Zeebo is now 9 weeks old but we have had him home since 7 weeks and 6 days. My thinking is to concentrate for now on socialising, toilet training and crate training. The first two nights he howled and cried for someone to keep him company at night. He would not stay in his crate. He was confined to the kitchen at night and to try and keep some peace for the neighbours I slept in a chair beside the gate in the kitchen door. All day I kept giving small treats in the crate and within 2 days the crate was his safe place and he would go in the crate and nap of his own accord. If we closed the door, different story and he would start to howl. Using click for quiet I worked from 1 minute at a time followed by a click, a treat and some love. Obviously kept stretching that out and he will now nap for a few hours and sleep overnight (22:00 - 06:00). We are now working on the click for quiet when he is allowed the full kitchen. He is obviously feeling safe in his crate/den but exposed in the kitchen. Toilet training is going well-ish. No accidents in crate. He won't go outside, but neither would I these days Its cold and rainy in Manchester, so I have decided to concentrate on getting him trained to puppy pads. He is almost 100% on the pads. I can only remember 2 accidents in the week he has been with us. Sometimes a poo ends up just off the pad, as he forgets just because his paws are on the pad does not mean his bum is over the pad? That is improving and I think solved now. He pees on one pad and poos on another. Will start trying to move to one pad soon. Not sure when we will take the plunge and move to outside. So far he has not met a person or a cat he does not like. Our two cats are of divided opinion. One isn't too keen but has decided that sleeping on top of his crate (its a soft puppy crate) is a lovely place to relax. The other just has a low growl every time he comes near Zeebo. I did think it was Zeebo at first as it sounds so much like a dog growl but it is definitely the cat. Hopefully this will pass. He loves every human and while he is undergoing vaccinations, while out of the house he travels in a puppy sling. As he is already 6 kg, that won't last long. He has met people of every colour so far, people standing, people sitting and a blind person. He also met the postman who is working with us to make sure he is friendly of any postman and letters coming through the door (although at our house we have a letter box on the door, so he will never have the chance to destroy). Food training. I take up his bowl while he is eating on a random basis and he doesn't show any signs of being defensive of his food. Retrieving - he has a squeaky Kong bone, which he has ripped most of the felt cover from. He will bring it back to be thrown and will continue until he wants to just chew it. No commands yet for retrieve as he isn't consistent and I don't want to let him fail yet. Sit for please. This is coming naturally. When ignored by most people he will sit at their feet and wait to be pet'ed. The main issue is training hoomanz to not pet him if he jumps. No commands for this yet. So good progress without too much pressure.
That is sounding good - particularly the settling at night and getting him used to his crate, well done. As for retrieving - sit down on the floor in the hallway, if you have one, and put your legs out to the sides in a V. When he brings his toy back, just praise him extensively and hold him a bit when you throw it next time. Then say your chosen 'fetch' cue, and let him go. Btw, personally I wouldn't take his bowl away from him, as this can actually cause food guarding issues, rather than preventing it..
Sounds good! I'd personally ditch the puppy pads though, and just carry the puppy outside - even if it's raining. They soon get used to a bit of rain, and it's a faff doing toilet training twice. You may as well just do the outside thing from the get go.
Sleeping in a chair...the things we do ! Hawk whimpered the first few nights we had him home (he is 8 weeks yesterday) and we would sleep on the floor so he could see us....that was less than ideal also. Good to hear he now likes the den.
I'm with Julie, take the puppy outside for toilet training, just pick Zeebo up and carry him outside rain or no rain. Then he knows he should go outside not in the house.
