Help me train my puppy!

[Romanarama]

I find it really hard. I walk off and ignore him when he bites (which is so much of the time, there's not much time for anything else). He's also started leg shagging, and gets put outside the door in time out for that every time.

I'm trying to teach him his place in the pack, he eats after us, has to go through the door last, doesn't have the run of the house, etc. He has to stop barking and jumping before he's allowed out of the crate.

Give me a timescale for these things - how long does it take a golden retriever to learn? How long before I stop finding a poo under the kitchen table? I am trying, honestly, I'm out in the rain with his at least 1x per hour, and he'll always have a pee obligingly, but quite often has another inside when we come in!

I just need to see light at the end of the tunnel. Can't imagine how people cope with 'difficult to train' breeds. I'm desperate for him to calm down as, with all the jumping and biting, the dcs can't cope with him at all, and I completely sympathise with them.

On the other hand, I can't train him to sit, as when I get a treat out he always sits down politely anyway waiting for it!

I am going to get a clicker to help identify the right behaviour amongst the wild leaping!

I am so not the person to be answering this as I've only had our dog for about 9 weeks and she was 4 months old when she came, someone did tell me the first 4 weeks are the very bad bit.

For mouthing we've been told to make loud over the top ow ow ow noises followed by ignoring. He said the ignoring should be for a few minutes then she is allowed back, has to sit for the person she bit then gets attention again and it's forgotten. so guess for a younger puppy it would be the ow ow ow then ignore. Apparently they learn bite inhibition by their litter mates yelling then not playing so it's trying to mimic this behavior.

Hopefully someone who knows what they are doing will be along very soon and offer you wise helpful words.

HI Roama, how old is your puppy ?
I have got 2 retrivers .. one 4 and one 19mnths .

i can give you some tips if you like ?
It will get better ...

One of the experts will be along soon with good advice, but to give you some sense of timescale with a different breed, my 6 month old basset (ie, a bit slow on the uptake) now 'asks' to go outside for a wee/poo 99% of the time. He bashes the back door with his mighty paw and looks plaintive. If he slips up, it's usually because I've lost track of when he last went out, or haven't ushered him out after a mad play. This is after four months of constant, eagle-eyed supervision, much to the detriment of my working-from-home job.

One thing that really helps is to make a note of every time he performs over a few days - you then get a rough mental idea of when the next delivery is expected. Our puppy wees immediately on waking, as soon as he's eaten, after any rough and tumble, and then roughly once every two hours. He poos first thing in the morning, then about an hour after eating; he's down to about three a day.

It hasn't been easy. My Christmas present to myself is a thorough carpet clean. I sometimes wish puppies had a warning light that came on when they need emptying.

Roamanarama - he's 8 weeks old and you've only had him a week! House training should be pretty much there by the time he's 3 or 4 months old (but you'll still need to be vigilant) and probably almost fully reliable by 6 months old. As far as training goes, a pup isn't really fully trained until near enough a year old.

It sounds like you've been reading Jan Fennell - all the nonsense about eating first is complete quackery, and not how dogs think at all. Ask any properly qualified behaviourist, any of the professional bodies for trainers and behaviourists and they'll tell you the same.

Re the house training - at this stage his bowel and bladder is almost non-existent: by the time he realises he needs to go it's too late. So the onus is on you to make sure that he is in the right place when he needs to go - for a dog, soiling anywhere except their den (his bed) is normal, so it's up to you to teach him that you want him to do it outside. Take him out every hour, plus as soon as he wakes, has eaten, or is getting very excited during play. If he pees as soon as he comes back in then you simply have not stayed out long enough with him. They can take a long time to pee in the early days - too much else to explore - but as soon as he starts to pee give a command and in time he'll associate those words with peeing and will do it when you ask him to.

Re poos - you can pretty much rely on him needing a poo within an hour of eating, so if he doesn't poo straight after a meal take him out every 15 mins or so until he does.

Minimu is the clicker goddess

I'm sorry to be so blunt but you can't really expect anything of him at this stage - it is all down to you and yes, he will have accidents, probably for several weeks to come.

I feel it's better to be honest and then at least you know not to expect too much.

HTH

x post wildfig - lol @ 'next delivery'

Hang on in there it will get better!

Re the biting and nipping. Yep say oww and stand up and walk away (walking away may make the puppy chase you) or stand still. This will work but it does have to be consistent and done every single time he nips anyone. The more consistent you are the quicker he will learn. It is really important to remember that if when you stand still he is still jumping around your ankles wait for the split second he pauses, he will have to get all four feet on the ground eventually and then praise like mad but calmly. If you just stand still and dont praise the good behaviour he will just jump more and more to get your attention.

Re Shagging your leg I would use the same strategy as above remove dog from said leg and remove all contact with the dog until he is calm.

Toilet training. If he wees then stay out a bit longer if he is coming in doors to poo. You will find a pattern but it is hard when they are having so many meals a day. When I have puppies I tend to live in the kitchen and the puppy goes outside every hour or more. It will be a long time before they ask to go out but your puppy has proven he has bladder control remember your first day with him! So the good news is he will get there quicker than some.

You say you don't can't teach him to sit I think you should congratulate yourself YOU have taught him to sit well done. Now when he is in the sitting position waiting for his treat just say sit and praise him like mad. Hopefully when he is shagging your leg nipping your toes you will soon be able to say sit and he will stop the unwanted behaviour and sit.

I don't do the feeding first stuff it has been proven as unnecessary. If you do want a read on modern and successful dog psychology read The Culture Clash by Jean Donaldson. A bit American but an interesting read.

Jumping up at kids must be stopped at all costs. Your pup has spent 7 weeks rolling about with his litter mates and now has to realise that this is not appropriate behaviour for a growing pup. Again if you can get that solid sit that will really help.

Do remember that praise all the good behaviour and don't hold grudges he will only get confused.

having a puppy is hard work but they do get there and very soon you look back and think of all he has learnt.
Hope this helps and yell if it is unclear or yplan a does not work with a bit of fine tuning you will have a really well behaved puppy soon.

Just as an aside - sort of - he may have appeared to have had more bladder control than he actually has because -iirc - he didn't eat or drink for at least 7 hours on his first day with you. I'm just pointing this out so you don't think he's regressing.
Even Bella can hold it all night if she doesn't drink very much!
As you were, ladies

I know, I know, he's little and brand new. It's the nervousness of the kids that's upsetting me a little. There's no way they can stand still while he's biting their legs.

I don't expect anything of him, but want to know what to do to sort out the biting. I think I'll will keep kids 2 and 3 largely separate from puppy behind a stairgate, and I'll focus on congratulating for the split second he hits the floor!

The housetraining is not really such a big deal as he's only in the kitchen and hall, and there's not carpet there at all (for the next 6 months, anyway!). He can hold it for 8 hours at night, no problem, but he can also pee outside, to my warmest congratulations, and then pee inside 5 mins later.

(The vomit my 7yo produced on the sofa last night was much worse than anything the dog's done, to put it in perspective).

Anyway, who was it who said it's harder to train your dh than your ddog? He just took the puppy to rugby practice with ds2, and let him bl**dy well run around the field for an hour. I'm . Was it so difficult to go into the clubhouse to put him down if he was wriggly????????

And yes, I had explained in detail why the puppy should not be put down.

That's really awful
Not only is the pup at enormous risk of parvo ( a truly horrible killer of puppies), he'll get seriously wrecked joints doing that.
If you do take pup out before he's vaccinated he has to be either in the car or in your arms.

Well fingers crossed he didn't sniff anything infected. Apparently he was in the tennis court and by the slide, not all over the field, so not really dog poo areas. Now I have to watch out for diarrhoea on top of the rest though.