Puppy - Toilet Training & Biting Problems

Yenwod

Wondering if any of you can give me any advice about my new puppy. She is a cross between a cairn terrier and a shihtzu and is 13 weeks old, we've had her since she was 9 weeks. It's our first proper experience with a puppy.

All in all, she's great. No crying or barking at night. If she's ever left during the day in her room, similarly never a peep from her. Very good on the lead. Has learned the sit command, nearly mastered the stay command and getting there on the lie down command. Great at playing fetch and never gets aggressive or fearful of strangers.


So first problem with toilet training is that given the bad weather, we didnt have her outside much (as she's tiny) so we're paper training her. She is mostly very good at this & 98% will poop on the paper. A lot less so with urination and in the past week has almost regressed a bit with this and is urinating all over the place. Similarly with pooping, has done it a few times in odd places where she hadn't been before. Is it normal for puppies to get confused even after they seemed trained?
Secondly she sometimes eats her poop. Obviously when we're with her, she doesnt get a chance but on her own, she sometimes does...but not always which is oddly inconsistent. She is being fed the correct amount so I dont think it's to do with food. We have her on dry biscuits only as the canned meat was causing her to get diarrhea. Any ideas how to put an end to this because its not too nice.


As for biting, she bites a lot when playing so isnt being aggressive with it but the more hyper she gets, the worse it gets and for a little thing, she has an extrememly strong bite. The only other time she starts biting is when she's getting her harness on before going on a walk.
I have tired the whole yelping thing, to immitate her litter mates but this mostly goes ignored by her. I have given a sharp NO command and stood up to turn my back on her but most of the time as I'm standing up, she's still clinging onto me with her mouth so doesnt seem like the message is getting through. She often does calm down when I ignore her though with my back turned, but next time she gets hyper, the biting happens again. Is this just a game of persistence or is there a better method.
Also, she loves chewing on shoes, pyjama bottoms, laces etc. If that's allowed and then biting hand, arm, sleeve etc isn't, could this get confusing for her (need to get the whole family consistently doing the same thing)

Thanks for any help!!

Cherry Blossom

Crate training helps with toilet training, house training and establishing and helping the pup to learn the rules. Here are a few previous threads which should answer a lot of your questions. Don't let her chew on anything that isn't hers, it makes life a lot easier later on, she will eventually learn that anything that is given to her is hers to chew and destroy and everything else isn't. There is no reason your dog can't go outside to the toilet, paper training will only prolong house training unnecessarily and actually teach her that it's ok to go in the house, the aim is to teach her that it isn't!

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056056919

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056052493

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056015979

DeadlyByDesign

I am interested in this as I am in a similar situation with my Dane pup. There is no malice behind the biting. He just seems to get hyper and starts to mouth at your hand. The problem with clothes I have too. If I try take it away he locks down and pulls as he thinks its a game. All the sharp nos in the world seem to go ignored and this just ends in frustration.

Is there any way to stem this before it becomes a problem?

Cherry Blossom

DeadlyByDesign wrote: »

Is there any way to stem this before it becomes a problem?

Give the dog a command e.g. "give" and swap the item for a treat, eventually he'll do it for a pat on the head.

RubyGirl

Had a similar problem with my puppy, read on the net to "bite her back," use your fingers and bring it over one of her teeth and press it so her tooth and lip meet and gently press until her winches. It worked a treat for me.

Toilet training agree with above, she need to go outside, use a key work like "busy busy" keep saying it until she goes and give her lots of praise and a treat wihen she does it.

sionnaic

RubyGirl wrote: »

read on the net to "bite her back," use your fingers and bring it over one of her teeth and press it so her tooth and lip meet and gently press until her winches.

:eek: do not do this!!

play nipping is normal for a puppy, especially at this age. Hurting them back is so not the way to go!!

Keep going with the yelping thing instead - just make sure it's a really high pitched yelp (my OH refuses to "yelp" cause he's just too macho so he just says "ow" instead in his big deep voice but it's not nearly as effective as my girly yelp ). Our trainer told us to do this if his teeth touch you at all (e.g. if his teeth scrape/touch your fingers if you're giving him a treat etc), not just for a nip - she said a dog should learn that teeth + humans = be very very careful, i.e. tongue out to lick rather than snatch/grab with teeth.
As soon as you yelp back off and turn your face away and ignore him for 30-60 seconds. Some people even recommend immediately leaving the room for 30-60 instead. The key is immediate response, the pup needs to associate you ignoring him with the nip / teeth touching the human.
It will eventually sink in but it isn't going to happen overnight - puppies are naturally inclined to nip. Unfortunately with their needle like baby teeth it can be unexpectedly sore.

Yenwod

Thanks for the replies guys. I guess persistence is key to whatever no-biting training you do.

As regards toilet training, on the eating side of it, we're going to change her food to the premium quality food, I had no idea what a difference that can potentially make from supermarket stuff. Hopefully this helps with the sheer quantity.

Also, just wondering about urination, can this be slower for them to learn/control? Often she will urinate on paper/outside and thats fine but a lot of the time she seems to go and genuinally looks surprised herself...often its not even a puddle, it's like she's going mid-walk.

Cherry Blossom

She just hasn't learned to control her bladder yet, crate training will help her learn to hold it, and will gradually teach her to hold it for longer periods of time.