Eating, Sleeping, and 'Going'...

[hazelpseudoblue]

Hey All!

My Lucy is almost 12 weeks- already, I can't imagine her not being here...

We're doing alright but we've got some issues with training..
1.) She won't go do her business on our walks...

2.) She won't eat out of a bowl! She knocks her food on the floor and eats it from there...Very frustrating..

3.) We're having some issues with night time..The barking, and her not giving up no matter what--I feel like she's going to hurt herself!


Honestly, I'm finding so many conflicting views..

Does anyone have a book they use or something? I'm sorry, I just- I really don't want to do this wrong and I know these weeks are crucial..

Thank you..

[Karlin]

Hi: I think when you first started looking for a puppy I recommended downloading Ian Dunbar's free digital version of his well known training/care book After you get your puppy? If you search the site here you will find I have linked to it many times or you can find it under downloads at www.dogstardaily.com.

Puppies take time to settle in to places where they will pee/poop and she is really just a tiny baby yet and learning. It may take months for her to get into a routine. A routine of rewarding and praising appropriately when she goes and teaching her to go on command will get you to where you want to be with her. The Dunbar book will help with this.

Some dogs like to eat their food off the floor. Lots of us have dogs that do this (and also cats!! ). If this is an issue why not just put her dish on a plastic mat that can be wiped clean? She may grow out of this habit or may not. Also you could simply feed her meal from a treat ball (good for mental stimulation/exercise) or a Kong (same). Then she has to work to get bits out at a time. If this is dry food, surely it isn;t too big a problem though? She may just be playing with her food -- she after all, still just a small puppy.

How/where does she spend the night? Hard to make suggestions without knowing where she stays at night. Many puppies feel utterly abandoned at night when left alone (they have gone from a big extended family of parents, siblings and probably other dogs to sleep with in a warm and comforting pile, to being totally alone). Generally keeping the pup crated in your room will solve this. If you don't want your dog in your room then it would help to know where she is now at night and her sleeping arrangements. Then I am sure others will have good suggestions. Not sure however why she would hurt herself with barking? Though she may go hoarse. BTW if you end up going to her when she barks -- EVER-- you are teaching her that barking gets her desired result and are accidentally training her to keep on barking! You might try one of the Snuggle Pups that are warm and have a heart sound -- puppies generally love sleeping on these.

[Furrfoot]

I can only offer a bit on one issue - when we brought Rose home at 12 weeks, she wanted her food on the floor too. Now, at almost 6 months, she is happily scarfing down her food straight out of the bowl. One thing I discovered was that Rose wanted to be able to see her surroundings while she ate, so I pulled her bowls off the wall a bit, where she could have the wall to her back while she ate. That was when she started working towards leaving the food in the bowl to eat it. Now she doesn't care which way she's facing, as long as there is FOOD. lol

[SamT]

Dont be worrying. You need allot of patience with pups and dogs and they all have their funny little ways.

Charlie would never do his business on his walks, he does not (he is now 3!!). Once your pup is doing them dont worry. If he/she needs to go they will!!

Sammy wont eat out of his bowl, we just put his food on kitchen towel and he eats off that. He is a very strange dog ha ha!! Even if his food is in a pile he wont eat it, so you have to spread it out flat.

You will learn what they want and need and it will all become second nature. Dont be worrying.

[SamT]

Oh the night time thing is normal, just try and ignore it and hopefully it will stop soon. the more you go down to check on the pup the more they will do it!