New Puppy Tips

Ganluan

So, the wife and I just got a new puppy, and we're in the process of training him. I'd appreciate some tips from any of you out there who have had trained puppies of your own. He's a Pembroke Welsh Corgi, we've had him about a week now, and he's roughly 3.5 months old.

Like all puppies, he likes to bark and playfully bite. We've given him chew toys that he loves, but he also can get a little too zealous and bite us. How can we discourage biting of people/furniture? We can normally discourage him while watching, but a few minutes later he will go back to doing it again. As well, how we discourage barking? I suppose it's difficult, as we don't want him to stop barking if he hears something suspicious or sees something outside, but if there's a way to get him to stop barking at us at seemingly random intervals, it'd certainly help :P

We're crate training him, and he already loves his crate. We leave him in there over night, and he is able to hold it until we get let him out in the morning. He definitely seems to understand about going "outside", but he seems to get confused that outside is actually just outside his crate, not outside the house. Because of this we keep him penned in the kitchen (which is tile) most of the time so he doesn't mess the carpet. He usually barks for a few minutes after being put in his crate, which I think is separation anxiety, because after we leave the room he either goes to sleep or plays with toys/blankets. Is there a better way to getting him used to us being gone at work during the day, other than just keeping our normal schedule until he gets used to it? Will a puppy of this age be OK with 8 hours or so unattended while we work?

We haven't gotten him neutered yet (too young), but we will soon. What kind of impact will that have on his behavior, if any?

I've read various websites and they all offer alternative solutions, so I'd much prefer some actual advice instead.

Requisite picture:

http://img78.imageshack.us/img78/9140/linkfw1.th.jpg

LondonBridge

Sounds like you're doing well with the crate training. Be sure to give him some kibble & water in the crate but not too much. You really should have him in that crate no more than 8 hours, any longer is plain cruel.

EDIT: cute puppy!!

Rye

Puppy training is hard because you have to be quick. My mother used to have a small business breeding dogs (we own a welsh corgi.... i feel sorry for you. They are extremely temperamental dogs).

You have to catch them DOING the act and you have to know how to react to it. If you shout "No" or try to comfort the dog when it barks, you are training it to bark. You have to project indifference to the random barking. If they want attention, they must wait for you to give it. You are their master, not the other way around.

Try not to touch or engage the dog when it barks. Ignore it if you can (i.e. it's not the middle of the night or some other time when it NEEDS to be quiet.)

When it is not barking and is in a calmer state, you can engage and pet the dog. If he begins barking and especially BITING you, ignore him. Give him no attention and send him away if he tries to cuddle with you.

Even if he gives you the puppy look, you have to be firm. You are NOT being cruel or mean when you ignore the dog and send him/her away. You are giving him/her a clear message that that kind of behavior is alienating. Dogs, and especially puppies, cannot read human emotion. You may be angry with them, but you're giving them attention. They can only understand pitch and tone. They crave attention and food, and since it's cruel to take away food, you must take away attention.

Your dog won't stop barking when there's something suspicious. They can separate "protection" from "play". Corgi's have the napoleon complex, so they will bark to avoid a fight. They bark to get the attention of the suspicious thing, not you.


If he bites furniture, the easiest solution is to rub either dish soap or pepper on the things he likes to bite. Eventually they stop because of the taste. This way, he is being immediately punished for the things he does, and you don't have to be there.

ps: cute dog. You need to be firm with that one - he's cute.

Ganluan

Thanks a lot, good information.

I will work on just ignoring him when he barks and bites until he gets the idea that he will not get attention if he does that stuff. I guess the hardest thing is knowing if he's barking because he has to go out or is hurt or something, or he's just trying to get attention.

One thing I'm worried about is us being gone at work. He has been great at night so far, between 8-9 hours while we sleep. On a normal work day there is only a 7-8 hour gap where my wife and I are gone, but on days I may have to work a bit later that could be extended by a couple hours. Is it too much to expect a puppy to be able to wait that long? What about when gets older? I live too far away to come home at lunch, so we may need to figure something else out.

One other question: we've been feeding him when we get up, and we get home from work (around 5 in the morning and evening, respectively). Would it help him "hold it" during the day if we just fed him once, in the evening, so he has plenty of time to run around and go to the bathroom that night or the next morning? I just want to make sure he's not uncomfortable while we're gone.

Nana

To help my puppies learn to not bite us when we were playing with them, we would say "no don't do that" sternly and ignore them for a few minutes when ever they did it. Sort of like a time out, but we wouldn't pen them up anywhere, just push them off our laps and not agknowledge them. It worked pretty well with all 3 dogs I owned, they had great temperments. I've never adopted a Corgi so I don't know much about their personalities.

As for letting your dogs out, if you aren't going to be home for 8 hours at a time maybe you should look into getting a dog door if its possible. Eight hours alone seems like a long time to expect a puppy (or even a full sized dog to hold it in)

Aurin

Does your wife work as far away as you do? Maybe she could swing by on lunch to let the puppy out? I agree that 8 hours seems like a long time, but I only have experience with cats, so I could be wrong.

Preacher

I have an older corgi, I feed her twice a day once in the morning after her walk, and once in the evening after the walk. I also walk her before I go to bed which helps avoid messes in the night. For the most part they are pretty easy to maintain, one thing you might want to look into is if there are any herding places near by, corgis love to herd sheep, and it's fairly fun to let them do it, can't remember the cost though.

Sami

Tie the end of the colon so that fecal matter doesn't get all over the meat when you're dressing it.

Oh.

Training advice.


whoops.

Akilae729

A good deterrent that we used with my dog, for biting and other things, was a squirt of lemon juice in the mouth when they were fucking up. You have to have the lemon juice right there at hand, or else they wont make the behavioral connection, but its great for play time.

Rye

stryker116 wrote: »

Thanks a lot, good information.

I will work on just ignoring him when he barks and bites until he gets the idea that he will not get attention if he does that stuff. I guess the hardest thing is knowing if he's barking because he has to go out or is hurt or something, or he's just trying to get attention.

Corgi's are drama queens. They will yelp like they are DYING when they get hurt. It will probably spook you the first time, but know that if they are hurt, you will know.

Unfortunately, you're going to have to spend more time giving the dog exercise after you take it out of the crate. Walk it if you can. Play with it but make sure it doesn't get riled up before you put it in the crate. The idea is to exhaust the dog so that it's complacent.

JLM-AWP

Lots of dog threads....I like.

Biggest advice I can give is to be stern. I don't mean sayin "no" and then playing. I mean say it like you MEAN it....but never hit. Dogs pick up on a persons manuerisms and tone of voice extremely quickly. The sooner you establish the "i'm not joking" voice, they never forget it.

NightDragon

If a dog door isn't possible, you should look into paper-training the dog. Then, you can just throw down newspapers or special "pee pads" or the like, and the dog will go there when it needs to, rather than on your rug. My mother has a black toy poodle, now six months old, and the "pee pad" method has worked really well. Apparently training for this is simple. You will also want to place the papers a fair distance from anything you really can't have the dog go on, because occaissionally the dog may "miss" by a few inches.

Aaron Lee

A method that worked well with my dog (a dachshund) is to roll them on their back as a disciplinary measure. You have to be stern and make sure they know it isn't a game. By doing this you not only teach them to be submissive, but using a particular tone of voice that you only use when they are in trouble (not yelling) they will learn that tone well. When my dog does something bad, just by saying his name a particular way now he will immediately roll onto his back in submission.

MegaMan001

I don't know a damn thing about puppies, but I just wanted to tell you that you have the cutest puppy ever!

Ganluan

Thanks for all the tips guys, we'll look into those "pee pads" and see if they may help him train. We've been working on being stern when he does something wrong, and he seems to be getting the idea.

And thanks for the compliments about the puppy's cuteness :P

CarolinaBBQ

We got an evil little puppy last year who liked biting hands and tearing up furniture. She still gets a little too rowdy with the furniture so she has to be locked up while we are gone but the other bad behavior was solved with the help of a water gun.
We picked a couple up at Toys R Us for $4 a piece. They were crickets and make a clanging noise when shaken while empty. The dogs only needed to be squirted a few times before they would respond to the noise we could make when we shook it. Keeps them from biting, gets them off furniture, and stops the barking. Pretty sweet deal for $4.
Also, giving lots and lots of rawhides for them to chew will help them spend that energy elsewhere.

BTW pee pads and mighty expensive considering how many times a day puppies will pee. Plus, my little sweetie really like shredding those things. We stopped at the local college and picked up a couple bundles of their old newspaper. Worked great and was totally free.

Good luck.

2868

Pet Insurance.

I use Petcare. But get something. I really recommend the policy that covers major operations and emergencies. Not the stuff that covers routine care, you can budget for that. The policy is cheap and worth it. If god forbid something happens having that policy there is a welcome relief.

X5

A big tip I've used, is to never use their name when you are disciplining them like, lets say your dogs name is Lawlipop. You are petting him while he lays on the sofa and then he starts play biting your hand and you go "Lawlipop! NO!" in a stern tone. Just take out the Lawlipop and the dawg will never associate its name to it being bad.

When raising our lab, the fiancee and I got a great tip from our dog trainer. This might not work with all breeds, but here goes.

Our lab was notoriuous for chewing on things, furniture, shoes, ok everything. We gave her plenty of excerise, and were doing the standard "NO!" in a stern tone type of thing. The trainer had us rinse out a soda can, and toss a couple pennies and nickels inside, then ducktape the hole shut. At first we started with one, but soon went to having around 10 throughout the house. Whenever we were around, we would always be attentive to what our puppy was doing and where, and always be within range. The second she started chewing on something she wasn't suppose to, or reaching up on a counter top, things like that, we would throw the can near her. Its important to never hit them with the can, even accidentally, you don't ever want to associate hitting them in anyway. Pretty soon they start to associate the "OMG wtf is that crazy noise" whenever they are doing something they shouldn't be.

This is only really good for things like chewing on sofas, and trying to get a steak off the counter. Other times, being the stern and assertive Alpha in the house is most important. IE Don't play tug'o'war with your puppy if you want to be their alpha, this act while it seems like a game to you, is them asserting their domanance over you and teaches them you are their equal not their Alpha.

I'll echo what others have said, if you or your wife, can ever swing by on your lunch break and let your puppy out to feed him and give him some attention, he'll be less crate crazy compared to a straight 8 hours. However, 8 hours is doable, much more is really bad though.

If you own a house with a backyard, and you have a security system, I highly suggest getting a proffessionally installed doggie door and start to train your pup on it very early. Doggie doors are awesome.