Messes in the crate and biting
The first problem is, that if we leave she alone in her wire crate to go out of the house, we return to a poopy mess in her crate. I have been putting her in for short periods when I am present, am putting her food dish in the crate and have been placing toys inside. She goes in and out happily but we are avoiding leaving her alone because of the messes, but I know this can't continue. Any suggestions. Her crate has a partition and I did make it smaller to match the size of her nighttime crate. (No problem with night time accidents) The second issue is nipping and biting. Libby is getting teeth and her gums look swollen where new teeth are poking through. She chews on her toys but has started to nip at me, my clothing and the towel I use to dry her feet. I have tried to redirect her attention but this continues, not all the time but at different times of day. Any suggestions? I suppose it is a phase but I don't want it to develop into a bad habit. I had forgotten how time consuming puppies can be...but oh, she is so adorable... |
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| Hi Nancy, Mady is our first dog and our first experience with a puppy. We were not prepared for the nipping, and it caused us a lot of stress the first 2 months. People told us to do a high-pitched "ouch!" (try and mimic a puppy whelp) when she nips. Kim was better at this than I was, and she nipped me for longer. But basically, I think she just grew out of it. She stopped nipping us around 4 months old. Mady never had an accident in her crate, so I'm not very helpful there. One thing though, you leave food in her crate when you go out? We never put food in Mady's crate. The only other thing I can think of is do you make sure she has a poop before putting her in her crate? I was off for the first 2 weeks we had Mady, and I was taking her outside "just in case" constantly (and this was January). I wonder if the fact she rarely even had a chance to have an accident made her learn more quickly, or if we were just lucky. |
| Thanks for the reply...just to clarify...I wasn't leaving food in her crate. Just at feeding time, I was letting her eat in the crate to make a pleasant association with the crate. I would take her dish away after eating. She is toileted regularly before being left. I am hoping that now the crate is a little smaller, that will do the trick. Good news that the nipping will stop eventually. |
rule of thumb...a 9 1/2 week old puppy can hold it for about 2 hours. If you are leaving for longer than 2 hours this is part of the problem. Other problem is that they learn to hold poop later then learning to hold pee. If you have to immediately leave the house don't feed the puppy. For example: on days I had to leave the house at 9:00. I was up at 6:00 to pee the puppy. Then feed at 7:00 (on schedule). pee and poop happens about 1/2 after that. Ok, now here is the tricky part. Puppies need to pee and poop after play. They haven't yet learned to fully eliminate waste. They will do it in spurts. So I had to leave myself enough time to get dressed and blah blah AND take puppy out again before I left the house. Your morning routine takes A LOT more time right now. Give puppy more chances to potty before you crate him AND don't leave him for longer than 2 hours right now. NOW is the time to break the pooping in crate problem.   Nipping and biting for an OES is second nature. Believe me I know you are stressed out, bruised, cut up and sleep deprived right now   But it does improve. The first big improvement you will experience is when your puppy is finally potty trained......ohhhh, what a relief!!!!  OES puppies grow up into the BEST-EST (to quote a kid) ever dogs!!! You are gonna love your OES dog. Puppy...well, that's just survival.  |
| We are having the same potty/poo issues with our 5 1/2 month old puppy. She seemed to be getting the idea until the snow came, and now she goes outside, does nothing, comes in and within 10 minutes goes in her area. She is going to the vet next week for a possible UTI. With the now 2 year old, she went out every hour on the hour and understood what to do within the first two weeks. It's really just a matter of establishing a routine with sleep, play, eating, and going outside so they understand what they are supposed to do. Also, rewarding and praise for going outside. The 2 year old did the nipping and biting for awhile - probably until she was one. Nothing that was painful, but more for attention. We used to distract her with toys when she started biting or nipping, for her to learn that if she wanted attention or to play, she needed a toy. She did grow out of the biting phase. |
heather32 wrote: We are having the same potty/poo issues with our 5 1/2 month old puppy. She seemed to be getting the idea until the snow came, and now she goes outside, does nothing, comes in and within 10 minutes goes in her area. the snow does confuse the potty training. Our 2 year old still gets confused and pees on the snow on the deck. She NEVER pees or poos on the deck. But let snow come and suddenly the whole world is a potty. |
Nanc wrote: Thanks for the reply...just to clarify...I wasn't leaving food in her crate. Just at feeding time, I was letting her eat in the crate to make a pleasant association with the crate. I would take her dish away after eating. She is toileted regularly before being left. I am hoping that now the crate is a little smaller, that will do the trick. Good news that the nipping will stop eventually. The nipping was a big issue for us, too. It hurts! We did what is mentioned here--screech a high-pitched "ouch!" (or I would often do a dog pain yelp sound, as if I was another dog being bitten) when you are nipped. Also make sure to stick a toy in the puppy's mouth when she is trying to nip at you during play. Get a Kong Snugga Wubba. Just as other have said here, the nipping does stop one day. Our puppy never pooped in the crate, but I was taking her out probably ever hour during the day for three months. I was lucky enough to be home all the time with her. Made everything a lot easier. You might want to check out the book The Art of Raising a Puppy by the Monks of New Skete. It has a lot of good information on things like this as I recall. |
| Oh I feel for you. Our Howie is now 8 months old and I feel like we are on the verge of having a wonderful dog. He has been lots of fun, but A LOT of work. He nipped for the first two months with us, I still have a scar from his baby tooth getting me. He did grow out of the mouthing, the odd time now I have to remind him to be 'gentle'. The 'messes' seemed to change over night...around 4 months if I recall. He has had a few poopie accidents since the snow started. I figure it is nicer to the business inside a warm house rather than out on the cold snow. Maybe I am just being fooled.  Howie has been very challenging for us, I like to believe it is because he is so smart that he is always a step ahead of us. I have noticed he learns everything the first time around. "Shake a Paw' - two minutes of teaching, he got it. Problem is, he learns bad things too first time around then it is hard to break him of the bad habit. Really this is our problem not his, we needed to be more consistent. Sleep is priority, an overtired pup makes for grumpy parents and a nippy puppy. Lots of sleep time for Howie in the crate made life so much better for all of us. Even now I notice that we have to settle him down the odd time on weekends. There tends to be too much action in the house all day compared to quiet workdays. Hopefully the smaller section of the crate will be better. Sheepie pups grow into amazing adult dogs  ...knowing that, kept me going for the first few weeks with Howie.peg |
| Thank you all for your advice and experiences. Even though every puppy is differecnt, it helps to hear of others who have had similar experiences. Even inspite of a few accidents, we love her to bits. I swear her legs are longer every morning and every day brings something new to smile about. My husband has always tolerated and grown to love our past pets but Libby has turned him into a big pile of mush right from the get go. Thanks again. |
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