First time dog owner needs help

[bepoha]

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.

[Bill]

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.

[bepoha]

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.

[Bill]

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.

[Justontime]

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.

[bepoha]

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.

[Bill]

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.

[Justontime]

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.

[kernow]

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.

[Kat1210]

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?