Sounds like an excellent time frame to me, they need a day or two to quietly get used to their new home.
I was just wondering, is it okay for him to play with shoes? Just noticed he's licking the bottom of my husband's shoes. He normally just likes the laces
Not a good idea! Anything, anything at all you don't want a 30kg dog to do - don't let a puppy do! The games they played as puppies seem to have a special attraction when they are grown up. I used to play a cute little game with Tatze biting the broom and chasing it while I swept up. Now I can't sweep up when she's around, her big girl teeth make short work of any broom! ...
Ooh okay thanks. I thought he might soon get bored with them when his teething/chewing days are over. I better keep the shoes out of sight then
Yes, no shoes or slippers.....I made the mistake of giving Cooper an old shoe to chew on when he was little and now I have to "elevate" shoes and slippers or put them into the closet because he just cant wait to get his mouth on them!
Yes definitely don't let them have anything you don't want them to have. In his first week my mum thought it was a good game to play with Stanley and the sweeping brush.. Still can't sweep my floors with him around now. Thanks mum
Oh I have a determined shoe a broom/mop hunter! Despite never being allowed shoes Bailey makes a determined effort to get him mouth on any shoes/flip flops - as he gets bigger our shoes are getting higher! I have to do all sweeping/mopping before he gets up, as @Boogie says big teeth make short work of brooms and mops!
Thanks all. He had an okay night. Whined but settled and could just hear a lot of panting until about 1am when he went out for the toilet. Then a little whining, then just more panting until 5:15am and I took him out again but he didn't do anything so might need to look at the timings. He went up to bed at 10:30pm. He's been full of energy this morning! He's obviously feeling more settled now. My 3 year old runs away from him when he comes towards her. She prefers it when he's still. I just put her over the baby gate then. At least she's like that rather they trying to get in his face all the time. Loki has been nibbling my 5yo's Pajama shorts but my son is good, he knows to stop any attention with him. I'm sure Loki definitely sees him as more of a play thing, maybe because he's younger and smaller than me. He's quite good with me still. And he's not yet going for any of us like he does his toys etc. He's fond of the metal bars on the baby gate, his crate and in the trampoline outside.
So I'm catching most of Loki's toilet needs in time. Most of his 1's and 2's he does outside and he has the odd accident inside, mostly 1's. Using Simple Solution to clear up. I know he's only 8 weeks, but how old are they generally when they start 'catching on' and start sitting by the door to go out? I always say 'hurry up' when he's emptying himself outside then praise him. It's easy to get them mostly outside as I take him after eating, sleeping etc. It's the ones where he does a 1 outside then wants to come in and does a 1 or 2 5 minutes later. Yet sometimes it will be a couple of hours until he needs to go out again
Bailey was about 12 weeks old when we cottoned on to the "Children of the Corn" spooky stare and his meander to the kitchen was his I need the toilet look and walk. Now at 6 months old that is still all we get! If we are out and at someone's house he will whine and do this odd high pitched bark at us, but at home just the stare! Even after we had cottoned on to the look there were a few times that he just did not give any warning at all - there we were being all smug, our dog was house trained and he just got up and peed all over the fire grate right in front of us - did we crash to earth with a bang! From other things I've seen on here they all develop at different times, bit like babies do. For example Bailey has never wanted to go out during the night, and he has to be encouraged out first thing in the morning, and if we have to have an early start he just lays on the settee looking disgruntled and really put out that hes been woken up and he will not go out at all! My sister's dog who is 10 weeks older than Bailey was taken outside every couple of hours during the night for the first month or so, and he still wakes them at 5.30am to go out each morning , but luckily that's when her husband gets up anyway, but to me that sounds horrid!
From memory, it takes a few weeks. I don't think the problem is them catching on, I think they just don't have enough bladder control to "hold" it, and they are not aware themselves that they need to go until it is nearly too late. Pongo learned VERY fast that having a wee outside earned him a treat, and if the door was open he would make a sprint for it....but only after checking that we were watching! When he did have accidents he always looked disappointed ("drat, that's a missed opportunity...."). He also develop a range of tactics to increase the treat supply. He became expert at the "interupted wee" - that is, do a little wee, come back to mum for a treat, go and do another little wee, come back for a treat, do another little wee, back for a treat. His record was a five-wee extravaganza. We didn't mind because it was very cute and must have been building up fantastic bladder control and pelvic floor muscles! He also had a nice line in the "fake wee"..... when there was nothing more to deliver, but he would still trot off, check we were watching, squat in "the position" with a look of intense concentration, then trot back hopefully. It didn't work very often, but he kept trying...
Okay thanks. I'm sure he knows when he's going to do it as he goes sniffing around the other end of the kitchen, not the end he normally hangs around in. And sometimes does a little whine. So I just think he doesn't know that outside is the only place I want him to do it in yet. It's just whether I catch it in time as he's quick
Are you giving him treats when he does it in the right place? MUCH more effective than just praise.... we all know the way to a labrador brain is through his stomach!
No I haven't been giving treats, just praise as I don't remember reading in Pippa's book about giving treats after, I thought it said just praise but I'll have another look. I wasn't sure if I wanted him to have treats just for emptying. Does everyone else do that?
It certainly worked for me! Just a small treat to make him really, really want to go outside not inside. You can phase it out once you know he has got the idea well-embedded in the brain. (Actually we still have a routine here last thing at night, when I walk him round the garden for his "last chance" wee, that he gets a treat for going. He doesn't need it now, of course, but it is just a sort of habit and a way of saying goodnight....).
Stanley still gets a treat for going outside now. Just a piece of kibble or something. He doesn't really give any warning he needs to go now, he just doesn't go in the house anymore and I still let him out every couple of hours. If the door is just open he'll go in and out a few times to get your attention until he goes. Then he stares at you until he gets a "good boy" and his treat. I still say "wee wee" or "poo poo" when he goes. Now when I take him out on a night or through the day he'll go on command. Took a few weeks though until he fully got it, but he had a UTI when we got him which made him much harder to toilet train.
Okay I might give it ago thanks. In the last hour he did 2 wees and 1 poop outside, then half a wee inside before I picked him up and he did the rest outside
I'm pretty sure I dredged up every old toilet training thread in the early days and yes, everybody treats (I'm sure Pippa says to treat on the main site?) Don't expect miracles for a few more weeks, it's not a matter of them "not getting it" but of the bladder control simply not being there when they're young.
I found treats worked very well for Tatze, Twiglet and Gypsy. Kara, no! She was too smart and did half a wee then looked for a treat, then needed another wee half an hour later as she wasn't 'empty' the first time!
Rightio then I'll get the treats ready for toilet time then. Poor Loki me making him do without. Though he has been quite happy with praise he gives a good tail wag
