When, What, Were, Why ?

[Mr Rizzini]

Just brought home my 8 week old female springer spaniel pup,I have read the thread regarding crate training and closest thing I have at the mintue is a cardboard box which I put a hot water bottle and few of my daughters dog teddys in. I will start tomorrow by taking her out to the toilet following the thread instruction and hopefully she'll get there pretty quick.

 

- Where should I keep the box in the meantime ?

- Should I turn out the room light ?

- What food should she be getting and how much how often ?

- Is there anything else I need to know to keep her and my household happy ?

- At what age would you expect a pup to be going to live in an outside kennel/pen ?

 

cheers in advance

Edited December 5, 2012 by Mr Rizzini

[ferguson_tom]

Argos have good crates and they are quite cheap. In answer to your questions this is what i would suggest- this is from my own limited experience.

 

- Where should I keep the box in the meantime ?

I would put it wherever your planning your dogs to live more long term, ours are in the kitchen and they soon got used to it.

 

- Should I turn out the room light ?

I dunno if it really makes any difference but we always did

 

- What food should she be getting and how much how often ?

Any decent puppy food, such as skinners, james wellbeloved, burns' but not pedigree!!!

 

- Is there anything else I need to know to keep her and my household happy ?

Try to ignore the crying when they are left alone they will settle but may take a couple of nights, we had the problem with our springer pup working herself up into such a panic she would mess the crate we eventually fixed it by her and our collie sleeping together in the crate in our bedroom, then just her in the crate in our room then moved it downstairs to the kitchen. I know this contradicts the above answer but we found it necessary at the time to settle her in.

Take her outside every hour or so to go toilet and when she does go link it with a command word, this way they quickly learn when they hear the word to go toilet

 

- At what age would you expect a pup to be going to live in an outside kennel/pen ?

Not sure mine live inside,

 

Best of luck with you new pup I am sure she will bring you loads of fun.

[Mr Rizzini]

Thanks very much for the reply

[WezC]

I love this new thing, "crate training", sounds so much better than "kept in a cage".

 

No offence

 

Wez

[Mr Rizzini]

lol "Get in your bed you B@#tard" Those words ring out from my father's voice when I was a kid.

Guess it's modern day ways of being snobby.

[DJL4]

lol "Get in your bed you B@#tard" Those words ring out from my father's voice when I was a kid.

Guess it's modern day ways of being snobby.

 

Bit harsh on a youngster ..... What did he say to the dog tho?

 

DaveL

[Mr Rizzini]

Bit harsh on a youngster ..... What did he say to the dog tho?

 

DaveL

he said to the dog " One shall retreat to it's bed my trusty sidekick"

[ETO]

Erm not to be harsh or rude or anything - but shouldn't you have worked all this out BEFORE picking the pup up?

[Mr Rizzini]

Erm not to be harsh or rude or anything - but shouldn't you have worked all this out BEFORE picking the pup up?

Very true but the dog offer came quicker than I expected and to be honest with you I have been the buy first, think later type my whole life but on the plus side I always join a forum and ask as many questions as I can

I see you have lots of experience with dogs so maybe you could offer your advice rather than telling me what I should have done

Edited December 8, 2012 by Mr Rizzini

[Paul T]

Have you managed to get a crate yet? They really are the very best idea with a new pup. My missus was dead set against one, but I went and bought one for my viz when he was a tiny pup and even she now agrees they work great.

 

I've been using it now for my cocker pup though now she has the door open all the time and she uses it as she pleases. Lock them in at night when really young though because it keeps them out of mischief and stops puddles. I covered my crate over with large dog towels so she was fairly well blacked out, but I still turn out the light. As soon as you get out of bed in the morning you need let the dog outside. If she cries at first in the crate just ignore it, but a yelping in the morning might mean she needs to go out sooner rather than later. Keep the box or crate where you will be happiest with them sleeping, but it does need to be fairly easily accessible. If it's a pain to use it, you won't. The kitchen or hall is generally a good place.

 

I don't let my dogs upstairs in the house and I would suggest you set boundaries from the outset as to where they can and can't go. You won't be popular if your spinger arrives back from a wet & muddy walk and jumps all over your best cream silk duvet set! My dogs are allowed only in the kitchen during the day and a couple of hours in the lounge at night. My viz sleeps on the sofa in the lounge, but my cocker is back in the kitchen. Both know their place.

 

Food wise, I've used Beta for the last few years. There are 'better' ones out there, but my dogs seem to do best on it and that's the key. Just change any diet gradually if you want to try something different because you can easily upset their stomach. My cocker is on Beta Puppy & the viz is on the Active working dog one. You don't pay VAT on the working dog food so it's cheaper .

 

The key to make things easier for the family is routine. Make sure you get them into a strict routine of feed time, play time, quiet time etc - it makes everyones life much easier.

 

As to kennelling you just need to watch the temperature this time of year with a very young pup, but she can go out anytime. I've had terriers in the past that have never been in the house from the day they were born. I'm getting soft in my old age and only have the two dogs so I'm not fussed about them being kennelled as I like them to be 100% part of the family. Ultimately your lifestyle will dictate more about whether kenelling is more appropriate for them.

 

Hope all this helps - best of luck with your pup

[Mr Rizzini]

Thanks for the great reply Paul, This is the sort of advice I would like to hear from people, Thanks again.

[ETO]

Very true but the dog offer came quicker than I expected and to be honest with you I have been the buy first, think later type my whole life but on the plus side I always join a forum and ask as many questions as I can

I see you have lots of experience with dogs so maybe you could offer your advice rather than telling me what I should have done

 

I admit I was rushed for time and my comment wasn't very useful but I see this too often that people just get pups without thinking about it.

 

I'd not bother with the crate to be honest, whilst I'm an advocate for using anything positive and modern - there's no point to crate training other than to keep the pup in one area. Mine sleep in a crate for the first few weeks to get them used to it for travelling etc. But when the accidents stop they can have free reign.

 

With toilet training take the pup out after every, meal, drink, play and sleep. I take my pups out every half an hour for the first week then up it to 45 minutes the next week and then work my way up. My waking/sleeping routine was never changed much either, I would keep the pups up till 11/12 - if they fell asleep before then, I would wake them up, toilet, play then toilet again, then bed. As my pups slept in my room - I would wake up when they woke me up and take them to the loo - regardless of time, then pop them back in their crate and go back to sleep. If they didn't settle I would bring them in my bed and found they did settle.

 

For food - skip puppy food, it's a con. If you find a decent branded dry/wet then there is no point to puppy food. Or you can opt for the raw - but this does take research - you can't just jump into it Decent branded dry foods - that I would feed if I fed dry would be; Acana, Applaws, Fish4Dogs, Barking Heads and Taste of the wild. However they are the higher end of the scale. So the decent afforable brands I would feed are; Skinners Salmon and Potato, Skinners Duck and Rice or Autarky Duck/Salmon.

I don't feed wet food but Nature Diet and Butchers Tripe are the ones I would feed if I did.

The rule of thumb with dry/wet foods are the less grains - the better! Grains cause all sorts of skin complaints and issues. Bakers in particular causes many behavioural issues as it's filled with E numbers that are banned in our own foods. They cause aggression and hyper problems.

Pups should be fed 4 times a day until 6 months old and roughly 4 hours between, 3 meals till 9 months and then I usually do 2 meals onwards. As for how much - I go on hand and eye - if the pup is skinny, feed a bit more, if plump, feed a little less.

 

As for keeping the household happy - just make sure everyone respects each other. Make sure everything is puppy proofed - if you don't want things chewed - don't leave them where they can be chewed.

 

I haven't kennelled dogs before but if you are going to, start feeding her in the kennel area at first, then when she's about 6 months feed her and start leaving her in there about 15 minutes longer each week. I wouldn't kennel a dog until a year old +. I would never kennel a dog before it was toilet trained anyway.

 

Hope this helps and if you want any advice on raw feeding just PM me

[Mr Rizzini]

Thanks very much for your post I'm gonna pick your brain now