
I have had little Kelta almost 2 full days now and she is doing well in some things not so well in some others.
1) Re her housetraining sometimes she pees and poops on the pad sometimes not. When she does not I don't tell her off I just clean it without a fuss according to the idea of positive training. On the other hand I praise her like crazy when she does it on the pad. Question: should I also give her a little treat everytime she does it on the pad? or is fulsome praise enough?
Yesterday and the evening on which she came to me I could coax her inside her training crate with food but I couldn't get her to stay there. As soon as she ate the food and also spent some time in there digging around hoping to find more bits of kibble she popped out and slept on the marble floor which is probably cooler for her now in the summer. Today however she went 3-4 times of her own accord inside the training crate and sat down to play with a toy I have for her in there (with door open). Everytime she goes in I give her a bit of kibble and praise her handsomely. Now I should start to close the door for ever increasing periods of time yes?
2) Re biting she has a very soft mouth except when she gets excited when her bite might get a little more sharp. As soon as she does that I yelp like a puppy and move away stopping play. It seems to have an effect as she stops roughhousing at the particular time and I hope it will generally teach her to have a soft mouth. Any other advice?
3) She is today 51 days old. Actually below the 8 week limit up to which pups should stay with their mom and though I am not happy about it, it was beyond my control. The guy who gave her to us bred his female westie and sold the other puppies. This one was a gift to my dad because he is a neighboor. At least my dad says he has seen the mom westie and that she is healthy looking (though comforting this doesn't say much as he is not a vet or experienced with dogs). Anyways to cut a long story short I mention her age to ask. What sort of training can I begin to teach her now at this age? Is it too early for anything other than housetraining? Could I for eg. also start to train her to recognize the clicker, maybe her name or even a basic sit?
4) Chewing! Now THIS is a problem with little Kelta


I had the thought that maybe she is not mentally stimulated enough or bored and that this chewing is a symptom of that. Which may very well be the case but what can I do now given that I can't take her out for a walk to tire her and exercise her? She is too young to be walking around the streets of the city with parno, leptospeirosis and all kinds of crap out there. Vet said I can walk her after 2 months or so. So how to keep her interested inside the room I am? I have toys but she is not too fussed with them. My only other thought was to go and buy one of those toys where you can put food in which pops out in bits as she plays with it or a Kong. Maybe that will help keep her busy and tire her?
Apologies for being so long winded. I just thought it would help provide better answers if I was thorough.
Thank you for your time and assistance.
best
Theo