Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello,

I have a 7 week old mix breed. The mother is a red nosed pit bull and the father is an american bulldog-doberman mix. maybe this info will help.

First off, Ginger does pretty well by relieving herself on the newspaper. When we are home we use the paper. She also does well at going when she is taken outside We can only take her outside about 5 times when we work. When we are off it is more. When not home we block her into our kitchen with paper, blanket, and many toys. She usaully goes on the paper but has gone on her blanket. The kitchen floor is about three by 10 and the blanket covers about a 1/5 of this. The paper covers about a 1/3. She is generally well behaved but will cry a little.

My wife will not put her in a crate durign the day becuase we can not be home for up to eight hours, so it is probably better to be in the kitchen. When we try to put her in the crate at night she crys 'forever' and jumps about. Normally i would tough it out but we live in apartment compplex and i don't want to keep anyone up. When she is in bed she plays too much instead of sleeping. We have two other dogs. The male (85 pound pit/choc. lab) sleeps on the floor pillow but will come up sometimes. the female (20 pound Chihuahua) sleeps on the bed and growls when the puppy comes her way making sleep impossible with all those factors . She will sleep for m,aybe two hours and then it is play time again. We are going nutty. We are moving into our house in Sept. and would like to have her doing pretty well by then.

Any advise would be appreciated.

>>Hello,
>>
>>I have a 7 week old mix breed. The mother is a red nosed pit bull and the father is an american bulldog-doberman mix. maybe this info will help.
>>
>>First off, Ginger does pretty well by relieving herself on the newspaper. When we are home we use the paper. She also does well at going when she is taken outside We can only take her outside about 5 times when we work. When we are off it is more. When not home we block her into our kitchen with paper, blanket, and many toys. She usaully goes on the paper but has gone on her blanket. The kitchen floor is about three by 10 and the blanket covers about a 1/5 of this. The paper covers about a 1/3. She is generally well behaved but will cry a little.
>>
>> My wife will not put her in a crate durign the day becuase we can not be home for up to eight hours, so it is probably better to be in the kitchen. When we try to put her in the crate at night she crys 'forever' and jumps about. Normally i would tough it out but we live in apartment compplex and i don't want to keep anyone up. When she is in bed she plays too much instead of sleeping. We have two other dogs. The male (85 pound pit/choc. lab) sleeps on the floor pillow but will come up sometimes. the female (20 pound Chihuahua) sleeps on the bed and growls when the puppy comes her way making sleep impossible with all those factors . She will sleep for m,aybe two hours and then it is play time again. We are going nutty. We are moving into our house in Sept. and would like to have her doing pretty well by then.
>>
>>Any advise would be appreciated.

>>>>>>>>>>>>

Your wife is right about not crating such a young puppy in the daytime. At night-time, though, try a crate or a portable exercise pen in your bedroom. Most pups are much quieter at night that way, and it's a good way to help them learn to rest calmly in a crate.

I have lots of housetraining how-to in the articles starting with the word "Housetraining" at the link below my signature. It takes to about age 16 weeks for the typical dog to have enough bowel and bladder control developed to make full use of the good housetraining habits you will hopefully have helped the dog establish by then. The second and far most serious stage of destructive chewing tends to start around 7 to 9 months and go to age 2 years or so--during that stage, you'll need the crate in the daytime, but she may be okay uncrated in your bedroom at night with a baby gate or closed door to keep her in with you.
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Kathy Diamond Davis, author, "Therapy Dogs: Training Your Dog to Reach Others," 2nd edition, and the free Canine Behavior Series articles at http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=SRC&S=1&SourceID=47

Thanks.

We also have a problem with her biting us (I know she is a puppy and this happens) and jumping up and scratching us. What is the best way to coprrect this. Would positive punishment (ie; spray with water) do any good. She is very active, much more so than the other dogs we have trained (choc. lab. and a cockapoo) and it is very tedoius to make sure I don't have teeth in my ankle. She always wants to play and will bore with her toys after a few minutes. lso she tends to growl when we pick her up when she doesn't want to be picked up such as to be taken off of the couch of to place her in a better spot when we go outside. Is this her trying to be dominant and should I try some drills that show her I am dominant? Thanks for any help.

>>Thanks.
>>
>>We also have a problem with her biting us (I know she is a puppy and this happens) and jumping up and scratching us. What is the best way to coprrect this. Would positive punishment (ie; spray with water) do any good. She is very active, much more so than the other dogs we have trained (choc. lab. and a cockapoo) and it is very tedoius to make sure I don't have teeth in my ankle. She always wants to play and will bore with her toys after a few minutes. lso she tends to growl when we pick her up when she doesn't want to be picked up such as to be taken off of the couch of to place her in a better spot when we go outside. Is this her trying to be dominant and should I try some drills that show her I am dominant? Thanks for any help.

>>>>>>>>>>

Change your thinking from punishment and dominance and instead get busy teaching your puppy what you DO want her to do. This is the only thing that really works and produces a stable, healthy dog. No, I do not recommend the water spray. No, I do not recommend dominance drills with your dog. That models dominance for her, and it also means, in dog language, that you are not confident that you ARE the leader. Read my articles Dominance, Alpha or Leader?, Training: What Does Your Dog Need?, Puppy Biting, and Puppy Kindergarten at the link below my signature.
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Kathy Diamond Davis, author, "Therapy Dogs: Training Your Dog to Reach Others," 2nd edition, and the free Canine Behavior Series articles at http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=SRC&S=1&SourceID=47