Rudy is Home

[smatter]

Hi Everyone,

We spent our first night with Rudy last night and he didn't make a peep. He did however make a poop, two to be exact. There were two neat piles on the newspaper. He peed a couple of times as well off of the paper. I don't really blame him, most of the real estate on the paper was already occupied. I can see that the wee wee pads I bought to put under the newspaper to help with absorbtion were a waste of money. He just took it into his crate and slept with it, unused I am glad to say.

I have an exercise pen in my kitchen in which I placed his crate. There are newspapers on one end. I leave the door to the crate open at night in case he needs to relieve himself. Should I do this or can I crate him the whole night? I was worried he would soil his crate if I left him in there so long. I will also leave the crate door open when I go to work because it could be 4-5 hours before I can stop by to let him out and occasionally I might not be able to go home for lunch.

I put him in his crate a couple of times today for a hour or two and he slept most of the time. I had to wake him up to take him outside upon which time he immediately went #1 and half a block later #2. I praised him lavishly and he repeated the same show later in the day. Is letting him use newspapers in his pen going to set him back in his housetraining or should I crate him when I am gone and at night?

[Eliz222]

Smatter, we crated our first Cairn (now 2 yrs old) overnight and she would sometimes pee and poop in her crate! We had to give her several extra baths those first few weeks.

IMO, I would not use the paper, or the pee pads. I think they are confusing for the dog. I would keep her crated at night and while you are gone.

We have an 8 week old Cairn now and we have had her for about a week. She is crated over night and when we can't watch her. She has been sleeping through the night (7 hrs) and has stayed dry all night! We take her out on a regular basis, but she still doesn't have a clue what all the fuss is about when we praise her for going "potty"! LOL!

How old is your Cairn? I can't remember how long it took our first Cairn become housebroken.

[smatter]

He is 11 weeks old. I have to agree the paper seems a bit confusing to him. He doesn't know whether to poop on it or play with it. He took it into his crate last night after he peed on it so he might as well have gone in his crate. He held his poop until the morning when I took him out. So you really think I should 86 the paper and the pen and just crate him through the night? The pen is pretty obtrusive in my kitchen and he isn't really learning anything doing his business on the tiles since he just shreds the paper.

[Eliz222]

We have a 2 yr old Cairn who hated the crate! We used it only at night and when we were not home. We kept her crated until she was about a year old. She then started sleeping with us at night and we kept her out of the cage during the day. We started out with short outings and worked our way up until she could stay out of the cage all day. She chewed on shoes and purses, so we kept those off the floor. I always made sure she had plenty of dog bones to chew on (compressed bones). This seemed to help.

We adopted an 8 week old female Cairn and brought her home last Saturday. Boy, she is alot of work! She does't seem to mind the crate at all and we use it all the time. She is in the crate whenever we can't watch her. She sleeps through the night (in the crate) and stays dry! She doens't seem to understand housebreaking at all! We use the word "potty" and she seems to not care about the praise we give her for "going". I guess it will take alot more time. I'm looking forward to that!

I don't know if we can post pics here, but here is my try at it.

<img src="http://img12.imageshack.us/img12/7853/Finch.jpg" alt="Image Hosted by ImageShack.us" />

[bradl]

Too cute! Is her name Finch?

HTML isn't allowed but there is an equivalent bbcode. Here is how I embedded your image.

[img=http://img12.imageshack.us/img12/7853/Finch.jpg]

[Eliz222]

Thanks Bradl!! Her name IS Finch! She is 8 weeks old and has quite a spunky personality!

Here is her big sister, Scout. (if I can do this right)

[bradl]

You did it Looks like you have a Mockingbird theme going there -- excellent names! We plan to name a dog Scout one day.

[smatter]

You can just see the mischief in Finch's eyes. I was chicken to crate Rudy all night so I left him in the pen. He peed but no poop. I was able to come home at lunch and walk him but he didn't go #2. There was a surprise for me in the pen when I got home. How often do you feed Finch? Rudy is so excited when he is around us he only eats half his food and then wants to play more. Should I cut out the midday meal? He will also be less likely to poop in his pen during the day.

[Eliz222]

Smatter, Finch is fed 3 times a day but she doens't eat much. I put a 1/3 cup of food in her bowl 3 times a day. I put it in the crate so the other dog won't eat it! When she is finished, I take the food away. She ate 1/3 cut tonight, but didn't eat much at all this morning and mid day.

Housebreaking will be a challange. She doens't seem to repond to verbal praise at all. I praise her alot when she goes "potty" in the yard, but she just seems to care about the grass and worms she can get! I wonder if this is normal?

Also, do you know when they begin to know their name?? She doen't seem to respond to her name either.

[CallisMom]

OMG - how cute they are!! Calli is about 14 weeks old - she is a rescue and has been around so she really doesn't mind the crate at all. The crate she came with is a little smaller than she is used to - she actually hasn't had an accident since arriving at our house - I am thinking that part of it has to do with the size change. First - the puppy's bladder has to mature - but generally dogs don't like to "soil" the area in which they sleep - so if there is enough from for them to turn around and stretch out sleep that is good but too much room could hinder the process a little. We don't use newspaper or peepads either. Old cotton towels are good.

I am currently feeding her 3 times a day - but just like Finch she really doesn't eat very much in the morning or midday. I can actually hear her tummy growling in the morning but I practically have to hand feed her to get her to eat what turns out to be less than a 1/4 cup. I am feeding her a 1/2 cup a meal - but she might only get about 1/4 cup combined breakfast/lunch. Dinner she eats a full 1/2 cup. I pick her dish up too. I wish I could get her to eat more. She poops about 3 times a day - once in the morning when I take her out of the crate and then about 4 hours after each meal. I have read that puppies need to poop around 30 minutes after eating but Calli is a consistent 3-4 hours!

This is Calli - after digging her first hole

[Eliz222]

Oh, Callie is sooo cute! I love the dirt filled face! I noticed the harness you have on Callie. Finch does alot of "sitting" and "observing" when we are outside. In order to get her moving around, I was gently tugging at her. I was so afraid that this was hurting her, I purchased a harness at Petsmart. I am sooooo glad I did!

[CathyAnn]

Awwww.....such cuuuuuuuute little ones!

Shoe....have you tried taking treats out with you during 'potty time'?

We had a trainer recommend "Lammies" or "Baa-Baa-Q's". They are sold at pet stores. My dogs LOVE them. We broke off tiny little pieces so the bag lasted a long, long time. As a matter of fact, we still use them for training and they haven't tired of them yet.

Let's see if Ms. 'Puter dunce can post here...these are my two last summer.

Cathy

Won't let me post my larger pic??

[CallisMom]

Cathy - how cute your two are! I wish the picture was bigger too! I had the opposite problem - I had too big a picture. I had to resize my picture on my computer and then upload it back to the website. Her is her website if anyone is interested (corny, proud owners we are!)Calli's Webpage

Cathy, Calli loves the BaaBaaQ's as well. She also loves the Solid Gold Tiny Tots and the Whole Life Real Pet treats (freeze dried meat cubes) - we cut them all into small little pieces for training.

[CathyAnn]

CallisMom...your website is great! I especially enjoyed the video of her diggin' away in her water bowl ! Hope you keep adding to your site!

I shouldn't be about her diggin', though ! Yesterday, Piper (now 1 year old), was digging in my new lasagna bed for perennials.....AGAIN! I put some cow manure and mushroom compost in there and well, you can imagaine the mess! He loves that part of the yard!

He also loves to bury his bully sticks in the mulch. And, then 'retrieve' them after they have 'aged'. Brings them to the door after a few days all icky and dirty wanting to bring them back inside for the chow-down.

BTW...if you really want to spoil your lil , get bully sticks! We use them as our' babysitter' when we want a moment of peace (especially good when we rent a video). They keep our little 's occupied for at least an hour+.

Cathy

[CallisMom]

Cathy - how big are the bully sticks - and how soft? I had been looking at them earlier. They look like it would take ten minutes to go through! I like the idea of getting an hour or so . . .

It must be an embedded instinct to bury their treats - just like the digging! I can just seem him now at the door - dirty bully stick in mouth, "Come on Mom, open that door so I can enjoy!"

[CathyAnn]

I used to purchase bully sticks at the pet stores. There, they came in 6 inch and 12 inch sizes. The 6 inchers were $1.99 for the first 4 with the 5th being free. THAT, needless to say, got very expensive with two dogs. They are not soft but not real hard, either....tough to explain.

I decided to check out EBay and see what their prices were. Bid on a few and ended up getting a batch of 30 for around $.90 (which included shipping) a piece. I got out a calculator to make sure I didn't get 'caught up' with the bidding. I will probably order again when we need more (which won't be long.....hehe).

Just go to EBay and type in 'bully sticks' for your search. Good luck!

Cathy

[bradl]

We order "macho sticks" in bulk from SitStay, 12" size. They are hideously expensive but last a long time. We go in with other local Cairn friends somtimes to get a bigger order and defray the cost a bit.

[CathyAnn]

YIKES, Brad ! Those are the same sticks I have been ordering from Ebay for alot less $$.

Cathy

[bradl]

Are you sure? I see a lot of compressed and uninspected sticks at various vendors etc.

[CallisMom]

bradl - these look like the ones at waggintails.com - I get the Whole Life freeze dried treats from there. It looks like they are a little less expensive (definitely save on shipping as you go up - doesn't save if you are ordering just one) - but if I am already ordering from there I might try a couple the next time and see how they go over. Unfortunately they don't sell them at Pet Food Direct where I get my food.