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Hi, I joined this thread to get some advice or tips.
I have a new purebred boxer puppy (she just turned 6 weeks old). I have had her for a week already. The first 2 days were great, she didn't pee or poop in my house, she learned to walk on a leash outside and by the 3rd night she finally slept through the night.
My problem is she has been bad the rest of this week. She is peeing and pooping all over the place even after I take her outside. I take her outside immediately after she wakes up from a nap, and after she eats and every hour on the hour through out the day. I don't feed her 2 hours prior to bedtime. PetZyme does not seem to be working AT ALL and I don't know what else to do. I also can't find a puppy diaper that fits her, she is too big for an xtra small but too small for a small!
She is also chewing on everything and biting! I know puppies chew and play bite so I have bought several toys for her to play with and chew on, but she won't use them. If I try to play with her she bites my hand or goes after my toes. I can't hold her b/c she chews on my clothes and now she barks all night (loud howling, barking and growling like she is irate for being in her crate). I haven't slept in 2 days!
If I catch her peeing or pooping in my house I tell her "NO" or I say "BAD" and then put her in her crate for a timeout. When she bites me I do the same thing or I will leave her out but ignore her.
I have dog books and DVDs and have a set schedule but nothing is working. I'm so overwhelmed and am just about to go completely insane.
This little guy perfectly sums up how i feel at this point:
Respectfully, before you can train your puppy you need to train yourself. What you are doing now is wrong. Your pup is not bad, she's very, very young and doesn't know better. At 6 weeks old she is too young to understand corrections and consequences. At 6 weeks old she's too young to be away from her mother and her litter. That's why she's crying at night. She misses the warmth and security of her littermates. At 6 weeks old she's WAY too young for you to even think about housetraining her. You can start at 8 or 9 weeks, and even then she will be too young to hold her urine or bowels for more than an hour or so.
You will need to be patient and kind, and socialize her well now to avoid problems later. You NEVER want to do anything to your pup to make her fear you, especially regarding housemanners. If you do, her natural tendency will be to avoid making you angry by sneaking off to pee somewhere out of your sight. Corrections and isolation are damaging to a developing pup. Don't do it.
Start by reading this: Your Education About Puppy Education | Dog Star Daily. These articles were written by a world-renowned dog behaviorist. The techniques work, but you will have to be consistent and patient and not expect immediate results.
At the bottom of each page is an arrow to take you to the next segment. Housetraining and biting are discussed.
A City-Data forum member, ViralMD, has posted her housetraining techniques many times in the Dogs forum. Do a search and find one of her posts, then follow it to the letter.
6 weeks is mighty young to take away from mom and litter they teach bite inhibition...there is plenty written about it.
Next a 6 week old puppy is way way to young to have bladder or poo control.
There is also a very very good thread by someone here can't remember the name about house breaking.
As far as yaouling in the crate you might try putting some soft music next to the crate...There is a great youtube video showing a guy singing some boxer pups to sleep by singing.
I suggest you get a really good puppy training book and then when she's about 10 weeks old join a puppy class...a boxer is going to be a BIG dog so you will need to get that behaviour under control early.
You just need to keep working with your pup, the bottom line is: it takes time. When we first got ours we took him outside like every 20 minutes. Eventually he learned and began having less and less accidents inside. We are still working on the chewing problem though. Just make sure she has lots of chew toys and is given lots of attention. Other than that it is just a matter of her growing up and keep the training going. She is a young thing, she will have accidents. Good luck, sorry my advice isn't all that good.
Ps. Half of the people here are going to yell "6 weeks is too young take her back to her mother blah blah"... just ignore them. I mean, what are you going to do.. send her back?
Five weeks is AWFULLY young (I think too young!) for a pup to go to its new home. But what's done is done.
You're expecting WAY too much from your puppy. It's like a human infant. And don't get upset with the pup for 'going' where it shouldn't: it's up to YOU to not let him go where it would upset you if he had an accident.
Here's my housetraining post: follow it TO THE LETTER. And so must everyone else in the house.
Housetraining your dog (puppy or adult!)
The first thing you need to do is to remember that you’re trying to reinforce a new behavior. That means that the rewards for this behavior must be WONDERFUL. NOT crap from the store. Wonderful treats are poached chicken breast/turkey breast, cheese and steak. And you don’t have to use big pieces. Tiny pieces (about 3mm cubes) are just fine! I poach a whole turkey breast every few weeks, cut it into hunks when it’s cool enough to handle, wrap them well and store them in the freezer. When I need some, I’ll thaw a hunk overnight and cut off pieces and dice finely, storing them in a plastic bag in the fridge. One hunk will last about five days. Cheese is also popular, so variety is fine.
I carry these plastic bags in my jacket pockets in the winter and in a fanny pack in warmer weather. You HAVE to have these with you, or this method won’t work, because you need to reward as soon as the dog finishes pooping or peeing. It’s not going to work if the rewards are in the house.
Remember that you’re trying to change a very ingrained behavior. Some dogs like to feel certain things under their feet when they eliminate, like fabric, or newspaper. This is called a ‘substrate preference.’ What you’re trying to do is change this substrate preference, and to do that you have to make the treats SO wonderful that the dog will change this very well-entrenched behavior. Thus the chicken, cheese, steak.
I love clicker training, but this can be done without clickers. You just need a way to ‘mark’ the behavior you want to reinforce. Use the word ‘YESSSSS!!!!’ very enthusiastically – that works for some.
You’re going to need to GO OUTSIDE WITH your dog and the dog needs to be on a leash. Yes, even in winter. If you don’t reward IMMEDIATELY after the event (when dog immediately finishes pooping or peeing) and wait inside, the dog is going to be reinforced for coming inside, not for doing its business. So, leash up your dog. STAND IN ONE PLACE. Be boring. Bring a book or magazine for yourself.
Eventually, the dog will do what you’re waiting for. The NANOSECOND that the dog is finished, HAVE A PARTY – lots of loud, high-pitched praise, treats and running around. You want to make this memorable for your dog! You’ll find that once the first event is achieved, the others will come more quickly. Keep on treating (you don’t have to throw a party except for milestones – a milestone = if he only pooped outside but now peed, too, or something equivalent to that) until he’s good and used to peeing/pooping outside. Before you know it, you have a trained dog.
Regarding accidents in the house: NO SCOLDING. Just clean them up. If you scold you’ll get the dog to think it’s bad to pee or poop and he’ll do it in places you won’t see. Until you step in it. Invest in a big bottle of Nature’s Miracle or Simple Solution and use it liberally on accidents.
With young puppies, remember they have little control of the muscle that holds the bladder closed. This is something they grow into. Just as it’s not expected that a human baby is toilet trained at six months, don’t expect much from a puppy. Patience, patience, patience!!!! The nervous system in a puppy has to mature, and it won’t have much control over the sphincter (closing muscle) at the neck of the bladder until six or seven months. The same goes for the anal sphincter. Until control is achieved, both of these muscles operate on reflex: there are stretch receptors in the bladder wall. When the bladder is full, it sends impulses to the spinal cord and these, in turn, send signals to the sphincter to open and the dog pees.
In the stomach wall, there are also stretch receptors. So when the dog eats and the stomach is stretched, the impulses again go to the spinal cord, but this time the reflex, outgoing, nerve signals are sent to the anal sphincter, so the dog defecates. This operates in people, too – which is why some people rush to the ‘reading room’ after a meal – especially breakfast.
She doesnt need puppy diapers, there's no point to them, that wont teach her anything, would just confine her to a gated kitchen (we spent a lot of time in our kitchen when ours were young) and be prepared to scoop her up and take her outside ASAP when she starts to 'go'. At 6 wks, she doesnt have bladder or bowel muscle control as others have said, it's sort of trial and error and a bit of luck, in time you'll get her on a schedule but right now she has no concept of what you want esp. if you're getting frustrated, you wouldnt expect a baby to be potty trained and neither should you expect a very young puppy to be housetrained, for the same reason/s. Acc's are inevitable, keep in mind they do want to please but you're expecting waaay too much too soon. As for her crying at nite, she might have to 'go' - would give her the benefit of the doubt, you don't want her to get in the habit of staying in a soiled crate, they want to be clean, I'd get up for mine in the early AM hrs and take them outside, then back in the crate (even though our yd is fenced in, I'd walk them on a leash, they're out there to 'go',not play, they can play later). Consistency and patience are key also, she's very young, it does get better but she's very, very young, it does take time.
Quote:
Originally Posted by DerbyGirl
Hi, I joined this thread to get some advice or tips.
I have a new purebred boxer puppy (she just turned 6 weeks old). I have had her for a week already. The first 2 days were great, she didn't pee or poop in my house, she learned to walk on a leash outside and by the 3rd night she finally slept through the night.
My problem is she has been bad the rest of this week. She is peeing and pooping all over the place even after I take her outside. I take her outside immediately after she wakes up from a nap, and after she eats and every hour on the hour through out the day. I don't feed her 2 hours prior to bedtime. PetZyme does not seem to be working AT ALL and I don't know what else to do. I also can't find a puppy diaper that fits her, she is too big for an xtra small but too small for a small!
She is also chewing on everything and biting! I know puppies chew and play bite so I have bought several toys for her to play with and chew on, but she won't use them. If I try to play with her she bites my hand or goes after my toes. I can't hold her b/c she chews on my clothes and now she barks all night (loud howling, barking and growling like she is irate for being in her crate). I haven't slept in 2 days!
If I catch her peeing or pooping in my house I tell her "NO" or I say "BAD" and then put her in her crate for a timeout. When she bites me I do the same thing or I will leave her out but ignore her.
I have dog books and DVDs and have a set schedule but nothing is working. I'm so overwhelmed and am just about to go completely insane.
This little guy perfectly sums up how i feel at this point:
you've gotten some terrific advice. the most important is patience and love. soon enough you'll have a wonderful, house broken member of the family. good luck!
I am wondering why this puppy was taken so early from it's mother. This is the reason puppies should stay with their mothers till at least 8-10 weeks. At that time they are a little more independant of their mother. Of course the poor thing is tugging at your clothes, it is looking for it's mommy. Lots and lots of patience and love. At that age the pee and the poop is only little. And the puppy cannot control itself yet. And all are different some take longer than others.
Well, I did get my puppy at 8 weeks and he still bit the heck out of my hands for quite awhile. Not in a vicious way, but when he would get excited during play or jumping for a toy. He's now five months old and I rarely have any bite problems now. If his teeth come in contact with my skin, I scold or stop playing altogether. It is pretty comical, the look on his face, like "Uh oh". My point is, I was really frustrated with his biting and I think he was close to four months when he really started calming down on this.
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