I need puppy traning tips asap!!! HELP?

Question

Ok so I adopted an 8 week old Brat puppy on friday. He truly lives up to his breed name! When I lock him up during the day using a baby gate he lets himself out. He chews up everything like shoes, boxes, books, etc... he has alot of chew toys too. He mostly uses the floor as his bathroom and when he whines at the door I take him out but he only wants to eat sticks and leaves. Sometimes he goes outside an I take him out alot and when he does go outside I praise him like crazy. When he eats the floor I yell NO! to him but he dosent listen. I am ready to get rid of him. This is my first dog and I'm not sure what to expect. Is this normal puppy behavior? How can I stop him from doing it? I have read about the establishing myself as the pack leader but should I start this so soon? Please help.

Answer 1

hes a puppy you cant buy a dog and think hes going to be trained like that.

Answer 2

First start by getting rid of the baby gate and buying a crate.  The puppy will not be able to let himself out, and most dogs won't use the bathroom where they sleep.  keep in mind the dog should not be left in the crate 24/7.  An easy way to establish yourself as pack leader is to put the dog on a leash and basically attach the dog to you for 48 hours, and then crate him at night.  Spend two days with the dog on the leash and where you go the dog goes(please remember to go and stand by the food and water several times a day).  When you take the puppy out to potty, be sure and take some time for puppy play.  Also play with the puppy and his chew toys in the house, this way he knows those toys are okay to chew on.  Give plenty of praise while playing with the puppy and anytime he is behaving.  I also follow this up with treats.  Anytime you catch the puppy chewing on something that is not his toy, say "no" and replace it  with one of his toys, then follow with praise when he takes his toy.  All of the behaviors you are dealing with are normal for a puppy, just be patient and consistent.

Answer 3

You should establish yourself as the pack leader early on...8 weeks is definitely not to early.  I would recommend crate training the puppy.  They aren't going to want to go to the bathroom in the same place that they sleep, the small area helps to teach them to go outside to use the bathroom and it also prevents them from chewing up your stuff.  When you see him chewing something that he shouldn't have tell him no then give him something he is allowed to chew on...when he starts chewing on the appropriate thing then praise him for chewing/playing with his own toys.

Answer 4

You should not have taken on a puppy if you arent prepared for the work that is involved.

Buy a good book.......gwen bailey..the perfect puppy etc or enrol the puppy in obedience school which starts around 12 weeks after 2nd vacination.

Dont get rid of the puppy ,its your job to train it and you can do it!!!

Yes all puppies do that unless trained properly, even then they still like to chew on things.

Answer 5

Your description is truly puppy behavior.  Puppies need a lot of attention in their early, formative months.

Enroll in a puppy kindergarten class in your area.  This will talk through common issues like you describe, as well as get the dog outside of their own back yard and in the "real world".  

And yes, the dog needs to understand now who is the alpha, it is never too early to start.

Get a crate for him.  It needs to be large enough that he can stand and lay down comfortably, but not too large.  When you are gone, keep him in a crate.  The confined area using the baby gate is obviously not working.

When you are home and can keep an eye on him, as soon as he starts to head towards something to chew, something he should not have, distract him.  Call him to you, do anything you can to prevent him from getting to what he wants to chew.  then give him a toy or bone of his own.  

For the housebreaking, again, when you cannot watch him, crate him.  When you can watch him, do what you've been doing - take him outside, and a lot of praise when he goes outside.  Have a particular area of the yard that will be his "potty spot", and always go out to this same area.

Answer 6

He's a puppy for heaven's sake; currently at the level of a human infant.  You can't expect to be able to train him effectively for quite some time.

Answer 7

Sounds like you have your hands full!  How does he escape from the area you have gated off for him?  Does he jump over the gate?  

As for the potty training part...  you can't wait for the dog to whine, he's way too young to understand to whine when he has to use the bathroom.  Dogs should only need to p**p after they eat and a puppy should only have food available to them for breakfast lunch and dinner.  So after the puppy eats you need to take him outside immediately and watch until he goes to the bathroom.  It's a lot of work to potty train him but it's worth it in the long run!  When we began potty training our dog we actually had him eat inside his crate and kept the door shut that way he focused on eating and he didn't wander off from the food dish and go to the bathroom in the house when we weren't watching.  That worked really well and it taught the puppy to hold it because a dog will not use the crate as a bathroom as long as the crate is only big enough to hold to food dish and the dog (no extra room or they will soil the cage).  

Give the puppy a few months to catch on, you have to remember an 8 week old puppy will have accidents, there is no way around that.... they don't know any better, it would be like expecting to potty train a 9 month old baby and expecting the baby not to have accidents!  

Answer 8

I got a puppy last year and know what you are feeling.

You are doing every thing right,you just need to keep it up and he will learn to know what you mean after a few weeks,he is only a baby and does not know what you mean yet.

your puppy needs to know where he should go a for pee pee and poo poo so what you need to do is put some news paper down on the floor in your house and your puppy should want to go pee pee on there but if he does it any where else in the house tell him in a firm voice NO bad boy! and take him to the news paper.After a week or so he will know that this is were he should go to the pee and go there when necessary.When he knows this is were he should go to the pee or poo you should move the newspaper next to the back door and he will go with it,leave it there for a week and then move it out side the back door so that he knows that he should be peeing outside,another week later take away the paper and your puppy should still be peeing in that spot!

I hope this works for you!

     luv meg   Xx

Answer 9

He sounds like my westie when he was 8 weeks old. I sent him to Petsmart for puppy training and they did absolutely nothing for him, so I don't recommend Petsmart for training.

All puppies act like this.

My wirehaired dachshund was the only one that I've ever had that was trained and intelligent when I got him.

My westie is now 6 mos old and he is doing alot better, but I know he will not be out of his "ignorance" phase, as I call it until he is at least a year old.

Answer 10

How does he let himself out of a baby gate?

When you catch him chewing something he is not allowed to, take it away from him and firmly say "no!" and replace it with one of his toys. When you see him chewing one of his toys say "Is that your (toy name)? Good boy!"

Do you use puppy pads? I've found them quite handy in toilet training, only use them in the night though when you can't get up to take him out to the toilet. Make sure you're taking him out about half an hour after he's eaten and about 10 minutes after he's had a drink. You're doing the right thing at the moment by praising him when he goes outside.

When he is about to pick something up outside say in a low, firm voice "leave". If he ignores you, walk over and take it out of his mouth. Or you can get a can full of stones and bang it on the floor when he goes to pick something up. This doesn't work with all dogs though.

Don't give up on him yet, the first 2-3 weeks or so are quite difficult, but if you put in the work now, you'll have a well behaved dog for 12 years.