Littleredfish I think you can help me :)

najzomax · October 2014

DH got me a puppy! He swears it isn't because of the upset earlier in the week over no more babies but I'm not so sure. Either way I have been asking for a dog for a couple years now and DH found one for a reasonable price that he likes too. He's 5 months old and partially trained he is a shih tzu lab cross.

Anyway, the point of this post is that after 15 years I'd forgotten what it's like to have a puppy! He is partially crate trained so I'm continuing with that. We are having some accidents on the floor but over all he is very well behaved. Would it be better to get puppy pads and try to get him to at least go on those or better to stick with taking him out about once an hour? Half the time he's pooping within 20 minutes of bringing him in!

Also any other advice you can offer is welcome! DH isn't an animal person so the going on the floor is already trying his patience.

ELF4321 · October 2014

I have no help on the puppy front since we adopted our dog when he was 3, but a shih tsu / lab cross? I can't even imagine how that happened or what it would look like!

najzomax · October 2014

Elf this is what a shih tzu lab cross looks like

littleredfish · October 2014

OMG he's cute!

Some people swear by pee pads, but I have enough cats to clean up after inside that I like to encourage my dogs to go outside. Also, I find they can draw you back if you eventually want him to go outside 100% then you have to train him off of them. Honestly, I basically potty trained DD the way I trained my dogs (LOL!) Here are my main tips

With puppies you want to be taking them out after they wake up, after they eat or drink, after they play, basically after they move on from any one task lol. It's a huge pain, but worth it and this phase usually passes quickly.
Once they are outside and do their "biz" you want to make the biggest damn fool of yourself. Cheer, give treats and big pets, run around so they chase you and have fun too, you want it to be a "fun" experience for them to go outside.
Also when taking them outside, try to go to the same spot/area. They'll smell themselves having been there before and are likely to go again.
If he has an accident do not reprimand negatively, he'll just start hiding where he goes. If you see him sniffing around he's likely looking for a spot, run him outside. If you catch him mid act, run him outside. If you find an accident after the fact, clean it up as fully as possible to get rid of the smell and give him NO attention good or bad. Just clean it up then take him straight outside even if he just went inside.

Dogs are very smart, it won't take him long to catch on if you are consistent. YH sounds just like mine, and had no patience either, but a well trained dog is worth the effort.

Just another note, I had fun with my first dog teaching him a new method I read where you teach your dog to ring a bell that you put by the door by pushing it with their nose. Every time he did that he'd get a treat and we'd go outside. If I noticed him looking for a spot to pee we'd get his leash on, go to the door, ring the bell then go outside. Eventually he would just go to the door and hit the bell with his nose when he wanted to be let out. It worked very well so we didn't have to watch him every second after about 10 days. (We did not use this method with DD hahahahaha!)

Also good call on the crate training, that will really speed things along and can be SO helpful when you have kids so the dogs have a place that is theirs where children are not allowed.

If you hit any issues along the way let me know.