but the line definitely has slack. He has no problems breathing, I know I'm not choking him.
> 
> ...


An 8 week old puppy should not be going for walks. He should not be walking until he is COMPLETELY finished with his vaccinations. He can too easily catch something dangerous.
For the thing in bold, you don't need to "show him who's boss". He's a baby. He's freaking out because he's a baby.
Get him a harness, not a collar. Start leash training in your yard, first with just him dragging it around him in the house, you following him around the yard holding it. Then tug it a little, just to show him it's there. Like was said before, he's too young to be going for walks right now, so you have plenty of time to get him used to it.




> Oh and every now and again I will take away his food or his toys while he's eating or playing to make sure he isn't getting possessive or aggressive over them. Is that alright?


NO. No no nononnnoo. This can and likely will ENCOURAGE resource guarding. Leave him alone. If you don't have to take something from him, don't. It might be a good idea to trade up with him (offer him something better in place of what you're taking) but 99% of the time, leave the dog alone.




> Along with food though, we don't have a table so when I eat I sit on the floor. Every single time he gets up on my lap and tries to get my food. I tell him no and push him away but it takes a while before he gets it. Should I just kennel him while I'm eating?


Yes. Just put him in his kennel with something to chew. As he gets older you can start to teach him to go to his bed or something like that but for now I would just crate him.




> ONE LAST THING (I hope); he keeps running after and biting my cats. I think he's trying to play but my cats don't really appreciate him chewing on their tails or paws. My one cat is pretty good about staying away from him or swiping at him to get him to go away, but my other cat just hangs out and doesn't seem to understand he should stay away from the dog if he wants to be left alone, and he's declawed in the front (not my doing, he was a shelter kitty) so he can't do anything about the dog biting him. I try to tell him no and distract him from the cats but he keeps doing it. And he'll chase them around.


Pits are terriers, and as such tend to have high prey drives. If the cats can't work it out with him, when he gets too rough, put him in his crate for a minute. Start setting this boundary. If he can't play nice with the cats he goes into his crate.




> And tying onto that, sometimes when I pet him or scratch him he'll try and bite my hand. It's not a mean bite, but a "hey what are you doing" thing. Is this just play, or is he doing it because he doesn't like it?


This is what puppies do. Offer him a toy instead and if he persists, walk away for a minute. This is, again, setting a boundary for him that says 'hey too rough, fun's over'. It will takes lots of time for your pup to understand this, and you must be absolutely consistent, every time.




> Also, at what age can I start teaching him basic commands (sit, stay, etc) and tricks (like the "bang you're dead" one?)


Start now with basic commands, sit, stay, come, etc. later with the tricks.



Your puppy is very, very normal. Since he shouldn't be going for walks right now, fine other ways to entertain him like tug-o-war, puzzle games, training, etc. Keep training sessions short and fun but now is a great time to start.

Also, don't worry so much about being the boss. All that 'leader of the pack' and 'be da alfua' stuff isn't real. Your dog will not try to overthrow you. He is still very much a baby, with a lot of energy, a short attention span, and very little understanding of what is expected of him. Just be consistent with him, patient with him, and love him. 

Look up Kikopup on YouTube for some great tips. I also like Zak George. Also, gogle dogstardaily.com


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## packetsmom (Mar 21, 2013)

As others have said, 8 weeks is REALLY young. Since you've had him a bit, I'm guessing he was also weaned too early and left his mother and littermates before 8 weeks. That sets him up for a rougher time learning a lot of things right there. I think the biggest thing that will help you is being around other puppy owners so that you have some more realistic expectations for what your pup can do now.

So, firstly, as others have mentioned, I'd stop the walks. At 8 weeks, he hasn't finished his puppy shots and needs to be cleared by a vet before you take him places other dogs have gone. Until then, you can certainly play in the house and a yard that other dogs don't go in. Now is a GREAT time to start building a relationship. He looks at you like "meh" when you praise him because he doesn't yet know you and doesn't yet have a bond with you. I'd carry treats on me that the puppy loves and be generous with them. Give him a treat for looking at you. Give him a treat for looking at you when you call his name. Give him a treat for sitting on his own. Give him a treat for ignoring the cats. Any time he does anything you like, give him a treat and praise him. Soon, he'll start to realize what a fun person you are and how doing things you like means good things for him, too! 

At this age, you can't expect much "control." Mostly, you need to manage their environment. Don't want something chewed? Don't put it where the puppy can get to it. Don't want your bed pee'd on? Don't let the puppy on the bed unless you've just taken them out to potty and you're there to supervise. Don't want him chasing the cats? Don't let him free to go and chase them. You can use a crate, an ex-pen, and a leash to always have that puppy in arm's reach when he's out of the crate and have him in the crate or ex-pen when you aren't able to watch him like a hawk. Then your stuff won't get ruined, the cats won't get chased, and the puppy won't have the chance to build bad habits you later have to break.


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## Jen2010 (Feb 12, 2013)

OMG he sounds EXACLTY like Pepper when she was that age! Right down to him bothering the declawed cat! Lol!

The key things with a puppy are patience and consistency. And then more patience ;-)

All of the advice already given is excellent. Do be careful about taking him for walks. That was a mistake with made with Pepper as well and she ended up quite sick for a while. As for walking on the leash, I'd say this is normal. Pepper did NOT want to go for walks at that age either. We kept at it and eventually she got used to it and now she can't wait to go on walks!

The potty training will happen, but it will take a while. With Pepper it seemed like she would never be house-broken. Then all of a sudden she just seemed to "get it".

It sounds like you're doing the right thing with the crate training. Do you have a divider in the crate so it's a smaller area?

The chewing thing will last a long time too unfortunately. Keep redirecting his chewing to toys. Make sure you have a variety of textures, especially once he starts teething.

Kikopup has some excellent YouTube videos on training. Also sign him up for obedience classes after he's had his shots. They're excellent for the puppy and for you and he will probably enjoy learning new things.

Now, as for the cat problem, I really wish I could help! Pepper is 10 months old and is still bothering our cat as much as she did when she was a little puppy. I thought she would grow out of it and get used to the cat, but no luck :-( Make sure the cats have a safe place to get away from the puppy when they need to.

It does take a lot of energy to raise a puppy, but don't give up. It will be very frustrating at times, but it does get better. Someone told me that it takes 2 years to get the dog you want


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## Katsura (Aug 23, 2013)

Jeeze I figured I was doing SOME things wrong, but... yikes.

Ah well, all of your replies just make me happy I joined here. Hopefully since I haven't had him for long I will be able to correct all of my mistakes and there will be no lasting damage from them.

I feel a bit dumb for trying to teach him like he was an older dog though >__>

I'm really quite enamored with this wee pup, that is, when he isn't peeing or pooping all over the place... 

Anyway, thank you all very very much, and if someone has something else to add, I'm all ears 

I really want to take care of him properly.


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## CptJack (Jun 3, 2012)

Katsura said:


> Jeeze I figured I was doing SOME things wrong, but... yikes.
> 
> Ah well, all of your replies just make me happy I joined here. Hopefully since I haven't had him for long I will be able to correct all of my mistakes and there will be no lasting damage from them.
> 
> ...



Anyone who can say "I did this wrong" or "I want to do better" is going to be FANTASTIC.


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## Katsura (Aug 23, 2013)

Oh and one more thing I forgot to ask; it might be a dumb question, but could I use his regular food as treats as well? I know that probably sounds really dumb but it seems like if I was giving him treats every 30 seconds he might get fat???


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## CptJack (Jun 3, 2012)

Katsura said:


> Oh and one more thing I forgot to ask; it might be a dumb question, but could I use his regular food as treats as well? I know that probably sounds really dumb but it seems like if I was giving him treats every 30 seconds he might get fat???


You can totally use his regular food as treats, if he's interested enough in them to work or them. Otherwise, don't stress weight too much at his age. Use teeny-tiny treats (size of a pea or smaller), and relax; he's gonna grow fast, the calories found in a hot dog or a couple of slices of cheese aren't going to be a problem.


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## Katsura (Aug 23, 2013)

CptJack said:


> You can totally use his regular food as treats, if he's interested enough in them to work or them. Otherwise, don't stress weight too much at his age. Use teeny-tiny treats (size of a pea or smaller), and relax; he's gonna grow fast, the calories found in a hot dog or a couple of slices of cheese aren't going to be a problem.


OH okay, that helps a lot  I'm not too worried about his weight at this point to be honest, I just don't like having overweight animals (cause it's not healthy, obviously) so I was just trying to make sure it wouldn't be a problem.


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## CptJack (Jun 3, 2012)

Katsura said:


> OH okay, that helps a lot  I'm not too worried about his weight at this point to be honest, I just don't like having overweight animals (cause it's not healthy, obviously) so I was just trying to make sure it wouldn't be a problem.


You're cool. Just use little bit and, as he gets older, you can cut his food amounts a bit to compensate for treats (and will be using less of them). At this point one of my dogs gets fat if you look at her funny, so 90% of her diet (save a tablespoon of food or so, because she get sad if she's left out of the eating ritual) comes in the form of freeze dried raw complete diet. She's a 12lb adult dog though, so she eats her daily calories FAST.


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## HollowHeaven (Feb 5, 2012)

Katsura said:


> I'm really quite enamored with this wee pup, that is, when he isn't peeing or pooping all over the place...


Said every puppy owner ever. Lol
This is why they're cute, because they're loud and needy and poopy and chewy and they only get by with their looks and cuddliness.


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## Hambonez (Mar 17, 2012)

I'm going to try not to repeat what's already been said too much, but I thought I'd add in my experience. My husband and I got our first dog ever, for both of us, in Feb 2012. He was just shy of 8 wks old and the cutest darn thing ever! We spent a blissful weekend with him settling in when we thought we had the most amazing, well behaved, mellow puppy ever. Then he got comfortable, and things got real! 

At 8 wks, we had to take him out every 20 minutes to avoid accidents, and in between the 20 minute trips out, he had to be within arm's reach just in case he started to sniff or squat and had to be run back outside. We quickly figured out that putting him in a crate resulted in ear piercing shrieks. We went out and bought an expen, and kept his crate open in the expen, and over time we shrunk the size of the expen until he was just in the crate, and we were able to shut the door without him freaking out. He would sleep in the crate in the pen with the door open because there was no other comfy spot in the pen! Now he sleeps in bed with us, but he didn't until he was reliably housebroken (he frantically licks our faces if he needs to go out before we get up in the morning). 

As other people have said, he's too young to walk in public because he isn't vaccinated yet. We would walk our dog around our fenced in back yard on his leash. We just let him walk wherever he wanted to get used to walking around with us holding the leash. By the time he was vaccinated enough to go out in public, he was used to being harnessed and leashed, and though he didn't walk in a linear fashion (he still doesn't a lot of the time! he's like toucan sam; he follows his nose!), he was willing to wander around and check things out. Try to make leash training fun for him. It doesn't need to be business like. 

For the eating dinner thing -- can you at least sit in a chair? You're asking a LOT from him to not nose into your plate when you're down on his level. Try feeding him while you eat to keep him busy. You can try feeding him out of a food toy like a kong or a treat ball to make his meal times last longer. 

Sign up for a puppy class! It's good bonding for you and your pup, it will tire him out, and it will help you learn how to work with him in all kinds of situations. They can typically start puppy classes before they're fully vaccinated, so check around. Also look for puppy socialization groups. They helped my dog a TON with bite inhibition (other puppies don't want to play with you if you're too rough!), and also helped socialize him and again, totally pooped him out! That was the best part. A tired puppy is a good puppy. He was also able to go to those before was fully vaccinated. Both required that he had started his distemper series, and no pups were allowed to come if they were sick. 

Overall, everything got better about three months in. His biting got better, he was housebroken by 5.5 months old, we were able to go out and do more things with him, everything was just easier. Before then I cried a lot! All the hard work was worth it though. He'll be 2 in Dec and he's a really great dog!


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## Laurelin (Nov 2, 2006)

As far as training treats go if you're teaching something new or reinforcing something very important (like recall) use high value treats. I do use kibble to train too but generally kibble is not as exciting to most dogs.


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## seaboxador (Sep 23, 2012)

I'd love to help, but I'm not reading a post that long. I'll keep an eye out in case you write something the length of everyone else's posts.


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## HollowHeaven (Feb 5, 2012)

seaboxador, you're always so entertaining.


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## swellmomma (Apr 21, 2012)

I am slowly working through your post and since I am new to all this too feel free to ignore anything I suggest but I will start with the crate thing and then as I read more add more to my post. 

It is 100% normal for a puppy learning to go into their crate at night, they are social animals and don't like to be alone. Finn adjusted fairly easily. At first I would wait for him to fall asleep on his own near me and then transfer him to the crate, keeping my hand on him (like patting a baby to sleep when you lay it in a crib), occasionally he would wake up shortly after I closed the door. At that point I would not talk or make eye contact with him, but I would put my fingers in and just rest them there. He would sniff and lick and then settle down to sleep snuggled up to them. He is now 13.5 weeks at bedtime I can just put him in, close the door and walk away. He may whimper a bit but he settles fairly quickly. He now goes from 10pm-6am without an accident most nights (though sometimes he needs out between 3-4am)

Sawyer is a whole different ball of wax, she does not like her crate much. BUT she is improving. Putting my fingers in isn't enough for her. What I do with her is pull up a throw pillow, or mroe often the dog bed from the livingroom and sit down on the floor next to it. Now due to size the crate is in my front entrance so I am sitting up against the front door. I sit there and read a book, or knit or something else to keep me occupied and close by but again no direct contact. At first she would howl, and howl and howl. Now she yelps and barks a bit, then she tells me off in het "talking" way, then she lays down and goes to sleep. Now she has gotten to the point that I can be doing laundry in the backroom, tidying the entrance or working at the kitchen table without her fussing much if she wakes a little and notices me gone. Every now and then she cracks an eye open to check for me and as long as she can see me she goes back to sleep. I do this same routine at midnight, 2am, and 4 am. 6 am all animals are allowed out of crates and I start making breakfast and doing am petcare (with my mini zoo it takes me an hour to do it all). It is exhausting, I have fallen asleep in that entrance way from time to time but she is learning to be okay and just settle in to sleep when I put her in. 

Crate training here is no different for us then helping teach my children how to go to bed, stay there and sleep through the night. Lots of hard work for a short while, for the pay off of years and years of peaceful rest.


Chewing, you have the right idea with the redirection. I keep a variety of chews in all rooms of the house, so no matter where they go there is something good to chew on. Kongs, nylabones, bully sticks, greenies, antler, plus the occasional treat like turkey neck, or for Finn a milkbone or 2 hidden under a sofa etc. That prevents the bulk of the chewing and the remainder is redirection. I don't just turn their heads I remove them from the item completely. SO Finn has chewed on the leg of my sofa, when I catch him, I not only redirect with something else to chew but I engage him in a game, or take him to a new room or outside. A full distraction.

Learning to walk on the leash again takes time. I start with them wearing their harness by itself. Then attach the leash and just let it drag a few times a day and then I walk holding the leash and have their favorite squeaky toy in my hand, and when they plunk down a couple squeaks and they are running again. A leash walk with them right now is around the yard, to the empty lot 2 doors down or from the car into the pet store and back again. Very short and sweet, just to introduce it. They are little yet, and get tired and over stimulated easily. I don't ever tug on the leash even a little. I don't want to introduce a tug of war game with the leash, I just entice with the toy, and praise for the recall when they come running.

The cats issue. I have 3. 1 tolerates both kids. 2 play with Finn. 1 of those ones plays with Sawyer, but the other she thinks is a squeaky toy. I am teaching "leave it" and offer the cat lots of escape routes. The other 2 cats put the dogs in their place very quickly. A swipe with a claw is all it takes for the pups to know when they have gone to far with them. The littlest kitten is getting bolder but still needs our help to keep her safe from Sawyer. Sawyer never hurts her, she pins her and mouths her but never bites. But the cat is squealling so we don't allow it.

Okay finally finished reading through. The food issue. I feed my pets while I am cooking dinner, then potty them. They are then have full bellies and empty bladders and either fall asleep or are happy with a chew. Then we can sit down to eat in peace. I let my kids on occasion eat in the livingroom and the pups leave them alone as a result of this. 

The key is being proactive in what you do, planning ahead prevents the biggest number of puppy issues, just as it does with young children. Bored, hungry, or over stimulated puppies leads to very unhappy owners imo.


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## Katsura (Aug 23, 2013)

seaboxador said:


> I'd love to help, but I'm not reading a post that long. I'll keep an eye out in case you write something the length of everyone else's posts.


Better one big post than many small ones 

Anyway, sorry I can't reply to everyone individually, and sorry if it seems like I'm moving forward in questions without acknowledging anything anyone says. Just know I am reading each and every reply carefully. 

Alright so I had some more questions develop over the past couple of days. I was going to call my local spay and neuter clinic today to get the answers/schedule an appointment, but when I went online to get their number I conveniently found out that they're closed on Sundays. Pfft. So I figured in the meantime you guys would hopefully be willing to give me your insight/opinions.

I don't understand how the vaccinations work. I've taken a cat to get vaccinated before, but then a cat isn't a dog.. What age should they start getting vaccinated, and at what age are they done? The people I got my pup from are "holistic hippies" and so I don't really trust that they did what needed to be done for their litter (as in, I don't believe he's gotten any shots).

Also, what age should puppies get neutered at? Some sites say they can be neutered as early as 8 weeks, others recommend waiting until they re at least 6 months. 

Also, is it normal for puppies to hiccup a lot?

Thanks c:


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## Greater Swiss (Jun 7, 2011)

HollowHeaven said:


> Pits are terriers, and as such tend to have high prey drives. If the cats can't work it out with him, when he gets too rough, put him in his crate for a minute. Start setting this boundary. If he can't play nice with the cats he goes into his crate.


I'm going to add to this. First off, work with the cats a bit too.....they aren't untrainable, but it could be as easy as teaching the cats to be calm and ok in the presence of the dog, just by giving the cat a treat with the dog nearby if the cat isn't spazzing. The reason I mention this is because the ONLY time we've had anything near a close call with our cats and the dogs is because one of the cats has a tendency to want to swat when the dog is simply nearby, which gets the dog (especially Dexter) riled up, which is more likely to cause him to react angrily, and could turn into tiny kitty chunks all over the house or a dog with a missing eye. Cats and dogs, not something to take lightly, but is easier when you are working with a puppy! Just do NOT leave them all unsupervised together in the future until you are 110% sure that it is safe, and always be sure the cats have high places to run to. 
Try Kikopup's "Solving counter surfing" and "Leave it without intimidation" videos (actually check out many of them, but that one in particular), I found the technique she used very applicable to teaching the dogs to show less interest in the cats.


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## HollowHeaven (Feb 5, 2012)

Your pup should already be started on his vaccinations. Schedule an appointment for him as soon as you can. They're done around 16 weeks or so. Your vet will schedule you a new appointment for his next round.

This is primarily a personal preference thing, but I would wait, bare minimum, until he's 6 months, a year is much better. This will give him a chance to finish growing. You will just have to make sure you keep him at home so he's not out courting the ladies, but that shouldn't be too hard. 


Hiccups are normal.

~~~
Let me add this, please do not let your vet or anyone else pressure you into having him neutered any earlier than you want. This is your dog, this is your choice. 
Let me be blunt here, people will lie to you through their teeth to get you to neuter this pup as early as you can. Do not feel pressured. He will be perfectly fine if you wish to wait a little longer.


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## swellmomma (Apr 21, 2012)

Unlike cats which younger neutering is a desirable thing, waiting for the dog to his full maturity is recommended, especially since it is a boy, no risks of a oops litter, or uterus issues, and you want to be sure he develops his proper adult muscle mass etc.

Vaccines with dogs generally start at 8 weeks. At that first visit they will also do the first deworm pill. 2nd visit 1 month later, 2nd deworm pill and get microchipped at that age. Alternatively you could do the 2nd shot and pill at home yourself if you are comfortable. Rabies vax must be given by a vet, so you could microchip at that time. 

Finn was microchipped by the breeder when he got his first shots done before he came home. Sawyer has so much loose skin vet was concerned the chip would migrate so we are waiting until rabies vax to do it, because I am doing her 2nd shots at home like I did Finn's. 

Hiccups are totally normal and don't bother pup at all. Sawyer gets them all the time, Finn I have never noticed with them.


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## Katsura (Aug 23, 2013)

Thanks everyone. Surprise, surprise, I have another question.

My pup doesn't have very good bite inhibition. I am looking into puppy playtime things but in the meantime I have been trying to teach it to him here at home. I read the article you guys have stickied about bite inhibition, and I tried to apply that today. When I was playing with him a little bit ago he bit me hard so I yelled "ouch!" and went into a different room. I was in that room for MAYBE a minute and a half and when I opened the door to go back and play with him, I was greeted by him taking what I call a "revenge crap" right in front of the door I went into.

Mind you, this was 10 minutes after I had taken him outside to go potty.

What's up with that? What do I do?


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## Hambonez (Mar 17, 2012)

Don't leave him completely - he's too young for that. Put a baby gate in the doorway and step over the gate, or play with him tethered to something and step out of range of the leash, just far enough so that he can't get to you, but close enough you can still keep an eye on him. You only have to remove attention briefly.


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## Katsura (Aug 23, 2013)

Oh. Thanks! A lot of this stuff seems really obvious after you guys explain it to me >.>;;


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## Katsura (Aug 23, 2013)

Okay okay while I'm thinking about it, and it might be kind of random, but is it possible to teach a dog not to lick you, especially in the face? I really, _really_ hate it when dogs lick my face. o.o


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## Hambonez (Mar 17, 2012)

I hate it too, though worse was when Hamilton was a puppy he would LUNGE BITE at your face. It was so, so horrible. For that I'd put him on the floor (if we were on the couch) or get up off the floor (if we were on the floor) and stop playing with him. Our trainer's method of teaching not to lick faces, was to teach TO lick faces - and then have it so the dog ONLY will lick your face on command, since if they do it any other time they don't get a reward. She taught this by putting a little peanut butter on your cheek, and asking the dog for a kiss, and eventually removing the peanut butter. I never followed through with this, because I was too squicked out by both the PB on my face, and the dog licking my face. I mostly just use my lunge-biting technique of disengaging with him when he tries to lick my face. He still sneaks in a kiss every now and then, but it's not all the time.


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## maxlet (Jun 2, 2013)

Whew, Katsura, it'll be interesting to see if I beat your posting length. I'll try restrain myself, though frankly I'm not sure my post will get put up. Honestly, I see a future pit bull newspaper story in the making here, where a pb gets a bad rap & gets euthanized because he wasn't taught what he (or any dog) needs to know. I'll discuss the vaccines in a minute. The other posters appear to have been too polite to say a few basic truths, but I can’t not say something, thinking about a poor clueless puppy who’s being expected to act like an adult dog when he doesn’t even know what his feet are for, or what air is, or anything else.

For the moment, let’s address your statement that “… the second time he peed on my bed I got so mad and fed up I just decided I was going to get rid of him. “

The _second time?_? *Really*?!?
:frusty::frusty:

He doesn't have a clue what anything is, or what/what not to do, and you're mad at him for peeing somewhere he shouldn't be in the first place at this stage. 

First & frankly, it sounds like you need a serious reality check. Let's say you had a human baby instead of a puppy, and you bring it home from the hospital after it's born. You plop it down on the floor in its bedroom, show it where the dresser is (clothes & diapers in there), point to the calendar on the wall ("Kinderarten in 4 years"), & maybe give it a pot roast, knife & loaf of bread, & the fridge is down the hall when he gets done with that. You tell it you're tired & really want to get some rest & hang out with your friends, & you'll see it in a few weeks. Sound good so far?

That's about what you did with the puppy. He's a baby. You can't just lock him in a crate & NOT expect him to scream; he's terrified. He has no clue he’s not supposed to pee on the bed; he doesn't know what a bed is. He doesn’t even know what ‘peeing’ is. His body is doing its thing with no input from him. What it boils down to is, he doesn’t know anything. He's a puppy. He has a puppy brain. This means his brain is sitting there going "Oh boy! Look at that! What's that?! Can I eat that? Wow! What was I looking at? Oh boy! Something is coming out of me. Oh boy! Look, air! Wow! Can I eat that? Pet me! Can I eat that? What's that?! Oh boy!" etc, repeat. It takes several weeks before a puppy brain can think much at all. If you get really mad at him after one “mistake” –and if there was a mistake, it was yours—that you think about getting rid of him, you both might be better off if you did just that.

You need to learn, as quickly as possible for the puppy’s sake, that you have to go through every tedious minute, hour, & repetition of the basics if you’re to have a prayer of having a tolerable dog & not a future ‘seize & euthanize’ case. When dogs get put down because they’re attacked people, it’s almost always the fault of the person who didn’t raise them correctly, if at all.

First, you need to make a puppy space. Block off a small section of the house/apartment (preferably near the door where he'll be going out eventually), remove anything that isn't a puppy toy, if there's carpet, cover with heavy plastic (garbage bags even), then cover the plastic with a heavy layer of newspaper. Cover paper with weewee pads. Over the weeks you can reduce the pads to a small area, preferably near the door. Make sure he can’t get to anything that he shouldn’t chew on; cords, furniture, etc. Take the yummy flavored rat poison out of the crib, eh?

Get some decent treats, cut them into TINY pieces (like ¼ of a pencil eraser or less). All dog treats are too big for small puppies; they ‘re thrilled with just a little tiny bit of goody, & they don’t get obese that way.

You need to educate yourself. There’s lots of great resources right here; search them, read them. A good place to start for basic potty training is http://www.dogforums.com/first-time-dog-owner/3048-housetraining-how.html 

one particularly good quote is *“PATIENCE: Anger and punishment have no place in dog training. *"

Then there’s lots of other articles about housebreaking, http://www.dogforums.com/first-time-dog-owner/88458-enough-potty-threads.html is a good jumping off point. Read through first time owner & basic questions, training advice. You badly need to give yourself a crash course in puppy reality.

The crate: You need to spend a lot of time --I'm not talking about 15 or 20 minutes, I'm talking *time*. Possibly hours, or days, before the puppy is totally happy with his crate. Introduce him to it gradually, with lots of positive reinforcement, not just locking him in & drowning out the screams of terror until he wears himself out. It took several weeks before I could close my Eskie in his crate, but it is worth it. You can't expect anything but a psychological basket case if you force him into it too fast & scare him half to death in the process. Several serial killers have talked about being locked in closets as children. Just sayin'.

“Biting”
He's not 'biting' you, he's mouthing things, trying to learn what all this confusing stuff is. A big way puppies learn about the world is by putting their mouths on it, seeing what it feels like, tastes like, acts like. When they play with each other, they mouth & chew & nibble & lick. If they bite too hard, the other puppy will yelp. This is how puppies learn how to play with other dogs. You can help him learn how to play with people by teaching him how easy it is to hurt a person. He doesn't want to hurt his people, he just doesn't have a clue (that phrase --"he just doesn't have a clue"-- should be running through your mind all the time. *He's a puppy, he doesn't have a clue.* If he mouths too hard on you, make a high-pitched "ouch!" or "yip;" he'll stop and stare at you, maybe sniff around. And be patient (another phrase you need to tattoo on your forehead: *be patient. Be really, really patient* won't learn the first time; for learning about mouthing & everything else, you'll need to teach him dozens if not hundreds of times, and be patient & fair & kind every time, or as much as is humanly possible.

Vaccines:
Like any other baby, the puppy’s immune system is a blank slate. You had to get some vaccinations when you were young. Vaccines give your puppy’s immune system a basic course in “How to recognize bad invaders.” Like most other things involving puppies, the training of their immune systems requires repetition. You need to talk to a vet or other medical professional about exactly which vaccines he needs & on what schedule. Until they get enough vaccines that their immune system knows how to recognize & fight the bad guys (rabies, distemper, etc), you need to keep contact with other dogs to a minimum…& that includes other dogs’ pee & poo outside. If you don’t have your own yard, try to find the least-travelled grassy spot or area you can. Or make your own grassy spot on your deck with sod on your patio for a few weeks. There’s disagreement between dog trainers & vets about waiting for vaccines to take effect vs doggy socialization, but some reasonable & cautious middle ground is probably best; don’t take him to a big dog park right away.

He probably needs to be wormed, or at least checked for worms. Depending on where he came from, puppies frequently have worms.

But the main thing is, he’s a puppy. He’s clueless. He’s depending on you to teach him how to navigate in a big scary world, what the rules are, how to play well with others, how to be a good dog, everything. Look at that again: *everything* . And you have a responsibility to him (at the very least) to try to do it right, to not hand him the car keys when he hasn’t even learned to walk yet, & then scream at & spank him when he drives into a ditch.


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## Katsura (Aug 23, 2013)

Yeah okay after the night I've had this post is not really what I wanted to wake up to

I appreciate your post and your advice, but aside from suggesting I block off a portion of a room for him, you are basically reiterating everything everyone else said in a different tone.

You did not tell me any "hard truths" that anyone else was too polite to tell me, aside from telling me that you think I have no earthly business owning my dog.

In my original post one of the very first things I said is that I have never had a dog before in my entire life. All I have had in my life are rodents, cats, and snakes. Rodent bathroom issues don't really exist, because they are so small it's not an issue when they go pee on your hands.

Snakes don't really pee, they expel things called "urates" which are white, chalky blocks.

You know what I had to do to potty train my kitten when I got her? I put her in the litterbox to show her where it was. She never had an accident.

Do you know how many dogs I have had? Zero. You know how many dogs I have had to take care of? Zero. You know how many I have had to train? Zero. You know how many I have had to raise from puppyhood? Golly, you sure guessed it, ZERO.

I made it quite clear and evident in my original post that I had next to no idea what I was doing. I readily owned up to and admitted every single mistake I made.

But the whole reason I came to this forum was to get advice so I would know what I was doing so I could raise my pup the right way.

At the time of the original post I had had my dog for a week. It is not like I sat here with the dog for years on end and then had it suddenly occur to me "oh hey maybe I should do something about this."

Since I started getting replies on this forum with people guiding and directing me on what to do with my dog, I have been applying what people have been telling me. Every spare minute I have where the dog is asleep, I am either here reading up on things or on YouTube, watching Kikopup's videos, as per recommendation. 

I have been spending every day training my dog and working with him. Training, playing, sleeping. He is already responding well. Just yesterday he alerted me every time he had to go outside for poops.

I have changed my attitude completely in regards to this dog, I understand my expectations were far too high, and I have adapted to him and his needs.

I am not asking anyone to coddle me, pat me on the back, or say "there there, that's okay, you're doing the best you can." However, I did not come here to be insulted, either.

Other people on this forum have been more than willing to POLITELY tell me of my mistakes and how to fix them. They did not baby me, they did not try to sugar coat anything. Nor were they rude about it.

And quite frankly, good intentions or not, I don't appreciate being told that I can't handle my dog, I won't be able to train my dog, my dog is going to be untrained, wild, attack people, and then euthanized because of my apparent incompetence, or have it implied that I have no business owning a dog simply because I made a few mistakes in the beginning.


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## maxlet (Jun 2, 2013)

I'm sorry if I came off too nasty. Everyone makes mistakes. I made mistakes with my puppy, & I'm sure I'll make many more. One of the reasons I let fly as I did was, I couldn't tell how much reading/learning you were doing, and I was afraid that meant you weren't doing any. I'm sorry for that assumption. It's just a LOT harder to do the learning after the animal is already there and there are quite a few people who don't really bother with the work, and some of them do end up with dogs that end up going out bad. I've been a vet tech and had too much first-hand experience with animals who were abused (_I'm not saying you're abusing your pup!_), and with animals who just weren't given a chance. If you're doing the work & the learning then the overwhelming likelihood is that your guy won't be one of those; I'm really glad. I shouldn't have posted anything & kept my keyboard shut, as I clearly let some of my 'experience reaction' out on you.

I'm sorry if I started your day out on a lousy footing, particularly since you're probably a bit sleep-deprived these days. I do wish you & your pb the best.

fwiw (zilch, I'm sure) that's a great name you picked.


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## HollowHeaven (Feb 5, 2012)

Wow. That was pretty unnecessary IMO. Lol


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## Katsura (Aug 23, 2013)

maxlet - I don't harbor any hard feelings against you. I've had a rough couple of days (though that's not your fault) and quite frankly it felt like I was being attacked. Obviously, it ruffled my feathers.

I just want what is best for my pup. I sadly know all too well the stereotypes of pitbulls and their aggressive nature (if they're not trained right). I've actually been super paranoid and stressed about making sure he's trained properly so he doesn't become another statistic - which is honestly part of the reason I was overzealous with him in the beginning (the other and main part being I was clueless). 

I really, honestly, and truly appreciate the advice you've given me. Please, if you ever have anything to say in the future, don't hesitate. This was just one small hiccup and I am willing to concede I may have overreacted a touch. I have been so focused on asking questions and getting answers that I haven't bothered keeping anyone updated... So that is my fault, and I'm sorry. Had I kept everyone more up to date I'm sure things would have been more clear for everyone.


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## OwnedbyACDs (Jun 22, 2013)

Shoot I have owned dogs for 20 years (including all of my childhood) & I still do things "wrong" sometimes lol, so down feel bad. No one is perfect


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## maxlet (Jun 2, 2013)

Hey Katsura, 
I really appreciate you taking the time to give such a gracious response. I'm really glad Rod does have such a good & conscientious owner. Maybe you over-reacted (I dunno, I can certainly see how that woulda beena heckuva thing to wake up to!! Maybe I, 'overwrote' & said unnecessary (as Hollow phrased it) things; I do apologize again. I'd be very happy to say let's start over if it'd work for you, I feel like the fog's kinda cleared up & we're on a better wavelength.

As Ownedby mentioned, no one is perfect, & I'm not even within telescope distance! I'd love to hear how things are going with Rod. My Eskie is about 21 months old now, & I find myself questioning myself only about, oh, 2-300 times a day. Some days he leaves me feeling like I've done a pretty ok job (in addition to lucking out & getting a good dog). Sometimes I feel like I've totally screwed up. He started out this morning doing great; terrific walk manners, I was able to get his attention easily & regularly despite distractions, he even did a coupla good "stays" with distractions.

Then Angel Puppy took a hike, Psychopuppy romped in & I've spent the rest of the day alternately clutching my head & wanting to bang it on the wall. Things have been similarly "two steps forward, one (or 4!) steps back" often. I don't know anybody that's gotten a puppy recently, & it's been a long time for me, so I'd be real curious to hear if that's normal. Other stuff, too; like, he got good with the weewee pads & waiting through the 11 pm-4 am span without pottying for weeks, then last week he backslid & 'goes' between 11&4 about 1/2 the time. 

So anyway, that's my puppy tale, Reader's Digest version. A dog trainer friend just texted me back me & told me that puppies do go thru a sort of "teenage" phase, so there's something to look forward to! (she told me to stay very consistent through it).

Thank you again for being so understanding & forgiving, hope we can have more good contacts 
I hope you & Rod & Co have a good one!
maxlet


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## maxlet (Jun 2, 2013)

oh, I meant to relate a bit about the face-licking thing. I've never been too crazy about getting my face slurped. My first Eskie almost never licked after he got past 6-8 months old, tho I never deliberately tried to make him stop. I did tend to pull back from him when he did it. My mother had my dog's sister, & nobody in their house minded; their dog slurped like mad all her life. 

I dunno how fast you want the behavior to go away, but at least some dogs will pick up on your body language & stop doing it....over time. I'm not sure how one would train away the behavior deliberately, other than gently discouraging him by moving him away from your face, diverting him with different petting (like give him a tummy rub or something instead of the face washing routine), get him distracted with a toy or something. The distraction/diversion bit has helped reduce Kenta's chewing on my clothing, which he used to be obsessed with.


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## llillio (Aug 15, 2013)

Katsura said:


> I don't understand how the vaccinations work. I've taken a cat to get vaccinated before, but then a cat isn't a dog.. What age should they start getting vaccinated, and at what age are they done? The people I got my pup from are "holistic hippies" and so I don't really trust that they did what needed to be done for their litter (as in, I don't believe he's gotten any shots).


By 3 months, your puppy will need 3 rounds of shots:
At 6 weeks - DHPP (distemper, hepatitis, parainfluenza, parvo).
At 9 weeks - DHPP and bordetella (optional but must if the puppy will be boarded)
At 12 weeks - DHPP, rabies and bordetella
After than you'll need annual rabies shots. Also depending on your area your pup may need additional shots (ie lyme disease, etc).



Katsura said:


> Also, what age should puppies get neutered at? Some sites say they can be neutered as early as 8 weeks, others recommend waiting until they re at least 6 months.


Puppy should be at least 6 months to be neutered.



Katsura said:


> Also, is it normal for puppies to hiccup a lot?


Yes. And they look quite cute doing that. As long as it's not persistent and not bothering him. Usually goes away in a minute or two.


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## Indigo (Mar 31, 2011)

Not all dogs get rabies shots yearly... there are some three and five year shots.


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## HollowHeaven (Feb 5, 2012)

Mine get their vaccinations every 3 years but rabies is usually annually. 
In some places it's the law, buuuuutttt even if it's not, it's not a bad idea to have that updated tag and paperwork in case a bite occurs. Could save your dog.


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## Katsura (Aug 23, 2013)

I am more than willing to start over on a fresh page with you, maxlet.

It sounds like you have a handful on your, er, hands. I'm glad I'm not the only one. And it's good to hear that you have a pup as well; it will be nice to have someone who can relate to what I'm going through as well because it's fresh in your mind, haha. Not saying anyone else can't relate, I'm just saying it's different to be like, "ahh I remember those times..." than it is to be like, "OMG my puppy did the SAME THING just yesterday!"


.... Anyway

I have been taking things slow with my puppy and just taking it day by day. I've started to train him, and like I said he seems to be responding well to it. Not perfect, of course, but I'm pretty pleased with his progress. He has started to alert me when he has to make poops, which I am really grateful for. He might turn a 360 at any time (which I've heard is normal?) but for now he's doing good. Once I started using treats in addition to praising him when he goes outside, he started picking up real fast that going outside is a good thing. Now, I'm just hoping he'll start alerting me for when he needs to go peeps. Having him chew on and chase a tennis ball around and then immediately go to taking a whizz without any warning at all is making me want to tear my hair out..

But, the one thing that I am not pleased with and actually worried about is how he is acting towards my cats, particularly my male cat Victor. As soon as one of the cats walk into the room my pup will stare at it, and if the cat is close enough he'll run after it. My female kitty, Haggis, has enough sense to run away and jump up on a high place when the puppy so much as looks at her. Victor just seems dense about it. As a reminder, Haggis is fully clawed but Victor is declawed in the front. I don't really get it. Victor seems like he is a dog trapped in a cats body.

Victor has his own play toys, but he will sit there and play with the puppy's toys. He will nibble on the leash like he wants to go for a walk. All of this might seem cute and funny but it really isn't, especially when it's getting in the way of my training and my dog keeps attacking my cat. When I try to train my pup using treats and the like, Victor gets super interested and quite frankly he's obnoxious about it. He will jump in my lap, he steals my treat baggies and empties the contents everywhere and then proceeds to eat it if I'm not paying attention, and if I'm giving Rod treats he sits next to Rod and meows for some treats too. However, I haven't had such a huge issue with Victor begging for treats alongside the dog, because it gives me the opportunity to train Rod that he doesn't need to be food aggressive (by feeding them at the same time). He doesn't have sense to get away from the dog, I just think he's using it as a ploy to get attention from me. If this cat so much as walks in the room, Rod is staring at him. If he gets close, Rod will go to meet him and then start trying to play? or bite? I'm not sure which and then in a matter of seconds it gets to the point where Victor is on the floor on his back meowing like a madcat and staring at me and Rod is over him biting on whatever he can.

Victor doesn't act like this when the puppy isn't around. I'm not sure if he's doing it as a ploy to get attention or if he's just a dumb cat. I give Victor his own treats when he's not being bad, I give him plenty of attention, I mean the dang thing practically sleeps on my face at night. This is driving me nuts and I'm afraid that if this continues as Rod gets older, I'm going to have a dead cat on my hands. I am also fearful that this is teaching my dog that it is okay to attack other animals.

I every time this happens I try to break it up. I will remove Victor from the situation, sometimes just putting him out of the puppy's reach, sometimes putting the cat in a room for a little bit, but it doesn't help. I try to divert Rod's attention when he does this, but as soon as he gets close to the cat he completely ignores me. I mean, I will wave toys in the dogs' face, I'll offer some tasty real meat (like chicken), I'll make a big hullabaloo to try to divert the dogs attention away from the cats but it doesn't work. At least, not yet anyway. I'm still trying really hard. As soon as I see him looking at the cat, my diversions will work about 1/3 of the time, so I'm hoping if I keep it up it will work. Any tips on this?

Also, my dog refuses to go down stairs. He is scared of them. He goes down curbs and the like alright after a moment of consideration, but as soon as he sees stairs, no matter now many, how big, how high, or where they are, he freaks out. He will just sit at the top of them, whine, look at me, and sometimes he backs away. I have tried coaxing him down with treats, and speaking gently and softly to him, but if I start going down the stairs without him he just starts screaming bloody murder. Obviously, I don't go down stairs without him because he does this, but it makes it kinda hard to teach him to go down stairs if I have to stay at the stop of the stairs. Nathan has been helping me but nothing is really working. 

On the plus side though, I've been working with him and the leash and he isn't so freaked out by it anymore.

I've had him tethered to things around me or to my person via the leash at the house. It is much easier to keep track of him this way and it has helped me not only to be more in tune with his potty habits but to train him that leashes aren't so bad. Even when he isn't tethered to something I've left the leash on him while he trots around so it is clear it isn't a big mean evil thing, which I do believe someone here recommended doing. To whomever recommended that, THANK YOU! It has definitely helped a lot. 

Oh and, I'm taking him to get his shots tomorrow. Though, I'm a little concerned about it. When I called the place I told the lady I have an approximately 10 week old pup and that I don't believe he has had his first shots. I asked her how much it would cost me to get his first round of shots. The only thing she told me is that it's a distemper shot, he will get it 3 times, and that he will need a rabies shot later on as well. When I call again tomorrow before I take him in I'm going to ask about it again but that didn't sound right... When I got my kitten her shots, she got more than a distemper shot and doesn't a pup need more than a cat cause they have a.... wider lifestyle (they are exposed to more than a housecat)?

He is becoming calmer and I can pet him when he's calm without him trying to mouth (still unsure about that term?) me. He still bites and tries to chew things he shouldn't, but he's getting better about it. However he still tries to gnaw on me when I'm petting him if he gets too excited, at which point I just remove my hands. And he already looooooves tummy rubbins.

Anyway though, long story short aside from attacking my cat he's coming along to be a pretty good little pigbull.


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## Katsura (Aug 23, 2013)

Also apparently all I can do is post miniature novels instead of normal replies... sorry! :wink:


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## llillio (Aug 15, 2013)

Katsura said:


> Also, my dog refuses to go down stairs. He is scared of them. He goes down curbs and the like alright after a moment of consideration, but as soon as he sees stairs, no matter now many, how big, how high, or where they are, he freaks out. He will just sit at the top of them, whine, look at me, and sometimes he backs away. I have tried coaxing him down with treats, and speaking gently and softly to him, but if I start going down the stairs without him he just starts screaming bloody murder. Obviously, I don't go down stairs without him because he does this, but it makes it kinda hard to teach him to go down stairs if I have to stay at the stop of the stairs. Nathan has been helping me but nothing is really working.


That's quite normal. Our puppy just started going down the 4 steps from our deck to backyard. He's 6 months old. He'll eventually grow enough confidence to venture down the steps. But to help him along, you can also try guiding him down the stair one step at a time with a leash. Stay below him on the stair and pull his leash to get him to take a step down. Or you may want to lift his front paws down a step if he's really reluctant - his hind legs will have to follow then. Reassure him so he doesn't panic and try to run down all the steps at once. If he crashes down a set of steps then he'll really not like them.



Katsura said:


> Oh and, I'm taking him to get his shots tomorrow. Though, I'm a little concerned about it. When I called the place I told the lady I have an approximately 10 week old pup and that I don't believe he has had his first shots. I asked her how much it would cost me to get his first round of shots. The only thing she told me is that it's a distemper shot, he will get it 3 times, and that he will need a rabies shot later on as well. When I call again tomorrow before I take him in I'm going to ask about it again but that didn't sound right... When I got my kitten her shots, she got more than a distemper shot and doesn't a pup need more than a cat cause they have a.... wider lifestyle (they are exposed to more than a housecat)?


What she meant by distemper shot is probably a dose of DHPP. Usually it's a concoction of vaccinations (distemper, parvo, etc.) For example, I've dug through my puppy's vaccination records and this was what he got on his very fist shot. Distemper, adenovirus, parainfluenza, parvo virus (all in one dose) and a dose of corona virus vaccine.


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## Katsura (Aug 23, 2013)

Thank you!

So I don't need to worry because she just said "distemper"? I want to make sure my lil guy is getting the shots he needs... plus I don't really want to be wasting money on him not getting what he's supposed to... if that makes sense.


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## HollowHeaven (Feb 5, 2012)

Katsura said:


> But, the one thing that I am not pleased with and actually worried about is how he is acting towards my cats, particularly my male cat Victor. As soon as one of the cats walk into the room my pup will stare at it, and if the cat is close enough he'll run after it. My female kitty, Haggis, has enough sense to run away and jump up on a high place when the puppy so much as looks at her. Victor just seems dense about it. As a reminder, Haggis is fully clawed but Victor is declawed in the front. I don't really get it. Victor seems like he is a dog trapped in a cats body.


This is quite normal, but now would be a good time to teach a 'leave it' command. Look up "Kikopup Leave It" on YouTube. You could also try the Look At That (LAT) game. It worked for my Sibe with my cats.




> Victor has his own play toys, but he will sit there and play with the puppy's toys. He will nibble on the leash like he wants to go for a walk. All of this might seem cute and funny but it really isn't, especially when it's getting in the way of my training and my dog keeps attacking my cat. When I try to train my pup using treats and the like, Victor gets super interested and quite frankly he's obnoxious about it. He will jump in my lap, he steals my treat baggies and empties the contents everywhere and then proceeds to eat it if I'm not paying attention, and if I'm giving Rod treats he sits next to Rod and meows for some treats too. However, I haven't had such a huge issue with Victor begging for treats alongside the dog, because it gives me the opportunity to train Rod that he doesn't need to be food aggressive (by feeding them at the same time). He doesn't have sense to get away from the dog, I just think he's using it as a ploy to get attention from me. If this cat so much as walks in the room, Rod is staring at him. If he gets close, Rod will go to meet him and then start trying to play? or bite? I'm not sure which and then in a matter of seconds it gets to the point where Victor is on the floor on his back meowing like a madcat and staring at me and Rod is over him biting on whatever he can.


I would put the cat in another room when you're trying to train other things. Cats can be rude sometimes and with a puppy this young it's best to start out with few distractions. However, this could be a good thing for teaching Rod to leave the cats alone when it comes to that.




> Also, my dog refuses to go down stairs. He is scared of them. He goes down curbs and the like alright after a moment of consideration, but as soon as he sees stairs, no matter now many, how big, how high, or where they are, he freaks out. He will just sit at the top of them, whine, look at me, and sometimes he backs away. I have tried coaxing him down with treats, and speaking gently and softly to him, but if I start going down the stairs without him he just starts screaming bloody murder. Obviously, I don't go down stairs without him because he does this, but it makes it kinda hard to teach him to go down stairs if I have to stay at the stop of the stairs. Nathan has been helping me but nothing is really working.


If you can carry him up and down them, that would be best. Stair cases can do damage to the joints on puppies. For now, pack him, and when he gets a little older then he should become more confident and it will be safer to train him to use them.




> Oh and, I'm taking him to get his shots tomorrow. Though, I'm a little concerned about it. When I called the place I told the lady I have an approximately 10 week old pup and that I don't believe he has had his first shots. I asked her how much it would cost me to get his first round of shots. The only thing she told me is that it's a distemper shot, he will get it 3 times, and that he will need a rabies shot later on as well. When I call again tomorrow before I take him in I'm going to ask about it again but that didn't sound right... When I got my kitten her shots, she got more than a distemper shot and doesn't a pup need more than a cat cause they have a.... wider lifestyle (they are exposed to more than a housecat)?


Uh... no? I would ask before the vet even whips out a needle. If this pup has never had any shots, he needs a Parvo vacc. first and foremost, distemper, bordetella (just comes with the package really). He should definitely, definitely get more than a distemper.


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## maxlet (Jun 2, 2013)

Hi Kat,
Heck, I love to read; write away! I really like hearing from another current puppy owner too, & the fact that you've got other critters is even better. It's interesting hearing about cat/pup interactions, & Kenta is a keen student of lots of other critters, too; he loves to watch my fish & my little musk turtle, too. And it sounds like you're doing great with Rod...I'm *so* jealous that he already lets you know when he has to do anything; I've had to pretty much learn how to mind read Kenta (or maybe I should say "bladder-read" and "colon-read" him), because he still gives hardly any indication that he needs to 'go' in any fashion! The little devil acts like it's a state secret. (Except today in the car, we had a 2+ hour drive...'bout 1/2way in he got a little restless, then reached over & clawed my arm --just once, but very clear, like "Mom, I gotta pee *NOW*!"

As for the cat/dog situation, I do agree with the other person that removing the cat at least for some of the puppy training is a good idea. I've severely restricted cat & dog interaction for the first many weeks; only with supervision at first. When I am there I do let the cat slap the puppy a few times. I know I'll probably get some grief for saying that, but I always make sure the claws (those that have 'em) are trimmed so they're not razor sharp, so the puppy doesn't get _hurt_, just a bit of a sting. The pup learned enough respect as a youngster that he didn't realize, once he got older, that he'd gotten a lot bigger than the cat. I've actually had a problem this time with my Maine **** not being irritable enough & refusing to smack Kenta. Maybe also give him some other sort of negative association when he goes after them...the old shaking the coins in a soft drink can, water spritzer, loud "NO!" or some suchlike. Something he hates, so that he starts equating going after a cat with "yike, something awful happens when I do that!"
Some other folks have recommended videos on teaching the "Leave it" impulse control sorta thing; this is also a pretty good one, I think:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipT5k1gaXhc

My cat Foster has had a horrible time getting used to the puppy. He is older (13-15 years, not sure, he was adult when I adopted him). He's been around dogs before, so I knew he could tolerate 'em, he just doesn't particularly like 'em. He was seriously ticked off when he finally realized the puppy was not going away...he went from being a total snuggle cat who loved to curl up with or on top of me every time I stopped moving to nearly avoiding me during the day. Since the puppy still gets closed up in the 'puppy area' at night, Foster has deigned to start sleeping with me again. I do miss my kitty tho! He wouldn't help me back the puppy off, so I tried the various unpleasant associations. They've started to actually play together now...tho the game consists of Foster sitting in the middle of a living room while Kenta runs around him about Mach II, & Foster playfully whaps at him as he zooms past; not wildly different from the 'keep away from me you stupid dog" warnings, but there is a difference. Honest.

*stairs*: Kenta was really afraid of 'em at first. He took a few weeks to be okay with going up, but at least a coupla months to get back down. He just didn't have that much coordination for a while to be able to operate all those legs on such a complicated surface. I just let him look at them, gave him treats around 'em, just talked & encouraged him until he started getting calmer. I just carried him down until he got decent control of his parts & was better able to mogate on uneven ground. His coordination got much better right around 3 1/2-4 months, like it got orders of magnitude better in 2-3 weeks. 

Neutering: 6 months is what most places say, tho my vet just told me that Kenta could have it done any time (@ 5 months, 1 week).

Biting/mouthing: Kenta was kind of a fiend for chomping on me at first. I just did the puppy-mimicking bit of giving a high-pitched "Ouch!" or "Yipe!" whenever he bit too hard. After a coupla weeks (if that) he learned that humans are wimpier than other puppies & got really good & 'soft-mouthed.' For a while he would very gently just sorta put his mouth on my hand or arm, not putting any pressure on at all, and he's not even doing that very much any more. (They grow up so fast!)

Just a passing thought, for the heck of it: it ain't cheap, but the enzymatic urine/poop destroyer actually does work really well; I've beben using the Nature's Miracle brand. It's worked great on tinkled-upon blankets & stuff in the laundry, too. There was one spot in the living room that he got sorta in the habit of going, even without scent, so I gave him dinner on that spot 5-6 times. No tinkle there since.

Good luck, hope you don't get too sleep deprived! btw, Kenta did approximate the "1 hour holding it per month" bit, for the first 3 months or so. Then he got a little better; able to hold it like 4 hours at ~ 3 1/2 months, 5-6 hours by 4 1/2 months. That helped my sleep a lot; he now just goes when I get up for my own necessity around 4-4:30 a.m., though if he had a really active day (like when he's had a play date with other puppies) he'll just give me a "No way am I getting up outta my nice comfy bedroom crate" look, drop his head, & zonk right back out. Two words: weewee pads (or is that 3?)


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## maxlet (Jun 2, 2013)

random thougts:
I'm still having to cut up all 'normal' doggy treats into teeny little pieces. Even at 15 pounds, a bit less than 1/2 the size of an eraser still provides what he considers a treat.

Crate: it took quite a few weeks to get him where he was really comfortable being closed up in it. now he considers it his wonderful bedroom & quiet spot. I was skeptical at first, but a few guy friends were over a coupla weeks ago, & after they'd been sitting in the living room talking about 20 minutes, the dog disappeared. I looked over & he was just chillin' in his crate, laying with head & paws in the doorway, getting some quiet. It made me really happy to see that. I still feed him in there most of the time (when I'm not feeding him in the car, getting him used to it & with positive associations), & when I close him in there while we're eating (I also eat on the floor, due to back problems), I usually give him a puppy popsicle --his Kong toy with peanut butter frozen in the center.

chew toys; if Rod is a chewer, which I'm guessing he is, it'll be interesting keeping him in toys. Kenta's an American Eskimo, not a breed really known for bite butchness, but before he started dropping his puppy teeth he had a bite like an alligator. He can go thru pizzles really fast unless they're the braided ones (even then I give him the 18 or 22 inchers, not cut into shorter lengths). I've given him Kongs & goughnuts (http://www.goughnuts.com/), which are supposed to be for really aggressive chewers, but he's not really interested in 'em unless they're slathered with PB. Apparently he's not enough of a power chewer to be interested in just rubber. 2 different vets told me that the best rawhide-types are pizzles, & try to get 'em from the US (some from other countries are cured with pretty nasty chemicals like formaldehyde).

When he was teething, I put several different soft-type toys (knotted ropes, pet stages cool teething stick) wet, into the freezer. They helped (coupla times he was very low-energy & subdued after losing teeth). Oh btw; some puppies apparently bleed like mad when they lose a tooth, especially if it comes out a little before it's quite ready, like if they're playing with another dog, or tug o war. Kenta didn't bleed very much, but he'd be sticking his tongue out, sorta licking & slurping the air & working his jaw funny when he lost a baby tooth, & his tongue'd be 1/2 covered with blood. Just wanted to let you know because my friend the dog trainer told me about puppies she's seen with blood streaming out of their mouth....that woulda freaked me out pretty good, I think, so I thought I'd pass it along. Don't want you getting heart failure! 

they do backslide now & then; it's demoralizing when he does great with housebreaking 5-6 days in a row & then all of a sudden seems to forget. Yesterday was a backslide day for Kenta --day before & today he was perfect! everybody not selling a book says they'll have accidents occasionally for the first year, to just keep calm & patient & consistent & they will get it. I've had people give me large amounts of grief, along the lines of "What's _wrong_ with you/him, *MY* dog was totally housetrained by the time he was 10 weeks old/after the first week!" I'm convinced that (A) they're lying, or (B) they've forgotten reality. Most likely (A). Ignore 'em or tell 'em to take a flying leap. It takes a while and every puppy takes a different while.

Sorry I've gone on so long!
Have a good one,
m


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## maxlet (Jun 2, 2013)

About Bitter Apple no-chewing spray: it's worked for many years to keep dogs, cats, & parrots from chewing on whatever I put it on. Until now.
Kenta chewed up about a square foot of carpeting that I'd hosed with the stuff just a few hours before. He clearly didn't like the taste, but ate it anyway. Argh.


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## Katsura (Aug 23, 2013)

Woo thanks for all the replies, maxlet (and everyone else). By the way mexlet, I don't know if I said this before, but all your critters have such fun names.

Sorry I haven't been on to reply... Things have been busy. Just yesterday people decided I am neglecting and abusing my dog so they tried to keep him hostage from me and force me to get rid of him -.-;;

So that's fun.

Anyway though, I'm actually pretty pleased with the progress my pup has been making. He still doesn't like his kennel, so I've been working with him and trying to get him to not hate it. I read the replies off here a few days ago and thought I'd try the feeding him in the kennel thing, but it hasn't shown any progress so far. He'll go in there of his own will easy enough, but as soon as he's in there for sleepy time he still flips out, even with toys and easy visual to Nathan and myself... I'm still working with him but he is just not digging his kennel. And yeah, I have a blanket and a pillow in there, so..

I've been training him to handle being pet according to Kikopup's video. It actually worked pretty well. A couple days ago someone came over, someone who he'd never seen before, and he was acting soooo gooood. He didn't bark or whine, he wasn't jumpy, and when they went to go pet him he let them pet him, and he didn't try to lick them. I could tell he was terribly excited by how furiously he was wagging his tail, but he was being a super good dog about it. I was kind of surprised though because I haven't really been working with him a whole lot on being good with strangers (aside from teaching him not to try to bite when being pet), so I don't know where he learned it from. I don't know if it was a one time fluke or not but either way, it gives me hope that I'm doing something right and that he's going to be a good dog.

When I say Rod alerts us when he has to go bathroom, I pretty much just mean he will go over by the door or sit in the direction of the door and stare at it. Sometimes he will look at me and then back at the door, but he's not vocal about it at all. Sometimes he will whine but he barely ever does that. Basically, if I'm not paying attention and I don't get him out within a minute or two, he has an accident. Which I don't really blame him for cause hey, he tried. Since my previous post about him being good about potty time, we've had a couple bad days where he just wasn't interested in going outside.

Due to him not liking his kennel and being good about potty time, we decided to test him sleeping on our bed. Nathan wanted him to sleep with us last night, so I told him that since he's (Rod) been being good, I'm open to trying it, but the moment he pees on the bed, it's back to the nighttime kennel. Nathan agreed to it and Rod slept with us last night. He was a pretty good pup about it too. He slept through most of the night, but once morning came we had to get up every 45 minutes to an hour to let him out for peeps. I guess he wanted to be awake but we didn't.  But, he didn't have an accident on the bed so I'm pretty happy about it.

I went and got him a little squeaky/crinkle toy last night when I went to go get him food, and he went crazy over it. He played with it for a good hour before bed. It was funny because he was chewing on it and every time he chewed on the squeaker and it made a noise, he got this confused look on his face and looked at us like, "what's making that noise?" It was too cute.

I never really noticed it before, but dogs are like people in that they want to be comfortable. If he's going to go lay down, Rod will go right for any blankets or pillows that are laying about. And I know for a fact he loves our memory foam mattress as much as we do.  I dunno, I just found it really interesting. Cats will sleep literally anywhere and make it comfortable for them. Every cat I've had snubs cat beds. Haha.

I also can't believe how much my little man has grown since we got him. He's no longer a little blubber ball, and his face isn't so wrinkly. Plus, he's starting to grow out of what I call the "derpy-eyed" phase. Ahh I just love him. It's so fun watching him grow up.


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## Katsura (Aug 23, 2013)

The other things I forgot to mention is that I had no idea puppies lost their teeth like people do and that my dog doesn't like peanut butter. I tried to bait some of his toys with it and he was like "um, no."


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## HollowHeaven (Feb 5, 2012)

You could try training him to ring bells when he needs to go out. 


An yes they lose their baby teeth, so don't panic if you start finding them everywhere. Lol


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## Katsura (Aug 23, 2013)

I had no idea about that. I'm really glad you said something because if he started bleeding from his mouth and I found teeth everywhere I would probably have a heart attack.

Thanks, you probably saved my life.. haha


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## HollowHeaven (Feb 5, 2012)

I remember when my chihuahua lost his first baby tooth. He was playing with a toy and I looked down and there it was. I had a moment of panic then squealed 'OH HIS FIRST BABY TOOTH LOOK HOW LITTLE AND CUTE' into the phone and hung up so I could show it to people.


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## maxlet (Jun 2, 2013)

Katsura said:


> Woo thanks for all the replies, maxlet (and everyone else). By the way mexlet, I don't know if I said this before, but all your critters have such fun names.
> 
> Sorry I haven't been on to reply... Things have been busy. Just yesterday people decided I am neglecting and abusing my dog so they tried to keep him hostage from me and force me to get rid of him -.-;;
> 
> So that's fun.


Oy vey, that really stinks. It's bad enough when someone replies to a request for help with an over-the-top slap (*ahem*:redface, it's _really_ uncalled for when folks barge in & try to take over. As numerous people have pointed out here, *everybody* makes mistakes, everybody can learn new/better ways to raise dogs (or kids). But people seem to get a lot more out of criticizing others than checking out their own flaws...Sorry to hear that.

It really sounds like Rod is doing a perfectly normal puppy progression; learning new things, sometimes temporarily forgetting those new things, taking forever (or so it feels) to learn some of the new things. 

If you're like me, it may feel like he's never going to settle down & stop being afraid of the crate when the door's closed. It sure felt like Kenta never would accept the thing. I ended up blocking off a little bed area for him with boxes (we just moved to a small rental, so 80% of everything is still in boxes). The area was for him to sleep in at night but be too small for him to potty at one end & sleep in the other --just like the crate was supposed to do, but he freaked out when I closed the door. It worked fine (looked awful, but my place would never win any House Beautiful awards, & I just don't care). Evidently he didn't mind an enclosed area that didn't have a ceiling right over his head. He did learn to gradually "hold it" longer & longer, & during the days we kept practicing the crate thing. It was sorta tedious; entice him into it with treat, just swing door shut (not latched) while he ate treat, swing open door before he started whining or got anxious, let him hop out. Then entice him into it with treat, etc do the whole thing over again. I'd do this just for a minute or two at a time, as many times per day as he & I could stand it with fun time, play time, sleep time, work, etc in between. Then dog in & I would work the door latch repeatedly so hear got used to the sound (still not latching the door closed). Then dog in, latch & immediately unlatch. Etc etc. like I said, tedious, but he did get it eventually & now loves his crate.

And anything Rod is doing to let you know he's gotta 'go' is great, even if you've had to become a mind reader. Just think how well you're learning to communicate with him! I try to think of it as a way to keep expanding my understanding of animal language, & the better you can read his language, the more you'll be able to understand his reactions to new situations.

Your comment on the dog/cat differences in comfort are pretty funny, & correct. My cat does appear to get comfy in some bizarre places! Tho Kenta does tend to sleep 1/2 on my floor mat & half off...& the end that is hanging lower is always his front half, which seems backward to me! I ran across a comment in a dog training book awhile back about why dogs always try to sneak onto the couch or other furniture...they like soft places to flop down, too! Hey, that's right...couch *is* comfier than the floor!

Hang in there & try to ignore the...er, jerks 'n' busybodies. We all are doing the best we can (if we weren't trying, we wouldn't be here, looking for info, feedback, etc right?). It sure sounds like you're doing right by Rod & I'd bet money, if I had any, that the buttinskis made plenty of mistakes themselves.

& take lots of pix...I couldn't believe it when I looked at 2 pix of Kenta that were taken just a few weeks apart...they grow up *FAST*!! I love your 'derpy-eyed' phrase --hilarious!! Thanks for the thumbs up on my critter names...I don't name anybody til I've learned a bit about their character, gotten to know them. I didn't name Kenta for almost 3 weeks & when I did, lotsa people just went "huh? whats it mean?" when I finally did. It doesn't mean anything; I just made it up, & it sounded right as an Eskimo name after my first Eskie, Troika.
Best,
maxlet


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## Katsura (Aug 23, 2013)

Thanks for your understanding, maxlet. What I found most annoying about the whole deal was that people that don't even live with me were trying to make decisions FOR me regarding an animal they have seen for a collective 20 minutes... One of them thinks I'm neglecting and abusing my pup because I kennel him at night, so what does that tell ya huh?

Your story with Kenta really gives me hope, though. It tells me that there's light at the end of the tunnel! I guess I will have to keep working with him until he gets there. Thanks for your story, it helps keep me motivated!

And yeah, I can't tell you how please I am that not only is he letting me know when he has to go, but that he's not going every 20 seconds  I still have a lot that I need to train Rod about, but things are a lot less stressful now knowing that I don't have to be worried if he leaves the room for a minute.

Oh and, he's actually going down stairs now!! I couldn't believe it, but I was sooooo happy when I saw him do it I flipped out. It was right after we had taken him to the clinic to get his shots and some dewormer (which, as an aside, dewormer is good and necessary but really, really gross. When he took a nice worm filled poop I almost threw up, and even thinking about it is grossing me out..), and Nathan had been leading Rod with the leash. I had been walking ahead of them absentmindedly, when Nathan was like, "JESSICA! LOOK!!" So I turned around and there was my little puppy, walking down the stairs like it wasn't no thang.

I mean I'm still having issues.. I posted another thread with him getting jumpy, and he's becoming a really good beggar, but it's nothing a bit of dedicated training (and some advice from my friends here) can't handle.

I really can't say thanks enough for the encouragement. I know I'm not doing things perfectly, but it really does help to hear from someone that I'm doing SOMETHING right, especially after the jerks of late 

And, I have been taking lots of pictures. I take pictures of my animals like I imagine new moms take pictures of their first born, hahaha. I have been dying to post pictures of my little menagerie of animals, ESPECIALLY of Rod on here, but I am unsure of the posting rules here. On the reptile forum I'm on I just post the img link directly from photobucket, but I don't know if that's allowed here. I mean, I guess I could do the little uploader tool, but I really don't care for how it looks. I like to be able to post and scroll through the images in a post.  if that makes sense.

Anyway, he has definitely grown a LOT. Just the other day I was looking at photos from when we first got him. I looked at the photo of my little sausage dog, and then up at real Rod, and then back down, and then back up, and I was like dang puppy when did you get so big?! Even Nathan commented tonight on how big he has gotten. Whew! It seems like I've had him for a lot longer than I have!


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## maxlet (Jun 2, 2013)

Hey Katsura,
Really glad to hear that you've been able to get some ideas & reinforcement & support here...me too, & I'm so glad we got onto a smooth path after a rocky beginning! I really like hearing from you, & Rod's successes & stumbles...just like having a puppy pen pal. I just love folks who don't know what they're talking about but are _sooo_ sure they know what's right for everyone else...sheesh. Some people have an almost religious fanaticism against crate training...I think they're sometimes the same folks who demand that every animal in the zoo gets a great big open pen with "plenty of room to run," including those animals that'd die of fright if you put 'em in such a place. The ones that'll eat like hogs, be happier than clams, & raise tons of babies if they're in a vertical-shaped enclosure with nest boxes, lots of branches & hidey holes & places to feel safe & secure...sorry, I digress. Of course, not all dogs are crate candidates, but even one who starts out as terrified as Kenta was at the beginning really can end up absolutely loving their crate & thinking of it as their own little safe, quiet home, where they go to nap or crash out or get away from scary or just loud guests. To get truthy at you, I actually was sorta on the fence about crate training at the beginning; I never did it with my first Eskimo, Troika, & he was (far as I could tell) an extremely happy & contented dog, the whole house was "his." But now I'm totally glad I spent the weeks (& weeks & weeks & _weeks_!) getting White Fang Junior here used to it, & now he & I both love it (but it did take a while, so try not to get discouraged!...I know it's hard not to some time 

Again, I really appreciate it that you let me know that my & everybody's support can help out; it makes me feel better too, & helps prop me up, makes me feel like we're sorta in this together. It especially helps when I feel like I must be doing something (or everything!) wrong...like because K & I are still on that housebreaking plateau where Kenta just will _not_ tell me in advance when he has to tinkle, but still lets the excess couple ounces off on the weewee pads first, *THEN* trot up to me & to the door & back. It's like he's topping off a gas tank, only sorta in reverse. Inverse. Something, whatever, it's maddening! I tried taking up the pads & newspapers, like a trainer friend suggested, & he just went on the flagstones there by the door.

Congrats to you & Rod on the stairs! Give both of you a milk bone for persevering! :-D Idn't it weird the way they'll go along like they're never gonna get something, then *whammo!* they just suddenly stroll right thru whatever-it-is like they've been doing it forever. It's like some babies that just won't talk, get months & months "behind" the age curve, then one day start talking like the College Bowl Debate Champion.

Oh, the worms & worm piles! What fun they are! I'll never forget the first night I had my first 2 Eskimo puppies (1 for me, 1 for my mom), I was hiding them in my dorm room (!), we finally bedded down, I reached down in the dark to pet one, groped around for cute little puppy, got instead a cold, wriggly, slightly sticky.....erk!! (this'd be a great time for a smiley, maybe a green one, but they've disappeared :-(

I think I know what ya mean about the photos...it would be fun to put up baby pix as they grow. i'm like a new Mom, too, show puppy pix on my phone all the time. For some reason & can't even get the pic to show up on my name or sig here. Oh, speaking of pix, what does a black motley corn snake look like? Sounds like it could be pretty cool; I used to do a herp educational talk where I used to work in Durham, at a sort of zoo/museum place. One of our snakes was a gorgeous female corn snake. She was only the basic corn pattern, but her colors were just super-rich. I still like the basic pattern better than albino.

woops, aura time! stupid migraines...ttys!
maxlet


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## Kudzu (Aug 15, 2013)

Re: baby teeth. I think my Lab must have just eaten all of his, because I never saw a single tooth. For a while there, he had a double set of canines. Very freaky looking! Eventually they fell out and he ate those too.

I don't miss the puppy months. I was totally unprepared for my first puppy and made every mistake in the book, but I was really lucky and had a very adaptable puppy. I didn't have nearly the issues everyone else seems to have with housebreaking, chewing, etc. I think I'll go give him a treat right now for taking it easy on me.


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## maxlet (Jun 2, 2013)

Kudzu, sounds like you hit the puppy jackpot! But on the other hand, just think of all the "story rights" you lost...when folks are sitting around doing the "well WE had it tough, our puppy used to eat the CAR!" contests, you'll just have to sit there with a smug smile & not tell horror stories . 
I wouldn't trade my little beast, though occasionally I wouldn't mind loaning him out. 
The double canines sound really interesting...hope ya got pix of em. The only reason I managed to snag any of Kenta's teeth was, the little goof eats so much non-food crud (dirt, wood, grass, etc) I spend an awful lot o time with my fingers in his mouth, & watching his mouth, so I recognized when he was mouthing something oddly & pounced on him. Voila; baby tooth in hand.
i think he's still teething at almost 6 months, b/c last nite he had one of those very restless, noisy nights (3rd time) where he wouldn't stop yelling & screaming until I came out & slept on the floor with him for an hour or 2. Seemed to have slight fever, so I gave him 1/2 a baby aspirin (for pain/fever) & some children's benadryl (so we could hope to sleep --him _and_ me). Both of us have bags under out eyes this morning.


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## Katsura (Aug 23, 2013)

Arrg I just typed out a huge long reply and it all got lost because I hit the wrong button. This site totally needs to periodically auto save what you're typing or at least give you a redirect notice T^T

I'll type it all out again in a little while when I'm not feeling so angsty about losing the original oTL


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## maxlet (Jun 2, 2013)

I HATE that!
I've gotten to the point that I type things elsewhere (like word) that has autosave, then copy it over. I've had tons of things get lost like that & it drives me *bananas*! My condolences :-I


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## Kudzu (Aug 15, 2013)

Katsura, I think that's the universe trying to tell you to type shorter posts! 

I definitely hit the puppy jackpot, IMO. For all the mistakes I made, I'm sure I don't deserve him. I'm always bragging about my boy when friends are complaining about their dogs. I think Beau might be the only lab on earth that never ate a shoe. Actually I hit the jackpot twice, as I also have a rescue dog that I got at about 18 mos. Never chewed a thing, and never had an accident in the house. They both love my cats too. I couldn't ask for better dogs to share my life with.


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## Katsura (Aug 23, 2013)

Kudzu: Yeah once Rod gets older I don't think I'm going to miss the puppy months either, LOL. Also, me, post shorter? Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha I don't know how *sob*

maxlet: Personally, I didn't really have any opinion on crates before I got a dog. I didn't know the difference between a kennel or a crate or what the point of it was. But then once I got a puppy and I learned that when it's used correctly it could be a useful training tool / puppy hideout I was like "oh well I guess I should use one then."

Well, at least Kenta isn't going potty on the floor, right? That's always something to be grateful for. We actually had a setback with Rod the other day... As I had said previously, we were allowing him to sleep on the bed, so long as he was being good about potty time... Well... Nathan woke up a couple days ago and found a couple poops on the floor. And then when I was sorting through some clothes to go do laundry I found another one... Nathan is a really light sleeper, and he wakes up immediately if the puppy so much as whimpers. Soo that basically means that Rod was waking up and taking dumps in the room without warning us that he had to go -.-

Thank you! I really am proud of him for going down the stairs. Literally. Every time he goes down a flight of stairs I swell up with pride lolol.

Sweet Jesus I cannot imagine (nor do I want to) sticking my had in worm poop. Just watching him take that dump just about made me puke, I swear if I had put my hand in it I probably would have died. 

If I can get anyone to answer my question about photos, I will definitely be posting a thread with all of my animals. A motley is kinda hard to explain, but if you know what it is you can definitely spot the difference between a normal patterned snake and a motley. Being that he's a black motley he's black and gray... I don't know how much you know about corn snakes, but they usually look pretty different as adults than they do as babies. He will probably turn more gray and develop some browns and yellows as he ages.

I don't envy you for having migraines... I get headaches varying in intensity almost every day, but I can sure tell you I don't miss migraines. Yikes.

And I really feel you on the whole "eating everything that isn't food" thing. Rod does the same thing. I'm not really a messy person, and since getting my pup I've been trying to keep things almost spotless, but I can't tell you how many times every day I have to run after him to pry his mouth open to pull something out. I don't even know how he finds half the stuff he finds -.-


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## maxlet (Jun 2, 2013)

Kat,
I tried to reply last several nites multiple times, & got a variety of error messages. Argh.
Well, Kenta does sometimes potty on the floor, if you count him going on the weewee pads right by the door. He doesn't go elsewhere, hasn't for a while, but I can't seem to get him to do that final step & not go in his 'tranining spot'. I'm sure he'd love an opportunity to go on (or near) the bed, but he still has to spend nights in _his_ bed, i.e. the crate. If I still slept (as I did for many years) on a futon pad directly on the floor, I'd clear out the bedroom & let him romp around there at night, but Partner insisted on a real bed & I'm just not comfy enuff with his leaping & landing ability to get up & down yet. 
Here’s a housebreaking horror story:
I once helped a friend drive her car NC to NH, where her husband had already moved with their 7 year old mini poodle. He’d been sick for several days, hadn’t let the dog out at all (actually, the hub was useless even when healthy). The _entire floor_ was sticky with urine, and even the couch cushions were damp & *reeked* (I slept in my clothes and shoes!). The first night, as I was attempting to sleep I heard an incredible shriek, followed by a bellow, then dog & woman screams. Turned out the dog shat upon the bed in the middle of the night. (the bellow/screams were from hubby throwing dog off bed, dog landing on floor, wife screaming at hub for throwing dog). I invented an emergency & flew home the next day. Neato!!

I spent a few minutes catching up on the variety of corn snake morphs available now. Holy herps, Batman, there are a million of ‘em!! I saw about a dozen color morphs I’d LOVE to have, but am afraid I’ve hit my reptile limit for now, in this teeny house. My musk turtle Sir Edmond would never forgive me if I booted him out for a mere snake (had him over 2 years now). For those not familiar with musk turtles, his name comes from their incredible climbing ability; they’re somewhat notorious in their home range for dropping out of trees onto boaters. & Ed (he lets me call him that when he’s feeling noblesse oblige-y) is as good as his name; he can climb near-vertical pieces of smooth slate, & branches, etc. They’re cute lil devils; if I ever figure out how to put pix along the bottom of posts (signature”), I will. Failed repeatedly at that the other nite, too.

Anyhow. I have found Kenta’s crate to be a wonderful thing, once I finally got him used to it. I’m still leery of over-using it –I don’t want it to become the indoor version of chaining to dog outside all day—but I do love it for other reasons (Please understand, I’m not suggesting you’d over-use it, btw; not suggesting anything at all negative here). It can be so handy, & I still shut him up in it while I eat; he totally loses his mind when food is around.

Now I really need to come up with some way to get him to stop pulling stuff off the coffee table & chewing/eating it; napkins, anything. I can’t train b.f. to stop leaving crud on the table, he’s worse than the puppy!
Hope all’s well with you,
m


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## Katsura (Aug 23, 2013)

Okay I actually have some questions again.

1. Puppy keeps trying to bite anything and everything when being pet or playing. The other day he got me in the face which really, was NOT a lot of fun.

2. Puppy has been barking at people. Lately when we take him out to go potty and he sees someone he will bark at them.

3. Puppy is driving me nuts with training. He doesn't seem to be responding well and even when he shows progress he completely ignores me if I don't have food in my hand. I try all sorts of different foods and he seems highly food motivated. I AM using a clicker. First I was using plastic bags for the treats and he would only pay attention to me when he heard the bag rustle as I was getting a treat. So I nixed the bag and was just using a handful of treats and when I ran out I would grab another handful. But then he was only paying attention to my hands. So I put the treats in a bowl and went to the bowl each time he needed a treat, but again he'd be following the bowl (I try and keep it out of sight but when I move the bowl as I move about the room he tracks it) and AGAIN is paying more attention to my hands then he is to me. I have been trying to wait and get his eye contact before I treat him, but it's like he's expecting THAT now so he will look at me and then my hand and then at me. 

I've been trying hard but even teaching him his name is a challenge. He only listens to me if I have food in my hand. As soon as he figures out he's not getting treats for looking or coming when I say his name he just goes back to ignoring me. So I've gone back to square one and everything but this is really frustrating. Is this normal? Am I doing things ok? Anyone have any thoughts or advice on this? I haven't given up, but I feel like I'm getting nowhere fast.

4. When I've been playing with him, he gets overly excited and will start growling, running after me and biting on my pants, or jumping up at me. What's the best way to handle this? Stop playtime and crate him for a minute until he calms down?

Anyways. I remember futons. I don't miss them. I am really happy with my new memory foam mattress. Ahh. Well I guess what I meant was, a puppy pad is better than the outright floor.... right? Refusing to go anywhere other than the puppy pad is what I was afraid of with Rod, so every time Nathan told me he was going to go out and buy some puppy pads I shot him down faster than Rod was peeing on the floor...

Aas far as sleeping on the bed goes, I kind of have a love hate relationship with it. I am a big fan of sleeping in and sleeping whenever I can, I pretty much love to sleep... And Rod just doesn't like to sleep for very long. It works okay when He's actually sleeping, but aside from him going peeps and poops where he isn't supposed to, I cannot stand it when he is in bed messing around. I'll be trying to sleep and he'll be wiggling around trying to chew on my blankets or my pillow or my hair or my limbs or the cat, or sometimes he just jumps and rolls around on the bed. It irritates me to no end. I always end up getting up and yelling at Nathan to come get the d*mn dog out of the room. But when he's actually you know, sleeping, I really like having him on the bed. And I know Nathan just adores it.

Ohh, you have a turtle? Super cute. I don't think I could ever do the turtle thing because aquariums seem like a lot of upkeep. Nathan is dying to have a sulcata tortoise though, so at some point I guess we're going to end up getting one. The nice thing about corn snake morphs (va ball python or boa morphs) is that corn morphs are dirt cheap. I only paid $35 for my anery motley baby.

And I get you with the whole over-crating thing... I've been trying to make sure I don't do that either, so I've only been putting him in there when he absolutely has to be in there... Which I'm kind of already having to do anyway because Rod still isn't super fond of it.

I don't have the problem with Rod pulling things OFF the coffee table, I have problems with him putting his paws up ON the coffee table and nosing everything trying to find a tasty treat or something to chew on. He tries to get on tables.. chairs... sooo aggravating.

I hope everything is well with you as well.


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## CrimsonAccent (Feb 17, 2012)

Puppies are biting monsters  There isn't much you can do other than keep up bite inhibition, and maybe invest in some gloves  I've heard of people teaching the kiss/lick command so their dogs would do that rather than nip the face. I know you aren't a big fan of being slobbered on though. (And he is teething now, which might be why his biting is worse/not improving. Give him something cold to chew on to give him some relief).

Can you give us more details? Some dogs are just loud and like to say "hey, hey! THERE'S A PERSON OMG LOOKLOOKLOOK!!!!!!!!!!!" He's probably just excited. You can condition him to be calmer (ask others, not me  ) but some of it may just be maturity.

Review the kikopup videos/get someone more well-versed in clicker training to answer this part  Sometimes pups are just goobers and forget everything though. It might be a little early for this, but consider phasing out the rewards (so he doesn't know when he gets the treat, its a random thing, like gambling). I doubt you need to do that this young though, but those more experienced can chime in!

Basically, yes. Same principal as the biting/most things. Prevent what you can, take away something nice (your attention in this case), and/or redirect to a toy. The rules of teaching puppy manners are basic, just takes a lot of time and patience. It's a good idea to stop playing when he gets too amped up (like an overtired toddler).

I await your next journal entry, these are fun to read! (And seeing the progress from your first "I know nothing" post to now is awesome!! Good job )


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## Katsura (Aug 23, 2013)

Thanks a ton, CrimsonAccent. Oh and, when he barks at people when he's out for potty, he isn't really "excited". His tail isn't wagging or anything, he's just standing, ears at attention, mouth closed, tail still, pretty much alert and watching. He doesn't try to go up to them and visit either like he usually does when he sees people. Very different from when he's excited. He's not acting aggressive, either, though.

I actually just found something out about 15 minutes ago that explained, well, everything and every problem I'm having with Rod... 

Are you all ready? It's time for Story Time with Zura, featuring Rod the Pit Bull Pup!

So, here's how I actually came to own my little piggy.

Basically, my friend and then-roommate Kate is a tattoo artist. One day she came home from work and told me she was thinking about getting a puppy. Apparently, a couple of co workers had gotten their pitts together and had a litter of puppies. Everyone at the shop got first dibs on the pups. And the dam (or bitch as I think it is in the dog world) had given birth that very day.

Well, given that I had recently moved out from my parents place, had never had a dog before, really really wanted a dog, especially a pitbull, I was all for it. Sounded fantastic to me. Well the next day we ended up going to her coworkers' house to check out the pups, and as soon as we saw the fat little sausages we definitely knew we wanted one.

So, I know kittens and puppies are supposed to be at least 8 weeks old before they can be separated from the mom. Given that it was a "long time" to wait and the fact that Kate didn't mention the puppy anymore and neither did Nathan, I kind of forgot about it. Kinda weird given my initial excitement, but it happened.

Anyhow, the people who owned the mom dog are kind of hippies, as I mentioned before. Not passing any judgement of course, but he smokes weed, she has dreadlocks, they were feeding the dog all natural organic foods, you know, that sort of thing.

Well, back to the puppy himself, as I said I had pretty much completely forgotten that we were going to be getting a pup. Well, one day Kate comes in and Nathan is right after her, holding a fat little doughy biscuit of a dog. I was all happy and excited and such, and I spent pretty much the rest of the night with him.

So, I hadn't remembered the actual day the pup was born. Couldn't place it for the life of me. Well, the other day I had my best friend over and she told me that she had been talking to her legal guardian and they had decided that he looks waaayy to small to be as old as we thought he was (about 3 months). Now, I know none of you haven't seen pictures of him yet, but he has huge paws. Like, huuuuge paws. Kate, Nathan, my bff, and even myself have said and known that his paws means he's going to be a big dog. I mean, when we took him in to get his first round of shots 2 weeks ago, he was already 13 pounds. But i guess he's small for 3 months. Given that I've never had a dog before, much less a pitbull, I have quite literally no idea how big they are supposed to be and at what age.

So I set out on a quest to talk to the owner of the mom to see when he was born. It was pretty difficult because every time I called the shop, he was never there. Well my roommate is back in town, back working at the shop so today I asked her to ask him when the puppies were born, if she got the chance. Well, she asked him and guess when he was born?

July 3rd. And we got him on August 15th. Which means he's only a little over 2 months old.

And wow well it explains a lot. Like, a LOT. Not only his size, but all the biting, the over excitement, the attachment issues... the apparent inability to train him.... It's already been made apparent that my original goals with him were already monumentally too high, but now I feel like even after I pulled them back and made my expectations more realistic, they're STILL too high for his age.

I feel terrible for having had him so young. But I didn't know oTL


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## OwnedbyACDs (Jun 22, 2013)

Personally I don't miss the puppy months ... AT. ALL. BUT I want another one, call me crazy I guess.


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## SillyDogs (May 28, 2013)

8 weeks old?! He is basically still an infant. You got ALOT of work ahead of you. Others have given you info on training. Don't hit your dog, don't lose your patience.


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## Katsura (Aug 23, 2013)

Woo you're way behind there Silly.


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## CrimsonAccent (Feb 17, 2012)

Some people just don't make it past the original post  (Which is silly, IMO when you have 3-4 pages of replies)

But the age thing would explain basically everything (at least in my mind). Have fun!! (And post some pics )


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## Katsura (Aug 23, 2013)

Thanks c:

Also sorry for the rapid posting, I just you know, have a lot of questions. If anyone has any input on the previous questions I asked (training, biting, barking, excitement) I am still all ears.

And in the meantime, I have another couple of questions and a small update for you all. Speaking of updates, I have to say I really really love it here. It is so much fun writing about my little pup; it's been an adventure and it's been fun coming here and learning had being guided and telling my story c: thanks a TON to all of you for putting up with me c: <3

Anywho... Question time is at hand... again 

5. Rod pees on everything. He's really really good about going potty outside where he's supposed to (aside from the occasional expected mistake). What I mean by him peeing on everything is that he likes to pee on blankets, (used to like to pee on beds), and pillows. My used to be roommate would sleep on the floor in the living room on a makeshift bed of blankets, and he would pee on them every chance he got. Same with pillows. We don't have a couch, and we didn't really have any comfortable sitting chairs until recently (new roommate brought in a couple of rocking chairs and a coffee table) so we used to sit on the floor basically every day, using pillows. If we would get up for a second he would hop over, get on the pillow, and pee on it.

This isn't really an issue anymore as we have everything up off the floor when it's not being actively used. The problem is that this issue is preventing me from putting any sort of bedding in his kennel. I had an old good sized pillow that fit him perfectly that I put in there and he peed on it. So I took it out and washed it thoroughly, put it back in, and guess what he peed on it again. Mind you, thi is happening pretty much immediately after he goes potty and is put in his kennel for the night.

Case in point, the other day Nathan wanted to put his little blanket in there with him because he felt bad for him having to sleep in the hard plastic floor of the kennel (and I feel pretty bad about it too). I told Nathan to go ahead and try, but that Rod was just going to pee on it. Sure enough, Nathan takes the pup out, pup goes bathroom, the blanket is situated nicely on the bottom of the kennel.... Nathan puts pup in said kennel.... And within a minute and a half pup peed all over it.

And well, we don't have this problem when there's no bedding in the kennel. He only peed in there once when we were first getting him used to it and after getting all wet with all of his own urine and having to "enjoy" a bath afterwards he hasn't been so eager to pee in there again (unless of course there's bedding in there). So what am I to do? I can't put any bedding in there because he pees on it, even after it comes straight from the dryer. Do I just leave him with a barren kennel floor?

6. So, yesterday when Nathan came home he told me that Rod's shot records were in with our old roommate's things at the shop, which aren't at the shop anymore. Point is, apparently Rod has had at LEAST one round of shots, apparently got them before he came home with us. I don't know if it's true or not, I don't know who gave them to him or what shots he actually got. I think it's kind of fishy though because he wasn't wormed when we got him, and from what the people at the clinic were telling us about puppies, vaccinations and worming goes hand in hand. And I know I won't be able to get these mysterious records any time soon, if at all, to verify what I was told.

As you all know, I have already taken him to get his first round of shots and dewormer. He is due here REALLY SOON to go back for his second set. So the question is, do I move forward with his vaccinations? What is the risk of him having 4 or 5 rounds of shots, assuming he already got a round or two in before he came to us?

7. Lastly, I am starting the first job of my entire career (sometimes I use the word "career" in place of "life" for those that just got confused) in the first week of October. I am going in on the 30th to fill out some paperwork and then I anticipate starting my training and actual work shortly thereafter. The problem is that I have no idea what shift I will be working, Nathan has a job as well, and we have a puppy that can't be left alone yet.

I am hoping that I will be working mornings because Nathan works evenings. That way, he can watch the pup in the morning and I can watch him at night. However, I am going to be planning on us working the same shift, that way I can plan ahead and have all of my bases covered if they need to be. That being said, I now have to come up with a way for someone to watch my pup while we're at work. My new roommate is a 60 year old stroke victim, so needless to say that while he's at home all day, I'm not really considering him to be an option because I can't really see him having the patience or ability to keep up with my little terror (my new roomie has his wits about him and functions just fine; he's just a bit slow and stiff and shouldn't be roughhousing with puppies).

I am going to try to work something out with a friend, but I need ideas and backup options in case that doesn't pan out. I flat out cannot afford a puppy daycare until I get my paychecks rolling in. (Things got a bit... tight... when my original roommate had to go out of state to tend to her ailing SO.) But, once I can afford it, how ARE puppy daycares? Good, bad? Thoughts on it? 

And before anyone mentions it, I don't have any family that will watch him for me. Well I guess I do technically, but the ones that are capable of watching him wouldn't want to and the ones that would be open to it, I don't want anywhere near my dog (because they have crazy unruly older dogs themselves and I don't want my boopy picking up any more bad habits then he already has). I know it's kind of a tough thing, but I really only need to figure something out for a week or so until I get paid. Asssssuuuummmiiinng this is even going to be a problem.

Anyway, as you can tell I'm mainly banking on doggy daycare.

---

In other news, I gave buppy an ice cube today. It was soooooooo funny. I wish I had gotten the beginning of it on camera, but I didn't. Only the latter half, which wasn't as funny as the beginning, sadly. He was like whoa whoa whoa what is THIS?! I held it out to him and let him lick it, and then I put it on the floor. It was soo funny. He was jumping at it, nipping it, pouncing on it... I was laughing sooo hard. xD

That's it for today (as if my post wasn't long enough, amirite?). Thanks everyone c:


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## BubbaMoose (May 14, 2013)

That is so, so sad. I can't deal with how irresponsible they were. Rod should still be with his mom and litter mates. 

Good luck to you both.


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## BubbaMoose (May 14, 2013)

Whoa, I'm confused. I didn't see your last post? I saw the one about Rod's age. Now it let me scroll down further and I saw the more recent one? Huh. I use the Dog Forum app on my phone, never a computer so I think that's caused some of the issues I've had with this. Just want to clear that up!


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## CrimsonAccent (Feb 17, 2012)

Doggy daycares vary on quality, you really just have to check the ones in your area out and do some investigation. But maybe someone in your area on the forum can give recommendations?

If worst comes to worst, can your roommate take the puppy out 1-2 (or 3-4) times a day for potty breaks and change the food/water bowls? That's the minimum that needs to be done while you're gone. (Walks/interaction would be ideal, but getting a kong/interactive toy would help, along with a good walk right before you leave. Dogs usually sleep when we're gone anyway). I ask, because motor skills and the like vary after stokes (my aunt had one a few years ago). 

I know you don't want your relatives to teach your dog bad habits, but do you trust them to take your puppy on a potty break? If not, you can set up an ex-pen with a pile of newspapers at the end (don't really want to undermine your progress, but if it works out that no one can take the dog out during the day, probably better to have a designated potty spot IMHO if the dog is going to go anyway). 

Dogs/puppies like to chew on things that smell like their family, it's comforting. Maybe it's a similar concept, but with marking? (Seems a little young for that but you never know?) Unless Rod starts getting sores though, blankets aren't really necessary in a crate, some dogs even prefer to go without them.

EDIT:

Congrats on the job! What will you be doing?


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## OwnedbyACDs (Jun 22, 2013)

I had good luck with the umbilical cord method (tethering the puppy to you or near you if you can't hold a leash) so he can never be out of your sight to potty in the house.

Also if I was you I would forgo the bed and use a crate at night for him until he is older and has "earned" the privilege if being on the bed (if that's what you want), I personally frown upon dogs sleeping on the bed, mine have their own beds and are perfectly content.


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