what to expect from a puppy?

[vimse]

Hello to you all, I'm new in here but the board looks really great:)
We have just bought a lovely lab pup, the little lady is now 9 weeks old and we've had it here since Saturday. We are totally in love with the pup but have a few questions regrding a bit of everything, hope you'll give us some advice

Here's some questions for the dog Gurus
1:
We live in a good size 4th floor flat in a small building with a semi enclosed garden yard 20X40meters where we take the pup for wee/pooping/playing, of course the pup is very curious and at times we do not have its attention, I suppose that's normal but today it ran underneath a fence into one of the lower floor flats gardens, the fence is made of wood and we can't see in to the garden area and when this happens we're out of luck getting the pups attention, we're trying all sorts of things, like walking away making noisy/normal steps in the grubble. And we have tried to lure it out with the small snack bites we give it during training but the inside of the "secret garden" is just much more interesting to the puppy. We tried so say "NO" right when it started to crawl under the fence but it also didn't have any effect at all.
We have heard from some sources that we need to be firmer in this situation and grap it by the neck skin and say very firmly "NO" to make it understand the area is off limits, but is this OK?
We have read about the method were we walk way and ignore it untill it finds out we're gone and then it will start to be sad and this should make it understand that it needs to respect its "guardians", but this isn't easy in the yard we're in because there's a possibility that it can escape out and we need to be able to see and can't hide from it.


2:
In our living room our furniture is made of hard steel and it also bites the chair "legs" and it will not harm our furniture but should we tell it "NO" our just ignore it? We try to ignore as many things as possible so it doesn't feel like we're always trying to stop it doing something bad, but use a lot of cuddle and "good" instead when it's doing good, which it is most of the time.

3:
Our flat has 2 levels and the stair to the top floor hasn't gotten the pups attention before today when it started climbing up, is this a situation we have to firmly say "NO" to? We are aware that the pup shouldn't walk stairs when too young it's not becase we do not want the puppy up stairs.

4:
We would of course like to be able to always call the pup home, but where, when and how should we practise this? In case we do not succeed in calling her home?

5:
sometimes is feels like the pup is getting into a "let me try to dominate you" mood where it can jump at our face while playing where it tries to bite us, it feels a bit like it tries to dminate us and see how for it can go. We have been told that we need to act right away with strong "NO" and grabbing the neck skin.

6:
is there a limit for how many times we can correct our puppy during a day?
We often feel bad for not letting the dog do whatever it wants here in the beginning while it's learning the new surroundings but we need to know when it's necessary to act more hard

I hope you'll take the time to answer these doggy questions.
We have read several books on the subject but it seems like there's many ways to approach the situation, but which one is the best?

[danabanana]

Only one I can help with is the stairs - babygates are a godsend

[Nettle]

What you have is a baby dog. She needs keeping safe the way you would with a baby human.

So first, make sure she cannot get out of your garden.

Use baby gates as danabanana said to keep her out of rooms that you don't want her in, and away from stairs.

Protect anything you don't want chewed - puppies MUST chew - by denying her access. At the same time, provide safe things for her to chew. She will be chewing for around 18 months so get organised for this.

Don't scruff or threaten when she does something you don't want her to - arrange life so that she can easily do what you DO want.


Little pups don't dominate. Little pups DO nip. Don't get pup excited, don't play rompy squealy games, do turn away from her when she nips and stop interacting for a minute or two, then back gently and calmly.

Rather than correct a little pup, show her what you want and praise her when she gets it right. If you do have to correct, a sad voice (oh dear that isn't what we want) and removing her from the contentious situation is all you need.

Remember she is a BABY so a short attention span, short memory, small bladder, small tummy. Don't expect her to read your mind and know what you want.

There are lots of good dog training books about - start doing some serious research.

All the best with your pup.

[Nettle]

Sorry double post - my advice isn't THAT good that I have to repeat it!

[emmabeth]

Ill magic one away for you in a mo...

Firstly... might be me being pedantic, but stop calling your puppy 'it'. She is a she, a puppy, and presumably has a name, so do use it.

Make the garden puppy proof, grabbing and shouting NO will not teach her where she may and may not go, it will just teach her that sometimes you are scary and you should be approached with caution.

Use some wire mesh to block the lower areas of the fence off so she cannot escape - its a much easier solution than trying to teach a puppy that one piece of yard is ok and another seemingly identical piece is not. Dont pick pointless battles, its a silly thing to do and will spoil your enjoyment of dog ownership.

A good rule of thumb for your expectations, and appropriate treatment of a puppy, is to think what would you expect and what would you do if the puppy was a 1 year old child.

A 1 year old has not got full control of his or her motor skills (so is clumsy, grabby snatchy pokey), cannot communicate very well and cannot pick up the subtle nuances of your communication (for instance a small child will not realise that a man with a naturally deep, booming voice is not really intentionally being scary and so that person merely saying the childs name can cause instant tears!).

A 1 year old is not in full control of bodily functions either, nor does she know what items are ok to put in mouths, grab at and play with, and which items are dangerous.

You would not teach a 1 year old child appropriate behaviour by yelling NO and grabbing or smacking - you would prevent access to dangerous things, encourage the behaviour you want etc.

Puppies play with their mouths and teeth - its an important part of learning, they learn how hard is ok and how hard ends the game - bite a litter mate too hard and that litter mate will yelp and not play any more. Mouth faces and lick them will appease the mother or the litter mate who is less interested in playing, and its a fun game with someone who is interested.

So, take your hints as to how to handle unwanted behaviour from that. Don't want your face bitten, end the game the minute teeth touch face. Dont add in lots of confusing words, tones of voice etc, keep things simple. You dont need to shout NO or anything else, just stand up and walk away and ignore puppy for a few minutes.

It is important to teach a puppy that mouthing is ok as long as its gentle, this will teach a pup that humans are very fragile and only the lightest of touches is required and accepted.

The difference between a pup who was taught that gentle bites are ok, and hard bites are not, and a pup who was simply punished for biting at all is this. When that dog forgets herself, maybe shes in pain or shes frightened or shes just gotten very very silly and excited - the one with the bite inhibition, who knows humans are fragile, will gently mouth, take your hand as if to say 'ow' or 'stop'.
The one who hasn't bites down hard, ripping skin and worse (and I have a lovely scar to show for an incident with a dog who didnt know how to tell me 'no im frightened'!)

You can teach a recall right now - use whichever word you are planning on using, whenever you put food down, when shes running towards you, when shes following you, when you have a treat or a toy for her. Never use it when you want her to come to you, for you to do something unpleasant (anything shes not keen on) - keep the association positive, that word must always mean 'come here for something nice' and NEVER 'come here because i say and something horrid may happen'.

As Nettle says.. shes not dominant, she is learning about her environment and her new people. What things result in fun, what things do not result in fun. Just like any young animal, she is exploring her world and her boundaries. Have a read of the thread stickied at the top of the forum about Dominance.

There are lots of methods describing how to train a dog, and you'll often hear people say 'ooh theres no right or wrong way'... which actually is a load of wotsits. There quite clearly IS a right way, and a wrong way.

The wrong way involves fear, pain, phsyical and mental domination.

The right way involves clear concise rules, setting the animal up to succeed and preventing them getting things wrong, rewarding wanted behaviour.

If you do things the right way, you shouldnt ever need to 'correct' a dogs behaviour, you should pre-empt the wrong behaviour before it happens and change things, so it doesnt happen.

An example is the furniture chewing. You could shout at her every time she does it, and she would probably eventually learn not to do it, at least when you are there to shout.

She would likely also learn that you are scary.

Alternatively, you could provide her with many more interesting things to chew (Kongs, raw bones, raggy ropes, washing up brushes according to my second youngest dog... hes a bit odd though ), put away as many of the 'wrong' items as possible, spray those you cant put away with something that tastes horrid.. and then be ready to distract her with a toy whenever she goes for the furniture.

That way she never learns that furniture is fun to chew (tastes horrid), and learns that there are other nicer things to chew and that you are fun to be around.

Which of those two methods strikes you as the pleasanter way to learn?

You have to think to yourself, what relationship do you want with this animal? Most of us want a friend and companion, so treat them like that!

[snoopysnelling]

You already have alot of good advice. Puppies are wonderful. Well dogs are wonderful. They are always glad to see you and they will love you no matter what.
Please do not listen to people who are advising you to grab the dog. They just do not know any better. It is kinda like someone telling you how to raise your child.
Anyway give the puppy lots of chew toys. When you see her chewing on the furniture,
make a noise(i believe you are suppose to make the same noise for unacceptable behavior) divert her attention away from the unwanted item and give her the chew toy. Try the ones you can put food in.
In your garden I would put a long lead on her and when she goes to the edge or fence whatever you have I would make the unacceptable behaior noise and divert her attention. Be sure to praise her and give treats when she stays away from the problem or responds to the sound.
Watch the show ITS ME OR THE DOG it is wonderful on educating we humans that have no clue. We think we do but in reality we do not.
Good luck.....oh yeah do not forget to put away all items on the floor like shoes etc....she will love to chew on them. My dog blackie ate more barbie dolls than I can count. Not to mention tinkertoys..legos...
We made a rule that if it is on the floor the dog will chew it and it is not the dogs fault. We still lost toys.