A few puppy questions

[Angel Puppy]

Hi again!

I have a few questions about my puppy... sorry if I am asking silly or too many questions, but I really need your help.

1- We are crate training her (as she's almost 3 months and we've had her for less than a week) and we have been experiencing a heat wave...she doesnt like sleeping in her crate anymore, she rather sleep next to it, on the floor as it's cooler for her. The problem with this is that we are afraid that leaving her can be dangerous for her, as if she wakes up she can come accross objects that can harm her, but at the same time we do not want to traumatize her...what should we do?

2- Does a puppy this age even understand the "no" command? She still has her baby teeth and no matter what we do, she keeps on biting, and it's starting to really hurt...I have read the posts on teething...and I have tried applying a few things, but it seems that she doesnt even get it...I know I'm expecting too much too soon, but I'm scared that if we dont regulate this now, as a family, she will grow up to be a biting dog.

3- Should we expose her to things she fears? She's scared of alot of things, especially loud noises and being outside on our balcony ( we cant walk her yet as she doesnt have all her shots yet)....

4- Sometimes she sleeps with her eyes half open and her tongue a little out...I know this sounds silly, but it worries me...is she sleeping, relaxing, or is something wrong with her? She also shakes sometimes...someone told me it could be hiccups...but I'm paranoid..

5-Can someone give me a general tip in understanding what she is feeling? I am not use to having a dog...I love her so much, and I want her to feel safe with us...again, sorry for the corny questions...

Thank you all in advance,

AP

[Kade]

I'm probably the last person to give you advice, as I'm wading through the mysteries of my 8-week-old puppy at the moment, but my suggestion for question #1 is to get an ex-pen. The ones I've seen are 16 feet long (and fold into various shapes) and come in various heights. We find that it's a great way to give the puppy some space while confining him. He can see us, so he's able to calm down and relax, but he's also learning that he doesn't get to be in our laps every moment. (And he doesn't associate the pen with his crate -- if he tries whining, he'll whine at the edge of the pen and then give up and go into his crate for a nap.)

In fact, just this morning I bought another one, because we're ready to give him some more freedom around the house. So now I have one forming a bubble of space in the kitchen (I'm excited to see if he'll start going to the back door when he wants to be let out) and an adjoining pen forming a bubble into the dining room, where his crate is. When we want quieter play, I sit in the pen with him and switch out chew toys.

[Barrett]

Leaving her free in the house is dangerous. You could put a fan right in front of her kennel with a frozen jug of water in front of the fan. The frozen jug will cool the air that goes into the kennel. If she is crying when you put her in the kennel don't worry. This is absolutely normal for puppies. She will get used to it and as soon as she is potty trained and stops chewing on things you won't have to do it anymore. It's just part of puppy training.

She is definetly old enough to understand no. Teaching her to stop mouthing on you takes a few months sometimes. Pick one training method and stick with it for a while. I used the yipe and ignore method. It took a good month for my pups to stop biting but when the get excited they forget themselves and still nip. Your pup will stop if you stay consistent. Makes sure everyone in the house does the same thing. One problem I had with my first puppy is I would be consistent and tell her NO everytime she nipped but I found out my husband would play rough with her and let her chew all over him when I was gone. This definetly made it take longer for the biting to stop. Mouthing is something EVERY puppy does too.

You should expose her to things that might be frightening to her but do it slowly. Let her see you pretend to vacuum without turning it on, then vacuum in another room so she can hear it. Let her go up to it on her own when it is running. If she runs away or acts scared don't coddle her like a baby. Tell her in a normal voice that it's ok. If you pick her up and baby her and coo to her she will think she had a reason to be afraid. Let her be curious and praise her when she goes up the the vaccuum or what ever is scaring her. You can even give her a treat if she goes to something that scared her the day before.

As for shaking, this is pretty normal for little dogs too. As she grows up and gets used to everything that goes on in your house she will stop. She needs TONS of socialization. Type "puppy socialization" into your search engine and read all about it. You might want to buy a few books to read since you are very new to puppy raising. Take her everywhere with you right now. You can carry her so she isn't touching the ground if she hasn't had her shots yet. She needs to get out of the house and see the world right away. I can't stress enough how important it is to get her out to see the world around her. Look into puppy kindergarten classes too. They are a great way to help you learn how to obedience train her and she gets great socialization too. She will be around other puppies and strangers, learn to listen to you with distractions...there are tons of benefits of training classes.

Hiccups are very normal for puppies too. Every puppies get them and I think they are cute. They will go away on their own and you don't have to make her drink water for them to go away.

Let her walk around on her own a lot, as long as you are keeping an eye on her. If you hold her and carry her all the time she will not be independent. She should be curious and explore and play by herself with you watching her.

[Angel Puppy]

Thank you both very very very much!
These are great tips... I work part time at a bookstore and I will be getting a puppies for dummies book very soon...

Kade- Where do they sell these ex-pens?

Barrett-

again thanks so much... we do tend to hold her or pet her everytime she is fearful...I guess it's time to stop that...and my mother was considering going to training with her, which I will encourage her to do

[Kymcole25]

Barret gave you some excellent advice, so I am just going to add one thing puppies are always a little nippy when they are teething, you can try diffrent things but that dosen't always work, you can try watering down her food if she won't eat great, and give her hard toys to chew on. It depends on the mood the puppy is in, we had no problem with Lacee and teething, she loved her baby teether. It was a totaly diffrent story with her brother, Liam, he had a hard time eating and wanted to chew on everything possible, but after a few days he was over it.


Hope it helps!

[Barrett]

When you look for a training class, check them out and attend a class or two before you commit and pay for it. Make sure the class is taught using positive reinforcement. Books are the best! Buy as many as you can and read up on everything. The internet is a huge source of info too. Any question you have can be typed in to Google and you will find tons of answers. ( We love to answer them too though so don't forget about us! We have the hands on experience for you! LOL)
The easiest way to teach your dog to not be afraid of everything is to treat her like she is a great dane or german shepard. Forget that she is so tiny and cute and loveable and squeezable...etc ( I know she has to be the sweetest little thing in the world ...) and think of her as a dog that shouldn't be afraid of anything. Tell her she is silly for jumping when the door closes too hard or when the vacuum is running. Your little angel will be just fine.

[Kade]

Originally Posted by Angel Puppy

Kade- Where do they sell these ex-pens?

I've found them at various pet stores ($50 for 18" high and $80 for 24" high). If your breed is small enough, you can also look for baby pens at kids' consignment stores.

[Kymcole25]

You can get them at petedge too! They are a lot cheaper there, compared to petsmart or petco.


petedge.com

[Fuzz Puppy]

For question #1, I'd concider an ex-pen as she can't get hurt and she isn't going to be in a crate either.

For question #3, I think it depends on her. Take it slow and don't put to much pressure on her.

Question #4, I don't think anything's wrong with her. If you're worried about it, I'd keep an eye on her and if it gets worse, I'd taslk to your vet.

[scarlett]

Pet Edge for sure!

[Angel Puppy]

Plkease keep on posting if any ideas come to mind...I had surgery last night, and I wont be able to type much, but I do read what is being posted...

I miss my little Angel as she is over at my cousin's house due to the fact that I need to recover and since she needs alot of care, we decided to have her take care of her...apparently she loves it there, which is a surprise, as I thought she would be anxious with strangers...


As for the stores mentionned, does anyone know if they exist in canada???

Thanks again!

[flyndog]

PetEdge is online at petedge.com

[My_Baby_Loves_Me]

Angel Puppy,

I'm a member on another from out of Aust. and someone from there posted about a great site that has Video clips of training a new puppy or dog. Check it out it's very informing and I'm going to be trying this out with my dog and foster dog ( taking care of a relatives dogs cause she's unable to keep it at her place anymore because of bad habits ).

Here's the web site with training video clips........http://www.nerdbook.com/sophia/movies.html

check them all out there like I said very informative.

[Angel Puppy]

My_Baby_Loves_Me

Thanks so much for the website...today will be Angel's first time at the vet...after that I will start applying some of what I learned from the website...very informative indeed.