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Welcome Lily - Our New Puppy

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Puppies are like babies. They begin learning immediately, even if they suck at putting most learning into action. Puppy mothers immediately start "training" their puppies by setting limits. Babies that scream are trying their damnest to talk and interact. Puppies are similar. They will soak in everything, and consistency will pay off eventually! Puppies begin socializing and learning from their littermates in earnest between 4 and 8 weeks, and at 8 weeks, their ability to begin exploring and learning about the roll hits double time.

I second what NH said. She should still be accustomed to siblings yelping when enough is enough with the teeth. When we got Hamlet (at 16 weeks), that information was long gone, and we had to try every alternative to curb his teething. However, he learned socialization from us and our pack, so later he started responding to a yelp. I will still let Hamlet put my fingers in his mouth at a year and a half every now and then, just so I can wait for the slightest pressure and yelp to let him know teeth hurt.

Hamlet responded to commands at 16 weeks, as soon as we got him, although it was touch and go for a few weeks. The youngest I'd say they begin really listening is between 12 and 16, getting a firm grip by 6 months, at which point they turn into changling demons due to the terrible twos. Your good dog will reappear after the hormones start dialing down (usually around 9 months), and then they will hit their teenage phase and everything will go to shit again for awhile. Dogs themselves actually recognize puppies who have not had their first round of hormones kick in, and they allow the puppy a lot of leeway in making mistakes, known in the dog world as a "puppy pass." Hamlet's puppy pass expired when he was seven months.

Because your dog is a small breed, it should mature more quickly through stages than a larger breed. @Nighthawk is currently dealing with a demonic dog phase. :D

*puts her soapbox in the nearest closet and quietly exits stage right*
 
*drags the box out again for a quick postscript*
Young puppies are learning English. Their ability to learn English words will take awhile. Things they understand most intuitively are yelping, "nipping" (I use my hand as a claw or two fingers to simulate teeth), blocking, food, and general play. Hamlet responded to "commands" when we got him in the form of body language, tone, food, and games.

When we got Annie, she didn't know a lick of language. Once, my trusted dog friend reprimanded her by growling, "You're beautiful! I love you and you have cute socks!" but his tone was '"You done messed up," so that's how she reacted.

I choose my commands based on how I feel when I say something, because you convey so much through tone, volume, and body language. "Enough" is my catch-all "cut it out" because I say that word in a calm but firm way, so they take it as more of a warning. "No!" is a truly upset word from me, so they take it more seriously, and I try to reserve it for the worst of circumstances to maintain its gravity.

Unfortunately, I have a major leg up on you two (or should I say three?), because the other dogs are already responsive and model behavior for our new puppy as they did for Hamlet, plus they will reinforce rules when I'm not there (or... get into quadruple trouble). Training one dog in a home is waaaay harder IMO.

*stage right, takes the box with her*
 
Hmmm... all very interesting. A book I read about cavoodles said to clench fists, tighten body parts that they try and nip, so they can't get hold of them as readily, thus they apparently give up. I think I will try the yelping... never heard of that, and it sounds interesting. She is very active, and is certainly being trained that way, as we're both pretty active people. So laying around all day won't be an option for her. 9 weeks old and she just went on her first 30km bike ride, a week being with us.

In one week I'm pretty happy with what we've achieved in training her. The teething is an issue which I want to nip in the bud ASAP, as I did read a lot saying it will only get worse, or she will find it a form of play, if not nipped quickly. This week I've tried the clenching so she can't get hold, but her play just goes for the nip. Even clenching toes and curling them under... she tries to latch on, the little feral beast she is.

In just 6 days, she is now taking herself to the toilet for a pee. Goes into the bathroom, stiffs around, does her pee, comes out. Not a constant yet, but I figure its pretty good after just 6 days. She quickly worked out to pee or poo with the gate shut so she could get out again. Now she has worked out to just walk herself in, do her pee, walk out... no getting locked up.

Once she nails daytime, then onto night-time, hopefully she will be able to then sleep on the floor in our room, take herself to the toilet, come back and go back to sleep. She is starting to settle herself, sometimes, not others. Every night has gotten better over the past six nights. We actually both got a good nights sleep last night, with only one getting up to her.

Now onto the yelp I guess... see how that goes. Thanks for the tip.
 
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Ok... the yelp kind of works, better than clenching a body part. She atleast stops, then starts again... but stops when yelp and pull away. She settles a bit more with the yelp, but doesn't completely stop... so I put that down to working at puppy level. :D

Thanks for that tip... it works on 9 week old puppy. One week in... learnt sooooooooooooo much already -- obviously just the tip of the iceberg, which is a little scary. :wideeyed:
 
My first bath - smelling bootiful again :inlove:
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