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Is she brilliant or is it common at 9 weeks?

HaleyComet

Member
I have had my new CKCS Phoebe for 2 weeks now...we love her so much she is 10 weeks old!

Yesterday I took her to the vet for a check up and in the process was chatting with other pet owners in the waiting room with their dogs.

Phoebe has been 100% fully house trained since 9 weeks old - it took me about 5 days of training and she now goes to the door 100% of the time. Goes to the door and stratches to go out and then will scratch the door to come back in when she is done.

She is also completely crate trained and sleeps through the night without a peep from her and never had an accident in her crate. This took me 3 nights to accomplish with her.

She understands 'no' and complete recognizes and reacts to her name.

So when I was explaining this to the dog owners at the vet they were shocked that a 9 week old (now 10) could be at this stage of her training.

Phoebe is my first dog...is she just completely smart or is this common for such a small puppy? :confused: I won't deny I have worked diligently with her since the moment she came home but I must admit I did not expect it to happen so smoothly and quickly.

I am really looking forward to doing more training with her to see what she can do. Its like she is a little human in a little puppy body. :l*v:
 
Some dogs have no issues sleeping through the night especially by 9 weeks (for a puppy there's a big difference in development even day by day much less week by week when they are this young), and some need to go out. However are you sure she doesn't need to go out? It can be hard to hear a puppy crying or shifting around and bedding may dry overnight even if they wet it as their wees are quite small at that age. Often people put lots of soft bedding in the crate and they are wetting it without it being very noticeable as fleece bedding for example can feel quite dry even when damp. By 8 weeks or so a certain percentage of pups would have no issues sleeping through the night -- mine did for example. :)

The second issue is related -- generally no, a puppy would not be fully housetrained and they go through many ups and downs -- I certainly would never assume a puppy that young could be housetrained yet. In order to not lose any gains achieved so far -- and sounds like she is doing great! -- you would not want to leave off treating each day as a housetraining day and be careful not to give her too much freedom or any access to other rooms yet -- generally it takes months for a puppy to be reliable and there are always accidents. It is really common for new owners to think their dog is housetrained far earlier than they will be :lol: and to miss seeing the pup inside especially on carpets or rugs and especially with females, as they can dip and go in seconds when an owner is looking away. It sounds like she is off to a great start though! :) You do really need to be taking her out however -- not leaving her to go out on her own at this age. This is a good time to put her on the lead, walk her out, ensure she actually goes, reward immediately with praise/a treat AS she finishes going outside. She needs regular positive reinforcement which means you need to be going outside with her every time for initial weeks. (y)

There's good housetraining advice on www.dogstardaily.com in the training section.
 
My trainer says all puppies are brilliant so I'm sure yours is. Max and Rylie had very few accidents in the house but that was probably more because I was paying 100% attention to them and took them out often for the first couple of months. I would agree with Karlin - 90% of their accidents occurred after I thought they were trained and was less vigilant with them. Rylie slept through the night at eight weeks from the first night we brought him home (so it is possible) but Max did not. He was four months old before I was convinced he really didn't need to go out and stopped taking him out - but even now at 2 1/2 years old he will often wake at 4 a.m. and fuss for a few minutes before going back to sleep (they both sleep in their crates in our rooms). I do think that diligence is the key.

Our Golden (who was our first dog) only ever had one accident in the house from the time we brought him home at eight weeks but when we got Mindy at eight months of age (who was supposed to be housetrained) it did take several months for her to be reliable. Even so she would have an accident about once a year.
 
Young puppies can seem to soak up training like sponges, and you can lay good foundations in the first few months. But be warned, if this is your first dog! The teenage time is coming (at around 9 months for Cavaliers), when most dogs behave as if they have never had a training session in their life. Running around and sniffing at every blade of grass is more fun than coming when called, every passing dog needs to be greeted, life is much too exciting to walk quietly on a lead, and 'Sit'? What does that mean? Some dogs are worse than others but all seem to go through this stage to some extent - the good news is they emerge after a few months and start remembering what they learnt in their pre-teens! And you emerge with a lot more patience...

Kate, Oliver and Aled
 
I am happy it has been such a pleasant journey with her so far in her training. :dogwlk:

Yes I have educated myself quite extensively on training and a positive environment for puppies before I even purchased Phoebe so I feel very confident in this area but I guess most of my experiences of speaking with new puppy owners (and again at the vets) that it was a very 'trying' time which I have not experienced and I don't foresee with her - she just learns so quickly it took me by surprise. (knock on wood)

I will just keep doing what I have been doing as it seems to be working quite well with her so far and like with my 4 kids I will just go to bed at night thinking she is brilliant! :rah:

Thanks for sharing your opinions.
 
I honestly think having a good idea what to expect through research (and having had kids and knowing what 24/7 caretaking feels like) makes life much easier with a pup.

I also read and hear a lot about how much "work" puppies are but in all honesty I can say that neither of mine was any work at all. I think it's all in the perspective. I LOVED the puppy energy and playfulness, love training them, and just generally enjoyed every second of their puppyhood. When you love doing something it doesn't seem like work at all. In all honesty, one of the reasons we got Rylie when Max was only 10 months old was because I so enjoyed having a puppy around. Two fairly active adult dogs are just about right for our family at the moment but I do dream of having another little tri-coloured girl someday:l*v:
 
Yes knowing what to expect makes a hige difference. That said, you are going to have a far different and more energetic and demanding puppy as she grows older, almost certainly. All dogs are different, like kids, so some will end up with an easier dog.

I personally prefer getting older dogs rather than puppies -- I found one young puppy exhausting enough, but that said, it was Jaspar, also known as the attention deficit dog. :yikes He is very smart, very interactive, and would not have been an easy puppy for anyone -- he would fall into the most challenging category for dogs, perfect for agility, etc and the type of dog personality that does well in law enforcement as they need a job at all times. Anyone who has met him will know what I mean! All the others are very easy by comparison. And yet -- when someday I opt for another puppy, I will be asking the breeder to select just such a puppy personality for me again. :) He is my once in a lifetime dog -- I will feel privileged if I ever have such a special and close bond with a dog again.

For me, a puppy about every 7 years is enough... :lol: But I know others love them -- which is good!
 
In a way Karlin I've had a similar experiene to you. Maddie is my attention deficit dog - she really has to have a job to do, so much so it's like living with a high drive border collie at times. I wouldn't swap her for the world though, and at 6 years old she is still keen to learn new things. She is a one in a lifetime dog. :lotsaluv:

Pippin, although also clever, is much more laid back and consequently easier to live with when you want a quiet time. :slp: He does enjoy his training and agility and definitely his walks, but he also likes his bed. We've always said we could live with 10 of Pippin but 1 Maddie at a time is enough.:rotfl:

Having said that, when it comes to new puppy at the end of the year (hopefully) I will take whatever comes and I'm sure will love them just the same regardless of personality.

To return to the original post though, Pippin would only wake once a night as a little puppy to go out, and until he reached that momentous occasion of being able to cock his leg he was clean in the house from about 11 weeks old. The scent marking only happened twice, the first time I ddin't see him do it so just cleaned it up and kept a closer eye on him. The second time I managed to stop him, took him outside and rewarded him for going outdoors, and we never looked back from there.
Maddie's sleeping has been mentioned on other threads, :( but her house training was fairly easy as well.

Enjoy your puppy, they grow up far too fast for my liking.:biggrin:
 
Yes knowing what to expect makes a hige difference. That said, you are going to have a far different and more energetic and demanding puppy as she grows older, almost certainly. All dogs are different, like kids, so some will end up with an easier dog.

I personally prefer getting older dogs rather than puppies -- I found one young puppy exhausting enough, but that said, it was Jaspar, also known as the attention deficit dog. :yikes He is very smart, very interactive, and would not have been an easy puppy for anyone -- he would fall into the most challenging category for dogs, perfect for agility, etc and the type of dog personality that does well in law enforcement as they need a job at all times. Anyone who has met him will know what I mean! All the others are very easy by comparison. And yet -- when someday I opt for another puppy, I will be asking the breeder to select just such a puppy personality for me again. :) He is my once in a lifetime dog -- I will feel privileged if I ever have such a special and close bond with a dog again.

For me, a puppy about every 7 years is enough... :lol: But I know others love them -- which is good!


I have a tear in my eye reading this about Jasper. How lovely :lotsaluv:. Henry, my blenheim, is my once in a lifetime dog. I swear sometimes I think he can read my thoughts!
 
I have had my new CKCS Phoebe for 2 weeks now...we love her so much she is 10 weeks old!

Yesterday I took her to the vet for a check up and in the process was chatting with other pet owners in the waiting room with their dogs.

Phoebe has been 100% fully house trained since 9 weeks old - it took me about 5 days of training and she now goes to the door 100% of the time. Goes to the door and stratches to go out and then will scratch the door to come back in when she is done.

She is also completely crate trained and sleeps through the night without a peep from her and never had an accident in her crate. This took me 3 nights to accomplish with her.

She understands 'no' and complete recognizes and reacts to her name.

So when I was explaining this to the dog owners at the vet they were shocked that a 9 week old (now 10) could be at this stage of her training.

Phoebe is my first dog...is she just completely smart or is this common for such a small puppy? :confused: I won't deny I have worked diligently with her since the moment she came home but I must admit I did not expect it to happen so smoothly and quickly.

I am really looking forward to doing more training with her to see what she can do. Its like she is a little human in a little puppy body. :l*v:

IMHO, she is pretty brilliant. I haven't heard of too many pups of her age doing that well!!!!
 
Gracie is partially brilliant! Comes and goes!

I think the teenage years have been with me a couple of weeks... Gracie is between 8 and 9 months. She was coming great and sleeping through the night (or at least laying quietly) for the last 2 months. She seemed to get it that lights out meant sleep time. But for the last week on and off, she has been noisy in her bed at night and at least once asking to get out to play even if she really doesn't need to go potty. Seems like she is getting a second wind in the middle of the night.

And... she is having a few problems with the "come Gracie"... having to go back to always using treats.

But I will hope that you do not have those issues ever. Even if you do, they are worth it and they will pass. Gracie is now pretty good about using a little bell on the door to go potty and that is very recent achievement. So more ups than downs!
 
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