annointed620
New member
Hi everyone! Anyone who has the chance/time to read through this, I would GREATLY appreciate any help or advice you have on any of the issues I am trying to solve with the new pup.
My fiancé and I are the proud parents of a 2mo mini bernedoodle we got over the weekend and we are LOVING this little guy to death. We want to raise the dog to be social and obedient, but don't want to enable bad behavior by consistent praise, or wrongful scolding when the dog doesn't know what he is doing. Neither of us have ever owned or been around a dog THIS young, so this is a totally new experience for both of us.
Neither of us believe in physical punishment as we have heard this typically causes more harm than good and creates a barrier of trust with the dog. We have tried to encourage the little one to make choices he wants to make and reward him by giving him treats when he participates in "good" behavior (or what is acceptable behavior to us such as going potty outside). That being said, we are having some early set issues that we would love to have some experienced advice on. Please keep in mind with any of these issues that we have only had the dog for 2 nights with today being the 3rd full day.
I will add that he does not seem to very food motivated, as we have tried to give him several treats that he either ignores or nibbles on and then just drops out of his mouth.
1) The puppy whines. This is to be expected with pups being separated from their mother and siblings, but the whining doesn't seem to be a lonely thing, rather a "need" thing. I will play with him for a bit, take him out, give him food, but sometimes after all of this he will sit and whine. I have read several places to ignore most of the whining because the dog will learn to throw little fits when it isn't getting what it wants from you, but it is SO hard to ignore the little guy... should we ignore this behavior or take a different approach?
2) He hides under the table and bed. Several times more recently than the first day, the dog will wander the house and end up sitting under the table or bed. We call his name and sit down and encourage him to come out, but he acts very shy. He will come out and then sort of jog away from us when we are trying to get him to come outside or play with us. It could just be anxiety with a new environment and go away within a week or so, but we want to make sure we are handling this right. Should we leave him be, be patient for him to come out when he is ready, or try to remove him from these spaces with a stern "no?"
3) He doesn't respond well to the leash. I want to train him to be comfortable being on the leash and see it as a form of reward to go out and potty or go for a walk, but every time I leash him up, he yanks backward and bites at the leash. I picked him up this morning on the leash and carried him out to go potty, but he just sat down and started chewing on the leash... should I let him learn to be comfortable with it, biting the leash and all? or should I try to refrain from letting him bite the leash and use other methods to get him comfortable with the leash?
4) When I take him out, he doesn't want to go to the bathroom, just run around and eat grass. I have heard animals will nibble on grass when their stomachs are upset, but I am not sure if this is a myth and should encourage my dog to NOT nibble at the grass. I keep a close eye when he is doing this to make sure he isn't getting into something dangerous on the ground, but grass could be dangerous, and I just don't know. I also don't know how to encourage potty time outside because he just looks at the yard as a play space. I read on a dog site that leash training helps create a limited space for the dog to run around and they will get bored and likely use lawn for their potty break, but as I said before, he yanks at the leash, bites it, and then just eats grass. Suggestions please!
5) He LOVES to play with hands. He is still in that teething stage, so I am sure his little gums are sore and chasing after little fingers is fun and fills that sensation of being able to give little bites to something. I don't want to start a bad habit of the dog growing up and continuously seeing hands as a toy or playing object. Should I replace hand play with a toy? or is this something the puppy will grow out of as it ages?
6) He barks at our cat when they are playing. My fiancé and I make sure we monitor their playtime so nothing is violent or unsafe. Our cat is still in its first year, most definitely still a kitten, and we would like them to have time together so they can grow to be playful friends. I have read on several pages that bernedoodles typically are not barkers unless the owners are training them to be guard dogs (we are not). I just don't know if this behavior only comes out when he is playing around with another species, or if we don't try to find corrective solutions, if the dog will start barking like crazy. Any thoughts at all? this is much more niche than most of the other issues.
7) Air vent poop stomping. Yep, you read that right. Accidents are inevitable, sure. I understand that puppies, and dogs in general as they age, typically don't understand scolding or corrective action with going potty inside unless you catch them in the act, or within the first few seconds of the aftermath. That being said, our little pooch has found the ideal spot for number 2 to be on our air vents, which then falls into the ducts and becomes a terrible mess to clean. I had to remove and hose off a vent at 3am last night because he prefers that over solid ground, or even the grass for that matter! We are trying to avoid using puppy pads because we heard that it enforces the idea that potty inside is okay, which we would rather avoid if we can. I am going to try to start setting an alarm at this time each night and adjusting it by 5-10 minutes each night till its bathroom schedule is with our sleep schedule, but I didn't know if there was a way, we could maybe get him to go somewhere other than the vent if he absolutely has to go, haha!
8) Puppy yips when I catch it going potty inside. This sort of goes with the previous. I took him outside after I cleaned up the mess last night. He didn't go to the bathroom, so I ran around with him a bit to try to get some of his energy out. I stood in place for a few minutes to try to let him go potty, but it was more frolicking and grass eating. We came inside and as I was going to put the vent back; I turn around to the puppy dropping a fresh one. I ran up to the dog and went to pick him up to go outside so he could finish his business, but he yipped in fear at me as I reached for him. I ended up getting ahold of him and bringing him outside, but I didn't like inflicting that unnecessary fear on the little fella. Is there a better method to correcting this, or will the dog just learn with more times of corrective action?
9) Where should I let the dog sleep? The first night we had him, we put him in our bathroom and removed any objects from the floor. He was really quiet and did great. Last night, we put him in our room. NOT in the bed, just set his little bed up on the floor. He had a few whines and then stopped. He didn't sleep in his bed, rather on the floor next to our bed. I think he may find comfort in this if the previous owners just had him sleeping on a crate floor or something, we got him from an Amish breeder so I am not sure what is usual for these situations. We are strongly thinking of crate training and have read up on learning to use the crate as a reward and never as a punishment so the dog looks at this area as a safe space. I just don't know there is a method that is the gold standard on where to let the dog sleep. We live in a cod style house. It is me, my fiancé, and our little kitty Goob (and the new member being Benji of course, our air vent poop stomping mini bernedoodle). Cod style being a finished attic, our main bedroom, a second large bedroom, dining/living/kitchen in main area, and then an unfinished basement that is painted and actually looks nice (we may finish this in the future). Should we go the route of crate training? are there pros or cons? and if we do should we keep the crate in our bedroom or in a totally separate space? Should we ditch the idea of a crate and set up a good sleeping space for it in the bedroom or away from us, so it is not protective of our room space?
Me and the lady are very easy-going people. We are slow to anger and don't believe in angerly correcting a dog. At the end of the day, they are animals with instincts, and it takes time to domesticate. We just want to make sure we are doing everything the RIGHT way to achieve the behavior we want out of our dog, whether that starts today, or in a week, or a year, or if it is a lifetime of constant training and discipline. We want the dog to have the best life ever, and we want to have our best life with our new partner in crime. We just want to start good behavior as soon as we can, so we don't have bigger issues down the road.
Any advice is greatly greatly appreciated.
My fiancé and I are the proud parents of a 2mo mini bernedoodle we got over the weekend and we are LOVING this little guy to death. We want to raise the dog to be social and obedient, but don't want to enable bad behavior by consistent praise, or wrongful scolding when the dog doesn't know what he is doing. Neither of us have ever owned or been around a dog THIS young, so this is a totally new experience for both of us.
Neither of us believe in physical punishment as we have heard this typically causes more harm than good and creates a barrier of trust with the dog. We have tried to encourage the little one to make choices he wants to make and reward him by giving him treats when he participates in "good" behavior (or what is acceptable behavior to us such as going potty outside). That being said, we are having some early set issues that we would love to have some experienced advice on. Please keep in mind with any of these issues that we have only had the dog for 2 nights with today being the 3rd full day.
I will add that he does not seem to very food motivated, as we have tried to give him several treats that he either ignores or nibbles on and then just drops out of his mouth.
1) The puppy whines. This is to be expected with pups being separated from their mother and siblings, but the whining doesn't seem to be a lonely thing, rather a "need" thing. I will play with him for a bit, take him out, give him food, but sometimes after all of this he will sit and whine. I have read several places to ignore most of the whining because the dog will learn to throw little fits when it isn't getting what it wants from you, but it is SO hard to ignore the little guy... should we ignore this behavior or take a different approach?
2) He hides under the table and bed. Several times more recently than the first day, the dog will wander the house and end up sitting under the table or bed. We call his name and sit down and encourage him to come out, but he acts very shy. He will come out and then sort of jog away from us when we are trying to get him to come outside or play with us. It could just be anxiety with a new environment and go away within a week or so, but we want to make sure we are handling this right. Should we leave him be, be patient for him to come out when he is ready, or try to remove him from these spaces with a stern "no?"
3) He doesn't respond well to the leash. I want to train him to be comfortable being on the leash and see it as a form of reward to go out and potty or go for a walk, but every time I leash him up, he yanks backward and bites at the leash. I picked him up this morning on the leash and carried him out to go potty, but he just sat down and started chewing on the leash... should I let him learn to be comfortable with it, biting the leash and all? or should I try to refrain from letting him bite the leash and use other methods to get him comfortable with the leash?
4) When I take him out, he doesn't want to go to the bathroom, just run around and eat grass. I have heard animals will nibble on grass when their stomachs are upset, but I am not sure if this is a myth and should encourage my dog to NOT nibble at the grass. I keep a close eye when he is doing this to make sure he isn't getting into something dangerous on the ground, but grass could be dangerous, and I just don't know. I also don't know how to encourage potty time outside because he just looks at the yard as a play space. I read on a dog site that leash training helps create a limited space for the dog to run around and they will get bored and likely use lawn for their potty break, but as I said before, he yanks at the leash, bites it, and then just eats grass. Suggestions please!
5) He LOVES to play with hands. He is still in that teething stage, so I am sure his little gums are sore and chasing after little fingers is fun and fills that sensation of being able to give little bites to something. I don't want to start a bad habit of the dog growing up and continuously seeing hands as a toy or playing object. Should I replace hand play with a toy? or is this something the puppy will grow out of as it ages?
6) He barks at our cat when they are playing. My fiancé and I make sure we monitor their playtime so nothing is violent or unsafe. Our cat is still in its first year, most definitely still a kitten, and we would like them to have time together so they can grow to be playful friends. I have read on several pages that bernedoodles typically are not barkers unless the owners are training them to be guard dogs (we are not). I just don't know if this behavior only comes out when he is playing around with another species, or if we don't try to find corrective solutions, if the dog will start barking like crazy. Any thoughts at all? this is much more niche than most of the other issues.
7) Air vent poop stomping. Yep, you read that right. Accidents are inevitable, sure. I understand that puppies, and dogs in general as they age, typically don't understand scolding or corrective action with going potty inside unless you catch them in the act, or within the first few seconds of the aftermath. That being said, our little pooch has found the ideal spot for number 2 to be on our air vents, which then falls into the ducts and becomes a terrible mess to clean. I had to remove and hose off a vent at 3am last night because he prefers that over solid ground, or even the grass for that matter! We are trying to avoid using puppy pads because we heard that it enforces the idea that potty inside is okay, which we would rather avoid if we can. I am going to try to start setting an alarm at this time each night and adjusting it by 5-10 minutes each night till its bathroom schedule is with our sleep schedule, but I didn't know if there was a way, we could maybe get him to go somewhere other than the vent if he absolutely has to go, haha!
8) Puppy yips when I catch it going potty inside. This sort of goes with the previous. I took him outside after I cleaned up the mess last night. He didn't go to the bathroom, so I ran around with him a bit to try to get some of his energy out. I stood in place for a few minutes to try to let him go potty, but it was more frolicking and grass eating. We came inside and as I was going to put the vent back; I turn around to the puppy dropping a fresh one. I ran up to the dog and went to pick him up to go outside so he could finish his business, but he yipped in fear at me as I reached for him. I ended up getting ahold of him and bringing him outside, but I didn't like inflicting that unnecessary fear on the little fella. Is there a better method to correcting this, or will the dog just learn with more times of corrective action?
9) Where should I let the dog sleep? The first night we had him, we put him in our bathroom and removed any objects from the floor. He was really quiet and did great. Last night, we put him in our room. NOT in the bed, just set his little bed up on the floor. He had a few whines and then stopped. He didn't sleep in his bed, rather on the floor next to our bed. I think he may find comfort in this if the previous owners just had him sleeping on a crate floor or something, we got him from an Amish breeder so I am not sure what is usual for these situations. We are strongly thinking of crate training and have read up on learning to use the crate as a reward and never as a punishment so the dog looks at this area as a safe space. I just don't know there is a method that is the gold standard on where to let the dog sleep. We live in a cod style house. It is me, my fiancé, and our little kitty Goob (and the new member being Benji of course, our air vent poop stomping mini bernedoodle). Cod style being a finished attic, our main bedroom, a second large bedroom, dining/living/kitchen in main area, and then an unfinished basement that is painted and actually looks nice (we may finish this in the future). Should we go the route of crate training? are there pros or cons? and if we do should we keep the crate in our bedroom or in a totally separate space? Should we ditch the idea of a crate and set up a good sleeping space for it in the bedroom or away from us, so it is not protective of our room space?
Me and the lady are very easy-going people. We are slow to anger and don't believe in angerly correcting a dog. At the end of the day, they are animals with instincts, and it takes time to domesticate. We just want to make sure we are doing everything the RIGHT way to achieve the behavior we want out of our dog, whether that starts today, or in a week, or a year, or if it is a lifetime of constant training and discipline. We want the dog to have the best life ever, and we want to have our best life with our new partner in crime. We just want to start good behavior as soon as we can, so we don't have bigger issues down the road.
Any advice is greatly greatly appreciated.
I would recommend looking into puppy training classes as well, or hiring a trainer.