New puppy thread, where new puppy owners can come for help and advice and hopefully clever people like minimu, midori et al will check regularly (please) to help us...

[Happymm]

Exactly what it says on the tin really. Kings idea, that we have a thread where we can all come and ask for help, advice, support or just to vent and that the much more experienced people will come and help us out :)

Happymm, you said you don't always treat after clicking, was this something the behaviourist suggested? Everything I've read and been told about clicker training says click must always be followed by a treat or it won't work, and even if you click by mistake you should still give a treat. Not criticising, just wondering if there are different kinds of clicker training that i haven't come across yet.

Happymm - dont get disheartened by the events of today. We all have down days when we can't cope with what's happening. Remember I had a massive strop a few days ago which ended in tears and that was all before the morning school run!

Tomorrow will be better

It wasn't that I shouldn't treat straight away, more that I shouldn't let her snatch/bite it out of my fingers. She was really hurting me. Have to train her to take a treat gently...easier said than done!

Thanks Alp, hope so. Have actually just taken her on a lovely walk. She was really good, went to the park. Let her off for a run, and jogged her back. She's still behaving like a loon and not settling in her bed. She should be knackered! Just want her to settle at night or she'll not be in with us as can't stand the endless jumping, scratching, biting etc. Would love an evening we could just relax with a sleeping pooch.

i'm sure it will come Happymm.

Just a thought, but how are you holding the treat? If she's biting your fingers, that is? If it's a small one and you have it between you finger and thumb, for instance, she could easily catch you by accident in her excitement. Would it work to hold your hand out flat and place it on the fingers?
Sorry if that's not the issue.

Happy am joining you in the ranks of "fed up puppy owners" today! Wish I were going to work actually for once! (Am a SAHM so not an option...)

Yesterday he had liquid ice cream poo (again) so I rang vets and arranged to see them this morning - can't work out if it's due to me trying to change his food too quickly, or going to the park, or that JWB doesn't agree with him that well. I think all three. He wasn't going more than normal but what came out was liquid. NICE. Anyway turkey and rice for dinner last night and this morning. More rice than meat. He did a normal poo straight away and again this morning. Like really normal and firm. Amazing. So I doubt it's a bug but more likely the food and trying to change too quickly. Cancelled vet this morning.

So puppy fast asleep at 5am - I decided to feed him earlier - around 7/7:30 as I thought that might make him wake earlier if he needed a poo. But we went down anyway as wanted to break the cycle of him waking up then and barking. poo/ wee etc. and back in crate with rice stuffed kong which he wasn't as keen on as he couldn't get all of it out. Anyway he then barked for about an hour until 6:15. And I was ready to throw him out the window... Bloody dog. Then he slept til 7:30. Came down and he had done a wee. No reason for it as he never does normally and hadn't even drunk much. So not sure if he was really upset so weed!? Feel a bit bad but he seriously has to learn not to bark.

Then had a delivery and another courrier arrive to take away massive bags of JWB which I was returning. Meanwhile bloody dog got hold of a cat poo and ran inside with it (thank god otherwise I wouldn't have spotted him) dangling from his mouth - gross. So I ran to extract it (Yes that could also be contributing to the poo situation!) and the cats ran out the front door into the front area (luckily we have a gate) which was left just open (but blew open further) while courrier man got a trolley. Cue me frantically washing hands and running outside to capture the cats. Delivery man thought I was nuts.

On top of that the bloody pup won't stop barking in his playpen. I have started treating him (with a tiny bit of rice as don't want to upset tummy) for being quite and saying "quiet" as am at the end of my tether with his barking for attention. FED UP.

So it's only half 9 and am ready to give up! Obv on top of this my daughter is running around and being a bit whingy/clingy due to teething.

Now whether or not to take puppy to park as don't want him to get ill again but equally if I just take him on a road walk he won't get as much running around and none off lead and my daughter will refuse to get in buggy/cry after not very long. Any thoughts? Should I take him anyway and let them both run around or just wait another day and give him a short road walk?

How is everyone else faring this morning? Anyone else ready to throw the puppy out the window?

I'm sorry many of you are having troubles with your pups.

Mine had loose poo this morning. I'm sure it's the weather as my retriever was exactly the same when it was hot. Luckily it wasn't really runny.

Otherwise, I'm sorry to say he is doing really well. He has learnt not jump up as he doesn't get any attention if he does. The minded children arrived this morning and he was really good. He has cottoned on to the doorbell and when it goes he comes tonfind me and then runs in to the hall for me to open the door.

Sleeping is sorted although he still doesn't go in his crate. Hubby legs him out when he goes downstairs at 6 and then let's pup and older dog have the run of the garden and kitchen until I come down at 7.15 when I feed them. Worked out I was giving him too much food so no wonder he never ate it all.

Had his injection yesterday, looking forward to next week when we can go on short walks.

Hope other dogs tummys improve soon.

Can I join you please? We have had our puppy for three weeks and she is 12 weeks old. We haven't had the joys of runny poo yet but am being driven to distraction by early morning barking, nipping at DC and occasional, unpredictable manic behaviour. I know this is the famous puppy mad half hour but I am ashamed to say that I am quite frightened of her sometimes.

How on earth do I teach her not to nip if I can't catch her afterwards (to remove her from the room)? We have tried ignoring (didn't work), progressed through yelping (seems to excite her) and now I am rescuing children with a growly NO that stops her doing it temporarily while she races around the room before launching herself at them again. I have considered storming out of the room and leaving her briefly alone but often she is hanging from clothing which makes this very difficult.

Hi all not been here for a while. I was away on business last week and husband coped admirably, had one accident in the house but that's all.

Not really anything to report, puppy been with us 7 weeks now and is pretty settled, tends to sleep all day or mooch about, has a walk once a day and a play in the garden once a day, rest of the time she is laying about. Only problem is lead work, she is terrible on lead when out and pulls and pulls. Doesn't so much on road walks when she is a bit tired but we hardly ever need to do that. Puppy class tonight will see how she fares, training has been very hit and miss for the last two weeks.

Did have a runny poo incident yesterday when it was the first day of just JWB not JWB and Science Diet mixed. But that seems to have cleared up now.

Oh and the little buggar did manage to get one of my brand new patent heeled shoes and take the patent off before I saw she had it!!! arrggh

Hi all, welcome Howdoes! Mine and Kings pups are 12wks also!

We have the same problem with our girl. We had a behaviourist in last wk as was at the end of my tether with her biting and nipping and generally being vile. Have written a brief synopsis above (26/6) but if you want more info, please feel free to PM me. Since we started all our stuff with leads everywhere and giving it or her collar a tug every time she nipped, she is much better. Let's herself down occasionally with the DC, but as I am there, with her attached to me with a lead, I can give her a tug and a very firm NO BITING straight away. Basically you can't deal with it unless you're attached and can do it immediately, otherwise everything you're saying to the dog is blah blah blah!

Am so so so jealous Spam! Can we swap? Would love a puppy doing nothing! This puppy lark is such hard work! At least none of the runny poo malarky yet :o

Major result this evening!! He did a poo whilst out on a walk!!!
DH and I were dancing on the pavement with glee, until we caught sight of ourselves and asked "just what have we come to?"

Up and down with all other stuff. Often wees on command but if I'm honest that's probably only when he wants to go anyway.

Wakes at any random point between 5 and 7 in the morning. But he barks when he's ready for his day. We don't go to him immediately (and never before 6) but how do we stop this?

After his subdued couple of days in the hot weather, he's now back on form. Too much so, in fact, as he's now getting naughty. He's been digging in my pot plants and jumping into the glove/scarf basket in the hall and running off with things. So, that's going to have to be moved.

Not sure Clam, as it's one of the two things going right-our girl happily goes till 8am on the wkend :) she just sleeps and waits for whenever. The only other thing is house training, am going to start stretching her a bit as she clearly can hold for a very long time, so that I can make her go where I want her to go rather than wherever she fancies a dump!

Had a good walk tonight. Was very firm when I got back and she had an enforced sleep in her evening bed (little madam has beds everywhere) Was so nice to not have to keep shouting off and down and stop biting! Managed to watch the apprentice-god that Melody gets my goat! :o

Clam - Good poo news! I honestly feel my life revolves around puppy poo at the moment. I feel your pain re mornings at the moment - what annoys me is that he was getting better before we had to go away for those two weekends. Suppose it's going to take a while to get him back to that. Argh..We are trying to set an alarm before he wakes, increasing by 15 minute increments daily, to try and break the early habit and then hopefully she should sleep later!

Happpy am sooo jealous of 8am. That would be perfect for me as that's when my daughter sleeps until if not slightly later.

But husband got up at 5:15 today to get there before he woke up. The he went back with kong for a little while then started barking again. He hadn't pooed so I went down (waiting until he was quiet) and took him out - another wee! In crate again and he barked a bit then settled until 7:30. Sometimes I think he will settle better if I get up early as he spends most time with me and I am clearly his main person. hmmmm.

He hasn't done a poo since yesterday evening - think chicken and rice must have something to do with that! (which is a good thing for me...) Am going to start very slowly weaning him back onto kibble today - trying Acana now (made by same people as Orijen and grain free but lower protein). BTW just to warn you all that when on chicken and rice, after a day or two the poo starts to turn bright yellow! It's hilarious. Think it has something to do with the lack of bile having to be produced to digest it, as it is so easy on the system - ie bile= darker poo.

Hope everyone is okay and sorry to bore on! Going to take him out to the park again today - didn't take him out yesterday - only garden play etc. Poor pup. But wanted to get his tummy better.

PS Anyone reading Solo2's thread? So sorry for her - what a tough time... She should come on here - he's still a pup.

Thanks for the advice happymm - I have been following your story with much sympathy! I have just been out and bought a 5m indoor training line so may have to try that tonight if I can see the craziness gearing up. Mind you, she was better with the DC this morning - went in for a nip and clearly thought better of it, began biting DS's trousers but stopped when I gave her a firm NO. We'll see.

We have also just started lead walking, using the stop-start method so that a 5min walk takes hours and hours (seems like it anyway) but definitely making some progress. I am hoping to get some tips on that when we start obedience classes on Saturday.

The best news is that she slept until 6am this morning - I woke her up then because I didn't want to push my luck. Please please let this be a permanent fixture instead of a one-off! Mind you this achievement looks pitiful next to your 8am start happy!

Hi all. Can I join please? We collected our 9 week old Border Terrier this week. He's just gorgeous! Came to us used to a crate so we have had no problems there ... he happily takes himself in for a sleep and just whines for a few minutes when we close him in at night. We are also closing him in his crate whilst we eat as he just jumps up at the children if we don't, and I have to use it if we're all out of the kitchen as he CHEWS everything!!

Toilet training is okay-ish. A few accidents inside but mostly when we haven't been quick enough to take him out following a nap or food. Want to train him to go in a specific area of the garden but at the moment he's all over the place so I need to work on that.

Our main problem is the jumping up and nipping. We have 4 children from 9 down to 3 and he's giving the 3 yr olds real grief. They're just not old enough to manage the nipping and are now pretty scared of him if he runs after them. Any tips to manage this would be sooooo appreciated. We're removing him from them, saying No or Off but I think he has already learned the knack of selective deafness !

Anyway, have been reading this thread over the last few weeks so will dip in now and again now that we have our fella!

Welcome Millie! Have had a Border before-lovely character dog!

Re: jumping/nipping, needs to be on some form of a lead ALL the time, either a normal one, or training one-we now have them tethered all round the house (radiators, chair legs etc) so that you're always in control. When you go to stroke him, make him sit and slip your thumb/finger through his collar then when he goes to nip/mouth you, a gentle tug combined with a very stern NO BITiNG! Do this also if he goes for the DC and you have hold of the lead, give that a tug instead.

Tell the kids NOT to run if he chases them - stand still, fold arms and turn away shouting NO! We tried yelping if puppy did bite, but that just excited ours further!

Re:training to one part of the garden for toiletting, again, have him on the lead and take him to where you want him to go every time-this is taking us a while, as daft dog not picking that one up!

Not too bad a day here. Daft dog is calming down! Really! Am amazed but the advice above really works. She's still jumping up a bit when she first sees us as is excited, but isn't jumping at me so badly. Is jumping at DD though so need to train her to train dog IYSWIM! But the biting and nipping is much much better. DS regaining his confidence a bit.

Anyway, bedtime then walkies, love to all,x

Great day here today.

Pup was sleeping in his pen. I picked him and his vetbed up and put him in the bed that's in the crate. Shut the door and gave him a treat. He stayed in there for about 20 minutes with no whining or barking. I opened the door and praised him big time. Will try and do this increasing the time until, hopefully, I will be able to shut him in the crate overnight.

We have also tried hard to get him used to the lead by walking him round the garden with it on and a treat in the hand nearest him. He is gradually getting used to it.

My friend walked past our house this evening and her goldie pulled her into our drive. I let pup come out and meet her dog. He was so good and just sat on the step and leaned forward to sniff her. He didn't jump up or get excited. I was really proud of him.

Walkies went crap. Getting better on lead but once off was a bloody loon. Not helped by people chucking empty crisp packets, coke cans etc which she found v entertaining! Tried to do some clicker training with treats but she was just loony and jumping/biting crazy thing. Desperate for treats. Things didn't improve on return and unfortunately didn't stop when we got back and she was worse than ever. Phoning whisperer tomorrow :(

Getting worried now. We've had her 4wks and it's not improving enough...

Happymm - not really qualified to comment as I don;t have a puppy(or a dog for that matter!) but i do follow these threads with interest as I am going to adopt later in the year and need as much of the nitty gritty gory details as possible. Sorry taht you had a crap walk , your post earlier sounded so much more positive. 4 weeks is no time at all though - when you consider you will have your dog for maybe 15 years. You are all doing so well all things considered. Chin up!

Goodness what a lot of news!

Twojues - great that the crate training is going well. It really sounds like progress is being made!

Happymm - Progress too with you! Don't get down. Your earlier post was very positive.

We went to our first puppy training which was a little too much talk and not enough practical. Our pup was the only one who looked excited to be there the others were sitting nicely while ours was like trying to hold on to a rocket! It was her first proper trip out as she only had jabs on Tues so isn't 'officially' allowed out yet. She also was scared in the car for the longer journey and pooped in the boot - nice.

Hi please may i join?.I have a 12 week old cocker who is great with the dc's and waits all day for them to come home and play.Last night he managed to scale up the walls of his puppy pen ,squeeze round the side of the house ,come in the front door and run upstairs as was shut in the utility whilst i was putting the kids to bed.I think i'm going to call him houdini!.Having had a cavalier before - i am not used to this level of intelligence. I'm so sorry for the people having major problems and i hope thay get sorted out soon.

Hi everyone and welcome to all the new people. Rather envious of those who have well-behaved puppies! Ours is getting a lot better at not jumping/nipping with the family but when he meets new people he gets very excited and forgets himself. If on the lead he strangles himself trying to get to them!

Happy I do usually have to relegate the pup to his crate for a sleep when he gets back from a walk. Am not sure if he is making enough progress re nipping etc either. He is a lot better but does still do it sometimes. I suppose it will take a bit longer than 5 weeks?! Hope I don't just have a delinquent one... Oh for a well behaved heeling dog

Well, I would have said ours didn't nip much but he has this morning landed two holes in DD's brand new top!! He's worse with the kids, doesn't dare do it with DH and me, but they're old enough (12 and 14) to deal with it. Their games get a bit wild and he forgets himself.

It's funny, but just when you despair of your pup and think he's going to be the only dog in civilisation who never "gets it" with house-training, you take stock, as I did this morning, and realise he's not done a poo indoors for 5 days! (except overnight, which I kind of accept as pay off for not getting up at 4am to let him out).

Definitely over the worst!

We've had a good day today. Not too much nipping although I did have to put jeans on as the nips that did happen were much more painful on bare skin!

Called a 1-2-1 gun dog trainer that is coming next week to give a lesson at home. This also coincides with pup's first day out for a walk so he will show us what to do.

I decided as we have a pup from 2 working dogs it would be worth having some specific training that will help us understand her breed traits etc.
He was passing our house so popped in and saw pup. He told me I had a typical pup and I should lower my expectations this was as my 20mth old son was climbing on the coffee table so it wasn't the house of obedience and calm!

Would love a well behaved dog!

Have done as you suggested Kings and put puppy in crate when back from walks. Took her on school run this pm. Was really good. Then into crate. Just back from walk so in crate again.

It's just that just as you think all's going well, she can't help herself, she just has to mess up. She gets so so overexcited and then just jumps up and bites. It seems to me like a proper bite, not just mouthing.

Am not getting any pleasure from her at present, just work and upset. Even when I try to give her a cuddle, she gets excited and then starts nipping :(