Ok, we have a puppy and I have questions

[nutcracker]

Got him last night, a 10 week old Jack Russell (named Ozzy by Dd2).

He is a lovely friendly little dog but we are not sure what we are doing toilet training wise.
We have put down paper in various places and apart from once he has alwayed wee'd on it and we've praised him, given him a treat etc, but poo's are a diff matter, he does them next to the paper or no where near the paper but not on it.

Also his food, the lady we got him from gave us his food which is Pedigree chum dried puppy food, but he won't eat it and keeps eating the cats dried food instead (she eats his too). If we move the cat food then he doesn't eat at all. What should we do ??

Also, he has had no jabs yet, first one is booked for monday. Until he has them both can he not go outside at all ?? The woman we got him from had been letting him in her back yard a bit.

Any other info gratefully recieved.

ok on the food front, with both of ours we gave them scambled eggs or a little bit of weetabix until they were about 4 months, (mixed with a few dry biccys) then we went on to the puppy pouches instead, the dried biccys didn't come out till they were a year old, even now thou they have water added to the biccys so they're soft for them to eat (hard they won't eat fussy creatures)

the pup will be fine outside - ours were house bound till the jabs, in fact the first one was the second we let walk abound the culd sac on her lead.

as for the toileting bits, my MIL used paper we din't, she used to just keep putting them on the paper whern they pooped/peed else where (after rubbing their nose in it (not something I personally agree with but each to their own) with mine I used to put them in the garden instead and praise them etc so much when they went out there but toileting etc in the house was a swift ticking off and put outsie for 5 mins. seems top have worked for us. mainly it's finding something that works for you.

You can try another food to see if it makes any difference, stick to dried food though otherwise he will probably get the runs.

They are allowed out in the back yard before there injections just not allowed out where other dogs go or to mix with any other dogs.

With the toilet training, when we had our puppy we used to put him in the garden say every 30-60 mins & he usually went & done his business, we only used paper at night, he had the odd accident but he son realised the garden was the place to do his business it did not take long at all, you have to really stick to it & when he does his business in the garden really praise him & let him know how good he has been.

My cousin used the pampers disposble change mats for their puppy overnight, and bought some homepathic spray that is meant to encourage them 'do it' on it.
It worked for them, but I think it will be a bit of a struggle to train him to go outside at first.
good luck though (I'm jealous,i want a puppy!)

Blimey it sounds more complicated than a baby LOL.

I wondered if his food was too hard, but he'll eat the hard cat food no probs. Will try adding water and see if that helps.

Sounds like we need to be getting him outside alot more to get the toilet training sorted, and I think we'll try paper down just of a night and see what happens.

Will look for that spray too.

I am not the one cleaning up after him mind you LOL

He is such a sweetie though, will try and post a pic.

I used to just pick my puppy up & put him outside, not so long after he would go to the back door & whine so it does work, goodluck

Lol at 'harder than a baby'
my friend had her puppy in premature sized nappies for a while (I don't recommend this obviously!)
I'll keep an eye out for a picture, I love doggies.

We have a had a little bit more sucess with him doing everything on the paper thankgod, but we had the most awful nights sleep as he cried all night, so everyone is knackered now.

The first few nights are really hard. My advice is just to leave him to whine and bark and completely ignore him. Ours settled down by day 3 and accepted that we're weren't coming down to him. It's like sleep training for a baby - you have to be firm and consistent. And puppies 'get' it a lot quicker than babies.
We didn't train on paper as once you have taught them to go on paper you have to retrain them to go outside. We just spent a LOT of time in the first few weeks taking him outside in all weathers and waiting for him to go then doing the huge praise. Take him out frequently - as soon as you get up in the morning, after every meal, after every excitement (playing with children or greeting people) and then every 20-30 minutes anyhow. It is hard work initially but it does get better and is worth it eventually
You can let him in the garden but don't let him out where the are other dogs till a few weeks after his jab (the vet will tell you when).

we're???

My mum used to put warm milk over the dry food to make it more like a porridge, however, I don't know if dogs, like cats are lactose intolerant.!

we had to put the cat food up high to stop him eating it (but then he is a lab and will eat most things).
He does sometimes go off his food. Now that is older we are very firm with him - if he doesn't eat it within 10 minutes I take it away. I don't want to encourage fussiness in him. I would persevere with the food you got given as it's waht he's used to but maybe change in a few days if he still won't eat it (but I bet he will if he's hungry). He was probably just too excited in his new home to eat yesterday.

using paper can mean that you have to retrain them to go outside off the paper. the best advice is to watch him closely for any signs, circling, sniffing the floor alot and distract him, put outside and praise for doing business outside. also put outside immediately after he wakes, after hes been playing and after hes eaten.\again praise when he does something outside. if he starts to dosomething inside and you catch him, distract him with a clap or some stones in drinks can to shake, pick him up and put him outside. if you find an accident inside that you have not seen him done, dont discipline him for it as they cant associate what they did 5 mins ago to why you are shouting at them. just ignore him, clean it up and use a spray that neutralises the pheromones so he is not tempted to use that spot again. you can buy these from petshops or use solution od bio washing powder and then spray area with surgical spirit, check for colour fastness first though.

A cage is also useful for overnight and when you have to lesve them alone during the day. it keeps them safe and out of trouble, they soon learn to keep clean as they dont want to toilet where they sleep and as long as its not used for punishment they will associate it as a nice secure place to be. my dog used to put himself to bed in his cage when he was younger. you will get a few accidents in it at first until he learns to hold on abit longer.

vacinations: normally done at 8 and 12 weeks but can be done 2 weeks apart as long as the 2nd dose isnt done before 12 weeks. normal advice is to not mix them with other dopgs or take them out on lead for a walk until one to two weeks after the 2nd dose, depends on the stray population in your area, as parvo and distemper are passed on through urine and faeces.

food: dry food is better as its much better for their teeth and if you swapped to wet food now you had have the runs to clean up, not nice!!!
he probably likes the cat food as its different and quite strong in flavour. you could try adding some gravy to his biscuits or if you do try a different brand of food, mix it in gradually over 7 - 10 days otherwise they can get the runs. the other thing to try is the ten minute rule. remove cat food so he cant eat it and then offer him his food, if he hasnt eaten it in 10 mins take it away and no treats or anything till next mealtime, then repeat. it might take a few days but he'll realise he has to eat when its given. dont worry he wont starve himself. he should be on 4 meals aday at his age gradually reducing to 3 then 2. they normally drop a feed themselves when they are ready.

a word of warning, if you have an indoor litter tray, beware of his impending interest in cat shit, NICE!!. they all do it, its to do with the undigested proteins in it but you will find he loves to eat it and spread it all over in the process. you can normally tell hes been at it when they try to give you a kiss, LOL, yuck!!

i got a covered litter tray with a door on to make it harder for him to get in we we werent watching, but a cgae would stop him from doing it at night etc

HTH

If he is used to dry food I wouldn't introduce wet food but you may have a fussy puppy which is a bit of a pain. Most puppies will eat anything and everything but yours sounds a little fussier I don't reccomend pedigree chum puppy for a jack russel as the biscuites are not exactly tiny. They have really small mouths so maybe try a puppy complete that has very small bitesize bits.
Ours is a staffie so much bigger mounth and teeth so went through any size biscuit. It probably explains why cat bisuits are easier to eat
We never paper train after 8 weeks coz they just learn its ok to go indoors on paper! Definately every 30-60 minutes outside, reward when he goes and always put them out after sleep, eating and playing.
Nights are awful at 1st but ignore all you can, feels terrible but they do learn very quickly and 10 weeks is old enough not to go to them when they cry.
3 weeks between injections and allowed out 1 week after 2nd one but your back garden is fine as long as no other dogs

Have fun!!

Thanks for all that. am making notes LOL.

The problem we have with putting him outside at the moment is that he is small enough to get under the back fence so we are having to take him out on a lead which he's not keen on. We are hopefully sorting that on Monday so from then on he'll be out every 30 minutes rain or shine.

He has started to eat his food today thankfully, but what I wanted to ask was, should he have set feeding times ?? I read that if you leave it down all day you never know when they are likely to need to poop.

He had a bath this morning but still smells quite alot, anything that can help with that ??

Ok, don't leave his food down at all!!! A sure way to get a fussy eater and an overweight dog. On biscuits it will tell you roughly how much to give per day and divide it into 3-4 meals. 2 meals is fine after 6 months. I feed my adult dogs twice a day. Anything they don't eat within 10 minutes take up till next feed. If he eats small amounts do 4 times a day for now.

Don't bath him anymore it strips the natural oils. A bath should only be needed if very dirty. Check his ears, sometimes they can be the casue of a smelly dog

Meant to add, it depends what the smell is like but to be honest puppies have a certain smell like babies but not everyone likes it

Ahh right ok, tbh we bathed him because he really really stunk, the house we got him from was filthy and he was quite grubby.

He is getting a check over from the vets on Monday so will think up a list of questions to ask him.

Right i'm off to walk him round the garden again.

Hmm am pretty sure it wasn't a normal puppy smell LOL.

I have set feeding times for our dog. I always fed him after I got home from the school run so that I was available to take him out for a poo.
In the evening he doesn't eat till we have finished his meal - this teaches him that he is lower in the pack pecking order than us and therefore doesn't try to dominate or intimidate the children. In the wild the alpha dog always got the first food with the dogs further down in the group getting the scraps. I initially thought it would be better to feed him at the same time as us (to distract him from our food) but I think this way (making him wait) is better.
And as I said earlier, if he doesn't eat it I take it away and he has nothing else till his next mealtime. It sounds really mean but he is a very happy dog and doesn't need to be treated like a child.

Lol would be easier to put the kids in crates though

Well last night he didn't cry once, hurray we thought, but we realised why when we got up this morning. He is supposed to sleep in the kitchen but had escaped into the living room and not made a sound all night.

So now, dilema do i let him sleep in living room and run the risk of a ruined sofa, rug etc etc if he chews them or keep to making him sleep in the kitchen but have sleepless nights ????

I would stick to the kitchen - he'll get used to it. So long as he's got a cosy bed he'll be fine.
Our dog isn't allowed on the furniture at all (helps with hoovering ) so I would never let him sleep in the sitting room.
Also, I imagine your kitchen floor is easier to clean than your sitting room...

Yeah i think I will stick to the kitchen, we have lino in there so easy to clean and I just can't afford to replace anything in the living room should he decide to try and eat it LOL.

He seems to hate the dark, is that normal and shouuld I just leave it or leave a lamp on ??

can you pop a nightlight in anywhere?

he sounds so adorable.