New puppy after pet bereavement

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Dear Mumsnetters,
We recently lost our little dog after 18 years, we were never going to get another, he was well trained (after a lot of dedication) and was a true little gent. He was a Jack Russell, not known for their obedience but I didn't know that when we got him..I think my high expectations led to quite a marvellous dog. Anyway after his loss the grief was awful and we five weeks ago got another, he is now 13 weeks old. The point of this thread is perhaps the years have faded the difficult puppyhood (if it was difficult) and this little chap is a little monster. I have literally given him 24/7, getting up at night to take him out for a pee, 2 or 3 times, he has my almost undivided attention and yet after 5weeks absolutely dedicated to it will still pee on the floor, I dont punish of course, I've actually caught him 3 times and quickly taken him out immediately, he doesn't finish peeing he just holds it, I then repeat over and over, maybe 2 hours later he may then pee in the garden..I'm exhausted. Also he has fought every training session, so far we have managed, Sit and Down, he however tries to preempt my command if I have a treat in hand and throws a strop (nipping my toes) if I insist on the opposite command he decides to preempt. For example : he sees a treat and promptly sits, I say 'down', he nips my toes, complains a bit and then obeys. He is such HARD WORK, please am I expecting too much? I really am a bit out of touch, we have also started training each week, the trainer says he is super confident and will be hard work for a while..dont I know! Honestly I really am giving this pup every advantage I can think of, he sleeps by our bed, we have play times, doggy association, short training sessions, puzzle toys, (he is great at those), please give me some perspective. X

Awww I am absolutely sure it will all come together. He is still very very young and I think you’re right that you’ve forgotten the early days with your lovely dog. He sounds very busy and clever and I am certain that if you continue to be very very clear about what you want from him he will get there. Are you working with a dog trainer? Maybe some one to one sessions might help to ensure that he isn’t getting confused? Not an expert but I am wondering whether he’s trying to learn too much at once?

Oops sorry just re-read more carefully and I can see that you are working with a trainer. I’m sure it will all be fine. I think it’s a bit like those intense first weeks with a baby where everyone says ‘it’ll all get better’ and you don’t quite believe it. And then it does, and you forget what was so difficult.

Xx

Sorry, lost my original reply, I was trying to say yes I think you are right, I almost don't know what else I can do re the potty training, maybe 3 months is young to be expecting compliance? Would be grateful for any experiences or further tips x

I am sure you’re doing everything right. With our dog we really focused on it for the first 3-4 weeks or so once he arrived at 8 weeks. We took him outside every 30 mins at first during the day and made a huge fuss of him every time he did anything in the garden. We ignored accidents in the house unless we caught him in the act, in which case we said ‘no’ and carried him straight outside. Because we were taking him outside so often he succeeded more often than not in doing it in the right place. Gradually the gaps between wees got longer. As we began to relax about it he made more mistakes, but we just continued to reinforce the celebrations when he went outside and a firm ‘no’ and straight outside when he did it inside. It felt very like potty training a toddler really.

I think for us it felt as though the key was setting him up to succeed, even inadvertently, and that gradually set in as a habit.

Oh - and I know that the advice is generally to take them out during the night but I couldn’t be bothered with that. He sleeps in the kitchen so we just shut him in there and put down a puppy pad for overnight wees. By about 4-5 months he was basically dry overnight without us having to do anything about that. And no broken nights.

It really is harder than we can ever remember or imagine, much like babies.

My boy is 1yr old now, it was tough! I agree with all of the above, I took him straight out after a nap, after play, after food, after every bloody second of every day for 2 months.

Lots of praise and treats etc and then I became complacent and he regressed back wards so we started all over again.

I also never did nights, stayed up v late and woke v early and worked on that till we are now both sleepy heads on our days off and can sleep in for hours.

We have a 12 week old puppy and it is incredibly hard, harder than I could have ever imagined. I recommend Simple Solution extreme stain and odour remover spray. It’s stopped all accidents in our house as it’s an enzyme cleaner so it removes any lingering smells that us humans can’t smell. It smells lovely too!

Perhaps I should give up the night shift, I'm kind of exhausted with the broken sleep, five weeks of it..the trouble is he us clean in his crate overnight due to my getting up as soon as he twitches..The other thing is he is so easily distracted outside, just a leaf will make him forget why we are out there and I literally have a suntan just from standing on the lawn waiting for a puppy to pee! Not joking..also despite this he will then come in and at times pee 2 mins later on the floor..(sighs) maybe just more time..x

Hi Ladycat, good to know re cleaning it, he has peed in different places though..yes its definitely harder than I remember maybe him coming in after an elderly quiet dog whose puppy days were long forgotten, all except the cute bits ..and him being determined not to walk on a lead..we got there eventually. I suppose it's the same here, I think I just equate my huge efforts with little results. On the bright side he has learned Sit, Down and Leave plus his name. X

I spray the cleaner over the entire bottom floor of the house (he’s not allowed upstairs) every couple of days and it seems to work!

Billy didn’t like to walk on his lead at first either, he just sat down and refused to move 😂 he’s fine now, I think he was scared as we live off a main road which has lots of tractors going up and down it.

He knows the same commands plus “here”, “off” and “leave” so hopefully we’re both on the right track! Tonight he started doing a lovely trick all by himself which is placing his ball into my hand 🥰 sorry I know I’m going on now but I’m very proud of him for that!