12 1/2 week old puppy hit her head!

[Bellabean]

That's great!

[DBlain]

so happy to hear that things seem to be OK, she sounds playful which is great,
How is the potty training going, I read where you plan to have her go outside. That is best if it works for your lifestyle. Lola goes outside and alerts me by ringing a bunch of jingle bells hanging from a ribbon on our front door. I am SO happy my neighbor showed me how to train her this way, works like a charm. Let me know if you need help on how to do that.

[MauiGirl]

Originally Posted by DBlain

so happy to hear that things seem to be OK, she sounds playful which is great,
How is the potty training going, I read where you plan to have her go outside. That is best if it works for your lifestyle. Lola goes outside and alerts me by ringing a bunch of jingle bells hanging from a ribbon on our front door. I am SO happy my neighbor showed me how to train her this way, works like a charm. Let me know if you need help on how to do that.

LOL Donna, your Lola is pretty much perfect. Would you please teach my 4 the potty bell trick?

[DBlain]

LOL Sandy she pretty much is perfect and I have to admit that even though I excel at potty training, she almost trained herself. But it does work great, and when we travel she is so relived when I hang it up because she now knows this is where she goes to get let out.

I also have an advantage I work from home and am the only one here for a good part of every day so the consistency helps. If you want to know more, let me know, LOL you know I am always full of advice

[snowfawn]

Originally Posted by DBlain

so happy to hear that things seem to be OK, she sounds playful which is great,
How is the potty training going, I read where you plan to have her go outside. That is best if it works for your lifestyle. Lola goes outside and alerts me by ringing a bunch of jingle bells hanging from a ribbon on our front door. I am SO happy my neighbor showed me how to train her this way, works like a charm. Let me know if you need help on how to do that.

Potty training is going so well with Ellie! Someone is always at home, so getting her outside consistently is not a problem. We keep pee pads down in her playpen and her crate when she's in them, but she seldom has to use them! (Although...I am wondering what will happen when we take up the pads AND when she's old enough to have more freedom in the house...)

One thing that we're working on is getting her to alert us...SOMETIMES she'll bark, but other times, she'll just sit there and stare at me until I pick her up and take her out. I think that her lack of accidents partially comes from her being immediately taken out after she eats, sleeps, and plays...but I hope it also has to do with the fact that she's really getting the hang of it! It would seem that she is.

I would LOVE to be able to properly bell train her! I've just recently started to introduce her to bells...She's not quite sure what to make of them yet though! (She tries to bite at them, but I don't think that she's associating them with going out yet. I would imagine that getting that point across takes some time.) But yes...any help would be so appreciated! I just want to make sure I'm doing everything right.

This is the first house dog that I've ever had/trained myself (and my family hasn't had a dog in the house in years).

[nanahas3]

We did the bells with Laddy and they worked great until the little bugger figured out that if he rang them he got to go outside lol. He would ring them after that even when he didnt have to go because he is an outdoors man lol.

[MauiGirl]

Originally Posted by DBlain

LOL Sandy she pretty much is perfect and I have to admit that even though I excel at potty training, she almost trained herself. But it does work great, and when we travel she is so relived when I hang it up because she now knows this is where she goes to get let out.

I also have an advantage I work from home and am the only one here for a good part of every day so the consistency helps. If you want to know more, let me know, LOL you know I am always full of advice

Donna, I need more than advice, I need an intervention. I think I need you to come over here and re-train my 4 (and me too). Frustrating that there are still a few accidents at 4 and 5 yrs. old, and I can't catch the one doing it, although I'm pretty sure it's Karlee.

[MauiGirl]

Originally Posted by snowfawn

Potty training is going so well with Ellie! Someone is always at home, so getting her outside consistently is not a problem. We keep pee pads down in her playpen and her crate when she's in them, but she seldom has to use them! (Although...I am wondering what will happen when we take up the pads AND when she's old enough to have more freedom in the house...)

One thing that we're working on is getting her to alert us...SOMETIMES she'll bark, but other times, she'll just sit there and stare at me until I pick her up and take her out. I think that her lack of accidents partially comes from her being immediately taken out after she eats, sleeps, and plays...but I hope it also has to do with the fact that she's really getting the hang of it! It would seem that she is.

I would LOVE to be able to properly bell train her! I've just recently started to introduce her to bells...She's not quite sure what to make of them yet though! (She tries to bite at them, but I don't think that she's associating them with going out yet. I would imagine that getting that point across takes some time.) But yes...any help would be so appreciated! I just want to make sure I'm doing everything right.

This is the first house dog that I've ever had/trained myself (and my family hasn't had a dog in the house in years).

Good for you, that is a wonderful start. My 4 each did good at first with pads in an ex-pen. They still did good after earning more house freedom, but eventually used throw rugs and bath mats instead of pads. I got rid of all carpet and have only tile and wood floors, but still wish they would only go outside and not use (or miss) pads.

[DBlain]

Sandy, hmmmm working with four would have to be a challenge, LOL Lola is perfect because she is an only child.

Charlene Lola rang the bell more than she had to for a while as well and so does my neighbor's dog so I think that is somewhat expected. For me once I got to know Lola's potty pattern I would tie the bells up for a few hours after she went out. The key was to remember to take them down. Also do you take your dog out on a leash, since Lola goes out to potty on a leash and it's all business no play I think she is not that inclined to ring it for the heck of it. To me I don't like to confuse going out to potty with just being let out to play. This makes it easy when I am in a hurry to go somewhere since I can get her to go on command.

I think I have had success because of the leash, I had to at first since I had no fence, but even when in a fenced in area she still goes out to potty on a leash. I do this so I know when she goes and what she does. I also can direct her to the areas I want her to potty in, for instance smack in front of my house is very sunny so some days I take her to the side yard where it is shady, I was starting to see burn holes from her urnine in the front yard so I like being able to mix it up. sometimes we fertilize or seed, so I avoid those areas which is hard to do if the dog is not on a leash. It's nice having the control. I also contantly am saying go pee or go poop and she knows the difference, for instance she usually poops on her second time out for the day, but then she will turn to come right back in the house, I say no, you gotta go pee, go pee, go pee and she turns around and goes back to pee. Had I been inside watching her run around the yard I might never see if she went or what she did. My sister just opens the door and her yorkie runs out and then winds up coming back in and peeing, because when she went out she just chased birds or chipmunks.

For the bell, I stared by ringing the bell myself before we would go out, saying go potty, go potty. Then rang them when we came back in saying the same thing. After a week I started lightly touching her paw to the bell, and saying the same thing but did not do it when we came back in. I Did this for a good week, maybe two and eventually one day I heard her do it herself. It's funny because when she really has to go she bats the crap out of the bell, our house is three stories so this is very helpful. I don't want to encourage barking or rely on me seeing her standing at the door. It is also important to always use the same door. when we travel to visit family I bring the bells with me and this makes it easy on her since she knows where to go to get let out.

I know it is different with every dog and some are harder than others, but for me this has worked really well so LOL I like to brag Oh and this Christmas I am the only one allowed to bring a dog to Christmas Eve at my fussy cousin's house since he said I have the only dog that can be trusted not to wet or poop in the house I tried to teach this system to my younger sister but she will not listen to me, so her Lucy has to stay home oh and she will not join yorkie talk either