New to the board and need advise Hi everyone.The first thing I'd like to say is I've never read a more supportive message board! Dignity is 11 weeks old. We got her when she was 8 weeks. My husband and I are both home so she's never been left alone. She has a pee pad in the laundry room, we've baby-gated off areas to our house but she has access to the great room. I'm trying to crate train her but it's hard when one of us is always around. She's been doing OK with the pee pads, sometimes even going on her own. When we take her sometimes she goes and sometimes she refuses and then turns around and pees or poops right in front of me. I was away for a couple of days and she was perfect for my husband. Took herself to her pad EVERY time. She even barked once when she had pooped and he didn't see it and she wanted her treat. As soon as I came home she completely regressed. I don't expect her to be housebroken but now we know that she knows what to do. Help and is it OK to keep her crated even though she is with us all the time? |
It sounds like she see's your husband as the leader, when she needs to see both of you in that role. Who feeds and takes care of all her needs. You need to split that responsibility. I would suggest that you take on that role for a few days, you be the one to only feed her or walk her let her see you in the role as leader. Also it is very important that you remain calm at all times when dealing with her, puppies are like little kids only more high tech. They read your energy as well as hearing you. In other words your body language is just as important as your speech. Given the opportunity they will take advantage of any situation, and think about it if you had that little cute face would'nt you use it as much as you can? |
To crate train or not? :D Gez, alot of people do it and are very successful. I, on the other hand, do not have the heart for it - especially if I was home. But... that's always an individual choice. I know that some of the books suggest you time when you feed your baby and when she needs to do (or does) her business. This would give you an idea of how long it takes for her to be ready to do her business and then you can be there to put her on her pads or go outside. Repeat behavior Also, do you free feed? I did when my 2 were pups mostly because my Mia was so little that I was happy for anything that she'd eat. But now I find it so much better to put the food down for a set period of time, pick it up - even if they haven't eaten it all, then repeat for however many times you need to feed (2, 3, or 4). But this makes mine hungry enough to eat the food right away instead of nibble - which can make them fat. Also you have that control of when they eat, then when they do their business. I also agree with cdawnfine. Hubby used to feed ours everyday but has been at a new job and works different hours. I feed them now, and you can see a difference on who they respond to. So to share that would be the best when you both are home. One thing to remember is that they are terriers and can be stubborn. It took my Mia just over a year to be completely pee pad trained. My Max is only 10 months and I'm sure he'll take longer as he is so full of it that he didn't have a clue as to what we were talking about until this last month! :eek: I know it gets frustrating but when you look at their little faces.... it's worth it! I hope this made sense. Good Luck and Welcome to YorkieTalk! Do you have any pictures of your baby? We LOVE pictures. |
I want to wish you a great big YT welcome. So glad you decided to join us. I for one have never crate trained any of my dogs. I can't resist the sad little faces when they look at me with those big eyes. I will say that I have put dogs in crate if I had to go to the store or something before they were housebroken but then put the crates away as soon as they were trained. Good luck with your new little baby. |
:wavey: Welcome to YT. Can't wait to see pix This is site has great info on crate training & how long a puppy should be in one http://www.inch.com/~dogs/cratetraining.html |
WELCOME TO YORKIETALK!!!!!!!!!!! |
Thank you for the advice. She's so cute! She's a Yorkie mix. I will post pictures. |
Welcome to YT. Bet your baby is real cute! Show her off to us!!!:p |
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