Hello All! We just picked up our first puppy a few days ago! His name is Riley and he has been absolutely awesome so far, and although we did a lot of research prior to making the decision to get him and we have been reading alot of the different threads on this forum, which has been extremely helpful in finding answers to some of our questions ... had a couple of random questions that i was hoping people couple help us with: 1 - we have decided not to use pee pads, and have been taking him out everytime he needs to go to the bathroom ... and so far he has been doing pretty well, not a lot of accidents, and the accidents he did have, were our fault, we just didnt take him out in time because we were having too much fun playing with him ... although he has been good so far, today is the first day we will have him where it will be raining outside ... does anyone have any suggestions on making this outing successful? he is only 8 weeks, and im not sure if its because he is so young but he doesnt lift his leg when he pees, so i am constantly following him around and making sure that he goes, but i feel like that might be difficult in the rain .... also, any suggestions on how best to bring him back in and dry/clean him off would be helpfuL! 2 - like i mentioned we decided not to use pee pads, because we thought it might confuse him as he got older and we would want him only to go outside ... if anyone used peepads when they were young did you come across any difficulty when he got older and had to transition him to just going outside? thanks in advance for all your help!
At 8 weeks, puppies don't lift their legs. This normally starts happening for boys around 6 months of age. You will be able to tell he's peeing because of how he stands when he does it. He'll squat to pee. An Aquasorb towel is handy for a quick wipe over if it's raining out.
Hi and welcome - as @Snowshoe says boys don't start to lift their leg until around 6 months (my boy was around that age when he started...it also took a while for him to get it right too). Until then he squatted - it's a very definite position you will be able to tell. We initially had puppy pads down, but after Bailey totally destroyed three of them in quick succession I didn't bother with them - it was easier clearing up the odd accident than picking up shredded pee pads! We keep a pile of old towels by the back door to rub Bailey down - I'm sure its the only reason he will go out when it is raining is to get a bit wet so he can have towel cuddles afterwards!
I didn't use pads but used a few bits of newspaper by the back door. During the day she weed outside with a rare wee accident indoors. During the night for the first couple or so weeks she slept in her crate with the door open and got up to wee on the newspaper. After a very short time she stopped using the paper and stayed dry. I left it a bit to be sure than removed the paper and locked her crate door at night. So I have been lucky with my pup in that the transition from paper to only using the garden was quick and seamless but all pups are different so it depends a bit on the pup I guess.
It was @snowbunny who said that but yes, Oban started leg lifting at 8 months. It was so funny to see him, a couple of times he literally lost his balance and fell over. AND, one of the best things about this starting leg lifting is how my OH reacted. He was thrilled to pieces to see his dog peeing like a big boy. LOL. No peepads here either. It was winter too. Still, out in the snow to pee and poop. If anything I think the cold speeded up the bathrooming, get out, get it done, get back inside to the warm house. Well, except for playing in the snow.
Oops sorry @Snowshoe. What is it with our OH's and being proud as punch when our boy pups start lifting their leg? Bailey had an oops moment...lifting his leg and ended up having a poo instead and then hopping along on three legs while peeing just cause some interesting smell wafted across and he wanted to investigate!
Welcome to you and Riley from me, Hattie 9 years and our rescue boy Charlie 6 years. Enjoy the forum! xx
Hi and welcome from me and Harley I used puppy pads for one day and decided against them. I took Harley out on a regular basis, even if it was raining. She was quick in picking up that the quicker she went, the quicker she came in for play. Good luck whatever way you decide to go.
Welcome! Sparky and I are in Dirtee Joizee too! My boy never grew fond of pee pads. He always went on grass. I even bought him a patch of fake grass where u can put pee pads under. He loved tearing it up including pee pads. I found it was much easier to clean up pee without pee pad parts and fake grass pieces lying about. Besides it was a rare occasion that he had an accident in his pen/crate. I used pee pads instead to soak up the occasional accident. He is now 7 months old and I am waiting for him to start lifting his leg and marking. None so far. But I am keeping my eye out. For the rain. Don't worry about it. A pee he should definitely do regardless so long as enough time has passed (30 mins or so). A poo on the other hand, at that age I would give him an extra 5 mins for him to poo before going back in if he doesn't. I only stayed longer if it was supposed to be his last potty for the night before he gets crated.
I'm on day four with an 8 week old too. In rainy England, I've struggled with the wet paws and being muddy when I bring her back in. So, by the door that I take her out of I've got a microfibre towel and I dry her paws off quite vigouresly. She is used to it now and and it gets her used to being touched firmly.
Welcome to you from Mags, Tatze and Mollie Tatze is my pet dog, a black Lab three years old. Mollie is my fourth Guide Dog puppy, a black Lab and she's sixteen weeks old. For drying wet and muddy dogs I use an aquasorb towel - it's brilliant. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Groomers-A...1484758094&sr=1-1&keywords=aquasorb+dog+towel You don't dry the towels, you rinse them, wring them out and put them in the container damp. ...
Hello and welcome from me and Lilly! Lilly is a girl and can lift her leg and pee up a tree - almost as good as a boy
thank you all for the warm welcome and the words of advice!! ... i thought i would give you guys a quick update ... we ventured out into the rain, and he did great ... seemed a bit shocked at first, but after a minute he seemed fine ... i didnt know about the aquasorb towels, but i tried the idea with keeping towels at the door and then we just wrapped him up and dried him off when he came in ... he didnt seem to love that as we tried it again today and he resisted a lot...its a pretty soft towel, but we just placed an order for the aquasorb towels ... fingers crossed that they come in time for the rain showers this weekend in jersey! good to know that its normal that he isnt picking up his leg at all ... still trying to pick up on his stance/signal on when he is peeing without constantly having to bend down and stare....seems at times he squats and then at times he is almost mid stride when he decides to pee my wife and I are still toying wiht the ideaof the pee pad....our initial concerns were that he would just tear them up and that the apartment would constantly smell....we bought simple solution for his accidents (which we have already used a bunch of time ) ... but not sure if the pee pad would perpetuate it ... we may end up trying it, but we are going to tough it out for the rest of the week and see how it goes he had a another pee accident in the apartment, but again this was our fault, we tried to time waking him up when we were going to feed him dinner (he had been napping for 2.5 hours) and then when he got up he came for his food, i took a few minutes too long, and he ended up peeing ... just need to get better at sticking to taking him out when he wakes up one of the issues we are having though is that we still quite havent figured out his poo schedule yet ... seems a bit sporadic ... we are currently feeding him 3 times a day...7am/1pm/7pm ... but feels like he decides to go poop at random times ... has anyone found a general time that 8/9 week old pups typically have to go after a meal? also curious about experiences on biting .... ive read a bunch of threads, but curious as to whether or not we should be telling him NO when he tries to bite our hands when we are playing .... he isnt biting extremely hard, but it seems like he is going for the hands alot more even when i dont have a toy in my hand and im just tapping the ground and playing with him ... he is definteiely teething, he loves chewing his crate ... we have a bunch of chew toys for him, but going to keep trying more and see if i can get him to stop chewing the crate also wanted to get ahead of his shedding … our vet recommended the Furminator, but I read some reviews and seemed pretty aggressive for a puppy his age…has anyone ever tried to use one? And not that it is such a big surprise but riley has brought a new smell to our place, and we are trying to steam our floors more often to help cover it up … we are also trying leaving baking soda out to try and absorb some of the new odors … is there anything else that you have found to be effective … we also read some articles on rubbing a bit of the baking soda into his coat to help absorb the odors, but we don’t know anyone personally that has done that so I was hoping to hear from someone that has tried it thanks again all!
You have a yellow lab. 24/7 shedding. Even if you brush him. I was petting my boy earlier and I can see the fur just flying him off him.
He won't start shedding for a while yet Puppy pads soon get shredded, but they are very useful for mopping up accidents, I cut them in four - and accidents will happen for a long time yet! Mollie is 16 weeks and still has the occasional one - this is not at all unusual. Poops are random until about 5 months, when a good routine is usually established. ...
Coco didn't cock is leg until he was well over 2 years old! Perhaps my dog is lazy I wouldn't bother with "no". I mean how many times to we say "no" without thinking? - it will be meaningless to a dog, we use it in so many different circumstances. Best to withdraw attention for a few moments, but you have to be consistent. If he keeps at it, pop a chew toy into his mouth. If the "new odours" you are are experiencing from pee/poo then clean up the spots with an enzyme cleaner - takes away the smells that are invisible to us, but that signal to the pup "go here". Riley looks so sweet in you avatar. A contented puppy.
Biting is a puppy form of play and as he gets older it will get harder - always have something to redirect his mouth onto rather than your hand. If he is determined the withdraw from the game, stand up and turn your back. Just for a few seconds until he calms down then start playing again - rinse and repeat. We tried the pee pad route but they just got shredded within seconds of them going down - gave up after two days of clearing them up and as Boogie said I just used them for mopping up accidents - I even at one point tried to slide a pee pad under Bailey when he was going and it just resulted in him moving - two lots to clear up Not heard of putting baking soda onto the dogs coat - Bailey was very pongy when we first got him I used a scented spay on him that I got from the pet shop for puppies but we all hated the smell! He had a bath after two weeks as it was warm day. There started his love of being towel dried - we made it into a game which he still loves today. Score so far Bailey 6 v towels 0 Hairs will get everywhere - to begin with we just used a standard puppy brush and comb, but we now have a furminator - best thing ever! Baileys now got his adult coat which really does go everywhere!
