Treat/Training/Puppy question...

[Jennett Pulley]

I know this can go in multiple groups so I thought I would start here. 

Lolli is seven weeks and loves her crate. She will not eliminate in it and runs in and out at will.  She whines for about 2 seconds when the lights go out and goes to sleep just fine.  She puts herself to bed randomly during the day, but will also pass out anywhere on the floor in pure puppy exhaustion.

She has only been home two days, and I don't expect miracles, but we are having trouble getting her to go potty outside.  She goes out for ten minutes or so, and then comes in and poops/pees inside.  We have a lot of dogs in our neighborhood and a smallish yard, but we are afraid to walk her until she is fully immunized.  (Come on 16 weeks!)

When she does pee/poop outside, we praise her enthusiastically (you'd think she just laid a winning lotto ticket) and she knows it.  She runs over and rolls around between our feet waiting for her rubdown. 

I was thinking it might be a good idea to add training treats to our efforts.  We bought Buffalo Blue  Blue Bits for puppies (She eats Iams, but we will be switching her over to something else, I think.)

These bits are little hearts and I was thinking that breaking them into threes for just a bit of taste more than a belly filling treat.  The breeder said ABSOLUTELY NOT, to only use American Cheese for treats for her lifetime, but that's impractical (melt factor and travel factor). 

I will do what's best for her, but I think using these in small amounts might help our efforts in getting her to come to her name and to poop outside.  Thoughts?

[Sue, Murphy and Bella ()*o*()]

You will find tons of info in the Training Group, link below. But in one word, yes, treats help for those two oh so important training items like "come" and "go potty". Also join the Food Group and you will not hesitate to change her from Iams. Gradually, but ASAP.

http://www.doodlekisses.com/group/trainingmindsets

[Jennett Pulley]

Thank you!  I am having a really hard time finding things by searching and I am usually very good at this internet stuff.  :)

ALSO!!

How much should this little designer mutt be sleeping?  SHeeSH!!!

[Sue, Murphy and Bella ()*o*()]

At 7 weeks? A LOT! I never had one that young, but at 8 weeks and 10 weeks, the ages my two came to me, they would play and hour or so, sleep a couple, play and hour or so, sleep a couple, and then sleep 8-10 hrs at night.
Just go to the Groups tab and start reading the discussions. You can view them all. There will be something to learn from each discussion, I know I did.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I strongly disagree with your breeder about using cheese for treats, particularly as the only treat for life. That sounds very strange to me and is going to be extremely difficult when you are doing obedience training.  We have a lot of good treat ideas in the Food Group. Zuke's minis are great for training, because they're very small, easily transported, and very high quality. Treats do help with training.

Two days is a very short time for any puppy to adjust to anything, and your puppy is younger than most when they go home. When she goes out to the yard, take her out on a leash, always to the same area, and try to keep her out there until she does her business. Then treat her and praise her to the moon. Don't ever let her out there alone, you will miss the opportunity to reinforce success.

Don't allow her free reign indoors. The most important part of housebreaking is to catch them in the act of making a mistake. That's the only time you can correct them. If you find the accident after the fact, all you can do is clean it up. So until she is housebroken, she is either in a crate, in an Xpen, tethered to you, or watched like a hawk every second. Every accident indoors that you miss reinforces the pottying indoors.

(And when you clean it up, you MUST use an odor neutralizer. Just cleaning products is not enough, you may not be able to smell anything, but she can.)

If you catch her in the act, stop her with a loud No! or Uh-Uh!, etc., grab her, and get her outside to her potty place. If she finishes what she was doing outdoors, praise and treat again.This is necessary so that she can make the connection "Oh, I see! Potty inside is bad, potty outside is good".

[F, Calla & Luca]

I thought the American cheese only was a really bizarre idea. Where do these ideas come from I wonder.

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

According to my Vet the #1 "culprit" for causing Pancreatitis in dogs she treats is cheese.  That would tell me there are lots of people out there feeding their dogs cheese as treats.....and paying the price for it too.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Yeah, fat and dairy...not a great combo for canines.

[Jennett Pulley]

Hmmm...that's how she wants us to give her the pills she sent home.  Would PB be better?

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Why did she send pills home?  What are they for? 

Peanut butter is extremely high in fat, and we generally recommend that you don't introduce any new foods for the first 2 weeks after a puppy comes home, especially one this young.

[Jennett Pulley]

One pill is Alban and the other is Metronidazde for Giardia.  We have four days worth since we brought her home at seven weeks. 

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

Also, establish a scent outside.  Take all rags used to clean up the urine or poo and put them out in the yard for a few weeks.  This helps a lot.  Yes, your yard will look like a laundry room, but it works.

Give her a few months to perfect the potty thing.

[Jennett Pulley]

Great ideas, thank you all so much!!