# Puppy Training my Samoyed.



## SamoyedDad (Jun 10, 2013)

Hey Everyone, 
I'm new to these forums and a new puppy owner. I had a dog growing up, but my mom did most of the heavy lifting while I was at school, so most of this is all new to me.

I recently bought a Samoyed puppy named Lilah. She's such a sweet little dog and I love her to death. However, she does have a few issues that I would like to ask some advice on. She's currently almost 10 weeks old, which I know is still a baby.

Here's a pic: http://imgur.com/wN9lNl7

1. She HATES being crated. When she's out she's either playing or asleep. Either way she very much likes being around me. She's actually taken to sleeping ON my feet. If I have to leave her for a while(I play hockey, Grocery shopping, etc.) she cries her little head off. I tested her the other day with a long trip and she wasn't barking when I got home(2 hours ish), but I live in a condo, and its not acceptable to have her barking for an hour at a time, not to mention she must be stressed out in there. If I see her sleeping anywhere else I usually pick her up and try and put her in her crate. This worked for about a day, and now she just cries/digs/barks to try and get out.

Night time is the same ordeal. My Fiancee and I have actually had to sleep in den(her room) with her each night. I know this is probably a really bad idea, but its the only way we can get her to stop barking/panting/digging at the bottom of the crate and go to sleep! If I stick a finger in the crate she will actually curl up against my finger and sleep.

2. Potty Training: I know she super young, but this seems to be going backwards. Day 2 and 3 she walked right over to her puppy pad and peed on it several times and actually went full days without accidents. Now she MIGHT be 1/5 for getting it on the pads. We usually take her out in 4 hour intervals. and right after she eats. If I see her sniffing around I'll go put her on the pad by the door. She used to sniff the pad and pee. Now she will just walk off it and pee somewhere else(usually in the area around the door, but not on the pad)

As I mentioned, I know its early, but Samoyeds are known to be very stubborn and I want to get these 2 things corrected as soon as possible.

Let me know if you need any more information.

Thanks!


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## Kyndall54 (Apr 26, 2013)

At ten weeks I was still taking Ammy out every half hour, 4 hours is a long time for a puppy that young to hold it. When I first got her every time she went outside to go to the bathroom I said 'get busy! with lots of treats of course ' And now she knows that means go to the bathroom please. Maybe try something like that in the pee pads or outside, it helped a lot for me. 

I think a lot of puppies initially hate the crate. To get Ammy to sleep the first couple days I got her I ended up sleeping on the floor next to the crate just so she would be quiet and I could get at least 5 min of sleep. Youtube crate games, they help a lot. I would crate Ammy when I was home and then reward her with high value treats whenever she was quiet. If you let her out everytime she makes noise she's going to learn making noise gets her out of the crate everytime. Give her a kong ir something to chew on when she's in there. Ammy is 5 months now and is potty trained and also enjoys her crate .

Would love to see some pictures of your fluffy girl!


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## Amaryllis (Dec 28, 2011)

Why not put the crate in your room? She's never been alone before and she's scared. You're not "giving in" when you help her feel safe, you're being a good owner and building a solid relationship built on trust.

As for potty training, welcome to the next few months. Puppies physically cannot control their bladders until around 6 months of age. Until then, potty training is all about you. Ammy's just along for the ride on that one.


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## SamoyedDad (Jun 10, 2013)

The problem with having the crate in my room is that I also have 2 cats. The bedroom is where they eat/sleep/bathroom. This has been made a safe environment for them. 

Thats good to know about the bladders and such. Really I just want to make sure I'm not doing anything wrong I know she would much rather go outside, as when we are out there she takes full advantage. I'm going to try and up the frequency of our walks and I'm definitely going to try the crate games. She has a Kong, but unfortunately doesn't really care for anything I stick in there. And toys seem to be forgotten about as soon as she's in the crate. Its just a focus to get out.


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## Amaryllis (Dec 28, 2011)

You can't really go from no crate to 8 hours of crate and think that a kong is going to make that okay. You really need to start with short times in the crate with the door open and work your way up to to longer times, longer times with the door closed and longer times alone.

I will say this: Look for the good. It's far easier and better overall if you can focus your energies on finding the good things she does and rewarding those as opposed to looking for the bad things she does and punishing those. The more good you see, the more you can reward, the more good she'll do. If you reward even half a second of calm in a crate with the door open, that makes the next session with the crate that much better. If you like it when she sits next to you calmly, reward that. If you want her to look at you, reward that. If you want her to chew on her toys, reward that.


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## packetsmom (Mar 21, 2013)

We have 2 cats which often sleep with us in the bedroom, but we also keep our dog crate in there. At night, the pup goes in and a sheet goes over the crate. Cat problem solved.  I don't see any reason why you shouldn't be able to have a dog crate in a room with cats, since the dog will be in the crate and the cats will have free run. Crate games and also making sure she's good and tired at bedtime with training and play will also help.

Potty training is a journey and takes a long time. The more often you take her out and praise and treat her for going potty out there, the smoother it will go. With a puppy, I just plan on spending LOTS of time outdoors. It's much easier to tire them out outside, much easier to potty train the more you're outside, and there is far less for them to get into. The more time you can spend outside, the easier raising a puppy can be and the quicker they learn to relax and settle down inside. It really helps when the weather cooperates! 

And pictures! I bet she's an adorable ball of fluff right now.


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## samshine (Mar 11, 2011)

Hi SammyDad,

Nice to see another Samoyed owner here. I've had the breed since 1984 and think they are just wonderful (but not for everybody of course.)

As you are seeing, Samoyeds are very people oriented and do not like to be isolated. If she is crated in the bedroom the cats will soon get used to it. Also, having her crated next to your bed will help with house training because you will hear her fuss if she needs to go out. Samoyeds also need a lot of family time, and for a dog sleeping in the same room actually does count as spending time together. I had a very good trainer teach me this.

As far as barking when you leave, for now just try to keep her crated away from your neighbor's walls. That should fade in a short time, a week or so. One general rule for living with a Samoyed: never ever reward a dog that is barking. What ever they want, they don't get it if they are barking. Not dinner, not going out the front door, not pets, not getting out of the crate, nada. The breed can be vocal but I have found that it is manageable if you start right from the beginning. This rule is easily learned by a puppy, but much harder for an adult. I had a Samoyed in for training and she had learned to be a terrible attention barker. I had to adopt a strict "barking dogs are invisible" rule. Took about three days but she figured it out. But since barking was the default she learned as a puppy, she would often backslide. For your pup, let her learn "not barking" as her default. 

As far as the housebreaking, I would skip using puppy pads entirely. It's much easier to just housebreak outside from day one. If you do successfully get her trained to the pads (which is a project in itself) then transitioning to outside will be very difficult. Breaking an already established habit is much harder than starting with a clean slate, and again you may find that for the rest of her life going in the house is an option because it was her default as a pup.

Housebreaking is simply a process of preventing all indoor accidents, and encouraging going outside. To prevent accidents, you will need to increase your supervision and take her out more often. When you first get up, after they eat, again before you leave in the morning, every time they wake up, every time they finish playing, just all the time really. I've had young pups that needed to go out every half hour or so (that one like to drink lots of water) and some that could go an hour and a half. You need to keep the mindset that every single accident is a failing on YOUR part. (because it is :redface: ) There's one old training joke about housebreaking. If your puppy has an accident, take a newspaper, roll it up, and hit yourself over the head while repeating "I should have been watching the puppy!"

Yes, puppies are a TREMENDOUS amount of work. At least with kids the lessons are spread out over years. But then again, at least with puppies the hard work phase is short. Short but intense. If you put in the work now, it will pay off in spades. Do a really solid job of housebreaking early, and your dog will be less likely to backslide in the housebreaking department for the next 13 years. All the behaviors you teach right now will be long lasting.

Do you have plans set up for socialization and puppy kindergarten? Samoyeds are great but they really do need training because they can be headstrong. 

Now don't panic, they really are great dogs! Funny, playful, happy. They just make me smile. Oh, and don't give her freedom too soon. Sams are renowned for being playful. However, this exact same personality trait without supervision is the "get into all sorts of trouble" gene. They are like the exasperating kid that you secretly love the most. arty: Enjoy.


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## SamoyedDad (Jun 10, 2013)

Thank you SO much for your reply Samshine. I do take her out 5-6 times over the course of a day, but we live in a condo, so its quite a chore once I notice that she has 'the look' Additionally, there is an elevator workers union strike and this leads so the odd long wait at the elevators. She's getting better for sure, and the goal is to wean her off puppy pads altogether in a month or so. The MAIN reason they are a necessity right now is that I work from home and at times I have calls that are 2 hours in length. This is a guaranteed bathroom time. Oddly enough, since I first posted she's gotten a lot better again.

She'll be attending her first puppy class next week  We are also going to a cottage this weekend with friends who are all bringing their dogs as well. The community I live in is a huge doggy community, and we meet half a dozen dogs every walk we go on.


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## samshine (Mar 11, 2011)

Good to hear that the training and socializing plans are in place! If I was in your place, I would choose to crate rather than use the puppy pads as much as possible. Would she be quiet if you moved the crate right next to you when you are on the phone? With puppies, I often set up a bedroom crate and a living room crate. (I have a lot of crates 

Raising a dog can seem like one step forward and two steps backwards sometimes but it sounds like you are on the right track.


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## PatriciafromCO (Oct 7, 2012)

she gorgeous congratulations


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## Dabs (Jun 11, 2013)

As far as the crating, what you need to do is make the crate a positive place for her.
Put down soft blankets/bedding, (if you haven't already) and leave a treat/favorite toy in there for her while the crate door is left open. Do this consistently every day while you're home, so that she starts to associate the crate as a positive place with her favorite things.

When she gets comfortable being in the crate with the door open, then start closing the door. A crate is supposed to be the dogs own personal space, like a den, but too often, dogs end up hating their crate and associating it as a negative place.

It's important for you to crate her like this for a short period of time while you're home, so that she doesn't negatively associate crate time with your absence.

But the treat/toy should help her feel more comfortable. Hope this helps!


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## techdogs (May 24, 2013)

When we first got our new puppy it wouldn't even look at the crate let alone want to be inside it. So I started feeding him inside it and I wore and old work shirt all day and put that in there with him now he loves it if his crate door is open he will bolt to the thing in lay in it.

As for house breaking I just always have used the be consistent on letting him out and it worked. He is 16 weeks and sleeps upstairs with us uncrated all night so it will get better just keep with it

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