First time dog owner needs help

Hi everyone,
I a new to the forum as well as dog owning. I have a Beagle/Cavalier mix 10 week old girl. I've only been potty training her for 3 days but there seems to be no proggress. Is this noramal? I take her out every hour. She goes, but never asks to go herself and has accidents inside. I have the bell that I use to indicate it's potty time.... she still doesn not know what all this means? I watch her carefully, but not sure if her sniffing is exploring or looking to relieve herself. How long does it usually takes to train a puppy? Any more sugguestions???? Am I doing something wrong? She seems to be getting the "Sit" command already (when she is actually concentrated on me), but potty training is a problem. Thanks guy.

Are you rewarding her when she goes in the right place? What are you doing when she goes inside?

You are doing pretty good. A couple of tips. ALL the time she is inside, watch her like a hawk. If she starts to squat inside, IMMEDIATELY interrupt her and carry her outside. Don't fuss. Stay positive. When she goes outside treat her like the best little dog that was ever born. Make a real big deal out of it. Keep treats by the door and grab one as you go outside. Give her a treat the instant she finishes.

Expect her to go very soon after waking up, after exercise, after a nap, 10 or 20 minutes after meals. AGAIN, never let her out of your site so you can interrupt her. Everytime she goes inside it just reinforces using the inside. Never fuss at her for making a mistake. Fuss at yourself because you weren't watching her close enough.

It shouldn't take more than a few weeks. Remember she is 10 weeks old. YOU weren't potty trained at 10 weeks. :) Petsmart used to put out a good booklet on potty training. Go by there and if possible ask a trainer there about that book.

Thanks Bill.

I have been rewarding her and making a big deal out of her going outside. I guess I need to give her more time and be more patient myself. I crate train her and she is good about not going in her crate. I also have a much bigger exercise pen like the one that you usually see puppies play together. Should I keep her in her pen more instead of letting her run around the house, so that way I can keep a closer eye on her? Thanks.

No, I wouldn't keep her in the pen. You should let her have free run of the house while you are available to watch her. The more time she spends like that, the faster she will learn. This should only take a few weeks so you will just have to sacrafice a lot of time during those few weeks. Once she is trained you don't have to worry about her. You just have to be aware of what signal she uses to let you know she needs to go outside.

I can't add anything to what Bill has already said, but i just wanted to offer some encouragement, these things take time but stick with itske will soon understand what is expected.

thank you everyone. One more question..... this puppy seems to get overexcited and starts playing ruff with my 3.5 year old kid. She bites my daughter on her ankles then runs away and starts doing circles like crazy, then comes back and bites again. When I try and get her off my daughter, she bites me. I usually have to put her in a pen so she could calm down. are all puppies like that, or i this going to be a problem later on? And any suggestions on how to "fix" this.

Thats typical puppy play. You are handling it correctly. She will outgrow this in time. Put her in "time out" each time she does it, IMMEDIATELY when she does it.

We had a puppy in the family that behaved in much the same way, she grew out of it after a few months it was a pain to have to give her time out every time but it is the only way to make her understand. Also try to teach your child not to get the dog over excited, even very young children can learn how they should behave around dogs.

That is a good point Justontime, the little girl will feel very important if she thinks she thinks she is helping to train the puppy. Little things like not shouting out and not running about if the dog nips would help a lot as it would stop the dog thinking that it was a game.

Hi. We have a 15 week old king charles cavalier. We got her 1 1/2 ago. The people we bought her of told us she was toilet trained. So she got a bed in the kitchen/living room. The next morning, she had taken down a cushion from the couch to pee on it. I learned my lesson and since then she sleeps in the utility room. Before we go to bed ca. 9.30 /10 pm I bring her for a quick walk. Sometime she goes for a pee and sometime she doesn't. When I get up the next morning at 5.30, I get dressed and bring her out straight away to do her business. I only realized after a couple of days that she pees in her bed. I didn't think dogs pee in their beds. Any explanations? She also does it inside. Yesterday we came back from a long walk 1 1/12 ( she only did a poo). 2 minutes later she peed on the kitchen floor.
Is is the new enviroment? I try to watch her, but since i have two small children I have to devide my attention.
I caught her a few times and said "NO" and put her into the garden. Is there anything I can do better. And whats with the peeing in the bed. Will i have to get up at night to bring her out?

It could be the new environment. It could be that she was never house trained. Either way, you have to train her. You MUST keep an eye on her. You must take her outside once an hour to let her pee and whatever else. ALWAYS praise her heavily when she does what she is supposed.

NEVER scold her for doing it wroing. She always does it wrong because she hasn't been taught what is right. When you scold her the lesson she learns is "Never pee or potty in front of humans" so she will start going off somewhere in the house away from you and do her business. If you catch her in the act, stop her and take her outisde. Don't fuss at her ... "no, no, no" in a calm voice is enough talking. Don't just "put her into the garden", go out with her and stay with her until she does her business so you can praise and reward when she does good.

I suggest getting her a crate and letting her sleep in your bedroom. In the wild she would never be alone at that age. She is not mature enough to handle being left alone and it causes her to not sleep well. Also if she is in the bedroom, you can hear her stirring in the middle of the night and take her outside.

Everytime she pees or potties in the house you MUST get the proper chemicals and remove any odor left as it tells her this is a place to do it.

Crates are really marvelous devices. They help us and our animals in so many ways.

Bill is right about it being hard work and there will be occasions when it seems that she will never get it sorted out, but then for most dogs they seem to understand what is required and all the hard work pays off.

Sometimes it takes more energy than a person has, though. Puppies especially are high maintenance.

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Originally Posted by Orrymain

Sometimes it takes more energy than a person has, though. Puppies especially are high maintenance.

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It can feel like that, but we find the energy to do it and it pays off in the end, just as it does when you are raising children. The easy option leads to a lot more work long term.

I have always had doggie doors. I know it's cheating.... but it works great, they learn so much faster and if you can't get to the door in time, it's okay, they have their own way out. It took about three days for most of my dogs. The puppies a little longer since it was a great toy.....in and out, in and out, etc..... but I have found puppies/dogs learn so much faster when it's fun.

Just think.... down the line it'll be stories about " do you remember the potty training time?..... My family has several and you really can laugh about it later.

here are six tips to turn you from a canine rookie into a savvy dog owner:

1 Make sure you can handle the responsibility of pet ownership.
2 Do your research first.
3 Ask your dog-smart friends and family for advice
4 Buy the necessary pet supplies.
5 Spend quality time together.
6 Arrange fun activities when your dog is home alone.
7 Be Patient

To get the successfull Potty traing you need to follow -

1. Don’t force him and wait for the right moment
2. Try to make your dog friendly to use potty training dog doorbells in the required situations.
3. Make a place fixed for his potty training
4. You can also keep crate training into action using a dog crate in which he feels ease.
5. Make a suitable schedule of per 15 minutes
6. Be friendly with your pup and associate him to complete his task outside
7. When you are not at home, restrict him to a certain area using a Puppy Pee or Potty Training Pads