Xerxes
Posted : 8/18/2006 2:43:00 PM
ORIGINAL: TracyG
I just got 2 new puppies last Saturday.
What on earth possessed you to get 2 puppies at once? You need to be careful to give them time apart and special time. They'll need to be walked seperately and have seperate obedience classes as well. You run the risk of having them bond much more closely to each other than to you.
I am crate training them and so far it's not going badly. The only problem that I am having is when I get up in the morning...the barking is INSANE until I let them out side. They will go out long enough to have a quick pee...and then the want back in. If I go back in the house, they bark and sit at the door. I want an effective way to let them out in the yard, so they can go potty and run around a bit. One is a mini schaunzer and the other is a Lhasa Poo.
Thanks
You need to have a seperate "play time" and "potty time." Since they are pups, you need to go out with them, and it's best to place a command on the "potty" behavior. Say something like "do your business" or "hurry up" and when the pup potties, it gets a reward. It won't take long to reinforce this behavior.
The reason you seperate the play from the potty time is that the pups will often become a bit confused. They will think that going outside is for play and they'll forget all about emptying their bladders or their bowels. As soon as they go back in they'll remember and take care of it right then and there. It's won't be their fault.
As far as keeping them in the crate overnight...not the best idea. I've always gone by the rule that puppies need to go out at least every two hours during the day and that they can hold it for the number of hours that they are old during the night. Example: a 6 month old puppy should be able to hold it for 6 hours during the night.
Maybe I err on the careful side. It's alot of work to have one puppy, it's close to 4 times the work to have 2 of them simoultaneously. Again that's just my opinion.