House training advice needed

[nira rajavasireddy]

We brought our 9 week old labradoodle pup home today, she's lovely but we're having issues with her eating leaves when we take her out in the back yard to potty.  These are dried oak leaves which are pretty sharp, I take them out of her mouth as fast as I can but I'm worried she may swallow them. What should I do? I thought of putting her in a play pen to potty in the yard, so that at least I can make sure there's nothing for her to eat  in the play pen.

She also doesn't like her leash, she keeps biting and chewing at it and growling.

Any suggestions, otherwise she's so very sweet. An angel.

[nira rajavasireddy]

Did you get any particular size? Im going to post photos soon, once I figure out how to do it! Thanks.

[Bonnie and Kona]

At 9 weeks your pup doesn't know what a leash is or what it is for. It's just something foreign and to play with like the rest of the things in his life. As you use the leash just continue to remove it from his mouth and say, "no". It will make sense eventually. Puppies don't speak English and it is just a process of repetition. 

The play pen sounds like a good idea...anything to coral him into a specific area where you want him to do his business. Smarter people than me made this a habit and now their dogs use the same area every time they relieve themselves in the yard. Makes for a nicer yard! ;o)

[Star and Goldie]

Congrats on your new sweet Angel!  As for the eating leaves... welcome to Doodle-hood! Haha. Several of us were just recently talking about things that seem to be doodle traits and this seems to be one of them. Goldie eats anything under the sun... leaves, dirt, bark, sticks, grass (even her own poop... but that's a whole different ball game).

The play pen sounds like a good idea. It will also help her to go in a specific area once you remove the pen so if you prefer her to only potty on a certain side of the yard the play pen will help serve that purpose in training.

I'd still work on the leash as much as possible. She's very young so training her with the leash is great for this age. If you even leave it on while she's in the house it helps all kinds of training (several discussions on that here too)

If you haven't done so yet- come join us in the Puppy madness group: http://www.doodlekisses.com/group/puppymadness

[Kristin and Sophie]

Congratulations on the new addition to the family.  I wish I had an answer.  Every day I am opening Sophie's mouth to pull out leaves, small branches and mulch.  She makes a mad dash for our trees so that she can get mulch.  I guess we will be buying a small fence to put around the trees.  She literally grabs anything that she can.  I don't want her to choke on mulch, and know it's not good for her but she sneaks some in.  

[Ginny Nightingale]

Yes, it is a puppy thing--and I have just been raising 7 pups and they have eaten lots of leaves--they generally come out the other end just fine--really! I can't possibly get all 7 leaves at once so occasionally one leaf is eaten and there has been no problem.

But, it does take a lot of patience to raise a pup and this is just the beginning--the pen will help, but keep up with the leash too---she needs to learn how it works--when you say she doesn't like it, you are incorrect--she isn't growling, she is playing! You should hear the pups here when they play--World war III has broken out! She is trying to play tug of war with the leash and as Bonnie said, you need to correct her so she doesn't get into the habit of biting it....maybe bring a toy for her to grab at with her mouth or even carry along so the leash is not in her mouth.

Last thing--get to a puppy class!! You will get lots of tips there and it will be good for both of you...

[a.k.a. Rodney]

Jay needs to weigh in here . He gave me such great advise when I was probably getting exhausted & emotionally challenged by my 10 wk old pup. If I can find his response to me ill send it privately to you. It helped put everything in perspective for me & calmed me down. It will say though every day is a different day the puppies world changes / every 24 hours and it does get better. Two big words in puppy training I believe at this point for you are repetition and patience. I can't emphasize those 2 enough. My DD is 14 wks old & 6.2 lbs
And nothing remotely like the 8 wk old we brought home!! I was thrilled with her the day we picked her up & have had challenging days...mostly over housebreaking, but I having a plan and committing to it as far as the training...makes A Big difference....and also getting in harmony with your pup...picking up on her cues. Derby has varying vocal tones for needs. Just like babies. Be responsive, Repititious , & patient..it will pay off big time soon!! Good luck

[Jay, Lola and Colonel Esau]

Aw, thanks for the kind words.  Just saw this.  I agree with what Ginny and Rodney said.  For me the whole thing that is so great about puppies is how honest and pure they are.  My sister likes to remind me that they don't even have a concept of sequential or linear time.  Just the here and now.  For what it's worth, I've been thinking lately that maybe it makes the most sense to skip the collar for very young puppies and just use a little harness to move them around.  Save their neck for when they are a little order and better able to understand.  Dogs are not born knowing how to turn off leash pressure by moving towards it.  We take that idea for granted, but for a puppy it's a fairly advanced concept.  

[nira rajavasireddy]

Thanks so much for everyone's response, I'm so glad that eating grass and leaves is normal, I'd heard earlier that it could be a sign of an allergy to her food. She is being fed the pupy nutro natural chicken formula( planning on changing it to Orjen) in 2 weeks, and several of the people at Petco were saying that lot of puppies dont tolerate the chicken formula. I've been taking her outside every 11/2 hrs to potty but she seems to just either eat the grass or lie down. Then when I bring her inside, she pees! How long should you stay outside waiting for her to potty?

[Janice Jones]

Congratulations on getting your puppy. Our nine month old is still trying to eat everything in the yard :-( Puppy school taught us the great command "leave it" which works 80% of the time. We were told also that potty training needed a phrase, so we use "go tinkle" We thought the neighbors would appreciate that more through out the day than "go potty" It has worked well, especially last thing at night before settling down, as on command our guy goes straight out and gets down to business. Enjoy the good days and remember your puppy is a work in progress

[a.k.a. Rodney]

Ok, this is what came directly from my behaviorist ...who has proven to be a great find! He says give your code word command..whatever it is ONCE...then keep your body language still and firm..maybe cross your arms for "b" and arms down by side for "A" and just WAIT...the dog will go back to the last command they hear...also I found my dog paid more attention to what was expected of her when a treat followed the "act"
It might help you to set some time goals...like in one week we will accomplish whatever it is...and really concentrate on that only....I bet at this age your pup is now able to respond to the command "leave it" and calmly removing the object...NO struggling with her or tugging...then she will think its a game.....this worked for leaves & sticks with DerbyDoodle, BUT probably not until she was 10 wks old. I found a vast improvement as she & her nervous system, and other functions matured. again, good luck..it is all worth it!!

[Jay, Lola and Colonel Esau]

That all makes perfect sense.  I think that "negotiating" with a dog ("sit ... sit .... siiit") is one of most counterproductive things you can do, because they dog learns that obeying is optional.  Keeping your body language still makes sense because dogs will prioritize communication by gestures over sounds.  The part about having the treat follow the act makes sense because classical conditioning works best when you have the optimal temporal relationship between the stimulus you want to condition and the reward.

[Itims]

Nira - making a schedule of when she pees/poops and eats helps a lot. I made a table in excel and kept updating it all day and after 2-3 days had a good sense for when/how often she would want to go. A rough idea for when and how much water shes drinking will help predict peeing too. (Our puppy is 4 months old and we still have 1 accident a week for for #1 but it will come I'm sure since shes been so good about figuring out #2)

When you take her out and she does pee/poop - you praise her to high heaven and give her a treat. If she does anything inside, you say no loudly and put her outside OR carry her mid-pee and put her outside OR clap (make some noise to startle her) and put her outside. You should have the enzyme spray that eliminates her pee odor otherwise she will assume the spot that shes peeing is her bathroom spot. Dogs use smells like we use sign boards. The enzyme spray removes the smell so the dog doesn't use it as a signal to pee on that spot.