Feeling a bit lost with new puppy

[bathsh3ba]

On Saturday we brought home our first puppy, a 9 week old chihuahua. DD has wanted a dog forever and I felt she was finally mature enough plus I am home most of the day all summer till October so can settle pup in better. However I am used to cats not dogs and have never had a dog. We have 2 cats. I am scared of bigger dogs but ok with small ones, hence why I went for a toy breed. Also because I know I would not keep up long walks.

She is beautiful. She is very affectionate and has attached quite strongly to me. She mainly wants to be on my lap if she is not playing but she also goes in her crate. At night she is in a closed crate and I take her outside to wee at midnight and 3am. She cries at night for 30 minutes then gives up. She is ok in the closed crate if I pop out for an hour, haven't left her longer than 90 minutes yet.

Three things are confusing me though as I have read conflicting advice.

She wees and poos outside but also sometimes indoors. This morning I caught her mid poo, clapped my hands and said uh-uh and carried her outside but she just sprayed wee all over the floor on her way out then wouldn't do anything outside. I take her out once an hour during the day and every 3 hours at night or if crated. Am I doing it wrong or does it just take ages?

Secondly I am wary of leaving her unsupervised uncrated due to the cats and her weeing. I am in a rented house with engineered oak floors and terrified of ruining them. One cat completely ignores the dog, the other is warily curious but this morning the dog growled at her. The cat is much much bigger than the dog and would definitely win in a fight! I kept them apart for 2 nights and keep the cats in the kitchen while the pup is crated in the living room at night but during the day I crate the dog if I have to go in another room for any length of time. Am I always going to have to do this?

Finally what do I do about biting in play. She doesn't really nip me but she does DD. How do I train her not to?

Thanks and please be kind!

You’ve had her 3 days? It’s going to take a lot longer to house train her than that. Just keep taking her out after food and sleep and praise like mad when she goes where she should. Also get a code word, and repeat it when she goes, so she will associate it with toileting. I used to do a sing song ‘wee wee in the garden’

I would always leave a pup in a crate or safe place when not actively supervising them, they can get into all sorts of trouble, chewing electric cables etc. Try and keep the cats and pup separate for now with stair gates and the crate, they’ll probably get used to her quite quickly, but lower your expectations, it’s been 3 days!

Puppies mouth, bite, nip and chew, it’s how they explore, have a toy to hand and make sure she chews that instead of a hand or foot

Chihuahuas can be quite aggressive, especially with other dogs. They tend to think they're much bigger than they are!

Hi OP.

Welcome to puppyhood

Toilet training can take weeks - mine was about 5 months old before reliable indoors. Until then your job is to minimise the times she goes indoors and maximise the time she goes outdoors. Over time that will translate to her preferring to go outdoors all the time. During the day, while she is awake take her out every 30mins without fail as she is so young and small. Encourage her to go and praise her like mad is she does. If she hasn't toiletted within a few mins, bring her back indoors and try and again in about 15mins. Do the same thing immediately (within a minute) of play, sleep and eating plus anytime she looks like she MIGHT want to go (sniffing, pacing, panting). You need to be ON IT all the time so expect for it to start to feel very repetitive before too long. Overnight she can last longer as she is asleep, so every 3 hours is probably about right. My top tip is to record and track accidents per day or days since last accident. It helps to see progress when it doesn't feel like there has been any.

Regardless of cats, I would not leave a puppy unsupervised in a room (uncrated) for several weeks yet - if not months. They can get themselves into trouble so easily by chewing electrical wires, swallowing something they shouldn't etc. She will need close monitoring for some time yet. It is VERY unlikely there will be a fight. The cat will hiss, bite or swipe the puppy to warn her - but even this could result in eye injuries which Chi can be vulnerable to. Over time, the dog and cats will learn to co exist peacefully, I would expect, but this could take several months until the Chi is mature (about 18 months) so they will need watching until then - but less and less as time goes on.

Biting stops play. Immediately and without fail. Puppies bites. DD goes "uh-oh" and stands up and walks away. If puppy won't let her leave and keeps nipping then the puppy should be removed for a few minutes until she has calmed down again. This, as you might have guessed by now, can also take several months before she 'gets it'. They do grow out of it, though.

Calm consistency is the key to raising a puppy. Everything takes longer than you think it will

Yes true, my grandfather had 7 or 8 at a time, and there were some he wouldn’t let us close to when we were children. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that small equals docile and calm, they’re still dogs and have BIG personalities

It's just consistency at this stage. She's a baby and she'll take time to learn things.

My pup is a year old and although house trained had an accident last week as my husband wasn't forceful enough checking she had a wee before bed.

Stick to your routine for a couple of months and things with get better. You won't have to crate her forever, but she will be a baby for a while and you will have to

Once an hour isn’t enough for her to go outside. Set a recurring alarm on your phone for every 20-30 mins.

Puppy blues are real! Chin up

Seriously you're expecting a 9 week old chi to be housetrained in 3 days? Did you properly research getting a dog before you got one?
A puppy chi has a tiny bladder and the muscles simply dont exist yet for it to have control. It can take weeks and months for this to improve and what's more, chis are notorious for being tough to house train.

Patience and consistency are the key. Also, what are you using to clean any mess?

9 weeks is very young to have taken a chihuahua puppy away from its Mum, did she come from a breeder? Toy breeds are often hard to house train - you need to lower your expectations.

Keep doing what you’re doing for now with the toilet training and the crating, it will be a long time before she is safe to be left ‘free range’ and depending on the cats potentially never. Leaving for 90 mins at this age is an absolute maximum and I wouldn’t look to extend this until pup is quite a bit older.

No I don't expect her to be trained in 3 days and I know it will be hard work. Hence why I chose this time when I am mostly home to do it. I just need reassurance I am on the right track as I am out of my comfort zone and I don't want to get it wrong. I did research chihuahuas and I knew housebreaking could be hard and they can be aggressive but I assume that good training minimises this hence why I want to get it right. Her mum was very sociable and friendly and docile. A snapping chihuahua still scares me less than a big dog.

Her mum was very sociable and friendly and docile

This is the key influence on her future behaviour. Genetics and their early experiences with mum are so important for puppies.

Take your time, enjoy the puppy months as much as possible and be reassured that most (bad) behaviours pass without too much fuss so long as you are consistent.

Start to look for good training classes where she can go and experience new things and where you can gain support and confidence in your handling of her. A good class won't let puppies loose to run riot so you won't need to be rushed/scared by strange dogs.

I sympathise - it is hard and it can so frustrating when you think you're getting somewhere and they have an accident or don't do as they're told.

We've had ours ten days now and he's finally starting to settle and listen to commands. The big thing I've learnt is when he's over-tired, he's an absolutely nightmare. We try and follow his cue for activity - if he's asleep we don't wake him, for example. If he shows he's had enough, we don't push him to carry on. He's only little and needs lots of sleep and rest, with just mad bursts of energy occasionally.

Ours bites too - he's older than yours (14 weeks) but I expect him to be biting in play for a good while yet. As soon as he bites, I say "no" firmly and remove myself from the situation. If he's on the sofa with us and bites, again, he's told "no" and placed on the floor. You need consistency and need to do the same thing over and over again. It's frustrating and repetitive and it will piss you off but you DO see progress and when you do it's so worth it!

I recommend The Perfect Puppy by Gwen Bailey and make sure you use a specific pet stain remover such as Simple Solution so that you are breaking down the enzymes left behind so the puppy is less likely to mark in the same place. I think Simple have a hard wood version.

Do you also have toys that are good for teething? Kongs are great but can recommend others if you need them.

You sound like you scared her with your clapping and it caused her to have an accident.

Do not clap at the dog, you ignore bad and overly praise good when it comes to toilet training.

You do seem particularly uninformed. You are also leaving her too long and too early on. Not to mention you do not buy a dog for a child.

Going back to another point that ladymcbeth just touched on, in the first 3 days I certainly wouldn't be leaving her for that long. You need to build it up - painfully slowly. Also, what's changing in October? Are you back to work or something? How long will the dog be left for then?

I wouldn't leave a puppy to cry for half an hour.
You need to take the puppy out after food, water, playing, napping and about every 20 minutes regardless.
Don't tell off for accidents indoors.
Praise for wee outside.
It's early days. Took us ages to be able to leave the puppy around the cats. We used a longline to start with.
Why did the breeder give you such a tiny pup so young though? Isn't it usually more like 12 weeks?

Hang on, I've just re-read your OP. Are you really crating and leaving a 9 WEEK old puppy on it's own for 90 minutes and going out? Puppy is FAR too young to be left alone - such a small breed should probably still be with it's mother at such a young age in all honesty.

We don't leave ours longer than a few minutes while we pop upstairs or to do something like make the bed, vacuum, nip outside to bring the washing in or something. If we left him in his crate longer than that (without us being in the room) he'd cry and cry and get himself really worked up. Pups need company, not to be left in a cage.

The four hours "alone" rule is for adult dogs, and you need to build up to that over months. Not an hour one day, two hours the next. Young puppies can't hold their bladder that long, especially not tiny breeds. If she's too young to be taken out with you, you either need to stay home with her or arrange someone to look after her while you go out. She needs very regular toilet breaks and company, not to be locked in a cage on her own.

I missed that too, you can’t leave a puppy for that long, until they’re much older. How much research did you do before getting the pup?

Nothing to add other than Chihuahuas are brill,I hot mine at 9 weeks old and wouldnt be without him 😊

We picked up our pup on Saturday to. A 9 week old whippet. She is settling in nicely and so far only had one accident today but that’s with me taking her out to the garden every 20 minutes so far. The longest I have left her so far is half an hour to do the school run. She has a play pen with bed and toys which she settles in really well.

I am still finding my feet. I love her to bits but having a puppy is hard work and it’s definitely taking some adjustment!

She cries at night for 30 minutes then gives up. She is ok in the closed crate if I pop out for an hour, haven't left her longer than 90 minutes yet.

I would actually disagree with pp and say that if she settles down after 30minutes at night then keep doing that. If you go in when she cries then she will keep doing it to get attention. As long as she isn't messing inside the crate.

And again, if she isn't showing any signs of upset at being left for an hour (ie messing inside, chewing, crying etc) then that's fine. As long as it isn't all the time. Puppies need lots of company but you also need to be able to pop out without her at some point.

As you can see from all the posts, there is no 'right' way to raise a puppy, everyone does it differently depending on what works for their individual puppy.

Modern advice would disagree with you Nesssie.
This is a baby dog. Less than a week ago it was taken from the only family and home it has ever known.
After half an hour it gives up. Because nobody comes. Leaving a pup to cry like this could actually lead to proper separation anxiety down the line.
Pup needs to be with you.

We always seem to disagree on everything wolfiefan

Just giving my opinion, if the puppy isn't showing any signs of distress then I would continue. All dogs are different.

If the OP is out how can she know the puppy isn't showing signs of distress? We didn't leave our dog crying for half an hour, that seems an awfully long time to me and the pup is very little. Likewise we didn't leave him on his own in the house for more than a few minutes for a long time, apart from anything else we were taking him outside to pee at least every half an hour. As long time cat owners getting a dog is a whole new ball game. I wonder whether as the pup is so small the OP is thinking of him too much as she would a cat. Puppies are hard work!