# My dog thinks his name is NO!



## TheCoach (May 5, 2008)

Hi, Everyone. I am a new member and have really enjoyed reading through this forum. I must say that it's giving me lots of new ideas to try!

Coach is a Havanese / Coton de Tulear hybrid and he's my first small indoor dog. My new house doesn't have a "fenceable" backyard, but does have plenty of room to play and he does so on his extendable leash. 

However, it seems as though he's a typical 15 week old pup and my patience probably isn't as generous as it should be. His potty training was going well, but lots of silver dollar size pee-pees on carpeted areas all of a sudden. Is this marking? I'm a teacher, so he's in my kitchen during the day with baby gates - the space is about 10x6. He uses potty pads fine when in the kitchen, but will not use them when the gates are down and he's playing in the house. He's crated at night and does just fine there....never an accident in the crate! I will begin crating him during the day as soon as the school year ends so I can begin him in 2-3 hour sessions versus the 8-9 that I'm gone now.

His constant puppy nipping/biting can be frustrating and he has every chew toy in the world that I encourage him with when he begins nipping on me or guests. I'm working on lots and lots of positive praise when he's doing good. He's socializing fairly well as he has a Chihuahua in his obedience class that he plays well with, but his best friend is my parents' American Bulldog! 

Coach is the sweetest dog ever when he's good, but boy when he's bad...he's really bad! I want to do the right things at his young age, so any advice or reading material would be greatly appreciated!! 

 alice and coach


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## imamurph (Apr 15, 2008)

Alice!

When I first got Sophie and Gabe I took them out every few hours then watched them like a hawk. When I was busy around the house or had to go out, I put them in a pen with their pillow, water and food at one end and newspapers on the other. Once they got it in their heads that the newspaper was the place to go indoors, I let them have a little more freedom.
After that we worked on going outside 

You don't plan to keep Coach in a crate for 8+ hours, do you, as it would be better to get an X-pen if you are going to leave him for that long of a period.

We'd love to see more pictures!! Coach is adorable!


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## TheCoach (May 5, 2008)

No, I don't plan on keeping him in a crate for such a long period of time. I would have preferred crate training immediately when Coach arrived at my house at 8 weeks, but working fulltime as most of us do, that just wasn't po-ssible.

Do you think an ex-pen in the kitchen would work better than the gates? Is the 10x6 space too much room? He potties outside really well on a regular basis - when we wake in the morning, again before I leave, when I return home and a few more times before bedtime. It seems as though we're outside pottying more than we're inside, but it's these small pee-pees inside 15 min. after coming back in that are becoming so numerous, thus my wondering if he was marking!

I know I should be grateful that he's doing so well pottying outside, but I do keep a potty pad in the kitchen when the gates are down just in case he has to go without me realizing it. Maybe I shouldn't do that. I was hoping he could be trained to use a potty pad because he does NOT like going outside in the rain. After the rain is a different story! He can find a water puddle a mile away and have so much fun in it! 

I'll surely post more pictures of Coach as soon as I figure out where I left my camera!!!


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## dboudreau (Jan 12, 2007)

Welcome Alice and Coach!

I think the kitchen with gates is a great idea, I would suggest that he stays on a washable surface until he gets a better idea of potty training. It can be really hard to get the smell out of the carpet and he will keep going back.

Looking forward to more pictures!


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## Redorr (Feb 2, 2008)

Welcome Alice and Coach! You will find a lot of advice on the Forum if you search for "potty training" and "hosebreaking". You will also find that for many of us the kids are not reliably traied until they are a year old. But - some have been trained form early on. It varies. 

The one thing I can advise is to get Coach into social settings with other dogs as soon as he is able. The other dogs do teach puppies certain behaviors - especially around biting. I had some success with curtailing biting with Lola myself, saying "no Biting"and pulling in fingers into a fist - but it was the older dogs who actually taught her the natural way during play. Also, if you can get Coach exhausted by playing with dogs, he will be less inclined to get into trouble at home. 

Then he will think his name is "good Boy" !!!

You will find advice on biting and barking on various threads, too.


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## good buddy (Feb 20, 2007)

Alice, I think he's a bit young to be marking. Rufus is my first boy but it seems the desire to mark came along with his hormones kicking in after 6 months old. Could it be submissive peeing? like when he first sees you and is overexcited, or if he is nervous and afraid he is in trouble? Another idea could be, a little infection. If he's not holding his urine as well as he did previously then there's a chance he needs to be seen by your vet. 

He sure looks like a cutie! The nipping/biting stage passes faster then you could imagine. My guy did that too! I couldn't pass by him in the mornign without him biting my bathrobe. He's 13 months old now and the biting stage is long forgotton!


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## EstrellaVila (Nov 30, 2007)

All the behaviors you described are just puppies! Tito would pee in the house right after we took him out, they just do it sometimes. Try your best to take him out a lot and learn his body language for when you think he is doing the pee sniffing etc, and take him out before he pees in the house. Just try your best and he will grow out of it. I think he might just be peeing cause of excitment, etc like Christy said. Be patient!


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## Judy A (Jan 13, 2007)

Welcome Alice and Coach...hang in there with the potty training. They do get better. Just make sure you watch him like a hawk when he isn't crated or in his kitchen area. Puppies do "go" a lot.....so you have to take them out often keep them in an area with a pee pad. Good luck....and read through some of the potty training threads...


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## marjrc (Jan 13, 2007)

Hi Alice and Coach - welcome!! 

We'd love to see more pics of little Coach. He looks adorable in your avatar. My Ricky wasn't totally trustworthy throughout the house until he was past 6 months, so it might be a while yet before Coach is o.k. everywhere. I would keep him in the gated kitchen even when home. That's what we did with Ricky. I am a SAHmom and had the gates up all the time. When we brought him out, it was to go watch t.v. dnstrs. and we'd gate the t.v. room so we could see where he wandered. Still, it took a while before he'd stop peeing here and there.

We also have Sammy, who is two weeks younger than Ricky, at 1 yr. 9ths now, and he pees almost daily somewhere! It is aggravating, but the little bugger refuses to touch the bell to let us know he needs to go outdoors. sigh....... Keeping them in a closed off area is the best bet, esp. at a young age still. 

Good luck and hopefully reading through our many threads, you'll not be too discouraged. Hoping to get to know you more soon!


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## ama0722 (Nov 28, 2006)

First- welcome to the forum where we expect lots of photos 

I would probably say the area you are giving him to play when you are home is too big- maybe put a pad in another area. If you aren't there to watch him, I would put him in his smaller area.

I have a 5 month old puppy right now who is also teething and going thru the jump and bite, it has only been one time of him bitting, me yelling and stop playing. He even runs up and then stops to control himself. I have learned the best puppy is a tired one. Lots of play time before I leave and when I get home from work!

Amanda


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## ginny (Mar 29, 2008)

Welcome Alice and Coach. Suzy and I are also kind of new here and still learning. Suzy is a week older than Coach and is doing the submissive peeing (which I am going to be searching this forum to figure out what to do about). I don't know if Coach could be doing that but as 
Rufus mom said, Suzy pees when she is excited. 

My friend is a teacher and she found things went much much better when she had a dog walker come into the house. Her pups behavior improved a lot. It might be worth the expense or maybe a kind neighbor or friend could come over mid day and get Coach out for a romp and to pee.

My office hours are officially four hours but between getting there and leaving I am often gone for six hours. I don't think Suzy could last alone even in her gated kitchen space without being let out and having some play time.


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## TheCoach (May 5, 2008)

Thanks, Ginny, for your kind words! I live in a rural area with no pet sitters or doggie daycare. My friends work during the day, too, and my family is 30 min. away. I am two weeks away from the end of the school year and really look forward to being home with Coach this summer. He's had three great days of perfect pottying, so he's getting a ton of praise!!! At 15 weeks, I'm really excited about that! Now if I can just get him to stop eating his poop while I'm gone during the day! The powder from the vet worked for the 5 day supply he gave me, but it's back to the habit again!


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## Lina (Apr 26, 2007)

Alice, try adding 1tsp of crushed pineapple to his food. It's supposed to taste really bad coming out, so it might help in deterring his poop eating. A lot of people on the forum have used it with positive results.


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## ginny (Mar 29, 2008)

I think Suzy was trying to eat the poop, too. The vet sold us the powder but she refused to eat her food. I kept as close and eye on her as possible and said "ick" if she nosed at it. She now seems to poop and do that spinning jump as she walks away. She had a couple of weeks of digging a hole and pooping in the hole after she stopped trying to eat the poop. 

Suzy is 17 weeks old tomorrow so she and Coach are very close in age. 

The pineapple sounds interesting! Right now anything other than her kibble and teeny pieces of Natures Recipe training treats seem to upset her digestion. Suzy does not like cookie or biscuit treats and the soft Kong ball filler goes right through her. I hope this part of the whole poop thing improves with age!


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## TheCoach (May 5, 2008)

Coach is the same way when it comes to what he eats. I can't tell you how much money I've spent on food and treats already! His tummy hasn't been able to handle Innova, Fromms, or Nutra Ultra. I really wanted him to have a human-grade holistic food, but he would go 2-3 days and hardly eat a thing. What he did eat would go right through him and give him painful gas. At the same time, changing foods like that causes even more digestive problems. He adores Royal Canin Indoor Puppy 27, so that's where we are now. As far as treats go, he doesn't like anything crunchy. Bil-Jac's "Little Jacs" are his absolute favorite, and although they're much smaller than their normal size soft liver treats, I still cut them in half. He only gets treats when he potties outside - one for pee pee and two for pee pee and poopie!


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