Otis will be three months this Sunday. At the moment, he has his own room with his crate in it, its a bit difficult to describe, but my stairs are open, and he is the other side of them so he can hear me, he also gets used to noises from the street as its the front room. Its a nice bright room, and I keep the window a bit open so its cool. His crate door is nearly always open, I only put him in his crate when I go out, which at the most is an hour and a half, I also leave it open at night. I go in there frequently, to cuddle him and use the phone. What I am wondering though, is should I now let him roam around the whole of the downstairs, so he is with me more ? So he isn't separated from me ? I feel quite happy to do this, and have him snuggle on the couch with me in the evenings. He does mouth quite a lot, but he is quite a chilled pup really. He needs to be watched a bit, because hes likely to pick up anything to chew too. Any advice ? Thanks everyone, hope your all enjoying your pups and dawgies X
Re: Otis and his room Penny is now 13 weeks and we have just let her have the roam of the downstairs (she used to only have the kitchen). She responds very well to me saying NO! and drops whatever she is doing immediately so making sure she isn't getting up to no good has been fairly easy. The only issue we have encountered is she has had a couple of accidents as I think she sometimes forgets where the back door is, whereas when she was in the kitchen it was more direct. Aside from that, we are so much happier now she is able to have more space in the house to roam and like you say have cuddles on the sofa. I would say go for it, and just keep a close eye on what's going on. Good luck!
Re: Otis and his room Hi, Thanks. Have you done any special training to get her to drop things? Otis runs away with things usualy ! x
Re: Otis and his room I would definately say yes , whilst you are around , allow him to be with you ,it helps to build a bond . Re the running off with things , offer a trade, a tasty treat in exchange and, as Otis hands over , say Leave at the very same time , then treat and masses of praise, they do get the picture eventually
Re: Otis and his room I have only experiences with one pup - Charlie. When we let him outside his own room to the kitchen we had a few "accidents" - it was like he thought the new space and the garden were the same. So we had to go back to being ultra careful on the house training for a bit. When we expanded his space again, into carpeted areas, we had to be like hawks over him. Might just be Charlie though! Plus, I have some silk rugs, that I saved up to buy, and there was no way he was having "accidents" on those! He seems to be 100% reliable now (4.5 months) - no doubt those will be famous last words!
Re: Otis and his room Hi, No, not any special training to get her to drop things. She just understands NO!, probably from hearing it a billion times and then having the item removed or being taken away from whatever it may be. However, when Faye attempts to tell her she does not listen. Maybe it's the tone of voice or maybe she sees me as the dominant one I don't know. I am just putting it down to being the one who has spent the most hours with her at this point therefore there is greater understanding. I think repetition and consistency is key, I speak to friends and family all the time and they ask things like 'does she have an old pair of shoes to chew?', to which I say no, because then she won't be able to differentiate what shoes are new and old and think it's okay to chew them all. I think you just need to keep it very consistent and keep a watchful eye. Penny seems so much more relaxed when she is able to be near me now, as we speak she is just led at my feet chilling out.
Re: Otis and his room I say go for it. Have a sweep of the downstairs first. Do it on your hands and kness at puppy height, and be aware of anything Otis could sink his teeth into. And clear all loose items. My Dad says the only time our living room is tidy is when we have another pup! I could be offended by that, but as it's true.... ;D It's also a good opportunity for pup to learn the route to the back door for toileting, from any where downstairs, as that's something thekavs mentions. Our dogs including Charlie the pup have the whole run of the downstairs. I'm really lucky though to work from home, I'm here all the time, back doors always open, and as the other dogs are going for a wee all times, Charlie copies, so we've never had an accident indoors. She's even starting to go toilet on command now, which is SO handy if you're going in the car with them, or you have to pop out for 20 mins or what ever.
