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Originally Posted by BigBazi  We washed her with Dawn dish liquid and got about 20-30 fleas off her body. She stopped itching and scratching herself as much-- so I guess that's a good thing. I am very disappointed in the breeder. She not only gave me a tiny baby, but also one with fleas. She also doesn't seem like shes been trained for peepads or anything. She has had three accidents so far on the carpet. Three or four other times she went right next to the pee pad. She did poopoo outside last night though. But this morning I had to keep pushing her towards the pee pad until she went poopoo on them.
Each time she had a accident, I said "NO" or "BAD" and put her in her crate. Is that the right thing to do? I am veryyy much in love with her already, and want to make this relationship work!
Also the breeder gave us a small little bag of puppy food. they are round droplets and she said to just put them in a bowl and she will eat however much she wants. Is that right??
Pleaaaaaase get back to me. Anyone! Thanks in advance! |
Feeding her is very important and you need to weigh her as well. Give yourself a starting point to measure from. She should gain weight predictably from this point. The average puppy will eat a maximum of 1/4 cup of premium food per sitting and should consume about 1/2 cup per day. I would suggest measuring the food so you will know how much she is eating and whether it's as much as the day before. If she eats at least 1/4 but less than 1/2 cup per day it's ok as long as she's consistent.
It is highly unlikely that she has had ANY potty training at all so assume you are starting from scratch. Refrain from scolding her or using words like no or bad. Choose a startling noise, I use AAACK, to interupt the potty and move her to the pee pad. Stand next to the pee pad and try to catch her in the act of peeing on it so you can
praise her gently while she is in the act. Follow this with an immediate food treat, before she even gets off of the pad. Positive reinforcement will give you much better results than negative. The food treat should be something savory, moist and soft in texture, and very small. I like the Bil-Jac line of treats. The idea is for her to associate the act of potty as a thing that pleases you when she does it properly. If she thinks it upsets you she'll just go do it in the closet.
Feed her in her crate. This will encourage her to keep it clean and that will make it perfect for use as a holding area to wait while the urge to potty grows. Once you're confident the urge to potty is strong you can take her outside or to the pad and encourage her to go. This gives you the time to have the treat ready and control the entire experience. Once you witness her making a potty on the pad or outside reward her with play time, time to run in the house. She should be given no unsupervised free time outside of the crate, if someone is not supervising her she should be in the crate. This keeps accidents to a minimum and builds the relationship you want with her. This is not to say leave her in the crate all the time, rather to spend as much time with her as you possibly can, but when you can't watch her don't let her roam...put her in her crate.
A couple of months of planned, consistent discipline will pay back a life time of good behavior.