Tips for first ever puppy??

dartboardio · 21-03-2020 5:32pm #1

Hi guys

We've been pondering over it for a few months now and finally decided to get a puppy.

He's a male jack Russell, he is 2 months old.

We are going to collect him today.

It'll be my first ever pet. We live in a 3 bedroom house with a large back garden and a small front garden.

Does anyone have tips on a first time dog owner? Tips on training a puppy?

DBB · 21-03-2020 10:29pm

Ooohhh where to start op?!
First of all, congratulations on your new pup, who's going to bring you a combination of laughs, despair, exhaustion, frustration, and happiness over the coming months

https://www.dogstardaily.com/raising-a-puppy
I love this website... it is packed full of info, just the sort of stuff you need to know. You really do need to dive into it now and start absorbing the info, then if you have any questions or specific things to do with your own new pup, ask away here

Best of luck op, I hope all is going well now that he has landed

P2C · 21-03-2020 10:57pm

I have a jack for the last 14 years. Very smart dog and a hardy breed. Dogs love company and most bad behaviour is caused due to boredom. We learnt the hard way and ended up getting a second dog a German Shepard as company for the Jack. Good quality food we use burns and no scraps. They will poo less. Crate training is the way we done it and when we took away the crate the dogs sleep on a mat inside the front door and never move. Jacks are boisterous and inquisitive so very important to properly lead train as they tend to run ahead and can get in trouble. They can shed small white hairs so if indoors and all over the furniture and the house you will be tortured with the hoover. We have a 7,5 and1 year old and the jack can sometimes snap when food is offered by the kids whereas the Shepard will be patient and gently take the food. Lots of good trading videos on YouTube. Jacks are cheap to keep. I think we had one vet visit to get her spayed at six months. Working tablets and fleas treatment every couple of months and a new bed every few months. Our dog is old now so we leave her indoors a lot but she was always outside when younger and never strayed actually rarely leaves the bed ðŸ˜„

quote="dartboardio;112906407"]Hi guys

We've been pondering over it for a few months now and finally decided to get a puppy.

He's a male jack Russell, he is 2 months old.

We are going to collect him today.

It'll be my first ever pet. We live in a 3 bedroom house with a large back garden and a small front garden.

Does anyone have tips on a first time dog owner? Tips on training a puppy?

[/quote]

dartboardio · 21-03-2020 11:57pm

Thanks for the advice and kind words lads!

Delighted with him so far. He's very curious and clever.

He was squealing for 5 mins when we first got him, due to new surroundings but he quickly calmed down. He's taken to us all very quickly and is now happy to run around after us throughout the house and sleep on our laps!!

First thing is toilet training..

I've been too slow to catch him pee yet and he seems to do it when I turn away lol

Any tips for toilet training very early on?

linpoo · 22-03-2020 12:04am

Hi, I've had a couple of dogs from puppy to old age.

For toilet training the puppy sheets worked great for me. Leave one by the back door, they seem to have a smell that encourages them to wee on them.

Bring puppy out the back regularly and everytime he does a wee out the back give loads of praise straight away. You can start moving the puppy sheet out the back once you see him only weeing on that.

Some advice.....puppies are mad for a good few months chewing everything, play fighting and then have a few wild months (think teenage years). These are to be expected but should settle down after around 8 months.

I've seen too many people get a puppy and expect it to slot straight in and they can't deal with it then chewing stuff and being hyper.

linpoo · 22-03-2020 12:06am

Oh and get worm and flea treatment asap. Most puppies have worms.

And feed small meals 3 times a day ad opposed to one big meal. They've a small belly like a baby.

22-03-2020 12:12am

2 months is too young. Leave it with mother another month. Then have fun. Training a pup is so rewarding

oleard1987 · 22-03-2020 12:13am

We have a 11 month old cockapoo and found that leaving someones tshirt in his bed at night time stopped the whining and after 1 night he had no problem sleeping down stairs
Make sure you dont walk the dog unless he has all his jabs as they pick up some nasty infections
Get the dog chipped aswell

DBB · 22-03-2020 12:31am

There is simply no better method for housetraining than the judicious and targeted use of a crate. The door of the crate essentially becomes the door to pup's bladder and bowels, which you have complete control over.
It is not intended to be a prison, not at all. Rather, it contains pup (along with his bladder and bowel) in an area at times that you may miss the signs that he needs to toilet.
You must, must, must bring him outside regularly. Like, every 30 mins, for now.
You must go outside with him.
You must have tasty treats with you.
Stay quiet and just wait outside with him. When he squats, coo gently at him that he's a good boy.
Then, the very moment he lifts out of the squat, it's party time! Hugely enthusiastic praise, treats, pets, and straight back inside.
Now that he's empty, you know he's safe to have relative freedom inside for 20-30 mins, before you bring him back out, and repeat.
But... what if you can't bring him out in 20-30 mins? You're about to have dinner, or you've to make a phone call, or whatever?
Then, it's into the crate with him, which should contain his bed and no more. Stay in the room with him. Do what you've gotta do, then when you're free, open up the crate and outside you go.
If he has accidents, and he will, don't get cross... it's not his fault... it's yours for not getting him out in time! Just clean up and resolve to be quicker the next time.
For the record, they're most likely to go after waking up, after eating, after a play session... with very young pups like yours, they also need to go a few times in between too!
They're quick... they soon learn to discriminate that going to toilet outside is much more rewarding than going inside, and do they start looking to go outside,usually by heading g towards the door, often throwing significant looks in your direction:D
Pups will tend not to toilet on their beds, therefore will not toilet in their crate.
But... the crate MUST not be abused. It's for short spells only. He may go in and out of it for snoozes, which is great. But do read up on the fineries of crate training so that you're sure you're using it well, and that you train him to be happy to use it.
From the link I posted above...
https://www.dogstardaily.com/training/puppys-first-week-home-8-9-weeks

dartboardio wrote: »

Thanks for the advice and kind words lads!

Delighted with him so far. He's very curious and clever.

He was squealing for 5 mins when we first got him, due to new surroundings but he quickly calmed down. He's taken to us all very quickly and is now happy to run around after us throughout the house and sleep on our laps!!

First thing is toilet training..

I've been too slow to catch him pee yet and he seems to do it when I turn away lol

Any tips for toilet training very early on?

dartboardio · 22-03-2020 2:38am

DBB wrote: »

There is simply no better method for housetraining than the judicious and targeted use of a crate. The door of the crate essentially becomes the door to pup's bladder and bowels, which you have complete control over.
It is not intended to be a prison, not at all. Rather, it contains pup (along with his bladder and bowel) in an area at times that you may miss the signs that he needs to toilet.
You must, must, must bring him outside regularly. Like, every 30 mins, for now.
You must go outside with him.
You must have tasty treats with you.
Stay quiet and just wait outside with him. When he squats, coo gently at him that he's a good boy.
Then, the very moment he lifts out of the squat, it's party time! Hugely enthusiastic praise, treats, pets, and straight back inside.
Now that he's empty, you know he's safe to have relative freedom inside for 20-30 mins, before you bring him back out, and repeat.
But... what if you can't bring him out in 20-30 mins? You're about to have dinner, or you've to make a phone call, or whatever?
Then, it's into the crate with him, which should contain his bed and no more. Stay in the room with him. Do what you've gotta do, then when you're free, open up the crate and outside you go.
If he has accidents, and he will, don't get cross... it's not his fault... it's yours for not getting him out in time! Just clean up and resolve to be quicker the next time.
For the record, they're most likely to go after waking up, after eating, after a play session... with very young pups like yours, they also need to go a few times in between too!
They're quick... they soon learn to discriminate that going to toilet outside is much more rewarding than going inside, and do they start looking to go outside,usually by heading g towards the door, often throwing significant looks in your direction:D
Pups will tend not to toilet on their beds, therefore will not toilet in their crate.
But... the crate MUST not be abused. It's for short spells only. He may go in and out of it for snoozes, which is great. But do read up on the fineries of crate training so that you're sure you're using it well, and that you train him to be happy to use it.
From the link I posted above...
https://www.dogstardaily.com/training/puppys-first-week-home-8-9-weeks

Thank you! I've seen some good vids on YouTube regarding the crate.

I think I'll practice the puppy pads by the door first then outside the door and see how that works!

Should I bring him outside after he eats and drinks? How long usually for such a young puppy? He was peeing maybe every 5-7 mins after drinking water this evening and maybe twenty mins after food so I suppose that'll be okay

volchitsa · 22-03-2020 9:24am

dartboardio wrote: »

Thank you! I've seen some good vids on YouTube regarding the crate.

I think I'll practice the puppy pads by the door first then outside the door and see how that works!

Should I bring him outside after he eats and drinks? How long usually for such a young puppy? He was peeing maybe every 5-7 mins after drinking water this evening and maybe twenty mins after food so I suppose that'll be okay

Congratulations on your new arrival, OP. I'm a recent "first family dog" person myself and got masses of invaluable advice on here. It's really like having a new baby in many ways, though that phase is over a whole lot quicker than a human baby.

Taking pup outside as often as possible worked really well for us. Confining occasionally whenever we couldn't watch her was enough. That said we have tiles on the floor and no small children, so cleaning up the accidental pees wasn't a problem. Occasional accidents up to nearly 6 months I think - but not frequent.

(We didn't allow her upstairs and she only ever tried once, she understood immediately that it was a no no. I can't really explain it myself, we didn't hit her or anything, just grabbed her and rushed her downstairs. She probably found the panic frightening I suppose, but then we do have carpets upstairs! Now she never tries, even when alone in the house.)

dartboardio · 22-03-2020 4:46pm

volchitsa wrote: »

Congratulations on your new arrival, OP. I'm a recent "first family dog" person myself and got masses of invaluable advice on here. It's really like having a new baby in many ways, though that phase is over a whole lot quicker than a human baby.

Taking pup outside as often as possible worked really well for us. Confining occasionally whenever we couldn't watch her was enough. That said we have tiles on the floor and no small children, so cleaning up the accidental pees wasn't a problem. Occasional accidents up to nearly 6 months I think - but not frequent.

(We didn't allow her upstairs and she only ever tried once, she understood immediately that it was a no no. I can't really explain it myself, we didn't hit her or anything, just grabbed her and rushed her downstairs. She probably found the panic frightening I suppose, but then we do have carpets upstairs! Now she never tries, even when alone in the house.)

thanks and congratulations to you too!

did you try toilet training her from the day you got her? or how long..

bought puppy pads today and keep missing when the pup goes toilet, have tried bringing him for a small walk in the garden on the leash to smell/get familar with outside too so far.

volchitsa · 22-03-2020 5:20pm

We started straightaway in the sense that we were always trying to get her not to pee inside! But we weren't expecting anything of her immediately.

Something I found handy the first few days/weeks, because I didn't want to stress her with putting her in the crate before she was ready, was that I bought a secondhand playpen, the wooden ones with no base, as cheap as I could find on Donedeal, and put her bed into that at night. That way she could get out of the bed and pee away from her bed (a few centimetres!) but when we got up we didn't have to search around to see where she had peed during the night!
I also used it occasionally during the day, as a crate really.

As she's quite a big dog, it wasn't long before she could jump over the side, but it did the business because meanwhile I'd been leaving her crate open and with food and toys inside so she never felt trapped by that. Just gave us some time to work on getting her to stay happily in her crate. Picking her up and setting her into the playpen felt a lot less traumatic than pushing her into the crate within a day or so of her coming to us.

volchitsa · 22-03-2020 5:21pm

Oh and something I didn't do, but know someone who did and now wish I had, is when you take her out on a leash to go to the toilet, pick one place for her to do her poos and take her there all the time. Makes picking up poos from the garden a heck of a lot easier in the years to come!!

(But it's important not to get annoyed when they get it wrong initially, it's almost like toilet training a baby, it really is!)

JustAThought · 22-03-2020 10:44pm

congratulations on your new little buddy & best friend for life!!! Its so exciting ( and exhausting!) to have a new dog in the house and getting it right (ish!) now will bring years of pleasure ahead!

Someone told me & it was good advice to chant whatever word you are going to use for toilet at your dog directly as it poos/pees - it then starts to associate this word with the activity and becomes easier to train. So for example your dog is pooing somewhere - hopefully in the garden - you chant (eg loo loo loo ) at it as it poos and it will figure out this is the ‘command’ for going to the toilet. If you combine this with whisking your puppy outside to
go to the loo IN the GARDEN as or before it tries to go to the loo you can get it into its head that loo is for the garden only. Your dog will often give off signals that it is about to go - maybe truning about a few times or going to hunch down - you have to keep a tight eye on it to learn the signs and be very fast!!! You wont really ( unless its Einstein) be able to train your dog to go on command but it will really help in your dog understanding that the activity is called something and there is a specific place to do it - the garden! Sometimes later you can ask the word and it will recognise it and if it needs to go it will take this as the Q to gallop to the back door which you can then open. Very hardy for cold nights when you dont want to leave the door open or in other peoples houses or cafes etc.

+ lots of love and pets and affection : )

at the early stages encouraging but not forcing it and having it have lots of positive experiences - usually meeting different types of people, hearing different sounds in a positive environment including an introduction to household noises in a positive way ( light pet, quick noise, encouragement, noise agin repeat) eg the toilet flushing, diswasher machine, hairdrier hover etc

If you go on Amazon there is a great book - one of those yellow dummie books - called training your puppy for dummies! Its easy and lighthearted and has lots of great techniques and advice for the new puppy owner - I’d really recommend it!

A most important thing (apart from love and kindness and patience and no hitting or habitual shouting) is that everyone knows the training rules and does the same training commands and techniques otherwise your pup can become confused and overwhelmed! So decide & then implement!!

I minded my neighbours 6 month old
dog and was horrified to discover that it did jot know its name, sit, or down commands. They are the most important basics and start them along with crate and toilet immediately! They are never too young to learn!! I would also say its important that the dogs name is not used or called as a command as the poor dog will not understand what you want when you call or shout its name - be precise in what you want the puppy to understand - Fido Come, Fido Sit, Fido Loo, Good dog Fido - all distinct commands and training !!!! Other good commands to start to train are ‘gentle’ when they gently take something, or (arguably) NO for when they are doing something random they shouldnt be like eating the couch or scaling the curtains or gnawing your foot!!!

Get that book its really great and east to use, I’d say stick to your guns and don’t let your puppy upstairs or in the bedrooms with you and lead train when in the house or garden if your puppy hasn’t had its second shots yet.

Also get Allianz pet insurance - now!! Don’t wait until it is sick or a few weeks - just get it!! You will never regret it.

Have the most wonderful time with your new pet and post us a photo!!!

dartboardio · 23-03-2020 3:13pm

Thanks guys

Some fantastic advice here!

Loving the 'say toilet' whenever he goes even if it is an accident, so he associates that word with the activity!

Brought him for his first walk out on the street today, proud of him he done really well and was flying around

Here's a pic!

Anyone advice regarding leaving puppy alone at night in his bed in living room? He was fine the first night, no crying, but last night he started crying, I brought him upstairs for a while then back down...

volchitsa · 24-03-2020 6:10pm

Oh he's so gorgeous! What a sweetie!!

About the crying at night, I put a hot water bottle under the bedding so that she could feel it like another dog there - need to be careful it can't burn and also that he can't wreck it out and play with it.

I've also heard that a clock that ticks works too, though we didn't try. TBF she hardly cried at all.

missmatty · 24-03-2020 6:18pm

Ours cried for 2.5 hours the second night, I had to be restrained from getting out of bed and going down to her. Not a bother since. We put t-shirts in the cage with her bedding and that seemed to really help with the comforting and self-soothing. She's 18 months now and takes herself off to bed without any prompting, lol.

Your puppy is gorgeous, good luck!

JustAThought · 24-03-2020 9:35pm

what a geoooooorgous fluffy little yoke! fab! It’d be very hard to hear him crying all
night and not go down. You could leave it a bit a see if he stops, and if not go down for a few
minutes to
comfort him and then scoot back upstairs to bed and repeat as necessary. Not great for good nights sleeping but might sooth both souls!

Cherry Blossom · 24-03-2020 11:41pm

Would you not consider having him in your room in a crate. Its a big shock to the system for a young pup to be suddenly left on his own. Any period of separation should be built up slowly to avoid developing separation anxiety. Start with the crate next to your bed and gradually move it toward the door.

Wizard! · 24-03-2020 11:48pm

dartboardio wrote: »

Hi guys

We've been pondering over it for a few months now and finally decided to get a puppy.

He's a male jack Russell, he is 2 months old.

We are going to collect him today.

It'll be my first ever pet. We live in a 3 bedroom house with a large back garden and a small front garden.

Does anyone have tips on a first time dog owner? Tips on training a puppy?

I am going to play the role of Devil's Advocate here...

You should do your research before getting a puppy.
JRT, are very difficult dogs to handle, moreover for a first time owner.
I have been owner of several dogs, now I have a JRT, trained from a professional and still it is difficult to live with. Does not go well with kids, and visitors. Very stubborn, requires a lot of attention and at least an hour gaming daily.

Best of luck.

JustAThought · 29-03-2020 7:41pm

How is it going with your new puppy OP?

Any more
pics to warm our corona chilled bored hearts!?

dartboardio · 31-03-2020 9:00pm

Hey guys, update:

For the first couple of nights he was sleeping, then crying for an hour or two and we brought him up to our bedroom, and the last few nights we've moved his new comfy bed into the living room instead of the kitchen, he sleeps all night now once we go to bed around 12! Not much crying at all/none..

He's definitely hard work, but lovely. He's quite well behaved and really brave and a verrry fast learner!

Kinda struggling with the puppy biting at the moment, our ankles/feet etc somedays worse than others, but it seems if we just say NO loudly and replace it with one of his toys, its generally ok, especially if he has had lots of exercise that day

Heres a photo! He's growing already

how do i get that to upload? lol

JustAThought · 01-04-2020 2:04am

dartboardio wrote: »

Hey guys, update:

For the first couple of nights he was sleeping, then crying for an hour or two and we brought him up to our bedroom, and the last few nights we've moved his new comfy bed into the living room instead of the kitchen, he sleeps all night now once we go to bed around 12! Not much crying at all/none..

He's definitely hard work, but lovely. He's quite well behaved and really brave and a verrry fast learner!

Kinda struggling with the puppy biting at the moment, our ankles/feet etc somedays worse than others, but it seems if we just say NO loudly and replace it with one of his toys, its generally ok, especially if he has had lots of exercise that day

Heres a photo! He's growing already

how do i get that to upload? lol

aaaaah -its there if you press the empty square -he’s a real little tyke -just georgous! Love his little harness! Good call on the toys instead of feet! You’ll have many happy years with him. : )

dartboardio · 21-05-2020 10:34pm

Just doing a quick update since I was scrolling through the animal and pets forum

Here's Alfie 2 months on! Growing by the day and loving his life so far

.

Never knew how much joy a little puppy could bring to your life honestly he brightens up every day!

FanadMan · 21-05-2020 10:37pm

dartboardio wrote: »

Just doing a quick update since I was scrolling through the animal and pets forum

Here's Alfie 2 months on! Growing by the day and loving his life so far .

Never knew how much joy a little puppy could bring to your life honestly he brightens up every day!

What a face!!

Taiga · 22-05-2020 4:06pm

Ah he's some dote, delighted for you!

Tips for first ever puppy??

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