Dogs

To potty train my 8 week old puppy, she was in her crate until she pee'ed outside then she was out of her crate for 2hrs, then back in the crate until she pee'ed outside again. I had to let her out every two hours at least, day or night. That's 24/7 and 12 times a day. You have to tell them "go potty" and if they do it you make a big deal, yell and clap your hands and give them some love and a treat!!! You gotta sell it!!! 3am in the dead of winter I'm yelling and clapping that my puppy went potty (my neighbors think I'm crazy). And now I can give her the command "go potty" she does it.

I'm new here, but I thought you would all enjoy a picture of my dog enjoying some Left Hand Milk Stout Nitro. One of our favorite beers in the winter!

Here's my beautiful boy Rex

Calibear said:

I'm new here, but I thought you would all enjoy a picture of my dog enjoying some Left Hand Milk Stout Nitro. One of our favorite beers in the winter!

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That's one cool picture.

KB got a treat every time he did his business outside. Two when he pooped. The one drawback, is he still expects it 7 years later.

+HopSpunge+ said:

That's one cool picture.

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Why thank you. Here's a picture of both Cali and Bear. He doesn't like beer but I have to watch mine around her!

Calibear said:

I'm new here, but I thought you would all enjoy a picture of my dog enjoying some Left Hand Milk Stout Nitro. One of our favorite beers in the winter!

View attachment 145084

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Lucky dog!

mikescooling said:

To potty train my 8 week old puppy, she was in her crate until she pee'ed outside then she was out of her crate for 2hrs, then back in the crate until she pee'ed outside again. I had to let her out every two hours at least, day or night. That's 24/7 and 12 times a day. You have to tell them "go potty" and if they do it you make a big deal, yell and clap your hands and give them some love and a treat!!! You gotta sell it!!! 3am in the dead of winter I'm yelling and clapping that my puppy went potty (my neighbors think I'm crazy). And now I can give her the command "go potty" she does it.

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That works fine but you have to be careful that they don't come to expect a treat EVERY time they go potty.

My 2 Aussies were potty trained by someone else, and they NEVER ask to go outside. I let them out 3+ times a day (before work, after work, and before bed). Never had an accident. The moment I open the door, they go outside and do their business immediately. I love them for that!

MC

Misplaced_Canuck said:

That works fine but you have to be careful that they don't come to expect a treat EVERY time they go potty.
My 2 Aussies were potty trained by someone else, and they NEVER ask to go outside. I let them out 3+ times a day (before work, after work, and before bed). Never had an accident. The moment I open the door, they go outside and do their business immediately. I love them for that!

MC

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This. My first dog I trained with treats and he ALWAYS wanted to go out just to get his treat. If I didn't watch him he would go out, turn around and wait at the door having done nothing!

My second puppy, I just used positive reinforcement and said "let's go potty" everytime I would take her out. Praise worked very well.

Our other dog was a runaway and I was surprised at how well trained he was when we adopted him (he was around 2 when we found him).

Now, all I do is yell "let's go potty" and they come running from wherever they are in the house to our back door if they have to go. Occasionally, if they haven't been out for a while, they will let me know they have to go, but this doesn't happen too often as it seems they're pretty good at holding it...

Misplaced_Canuck said:

That works fine but you have to be careful that they don't come to expect a treat EVERY time they go potty.

My 2 Aussies were potty trained by someone else, and they NEVER ask to go outside. I let them out 3+ times a day (before work, after work, and before bed). Never had an accident. The moment I open the door, they go outside and do their business immediately. I love them for that!

MC

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I do have some commands that require a treat if used, like "come!". But the potty training was to teach her that peeing outside is what I wanted. Once she understood that, the treats came every third time, then soon not at all. And if we are working on a new skill, I use dog food, so she only gets 2 pieces for each repetition. My dog loves food and people, I can only keep one in my pocket.

MMJfan said:

This. My first dog I trained with treats and he ALWAYS wanted to go out just to get his treat. If I didn't watch him he would go out, turn around and wait at the door having done nothing!

My second puppy, I just used positive reinforcement and said "let's go potty" everytime I would take her out. Praise worked very well.

Our other dog was a runaway and I was surprised at how well trained he was when we adopted him (he was around 2 when we found him).

Now, all I do is yell "let's go potty" and they come running from wherever they are in the house to our back door if they have to go. Occasionally, if they haven't been out for a while, they will let me know they have to go, but this doesn't happen too often as it seems they're pretty good at holding it...

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Harper is this way. He rarely asks to go out but when he does ask it is obvious. Usually though before and after meal time, before bed and when he gets up and maybe in the middle of all that if I need to go out back for something.

Misplaced_Canuck said:

My 2 Aussies were potty trained by someone else, and they NEVER ask to go outside. I let them out 3+ times a day (before work, after work, and before bed). Never had an accident. The moment I open the door, they go outside and do their business immediately. I love them for that!

MC

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My dog is almost the same except he does technically have a way to ask - he just quietly sits by the door, hoping somebody will notice him. He'll also sit quietly by his food bowl if he wants food, and on the other side next to his water bowl if he wants water (either because it's empty or there's a piece of food in it... absurd standards for a little rascal who has no problem drinking from puddles when he's thirsty). I actually wish he'd be a bit more active in asking for things.

Oh, and he does the same thing by the bedroom door when he wants me to know he thinks it's past his bedtime. That little guy CAN SLEEP, and even though he sleeps most of the day anyways, if he doesn't get a solid 6+ hours of uninterrupted sleep on my bed, he gets noticeably tired and cranky the next day.

MMJfan said:

This. My first dog I trained with treats and he ALWAYS wanted to go out just to get his treat. If I didn't watch him he would go out, turn around and wait at the door having done nothing!

My second puppy, I just used positive reinforcement and said "let's go potty" everytime I would take her out. Praise worked very well.

Our other dog was a runaway and I was surprised at how well trained he was when we adopted him (he was around 2 when we found him).

Now, all I do is yell "let's go potty" and they come running from wherever they are in the house to our back door if they have to go. Occasionally, if they haven't been out for a while, they will let me know they have to go, but this doesn't happen too often as it seems they're pretty good at holding it...

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Ditto on not having him expect a treat every time! Mine is sneaky and will do the same thing expect he might go behind a bush so that you don't see. Other times he'll get on the very closest patch of grass, lift his leg up only to immediately put it back down, and then gleefully run inside and demand a treat. Not aggressively... he'll just keep trying to get your attention and/or sit by the treat bag (I generally give him dehydrated chicken breast strips or chips) looking absolutely stunned until you give in.

He's also a champ at holding it in though. I guess, considering everything, that I should count my blessings that these little "problems" are hardly even actual problems at all (and even that manages to overstate it).

Misplaced_Canuck said:

That works fine but you have to be careful that they don't come to expect a treat EVERY time they go potty.

My 2 Aussies were potty trained by someone else, and they NEVER ask to go outside. I let them out 3+ times a day (before work, after work, and before bed). Never had an accident. The moment I open the door, they go outside and do their business immediately. I love them for that!

MC

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That's how KB is. He has to really go to bug us to be let out. He still gets a little treat every time he comes in though. Just part of his routine and he's a very routine oriented dog.

ChshreCat said:

That's how KB is. He has to really go to bug us to be let out. He still gets a little treat every time he comes in though. Just part of his routine and he's a very routine oriented dog.

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I really need to do that. Harper has always been good but it is weird how their habits can drift sometimes. Over the last 6 months or so it has been harder and harder to get him in. Not sure what happened but somewhere we established a bad habit, lol.

The funny thing is... he got used to getting two when he poops. Now that he has his own yard, we aren't out there when he goes out most of the time, but he still lets us know when he poops. Most of the time, he'll come in, accept one treat and trot off to do whatever he was doing before we let him out. Every few trips out though, he'll sit down, take his treat and then when we go to put the treats away he'll snuffle and nose at us like "Hey... I pooped this time." and wait for his second one. If he ever figured out that we don't know if he pooped or not, we'd be in trouble.

rofl

I was out of town for a week. Somebody missed me.

Alright folks, I went out this morning to get cat food and saw this girl at an adoption drive. The wife and I have been discussing getting a second dog for a while now. She may just be a bit too big to be a lap dog though. We're thinking her name will be Maggie.

It's never stopped Harper from trying...

Thank god he has only tried it a couple times, I don't think the jewels could handling him hopping in my lap on all the time.

He did this once too but I think that was more to sit where I sit (I had just gotten up and gone in the other room when I heard the commotion) than anything else.


She does look like a winner though. Any history on her? Was she a stray? Harper was and I was surprised at how fast he took to me when I got him home and settled in.

I don't understand what this "too big to be a lapdog" concept is you speak of...

She's 11 months old, so they think. 40 pounds now but I feel she may grow a bit more. They have her listed as a wheaten terrier but I think there is some lab in there too. She was a stray, brought in by animal control and then handed off to the humane society after 10 ten days an nobody claimed her. Very friendly towards every person we've seen so far and most dogs. Our other dog isn't too sure just yet if she wants to be friends. No aggression just some barking that seems to be more of a call for attention than anything else.

ChshreCat said:

I don't understand what this "too big to be a lapdog" concept is you speak of...

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It ain't a lap dog unless it takes up the WHOLE LAP.

And your pup sure reminds me of my Lab, Sage. Pretty sure he gets "Lab" and "Lap" confused.

dkwolf said:

It ain't a lap dog unless it takes up the WHOLE LAP.

And your pup sure reminds me of my Lab, Sage. Pretty sure he gets "Lab" and "Lap" confused.

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He's a lab / king GSD mix... and a total hugger.

The odd couple is bonding nicely. Abbey and Maggie have been playing in the yard all morning and had a nice walk together. I'm glad to see this because last night we were off to a rocky start with some growling and possession issues.

I don't think you can bring a dog home without a rocky start.

mikescooling said:

I don't think you can bring a dog home without a rocky start.

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Seems to be true of any pet meets pet encounter. Usually just takes a bit of "sorting out the pecking order" then it is all good. Dogs especially seem to like knowing exactly where they fit into the pack. The fighting always happens when there are questions about it.

When we picked up our second dog, they told us at the shelter that it could take 2-3 weeks for the dogs to get accustomed to each other. While they weren't totally friendly with each other, they were at least peacefully co-existing within a week.

I fostered one that had had a rough time. The initial meeting between him and Harper bordered on bloodshed but only lasted about five minutes then they were the best of buds, lol.

TomSD said:

Seems to be true of any pet meets pet encounter. Usually just takes a bit of "sorting out the pecking order" then it is all good. Dogs especially seem to like knowing exactly where they fit into the pack. The fighting always happens when there are questions about it.

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This.

This morning after our walk i could tell that the aggression was gone but they were both antsy. I took them both out to the backyard off leash. They growled a bit and playfully wrestled for a few minutes before just laying down next to each other and napping in the dirt. The little 12# established dog is clearly "in charge" now.

It is funny how that often works out. Tiggs (the cat) seems to be the dominant one between the two here but they are both so mellow it is often hard to tell.

Do you guys remember this little sausage?
Here she is now, we do play catch twice a day, some times we use the bumper but she likes the frisbee

Charlie.....he just watched me brew today.

I cut my dogs nails, and I hit the quick!!! OMG their is blood everywhere. I mostly use the dremel tool, but I let them get too long and I guess the quick grew too. I feel so bad. This wouldn't have happened if she would let me use the dremel tool on her nails. She can be such a *****.

my girl HATES getting a mani/pedi. i can't think of a single thing she wouldn't rather do. the only way i can trim her nails is at the end of a long day of running, romping with other dogs, etc - essentially when she is too tired to fight or run away. i just got a trim in this weekend, after a 2-hour walk in the woods with two other dogs. i got 9 of her front nails before she mustered up enough energy to "defend" herself. oh well, the one i didn't get is an outside (pinky) nail so we can call this round a success. main thing is getting those dew claws. they can get really sharp and put a good scratch on you when she jumps up on you (which she isn't supposed to do, but that's another story...)

My girl spends most of her day walking on me in some way or another, puppy attacks, where snuggly puppy turns into bitty puppy. Next time I'll have a day of activity planned, and try to cut tiered puppy's nails. Tired puppy is the best state of puppy.

mikescooling said:

Tired puppy is the best state of puppy.

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amen to that. our pupster isn't particularly affectionate most of the time (too hyper), but at the end of the day she becomes a total cuddle monster.

Yeah Harper isn't a fan of nail clipping. Hell the cat isn't either and his nails are like friggin razors, lol.

That's Till staring at the ice cream and Effie staring into your soul.

Nice!

Todays goal of tiring the puppy out is not over, but I just may make it. first 45min of catch then a long walk, then BassPro Shop. I told her to attack the bear!

Then she did some shopping

She threw something in for me

one more game of catch