1) I would close the cage door and keep her inside. Keeps her safe more than anything when you are not watching. You don't want her to have any pee/poo accidents or choke on something.

2) Whines may be a few things. If she is young, she will need to go pee/poo more often. Watch her behavior and train her pee/poo times. You need to time it so you get up in the middle of the night to take her to the correct pee/poo place to prevent her from doing it in her cage. Her instinct is not to soil her sleep area but if you give it no choice then she's gonna go inside her cage. This sets back your pee/poo training in the correct place.

If you are already keeping a schedule and she's doing beautifully by not peeing/poopooing in her cage then you are doing a wonderful job. Increase the time in between taking her to the correct spot as she grows older.

If she still whines after doing her business, you need to ignore her. If you go to her and give attention when she whines (not as a signal to pee/poo) then you are reinforcing this behavior. Not good. Ignore her. She may whine, barks and make a lot of noise. Ignore it.

3) I definitely say outside the cage. Who wants to sleep in a dirty smelly soil cage even if it is in a corner assuming your cage is big. That brings up something else. When your puppy is young, use a cage that is appropriate for her size meaning just enough for her to turn and lie down. A bigger cage can set back proper pee/poo training when she goes outside of your schedule. Not good.

If possible, I say outside the house if you have a yard. Even in a corner, I find that the smell will disperse around your room/apt/house. To me that is not so good. My dog does all her business outside on schedule.

4) If you decide to always take her out and you do your activites in your room including playing with her, she will learn to respect your area as well. That means she can learn not to pee/poo in the room too. However, if you have choosen a corner then by all means train her to go in that corner. She will do it. I guess what I mean to say is, it is up to you. You can make the room your/her personal space too or not. If you do, then she will most likely learn not to go in the room as well.

5) Puppies sleep more often. Your dog will learn your sleeping time too. Back to the whining part earlier. If you don't give it attention, she going to sleep. If you keep a set feeding schedule, she should not be hungry. I recommend feeding at least twice a day and not once a day. Do it say once in the morning 7am or earlier (if you have to leave for the day for school/work) and feed once again in the evening like 6pm or later after you come back. No need to feed in the middle of the night. That's bad... keep the same schedule and your dog will learn. No need to be like you... you know... hungry go mamak... no need.


RB

This post has been edited by RedBox: Apr 6 2007, 10:03 PM

You are not reading what I posted properly. You need to keep a schedule too. Sorry to say you will have to get up in the middle of the night to take her to the correct spot. Say 12am, 3am, 6am... when she grows older or when you feel that she can hold it in longer, do it say 12am 4am, 8am... Increase appropriately. Clear?


RB

1) Unless you have her trained on the correct spot to pee/poo, I would not recommend leaving the dog alone in the room. It's too easy for her to make a mistake. You are only setting your dog up to fail if you leave her alone during the young untrained stage. It is hard to correct once she has pee/poo in the wrong spot. The best correction is when you catch her in the act! You immediately make a loud noise like 'NO!' to distract her and then bring her to the correct spot immediately. If she goes then, shower her with praises and treats. There is no point in correcting after the fact because she will not understand what she did wrong (you are going to hear this a lot... rub her face in the pee/poo... she will learn. WRONG! Don't do it.)

Do not leave toys with her when she is unsupervised. Treat all toys are harmful. I am sure you do not want her to choke to death when you are not around no matter how big the toy is.

2) I find that clapping does not work effectively for me. This goes for a puppy that is not easily distracted. The more you clap, the more you make a noise, it is seen as reinforcing the whining behavior to the puppy. I say ignore it. When no one gives attention, she will be quiet soon.

3) He means like what I have posted. You keep a schedule to take your dog to the correct spot to pee/poo. It can be every 4 hours, can be every 2 hours, it all depends on how old your dog is and if she can hold it in that long. If not shorten the time.

You can alternate between taking her to the newspaper in her room or in the living room. She will learn very quickly.

Should not be a problem if you don't see any change in eating, playing or her regular behavior. Did she eat something that might have caused the change in color? For example, after I feed Greenies to my dog, her poo will come out greenish.


RB

Your dog should be fine based on what you just told us.


RB

We are giving the 2-4 hrs as example. Every dog is different. You need to adjust based on your dog behavior. Most dogs however, will want to eliminate not long after eating/drinking/playing.

So again as an example, you can:

1) 6:00pm - feed (food/water)
2) 6:15pm - take dog to correct spot (give the command you want the dog to learn to eliminate like 'go potty'). Wait with her for about 5 - 10 mins.
3) 8:00pm - take dog to correct spot (give the command you want the dog to learn to eliminate like 'go potty').Wait with her for about 5 - 10 mins.
4) etc
5) etc

As I said. Increase the time between each pee/poo training. However, sometimes your dog may need to eliminate between the set time. Watch for sniffing, circling a spot, whining. If so, take her to the correct spot. At this stage you want to let her know 'the' spot. The schedule is to help you prevent elimination accidents because sometimes your dog may not show any signs and will want to go immediately.


RB

When you say 2nd time, do you mean it has been the 2nd time in a short period like a few hours? How is her behavior? It could be she just ate something wrong. Mine did vomit after she ate her own hair! But she was fine after that.

You should keep an eye and see if there is a change in her normal behavior. If so, I would suggest visiting a vet.


RB

Thought you were asking about a cat at first. How old is your puppy? Puppies should outgrow this behavior.

Does your dog also pee when she sees you like when you come home and such?


RB

They send your dog to Mars for the Martian to zap before sending it back to you. Once you have her back, she will be marked for life with a personal identification tag in her body.


RB

Haha... sorry. I just phrased it lightly. They inject a microchip into the back of your dog that will have your information. If you ever lose your dog and found by some kind soul that can take it to a vet to be scanned, then they can probably find you and return your dog to you.


RB

Well I don't know about doing it your self but you can take it to a place that does it. I don't know how much it will cost. I have not got mine done yet.


RB

Sounds like a regular potty training problem. Try this. Don't leave him unsupervise in the play area for now. If you have to do something, put him in his cage. This might be a good time to train him to go in his cage as well. Give a command you want to use for your dog to go in his cage (home). I use 'IN' and point to the cage.

Anyway, back to the potty problem. Use a cage that is just big enough for him to lie down and turn comfortably. Too big a cage will allow him to pee in a corner away from his main area. Follow your current schedule to take him potty at the correct spot. It may take a while if you are not used to keeping him in the cage. He needs to 'make' the cage his home. Praise and give treats after you put him in the cage.

By doing this, you are not allowing him to run a big area with plenty of potty places while unsupervise. This also allow you to always get him to the correct spot. He will learn.


RB

Should just be regular shedding. Most dogs shed their hair. You need to buy a few good grooming desheding/slicker brush and start using it.


RB

It is kinda young. Only 4 weeks. Should still be in the litter. But you probably don't have a choice now since you already bought it. Normal for a puppy to sleep especially if you have just taken it home. New environment for him are stressful as well. Just let him sleep.


RB

For a young puppy, it may be hard for her to hold it in and she may pee poo in the cage. For typical adult dogs, I believe most can hold it for more than 8 hours.

My schedule is such -

Wake up 6:50am, take dog out to pee. After that, prepare food for her. While she eats, I get ready to leave for work. Before I leave, I take her out one more time to pee and she usually poop as well on the second time. I leave her in the house uncaged.

Lunch time, I make my way back home and always get a happy welcome home from her as her tails go bump bump bump as she wags furiously hitting walls, furniture, doors. Take her out to pee and poo. Play with her for a while then eat lunch. If she drinks a lot of water, I take her out one more time before leaving again for work.

After 5pm, I leave work and head back home. Sometimes, I have to work late so she will be by herself until I can get home. Then it's out to pee and poop if she wants, play, if I am home early, I load her up in the car and go 1) walk around lake 2) shopping at Petco 3) walk to ice-cream shop and she gets a treat, etc. After we get home, rest for about 2 hours then feeding time again.


RB