Hi All, I hope everyone is well and enjoying their fluffy little friends. I have a couple of questions that have come up over the last few days: 1) Toilet training has gone well since day 1 (thanks to our breeder) but we have now reached a point where Tatti (this is the puppy) sits at the door to be let out to use the toilet. 'yey' I hear you say? well, I think she cottoned on pretty soon that if she sits nice and quietly by the door then we will take her outside so now I think she does it whenever she is not getting enough attention (as well as when she needs the toilet). I have a rule that I don't play with her until after she has been to the toilet but sometimes (when you know its been a while since the last number 2) she needs a little encouragement to move things along with a bit of running around so I do play a bit of fetch. Does anyone have any tips for how I separate her behaviours for attention seeking and needing the toilet (without ending up with an accident)? 2) Tatti's stuffed toys are starting to smell, a couple of them were brought from her first home and i'm reluctant to wash them if they are still a source of comfort to her. She has been with us for just over 2 weeks now, she seems completely settled but should I allow her to keep at least one smelly toy? 3) I just saw a post asking for help with a 'lie down cue'. I have tatti doing lots of things well, including lie down but I only achieve this through pointing at the floor with a treat in hand and releasing it when she lies down. I have moved up to holding the treat in the other hand so there is a slight delay in her receiving the treat but I still have to have my finger on the floor. Ideally I want to be able to say this from across the room so how do I take this up a notch to have her responding to the verbal cue rather than the visual cue? Do I have to say it as she does it naturally so that she associates the act with the word? Tatti has just had her second lot of injections so we can actually leave the house without having to carry her everywhere from next week. No doubt I will soon be asking for help with lead training (as we have to walk down a road to get to the park where I will of course take her off the lead and perfect our recall and heel work). I cannot believe how quickly they grow. In 2 weeks she has put on 2.5 kilos!! I don't even manage that over Christmas and that's a much lower proportion of my body weight
Tips on how to separate attention seeking behaviour and toilet needs isn't something I have had so can't help you there. As for the stuffed toys, I would probably keep 1 unwashed for another week or so, but wash all the others. As for the lie down cue, the fact that she is lying down when you point is really good for her age. It will take a while to train consistently to get her to respond to a verbal cue from across the room. I find my girl responds more to my body language and cues rather than by my verbal cue, I would say the word as she lies down naturally and reward when she does it either prompted or unprompted. I still point to the floor (Harley is now 2), but don't need to bend down to physically touch the floor anymore. I bet you are excited about being able to take her out Time goes so quickly from them being a small pup to being fully grow . Enjoy the puppy stages
Hi, I am so excited to take her out. I have serious cabin fever and she has so much energy. I read an article on the site about prolonging the delays between treats and have done really well with the lie down actually. She will stay there much longer and now doesn't need me to hold my finger on the floor until she is fully down. I do still have to touch the floor but this is still real progress in a day. Very proud of how quickly she is learning. I wish I could say the same about her biting but hey- everyone has a weakness I guess Thanks for responding. It is good to know she is doing well on some fronts
