glenmar
Posted : 5/12/2006 6:48:46 AM
Well, to start, this pup is too young to be away from his momma and littermates. In many states it is against the law to sell or otherwise transfer ownership of a pup under the age of 8 weeks. They learn important lessons from momma and their siblings between 6-10 weeks.
Puppies play with their teeth. They mouth everything. That's normal. BUT, had he stayed with his litter mates his bite inhibition would have been better developed. He would have learned that when he bites too hard, his playmate goes away. You just need to be firm and consistent. Correct (say no bite) redirect (by giving him something that he can chew on) and praise him for chewing on IT instead of you. when I have a litter, I wear a fanny pack IN the house, loaded with chew toys, and bulging pockets so I can always redirect. One of my last pups made a game of mouthing....and I let him because it was just that....mouthing, no teeth involved, and that was HIS way of interacting with me....sort of our special play time. But I knew that he wasn't going to another home and WE could deal with the mouthiness.
Generally, when I'm fostering a litter I'm very consistent about the no bite rule. But, they are pups and they are gonna do it. When I have a litter I always wear shoes....and I'd rather be barefoot any day of the year....and I am VERY consistent about play nipping NOT being ok. Those little teeth feel like honed razors!
As for housetraining, you can certainly start now, but by golly when he needs to go he needs to go. Every two hours isn't enough to take him outside. It has to be EVERY hour. And if you tell him "bad dog" when he makes a mistake....and understand that it's YOUR mistake, not his...he doesn't KNOW better until he's been taught, and that isn't gonna happen at this age....all you are doing is telling him, hmmmm, when she sees me pee or poop she scolds me....therefore I'd better not do it where she can SEE me. This is bad for a couple reasons......first, you're likely to turn him into a dog who "hides" his potty, and I promise you it's NO FUN to step in it barefoot, and second, when you NEED him to just do it, he's not likely to.
When Thor was a pup, he was housetrained the same way I'd always housetrained with lots of outside chances, but I didn't go with him and make a big deal of it. So, when we started traveling with the dogs, getting them to "go" in a rest area was next to impossible. Thor once held it for 18 hours on a trip home. He had no problem pottying at the camp ground, but flat out would NOT potty in a rest area.
When I have a litter, I use a combination of a giant crate with no door and an ex pen. They generally sleep in the crate and have a potty area in the FAR end of the pen. Pups naturally want to keep their sleeping area clean, but gosh, they can't hold it forever, so I offer them a PLACE just for potty. When they are out of the crate they are always in my view. And I use a specific phrase.....lets go outside and go potty. When we GET outside, I tell them to go potty and when they do it, they get praised like crazy. At first, NO they don't know what the words mean, but they 'get it' very quickly. When someone starts to squat I tell them "unh uh, not there, lets go OUTSIDE TO GO potty" and scoop them up with a TOWEL to keep me dry and get them outside then remind them "OUTSIDE is where we got potty". I don't scold, I don't tell them they are bad, I simply take them to the place that I want them to go.
Now I'm pretty lucky...anytime I have a litter I KNOW when someone needs to go because I'm the MOMMA and they pretty much want to be as CLOSE to me as possible allllll the time. So if someone gets up and moves away from me, it's a pretty good bet that they've gotta go. And I get up too. Often I feel like a jack in the box, but by golly, by the time pups leave my home, never before 10 weeks, they have a good start on their training. But, this is why we say if you can't watch the pup and devote 100% attention to him, either crate him, ex pen him or leash him to you so that you will KNOW when he starts moving around.
I had a pup who was just perfect with everything. He left, went to a new home and I kept getting emails that she just flat could NOT potty train him. Hmmmmm...he LEFT here at almost 4 months very solidly trained. She had a ton of other issues with the pup and he came back to us. ONE accident in my house since he came home in January. ONE. And ALL I said to him was, "unh uh. Did you forget that we go OUTSIDE to go potty?" And by golly HE is the one of all six dogs who will absolutely drive you nuts with not waiting a minute...when he needs to go OUTSIDE, he wants to go now and he's not about to be kept waiting!
There is a reason that pups are so danged cute. That's so we don't get frustrated with them during a VERY frustrating time. But everything you've described is absolutely normal behavior and it just takes TIME and patience and consistency to get through it.