Crate training and the water bowl

[Julie and Maggie]

Maggie comes home July 26. (yippee!) We are starting with crate training and I am going to feed her kibble in Kongs exclusively in the beginning. I have a water bowl that will be near the crate. Our whole set up is in my kitchen/nook area with a baby gate to the rest of the house. 

 

Do I just keep the bowl full and let her drink at will? I plan on taking her out at the top of the hour every hour for potty time. Is there anything I should know about offering water in those first few weeks that can help facilitate (or get in the way of) house training? How often do puppies want to drink water in the beginning? 

[Mimi Linna, Lilly and Lolly]

good idea about the timer. I will use this when we get lilly.

[Jane Smith]

I only limitied water after 7 at night. We go to bed at 9, so this helped with the night time potty breaks.  I am so excited for you, just remember patience, and don't give up....it takes a lot of consistency.

[Dani and Scout]

We allow Scout free access to water during the day and pick up his bowl at around 8pm (2-3 hours before bed.) When we first brought him home we took him out about every hour and kept our eyes on him constantly inside. It wasn't long before we picked up his "need to potty" signals! We do the same as Megan after 8pm- if we play hard after that time we give him some ice in his bowl. Consider training Maggie with bells too. At 10.5 weeks we're having very few accidents in the house (only 1 so far this week!) so it's working for us.

 

Congratulations on your new baby!

[Julie and Maggie]

Ok, makes sense everyone. I do have my Poochie Bells ready to go, got the pumpkin color :)

 

[Barbie]

Where'd you get this poochie bell? I'd like to get Zeus one. :-)

[Julie and Maggie]

http://poochie-pets.net/index.html

 

They are really great. Maggie is totally getting it. 

[Barbie]

Cute design. Thank you!

[Amy, Kokomo & Killian]

We have a rustic bell door hanger from Christmas that we are using and today Kokomo (9 weeks old) hit the bell and sait waiting to go out to do her business :-)  She has not yet hit it to pee, but the more serious stuff she is aware of!

[Harper]

Do you mean that she will only be fed her kibble in her Kongs instead of in a bowl? I think that would cause a lot of problems - for one, it would take a very long time for her to eat her meal, and when they drag out the meal it is harder to predict when they will need to use the bathroom. Also I would imagine she wouldn't "learn" how to eat out of a bowl at mealtime properly. Maybe other people do this? I've never heard of it though.

[Julie and Maggie]

Yes, I am planning on following the training techniques outlined in Ian Dunbar's book Before and After You Get Your Puppy. I thought the Kong thing was odd too when I first read it and considered skipping it. But the more I read the book and check out his website the more I think it is an interesting idea and will definitely give it a shot. Plus her puppy class is one of his classes (he's local to me) and I want to have a cohesive and consistent plan in the beginning before I start customizing our training philosophy. :)

 

The object of the game is chew toy training, more than feeding. It is using the food as a tool. In short, the idea is that by giving the puppy her daily serving of food in Kongs that the puppy will learn to love chewing, but chewing an appropriate chew toy only. Whenever the puppy wants to chew (in the early weeks) there is always an appropriate and interesting thing available. She never has to search for something else, which is probably something you don't want her to chew. It isn't a long term measure. At some point you do move to the bowl. I don't know if this creates problems later with getting used to the bowl. His website has all kinds of training articles and videos and that issue is never addressed. 

 

I'm probably not explaining it fully, so here is the website with the free download of the book in case anyone is interested: http://www.dogstardaily.com/free-downloads

 

Also want to add that we will do a lot of hand feeding too at first. "Oh this human (this young child, this old male guy) isn't half bad. He gives me yummy food. I like children. I like men. They must be ok." (says Maggie)

[Harper]

Very interesting!  I hope it works out for you!  I definitely wish Harper knew to chew only her toys.  :)

[Julie and Maggie]

Ha! Well it all sounds good in theory. So I guess I'll just have to let ya'll know how it works out! :D