[Maddie]

Hi everyone,

A special thanks to all the members of this forum who have helped me in my search for our family dog.

The search is finally over!

We welcomed our F1 mini baby girl about a week ago.

We call her Lexi.

The first order of business, off to the Vet! Lexi came through the visit with flying colors (the picture of health so far). At about 9 weeks old she weighed in at 7.5 lbs.

We are hoping to be the proud parents of a medium sized dood when she is full grown.

Now for the questions, we are trying to crate train. So far she has no problem with the crate, and often puts herself in.

We take her out to potty about every 2 hours, or sooner if she is sniffing around. We only crate her when we are all out of the house (I work part time 3 mornings a week, 3 hours per day). She does not dirty her crate, and has no problem giong in for bed.

When we take her out we give her a treat and praise her as soon as she goes, but we don't know how to begin to teach her how to ask to go. Or is she too young for this?

Is this the right procedure? We still have assorted accidents throughout the day, which is fine if it is typical, I just want to be moving in the right direction.

Also, at times she can become quite active and nippy. Whats the best method for bite inhibition?

Finally, I have been having great success with "sit" and "fetch", I need help figuring out how to teach her stay, come, and not to bite on the leash.

We love her dearly, but she is most definately a handful (I hope this is typical) I HAVE A LOT TO LEARN!!!

All advice will be greatly appreciated.

We are scheduled to begin puppy training at the end of November (after her third round of shots).

Meet Lexi:

http://s139.photobucket.com/albums/q307/maddiesuew/

Maddie

 

[kim26]

Lexi is adorable! I love her eyes! Congratulations on your new pup.

 

[Maddie]

thanks Kim

 

[Jac]

Well, Maddie, she is simply adorable!
All of the things you mention are perfectly normal and it appears to me that she is a very smart girl!
I have never acutally "taught" my dogs to give a signal...some people teach bell ringing...but my dogs just give me a "look". Seriously. They come to me, sit down and look at me. I don't know if they want love or to potty...so I give loves, then ask if they want to potty. If they do, they will jump around and head for the door!
Nipping is normal too...we taught our dogs by gently holding their nose and saying "no bite!" and the second they stop, praise them and give love...witch, of course, will make them want to nip again...so you repeat. Usually puppies learn not to bite if you don't respond well to it. They want to please and will learn quickly how to do that.
Good job! And, congratulations...she is really a beautiful little thing!

 

[Maddie]

Thanks Jac,

Regarding signals for potty-

Sometimes she sits next to me and gives a look, so I take her in my lap. If she snuggles up, she wants love, if she squirms, I take her out. But she is not consistant. How long does it usually take?

Right now I spend most of the day with her gated in the kitchen.

Also, regarding the nipping, I just started trying withdrawing all attention (for about 10 minutes), then return to try to initiate a positive interaction.

It seems to be working a little, I'll have to stick with it a while to see if I want to move on, but I am glad to have choices.

She's a ton of work, and a labor of love.

Thanks for everything Jac,

I appreciate all that you have shared, and know that I have alot to learn.

Maddie

 

[Jac]

You are welcome, Maddie, it has been fun being a part of your search and now, to read the happiness in your posts...well, it is very rewarding!
In case you have not figured this out yet...lol...I have a favorite web page for advise. I don't always agree with every article, nor every statement...but I do generally agree with the logic behind the advice...I like this one for potty training...even though I don't believe that you do any "punishment" for accidents...so you can skip over that part! :wink:
http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Conten ... C=0&A=1689

 

[karenl]

Hi Maddie,

Your Lexi is adorable, Congratulations!
I have an 11 week old pup that has really been a dream about potty training. We do have some accidents but they are few and far between. I am at home with her, have her gated in the kitchen and crate only at night or if I leave the house. I hung some bells on the door knob. Every time we went out I would ring the bells and have her paw or nose ring the bell before we went out. In a very short time (a few days) she was ringing the bell to poop. (for some reason it took longer for her to learn to ring the bell to pee). The only problem with this is, I have to take her out when ever she rings the bell. Some times, of course, I thinks she rings it to test how well I have been trained. :wink:

The nipping and biting thing, I do not have control over. Sitting, well she is great at it only when I have a treat in my hand. She is alot of work, but I really am enjoying her. I believe she is training me very well :lol:

 

[Maddie]

Hi everybody

I can't believe Lexi is 4 months old already.

I've posted a few new pictures on shutterfly.

Oh how time flies when you have a doodle.

Maddie

 

[kim26]

4 months! That did go fast. How do you get to the pictures?

 

[Chesterpal]

She is such a cutie!!!

 

[lmtoth2]

hmmm...now I'm curious. Have most of you trained your doodles to "tell" you when they have to go potty? We just take Dexter out fairly frequently (esp when we know he has had a lot of water). Sometimes he will whine near the door and when we let him out he will immediately go. He really hasn't had many accidents at all recently and 20 weeks old. We always praise him for going outside so I think he's gotten the point that we want him to always go outside.

 

[Maddie]

Hi Kim

Just click on the www link at the bottom of my post.

Maddie

 

[kim26]

Oh, sorry, Maddie. Your original post has a link to photobucket but, your newest post says you have updated pics on shutterfly but there is no link. I guess I'm just a bit confused. :?

 

[Maddie]

Thanks Annette

Here she is without the link-

4 months old - 15.4 lbs.

I'm such a proud mommy!

Regarding potty training, we are working on it but not quite there yet. Lexi definately knows how to ask to go out, but she doesn't always have to go potty. It seems that sometimes she just wants to go out to play.

She will stand by the gate, and if you don't notice her- she will whine sometimes.

I read in a post from someone else that they tried hanging bells on the door, and they taught the pup to ring the bell, but I'm not really sure how that works.

Maddie

 

[kim26]

She's so cute! Is your son enjoying her?

 

[seazr]

The bells work great! Poochiebells .com sells them pretty reasonably and they come with training instructions. Dakota loves his bells! --although they can also be "pay attention to me, bells!"
Diane (and Dakota)

 

[Chesterpal]

Chester started pawing at the back door when he wanted to go out. We didn't teach him that we just figured it out. Then trained Archie to do the same. If we're not near the door Chester will do a noisless bark if you ask him if he wants to go outside. I don't know how else to explain it.

 

[Maddie]

He is one happy guy!!!!!

As an extra added bonus - my older son, (who was not begging for a dog) is just as in love.

We're all working hard on training her, but all in all we're a pretty happy doodle family!

Maddie

 

[seazr]

Hahaha!! Dakota does the same noiesless bark! It's charming! We can get a whole noiseless conversation going with him! He and Chester would be a blast to watch together! :wink:
Diane (and Dakota)

 

[Maddie]

By the way - thanks Diane for the bell information. I couldn't remember where I read about it. Maybe it was one of your posts.

Thats a really cool picture of Dakota in action with the bell. I have seen your pictures - you have one stunning doodle! I'm hoping Lexi will have a similar coat when she matures.

Do you have any puppy pictures of Dakota to post?

Is Dakota going to be on a calendar soon?

Keep us posted!'

Maddie