[Clippart]

We've had Kenai for almost a week, and I have several questions.

Kenai has woken up at 4:30 a.m. the past two mornings and after I take her outside to go pee I put her back in her crate. She then barks, cries, whines, and yips until 6:00 when we get up for the day. Is this the best way to teach her that the day does not start at 4:30?

We want to teach her to do her business in the woods at the edge of our yard. Should we already be taking her over there to go, or should we just let her get used to going outside first, anywhere? Do you suggest having her on a leash when we go outside so she pees first and then let her off to go play? Sometime she goes right away when we go outside, and sometimes she plays for a while first.

We are doing the clicker training. I always click when she starts going, and then call her over to me for a treat when she's done. Can I also verbally praise her during this process? I hope so, because I always do! I just wasn't sure if the clicker was supposed to replace verbal praise or is to be used in addition to it.

Does anyone else's dog do circles, like chasing her tail, right before she poops? It's the funniest thing I've ever seen!! Does anyone have any idea why dogs do this?

I'll try to post some pictures of Kenai. I have to figure out how first!

Thanks for all you hints and help.

Cathy

 

[lisarundell]

Cathy, Letting her cry in the crate is the best way to teach her. We have done this with both of our puppies, one is 6 mo. and the other is 3 mo. It will be hard on you till she get the idea.

If you want to teach her to go potty in a certain area you should do it now, we made the mistake of not doing this. The leash would be a good way to lead her to the area and to make her know she needs to go potty first then play. We used the leash at night, a suggestion made by Jac, to get him to go potty and not lay down or play. It worked wonders. i don't know about the clicker and verbal praise. When we first brought Lani home at 8 weeks ahe would run in circles or up and down the fence line before she would poop, this lasted for a few months. I'm not sure why they do it.

Hope this helps, you will always get good feedback here! Hope we can see pictures soon. :lol:

 

[Maureen]

I just have a minute, but I cant resist spending it, or my 2¢ :wink:

I have no experience with a clicker and sort of don't understand them but what better way to show praise and appreciation than with your voice?! You always have it with you, and I believe we can spend our lives giving vocal 'love' to our Doodles with no extra tools needed - except of course hands for petting!

I bet you are almost out of the woods - 3 days is an average for the crate-crying in my experience...so hang in there on the 4:30 crying! Maybe you'll even be surprised soon with Kenai not waking until the 6-ish time.

 

[SeattleDoodle]

We are doing clicker training with Quin - but we don't use the clicker to reward for pottying. We started our potty routine before we started our training class, at which we learned the clicker. We have had success getting Quin to learn to "go" on command. We say "go potty!" in a high-pitched voice just as he leans to go and then just at the moment of the last trickle we get all excited and praise lavishly. Now, he'll actually go (assuming he needs to) on the "go potty!" command. So, regardless if you stick with the clicker as the reward for going potty, you might want to introduce a verbal command. RE: the clicker: I learned that the interval between the click and the treat should not be too long (so the click doesn't loose the value you created by associating it with the treat) - so you might want to make sure it isn't too long between her pottying and getting the treat for the click. Make sense?