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!

As you're in a rural village, I'm going to assume you have a car and are willing to travel a modest distance :) This is a non-exhaustive list of dog schools that I would be willing to take my own dog to if I lived in the area.

www.dogstrustdogschool.org.uk/dog-school/bristol - Classes in Saltford and Pucklechurch (and more in Bristol itself, depending on how far you're willing to travel)

ruffhounds.co.uk/classes/ (Chipping Sodbury & Bath)

www.avondogservices.co.uk/ (Twerton, Bath)

Let me know if none of those work for you; if you want us to have a look at a specific trainer post a link and I'll have a look at the website to see if any red flags jump out.

@Wolfie You don't want to hear my tone deaf voice either

FWIW This is what the KC requires from their accredited instructors

You could do almost ANYTHING training wise, and still be within their guidelines. They make no reference to not using punishment / aversives - for instance
"•be able to advise on the choice, maintenance and safe use of training equipment." - you could be using choke chains and electric shock collars, so long as you're advising on which size and how to change the batteries.

"be diplomatic in discussions to avoid criticising or
condemning advice given / methods used by other Clubs / Instructors, especially where those in question will
not have the opportunity to justify their actions." - so another trainer uses shock collars and choke chains, but a KCAI can't criticise them for that...

You start to get the picture. Some good instructors are KCAI, as are some bad ones.

Forgot the link! www.thekennelclub.org.uk/media/23021/kcaicodeinstructors.pdf

I would second the recommendation for Dogs Trusted Dog School.

*dogs trust dog school - silly auto correct

Sounds like you are doing great

Any talk of pack theory and dominance? Run a mile!

I'm ashamed to say I was completely taken in by that bullshit when I was younger (a dog-obsessed teenager- fortunately before I was able to get my own dog). It seemed so reasonable and convincing. Now I look back with a little more wisdom (and a relevant degree) and realise that I was utterly fooled.

Any reference to how dogs are still similar to wolves should set serious alarm bells. It's codswallop and encourages potentially harmful practices.

The thing is Fab that at the time it appeared to be based on research and many people used it as a basis for training. Thankfully things have moved on. Mostly.

Pack leadership theory seems to be so persistent because it's the sort of thing that just seems to make sense to the average dog owner - wolf packs have leaders, dogs are descended from wolves, my dog doesn't listen to a word I say, therefore I need to become his leader...

I chatted with an old lady with a new rescue dog in the park who told me it was going well except the dog hadn't accepted her as pack leader yet. When I broke it to her gently that pack leadership theory was considered outdated the somewhat plaintive response was that "... But Cesar Milan is my hero!". Next I had to break it to her that he's considered something of a pariah in the dog training world.

However, she's far from the only one like that. We've all made mistakes in dog training (I certainly have) but it is being willing to learn and do better in future that's the most important thing

He's a twat of the highest order. His methods have got him bitten!!
Of course we make mistakes. Yep. Frequently. I can only try and do better in future. I have trainers and breed experts and lovely friends too to offer support and guidance. Thank goodness!!!

Thanks for the recommendations, I will check them out.

This is who I had been planning to use, any red flags?

www.celestine-dog-training.com/obedience-training

It's always hard to know just from the website, but it does say on the home page they use "reward based training" which hopefully means they don't prescribe to pack theory but isn't a guarantee.

bathsh3ba It's ok to ask them if you can go along and watch a class before committing to go yourself. This can really help you work out if this is the right class for you and your pup.

Also I would chat to them about chi's a bit and whether they have had many in classes because some trainers dislike very small and/or very large dogs and hopefully you'd get an idea if this was the case with that particular trainer. Also ask how they manage any interactions between dogs in class - especially important for such a small puppy since a bigger puppy jumping on her could easily injure and/or traumatise her.