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5 week old puppies.. some questions..

8K views 9 replies 4 participants last post by  Squirrelflight 
#1 · (Edited)
Okay.. basically at 3 weeks when they were able to pee on thier own and mom was nudging to the front of the crate for potties I put a pee pad in there. Now they are in a puppy play area of about 5x5. I have a box in the corner for sleeping and the bedding is changed 3x a day. When they come out of the box they step right onto a crib pad with 2 pee pads on it so large potty area. Pee pads are changed with the most used one getting replaced and the less used one moving to the closer to the bed area that is most used. (potty area smells like potty and bedding smells like clean bedding is the theme here)

So far I am very pleased with this. They do use the pee pads. Not always, and its 'literally' hit or miss sometimes.. LOL But I have seen pups leave playing to go to the pads and the pads are used daily. If they wake they will go pee and then go back to the sleeping.

Question.. at this point i have been ignoring their pottying.. as in I do not comment on pee in the floor and I do not praise or anything if they pee on the pad. No obviously you would not scold a puppy for accidents and certainly not at an age where most dont even think you can housetrain them yet.. LOl But I'm wondering if I should be praising the pee pad use and if so at what age do I start that?? I havent been bc I dont feel like I'm really 'training' I'm just making things available for their natural instincts to stay in place. And I'm not sure I'd accomplish anything but distract them..

At what age do they understand praise for an accomplishment or behavior? At 5 weeks I am just pleasant and low key and happy with them all the time as the only goal I have right now is to let them see that while sure mom and littermates are awesome but us peeps in the house are pretty cool too! KWIM? Each puppy has been given individual time since 3 weeks of age and I spend a lot of time in the puppy area and the kitchen is puppy proofed so they get time in there everyday for a 'new area' explore as well now.

I am in touch with a chi breeder by phone and email that is out of state and a friend who has bred poms for years but I find the advice on some of things is just not helpful as their goal is to have well socialized pups that leave. I am trying to lay the foundation for 3 pups I can live with. lol And just to note I dont expect them to be 'house broken' at some crazy age .. I just want it to easy because they got a good start. My older two chis are pee pad trained and go outside. I have 2 pee pads in the house at all times so pee pad training is not something I will need to 'untrain' them of later either.
 
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#2 · (Edited)
Praise is probably pretty useless. (we all speak so encouragingly to puppies all the time, so they won't necessarily think its about something they just did, particularly something as mundane as peeing.)

If you really want to "reinforce" their patterns, give them a tiny treat the instant they finish their tinkle on the pad.

Sounds like you are doing an awesome job with the little puppies!
 
#3 · (Edited)
I agree that praise is probably useless if there is a litter of them. If they had only you, it might matter more, but I find puppies tend to care very little about humans when other dogs areNt around..

I've trained 4 now, 5 week or so old puppies, and they train very easy and fast, just like an older dog. I had them staying, spinning and shaking paws at like 6 weeks old.



 
#4 ·
I agree that praise is probably useless if there is a litter of them. If they had only you, it might matter more, but I find puppies tend to care very little about humans when other dogs are around..

I've trained 4 now, 5 week or so old puppies, and they train very easy and fast, just like an older dog. I had them staying, spinning and shaking paws at like 6 weeks old.
omg! Really!! I had no idea that could possibly be trainable at this age!! That is just fascinating! :eek: I agree that you have to get them one on one. Anytime I see 2 sleeping and 1 awake I grab that one for some solo playtime. And I set aside about 30min for each pup one on one in the afternoons for one on one time. I didnt realize I could be training them though. Cool beans!

I figure dogs are like people in that when their brains are in the super speed development phase the more stimulation in a safe setting the better. So I expose them to different areas of the house, on the porch in their crate, or taking one to the mailbox etc, and we have a big box of toys and the toys in the puppy area change every day. I'll play with this some this week. Will be fun.
 
#5 ·
Oh yes. Start training now (preferably clicker/marker). Its def impressive to people when an tiny puppy knows many tricks

Theres many vids on yt of people training really young puppies. Som' service dog agencies start before the eyes even open ;) :)
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#6 ·
That's just incredible! I love training.. it's actually mine and my older two favorite activity.. they love training and its really the basis of my relationship with them so I'm totally jazzed now! LOL I'll have to check out some videos!

and let me ask you another question.. discipline for this age.. I'm not a fan of really much correction/discipline for young pups but I do have one issue that i need to tackle from the start.

My girl is a diabetic and has an insulin pump. The pump has a line of tubing that is at her waist. The pups are starting to mess with a bit. I've told her to keep it covered by her shirt, etc. But I've also told her that if a puppy sniffs or puts their mouth on it or anything at all to sharply say NO and move the puppy about a foot away from her.

Does that sound reasonable to you? I dont want to scare them or hurt their relationship with Jordan but if they bite through the line they will get a mouthful of insulin and at their size they could certainly get low blood sugar or their bodies could produce a surge in glucogon and give them high blood sugar. Either way, it could be dangerous for the pups. Insulin is less effective when swallowed but it does still have some efficacy. Smells and tastes horrible so not something they would 'want' but the line is very attractive to puppies and have 3 of them and a lot of 'chewy' time ahead of us.
 
#7 · (Edited)
My girl is a diabetic and has an insulin pump. The pump has a line of tubing that is at her waist. The pups are starting to mess with a bit. I've told her to keep it covered by her shirt, etc. But I've also told her that if a puppy sniffs or puts their mouth on it or anything at all to sharply say NO and move the puppy about a foot away from her.
I would not handle it that way. I would instead handle it like in the video below, just motify it to be a tube, not a hand. You do not want to be in the mindset that you need to "disipline" or correct puppies, teach them instead what you do want. It will work out much better for you. If you punish them for chewing on the tube, they will either, become afraid of you, keep doing it because they think its a game, or just do it when your not looking. Punishment is full of many flaws.

Reward what you DO want.



heres my personal example. I wanted them to stay out of the kitchen, so rather than punishing them for being in the kitchen, I reward them for staying OUt of the kitchen. Human instinct is to punish punish no no punish etc, but it just doesn't work as well as promoting correct behavior.





Make sense? :)



 
#8 · (Edited)
Perfect! Thank you! I'll have my girl watch the video every afternoon when she gets home this week to drill it in her mind as well. Didnt want to go about this the wrong way but do feel it is important that they learn from the start that the pump line is simply off limits to doggies! :) I also have an old line from this morning so I can work with them on this without my girl around / without it being attached. Just the line they cant play with.. Thanks again!!
 
#10 ·
:) Hopefully that will do it. So far so good. They use the pads most of the time or are very close to it.
 
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