Question: How to teach your Frenchie two basic behaviours.

[LauraandBen]

Hi to all!

So, as you know, we got Clementina and are getting really fond of her. She is already 7 weeks and pretty much knows where to pee and poo, she knows the Sit command, comes when called and ocassionally responds to the paw and stay command. But there are two issues we have not been able to solve and we are wondering how did you guys managed to teach them. We also explain what we are doing at the moment, just in case you think we are messing it up.

1. Sleep alone, in her bed through the night without whining or crying. We do not like the crate training, because crates are too big and our apartment is too small (60m2) and we do not want her in our bedroom either, even though she is still a puppy. What we are doing is to wake up every single time she cries, go to the Kitchen (where she is) and take her to the pee zone, so that she understands that whining means pee, but not waking parents. The reason we are doing this is because our vet told us, that while she is still under vaccines, antibiotics and de-worming, we should not put her under too much stress, or else her defenses could go down, eventually making her sick again. Are we doing it wrong? Eventually when she "grows up" will she stop?

2. Teach her not to eat and bite every single cloth, shoe, furniture and even hands. So far all we do is correct her, acknowledging she is still a baby, and try to have within reach any of her toys. But since it is a stubborn breed, some times it seems like she does not care.

We obviously know she is a pup, and it is going to take time and patience, but we want to be on the right track from the beginning.

Thank you again and cheers!:yeah:

Ben.

 

[bullmama]

Hi Ben! Both of your processes will work eventually. But here is my suggestions, while I am not the greatest at teaching adults I am pretty good with the puppy part!

For nighttime, you do not, for any reason, come when called. Set your alarm for a specific times to wake up, and that is potty time. You set the schedule, and you are in charge of that. If you have do anything, acknowlege her whining but with a stern no, then back to bed. Puppies do not understand that you can hear them when they cry so they will continue to do it until they have actually seen you hear them. It may take a few days but once she understands the schedule, she will improve. She is very young at 7 weeks and she will learn quickly NOW becuase she has not learned how to be too stubborn yet. She can only hold her pee for 2-3 hours at 7 weeks, once she hits the 8 week mark she will be closer to 3-4 hours. The estimate is 2 hours plus age in months.

For the biting, I squeal LOUD like I was a littermate who got bit too hard. Works like a charm as they are very impressionable at this age. For pulling on pants legs/cloth/biting I grab the nape of the neck and gently pull them off. They don't like this much and it does not hurt them, and it how mama would take them around when she is calling the shots. It works really good if you can roll them onto their back in the process. My son actually came up with this trick with our boy who was obsessed with pant legs, and FINALLY we found the thing that kept him off.

Good luck and keep us posted on your progresses!

 

[2bullymama]

What Bullmama posted is the best advice..... good luck with your training

 

[LauraandBen]

Hi Bullmama!

We followed your advice and last night we did as you told us. When she started crying we did not go to see her. The first time, she woke up and she cried for 25 minutes. We set the alarm every 2 hours and when she was calm and sleepy we went into the kitchen, pretend to do something else and then we put her blanket on. The second time she woke up, Clementina cried for 15 minutes. She also went by herself to the potty place (which we think is a great sign that she is not having separation anxiety). The third time, she cried for 5 minutes (we are going to get kicked out of the building) and finally, she slept like a "baby" from 2:30am to 6am... this morning she was very calm and submissive.
We are planning to repeat this today with the alarm every 3 hours. We'll let you know if she improves.

Thank you very much.

Laura

 

[bullmama]

Looks like you've already made progress. That's fantastic!

I little chat with your close neighbors or even a little note explaining what is going on may help. :up:


Sent from my iPhone 5 using Tapatalk

 

[davidh]

Great advise above and as you can see, she is getting better. It just takes time for them to learn and the biting will stop as she gets older and you keep telling her no. The crates do help with this as it gives them a secure place to go, but since you don't have the room, she will eventually get used to it. She's still just baby, and it sounds like you are doing a great job.

 

[LauraandBen]

Hello mates!

I have got to admit that last night it felt like they stabbed us 100 times in the heart. Clementina whined, cried, squealed and even barked in a rooster, chicken, dog almost human like. Definitely a sound neither us, nor our neighbours have heard before.

We felt the worst dog owners ever and I panicked imagining she was getting the so called dog anxiety thing... Laura was strong and talked me out of my crazyness. However this morning when I saw Clementina calmed down, having fun with a Kong and a bone, I realized that the only one still suffering from dog anxiety was me.

As Laura said, we are going to continue the same strategy tonight and I am sure I will have to get some cookie-apologize gifts for my neighbours, or at least a bottle of scotch... so that they can sleep :blink:

Anyway... we love this forum already.

Cheers!

Ben.

 

[Sherry]

Puppy's are not for the faint of heart, so glad you like it here. we have an arcade too

 

[Kazzy220]

Glad to hear that you are making some progress ... just be warned that sometimes it can seem like two steps forward and one step back!!

Oh the joys of owning a puppy!!!!!

 

[Alice Kable]

Welcome to FBN! You are great puppy parents!

 

[LauraandBen]

Hi everyone!

It has been two wonderful nights without crying... we are still waking up a couple of times to put her blanket on, since our apartment is kind of cold.
Now we are working on the bitting part.

Thanks again for your help and support.

Laura and Ben

 

[Alice Kable]

I got some hoody sweatshirts from PETCO for Buster because he would shiver when it was cold.

Hi everyone!

It has been two wonderful nights without crying... we are still waking up a couple of times to put her blanket on, since our apartment is kind of cold.
Now we are working on the bitting part.

Thanks again for your help and support.

Laura and Ben

 

[LauraandBen]

Hi every one!
Clementina has been waking up at night a couple of times for the last few days when she poops... she starts crying loud and yelling for a really long time, and if we don't clean her mess she eats it... It's kind of disgusting but the vet told us is normal in puppies.
It has been just like Kazzy said: two steps forward and one step back jeje

Any suggestions? should we let her do that?

Thanks!

L&B

 

[Rudi Lim]

Both Boxy and Lulu do that all the time! Just need to clean it up ASAP. Haha