New puppy mistake??

[Samrennie]

I have wanted a dog for many years and now being in a position to have one we picked up our 8 week puppy a couple of days ago. However, despite doing all my research, loads of reading and watching youtube I think I have been sooo naïve and wonder whether this has been a mistake. Puppy is weeing everywhere despite going out a least once an hour and rewarding when going outside, biting feet and jumping up despite lots of chew toys. Crate training also not going well as has pooed in cage both nights, there is a divider in the cage.
DH tells me not to worry as still very early days but I have read of people crate/house training within 24 hours and worry that I am doing it all wrong but I am a worrywort all the time. Some reassurance needed from other puppy people!

The puppy's only 8 weeks old it'll be nowhere near toilet trained yet, depends on the breed but
some dogs train faster than others

Some excellent advice on this thread OP it is a marathon I am still not there yet with my rescue pup with some health issues and he is 9 months old.....

Great advice given. I'd add, to restrict where your puppy can go in the house for at least a few weeks. That means that you are also restricted as you need to be with the puppy to watch for signs he or she needs to toilet. So if the door to the garden is in the kitchen then that is where you should be yourself for the next few weeks. Tricky with Xmas obviously, but that's a huge down side of getting a puppy at this time of year.

@AgathaX

That's so true. I lived all day in the kitchen with my puppy. You have to watch them all the time. I'd never get a puppy this close to Christmas.

I don't think @Samrennie likes our advice, she's not responding!

Can't imagine where you did your research, it's absolutely unrealistic to expect a 8 week old puppy to be house trained in a couple of days; whoever told you that is lying.

At 8 weeks a puppy is a tiny baby. It's just left it mother and litter mates. Would you expect a 3 or 6th month old human baby to be out of nappies?

Take the good advice you've been given on here and decide if you want to put in the effort to train your puppy as pp have advised or if you want a quick fix, because you've got a long haul ahead of you and puppies can be hard work.

Puppies need to be trained and socialised, despite what you seem to have read, they don't come ready trained.

If you're not prepared to put in the effort, maybe having a dog is not for you.

@Samrennie don't give up! I think most people go through the "oh my god, what have I done?" phase. I went through it when my dog was a puppy and damaged a very sentimental antique table.

Keep persevering, they are so worth it, they give back so much love.

You just have to accept your house is not going to be showroom standard and embrace your new family member. It's all about adapting and being persistent with the training.

Give yourself and your puppy time to settle. Good luck - you got this 🐾

Won't bother just duplicating what everyone has said because I'm sure you've had a serious reality check by reading the posts. It took 4 months before my little one was 95% toilet trained. It took until she had all her adult teeth and a couple months more before the intense biting stopped. I was very lucky and can say in all honesty, she took to the crate instantly and has only ever weed/pooed in it when she's had diarrhoea (a couple of times now). She's 9 months old now and still very playful but the toughest times (I think) have now past. It's been very VERY hard work and there were a few times when I wondered whether I'd done the right think by getting one. Stick at it, it will get better but it will take months rather than weeks.

I've had a few dogs over the years. The longest to house train was 6 months and the shortest (my existing dog) was 5 days and yes that is absolutely true and not once accident since.

We got our last pup at 9 weeks. Me and my husband took it in turns to sleep downstairs with him for about 3 weeks. Pup was in his crate next to the settee and if he cried in the night we talked softly to him and stroked him. If he settled fine, if not we took him in the garden. We gradually moved the crate further away from the settee.

We don't allow dogs in the bedroom but no way would we have left him alone all night when we first got him

Thanks everyone for the constructive criticism, just to be really clear I am not looking to get rid of puppy, I guess I was just a little overwhelmed the other day and needed some reassurance! But thank you for the stories, perhaps I saw too much of the good stuff on the research and you have show me that it is not reality.
We had a much better day yesterday and puppy seems to be getting that outside is the place for toilet, although the rain is not helping!
Many thanks

Overwhelmed is normal.

But it's going to happen more often if you dont have realistic expectations. I bring my third home this weekend. Not a Christmas present, a rescue that happens to need a home now. We know that ita going to be hard work.

There is a puppy support thread here. Now most people are struggling, that's why they need support. First reading it's quite scary, but it shows you the problems that normal people face.

Sorry forgot to say if you read the whole thing you see people struggling and as the months go on, you can see people finding it easier and their puppies learning the right things.

I do think that alot of online articles make crate training sound easy and wonderful and the solution for an easy life with a puppy. I crate train mine and I support itbused in the right way but it's not realistic to think it's always very, very easy.

I got my first dog as a puppy and I can honestly say the child was far easier and I would never recommend a first time owner getting a puppy, you can do as much research as possible and yet you are still not prepared and like a baby they are all so different so no one rule is ever going to work.

Just keep plodding at it and it does get better,

You'll get there in the end OP, honestly. It does get better - one day you'll look back and realise your pup is no longer biting/jumping/chewing your shoes!

Mine turns two in a couple of months and he's becoming a really lovely, settled adult dog. He walks nicely on a lead (unless he spots a cat!), no longer jumps up, doesn't chew my furniture, settles nicely on his bed while we eat, knows all his tricks...

We still have the odd moment of madness, normally when he's due a walk or a poo, but generally he's much easier to deal with and he's a really fab addition to our family :)

Mine's 7 months now..so we are over the worst of the early days but heading into adolescence and teenage attitude.
The first few weeks were so hard and exhausting even though I had read up (joined the FB group before she came to us) and thought I had an idea...the relentlessness of night waking etc.
However by 11 weeks she was reliably sleeping through and and we haven't had a wee in the house (or poo) since. I spent an awful lot of time outdoors tho (easier for me as summer)

I have had a fair few 'whaa what have we done, I want my life back!' moments as mine is clingy and can't be left. I gave up on the crate pretty early as it was making me stressed and she hated it even following the guidelines.

But... now she is affectionate, continent, sleeps through the night and non bitey except a few moments when she is over excited. I redirect to tug toys of which we have far too many!

I just wish she'd sleep later in the mornings.. 5am is usual..and when she's up..she's UP!
Hang in there...

Your puppy is such a little baby op. Cut him/her some slack. I’ll tell you that mine was already pad trained when I got him so he never went in the house. That is because he was 12 weeks old when I got him and the breeder had pad trained all the puppies. An 8 week old is so little. You will manage.

The breeder should have told you the dogs routine, then just build it around yours.
If the crate has no divider so its all bed it won't poo in its bed, but make sure you are up early.
Its just time ours was 12 weeks and almost trained but different dogs take different times, the breeder had done a lot of the hard work.
You will get there it may not feel like it though!

@StillMedusa your puppy sounds very like mine. He is 7 months and very clingy, doesn’t like being left and wakes early. We have just been referred to a vet behaviourist for some help with his separation anxiety but haven’t seen them yet. Have you had any success with training yours to be alone?

So any progress?

You've taken me back about 8 months to when we got our pup. It's really really hard. He's 11 months old now, still chewing periodically, I am always on my guard of what he has access to. I still get excited every morning for the lack of accident, although it's been months since he's had one, it was a very long and horrible place when it did.
Grit your teeth and know it won't last forever. I am sure it's so you love them more in the end as you went through the tough times and are damned grateful they are through the other side.

House trained in 24 hours... nonsense. Especially at 8 weeks. My friends occasionally breeds but never lets a puppy go at 8 weeks but even at 10 they are no where near house trained. Everything you've described is typical puppy behaviour that any research at all will warn you of. Maybe better to return puppy to breeder now while it's not going to be too disruptive for the poor thing

Overwhelmed is normal... but yes need to be out every 15-20 mins at this stage. Yes it's tough with pups, much like a baby but it's not forever. Good luck!