Another puppy question....

[quote]My only problem is that I am not getting on with anything as the whole day seems to revolve round her!! Oh well, I hope that it's a case of "you reap what you sew". [quote] Shouldn't that be 'sow', Nana

You sound a real dog-lover. Is your doggie a pug?

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Yes I agree when, I am counting my blessings as we had our previous dog in November and we struggled with the potty training, as it was not good to be outside. This little thing is outside a lot of the day, we leave the back door open and spend a lot of time out there ourselves too.
We decided to cover her crate last night, so it was nice and dark, as she has been waking rather early. It worked well. I actually went down at seven (still early in my book but one has to be fair!!) and woke her. She seemed very pleased with herself and is now rushing round the garden like a lunatic!!
My only problem is that I am not getting on with anything as the whole day seems to revolve round her!! Oh well, I hope that it's a case of "you reap what you sew".

nanapug thank goodness it's summer whilst you're up and about so early. Standing in the garden at 6 am in the depths of winter, watching the little so-and-so jumping on wet soil and refusing to perform can bring on murderous thoughts! Fortunately, it lasts just a few weeks and before you know it, you've got a house-trained puppy. My dog is still asleep on her bean bag upstairs. She'll wander down if she hears post drop through the letter box, but now she's nearly 4, she likes a good 9 hours sleep at night. I even get a lie-in some mornings!

You could be describing Tinker Tegan if she shouldn't have it then she eats it. Have to make sure she is regularly wormed. My dog is just a lurcher but, yes, when she goes it is quite something. Fortunately it is in sharp bursts but if the field runs out that's the time I need to bellow. Other dogs in the area have been known to respond to my command, humans too!

Good morning nanapug. I think having a puppy is worse than having a new born baby, babies tend to stay where you put them don't they? Mind you there are those four hourly feeds and night feeds I suppose. She sounds adorable and she has obviously decided you like waking up at that time for an early morning cuppa, bless

What sort is she? Our Springer pup quickly learned to follow the cats through the flap - which was great until he grew and got stuck! Took a while longer for the cats to deign to use a dog flap.

It's like having a new born baby again. Here I am, sat in the garden, at 6.45 am, a time unheard of in my vocabulary for the last few years. I can not get over how quickly this little monster learns. We have had her for barely 48hrs, and at only seven weeks old she already has sussed out that when she does a wee, if she runs straight over to me, she gets a praise and a pat. We have had no accidents indoors (except in the crate overnight) and she has worked out how to get in the cat flap!!! I have just remembered, we did have one little wee accident, but that was when my OH was in charge of supervision so say no more.......

It's beautiful seeing them at full speed but scary as well. We tend to only let her off on the beach these days. She has a slightly inward curving front paw and I've felt for a while that she has a slight limp on it when she first starts walking. Unfortunately, unlike my last whippet that walked beside me and adjusted her speed to whatever I was doing, this one has to sniff everything so I usually get to the end of the extending lead and then yank her towards me . I think she's looking for poisonous things to eat [she's that sort of dog]. Eats anything except what's in her food bowl ['you expect me to eat this?'].

. . . . But you are so right with sight hounds Tegan. My OH lets Tinker run and she gets into all sorts of scrapes whereas I keep her much closer. She can run but has to respond immediately to 'come!'

When my whippet was little I used to wait till she'd gone outside then blow a football whistle; when she came back I'd give her a tiny piece of chicken. So now, wherever she is if I blow the whistle she comes straight back. But then recall is very important with sighthounds as they can get themselves into dangerous situations very quickly [being so fast]. I only ever had one dog that was totally reliable toilet training wise; all my other dogs have been prone to accidents [must be something I'm doing wrong ].

Praise when they get it right....ignore when they get it wrong. It was explained to me that any reaction to getting it wrong (with 'potty training') is as good as positive reinforcement and you almost encourage them to have more accidents.
If you have not got Gwen Baily's book.....another GNter recommended it to me....go on Dogs Trust website.....it has a half decent A-Z that covers most things.
Basically you take the little darling outside (when its ok to do so) every hour praise/click when it performs and just gently increase the periods of time.
Never leave them alone at this age otherwise they pee/poo in their environment and think that's acceptable.

Nothing at that age, just cuddles and praise. Seven weeks is very young and most are still with their mum till over eight weeks. Your puppy could do with some leeway till he's a few weeks older. Some people use clickers to reinforce desired behaviour - click and praise each time the puppy performs, then later you can take the puppy outside, click and say 'do a wee' and he will perform on command. Good in theory, but needs a human who can do it in the right order! I'm sure I reinforced undesirable behaviour in my puppy when I wasn't concentrating - fortunately, she trained me!