Potty train... help?? continue~~~

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jeff2hardy2003
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Potty train... help?? continue~~~

Post by jeff2hardy2003 »

ok so i dont punish him. from my observation my chow poops twice a day and i think can take care of that if he dont poop in the house. There are a few spots in the house that he pooped. If i dont keep an eye on him he will poop in one of those spots. How do i stop him from pooping in the house????

How many times do i give hime water??Does he pee if you dont give him water?? and if you give him water, how long does it take for him to go through his digestive system so he wont pee when im not home.


another problem, he seems to like to bite. i mean not the aggressive kind. He doesnt bite the strangers but when i was playing with him he kinda bites. its hard to explain but he doesnt bite it hard but just put it in his mouth and kinda touches. I played chasing with him today and he got excited and start jumping, and started to bite my pants . its weird cuz he does that only to whoever he knows.

another one, If he likes to bite on the sofa and otherthings how do i tell him not to and how to stop he from biting my shoes.

another one, be patient. im justa beginner who never had a pet except a gold fish. when i walk him, sometimes he stop suddenly and just sit there and wont go forward.


Please PM me if you have MSN so i can reach u easier
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kingalls
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Post by kingalls »

Wish I could help with the potty training but mine have done it themselves...I just had to laugh about the "sometimes he stop suddenly and just sit there and wont go forward" - this is so typical of a Chow. As others may have experienced - you just haven't figured out which way they want to go. My Shiloh will get to an intersection and plunk her butt down & refuse to go the way we want...if we make the right decision, she's up and running :lol:
I haven't checked for it but there should be some website information on how to house train...from what I've read, the house training applies - it's just much faster for the Chow.
Best of luck!!
Karen
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Brisco
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Biting

Post by Brisco »

I don't know if this is the type of biting that you are talking about, but it might help. When my male was a pup he would want to grab your hand when you tried to pet him near his head. Not a bight but would want to mouth or chew on your hand, which for some reason other people think is a fun game and seem to encourage??? Anyway, I cured him of it in about a week by letting him do it but I would make sure to keep my hand in a position were I could push the skin in the back corner of his mouth in between his upper and lower teeth so that when he chewed he would chew his own lip/cheek . You can then just gently say whatever verbal command you want in a pleasant voice (or not) they will stop almost immediately even without the command.
On walking and stopping. How long of a walk are you going on? I would keep them fairly short to start. I find with my female when she is done, she's done and it takes a bit of encouragement to keep her going. I radically change the length of my walks based on the temperature to make sure that she is going to want to complete our walk. It can really drag out once she wants to stop. good luck.
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sweetpea
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Post by sweetpea »

While potty training you will need to keep an eye on him all the time. What I do is take them out often, every hour. Praise and treat when they do the job outside. When your gone, if you are crate training then you would put the pup in the crate while your at work. If no crate then use a babygate so the puppy doesnt have full run of the house when u are gone. Are you able to come home during lunch break to potty him? If not, do you have someone who can do this for you? Just make sure to reward or praise him or both when he pottys outside.
I wouldnt limit his water except for before bed. Does he go all night without accidents?
Puppies will bite at shoes, pant legs, ect. Its a puppy thing. Gracie had this thing for my jammie pants! She'd always chase after them trying to pull at them. Princess had this thing for my shoe strings. She was always untieing my shoes.
When you see the pup biting on the sofa, give him a toy to bite on. Make sure to have toys for the puppy to chew on and play with. He's teething and will want to chew on things, chair legs, sofas, doorways.....make sure you have plenty of things for the puppy to chew on.
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Jeff&Peks
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Post by Jeff&Peks »

It sounds like you might be thinking of controlling his peeing by limiting his water, Don't do it, leave fresh clean water out for him at all times unless this is some puppy thing people do. I also get this feeling your not sure of what you have, this is a living, thinking, feeling, extremely smart breed that is stubborn at times will out think you and be smarter then you at times, not being sarcastic but you will have to get your thinking out of the gold fish bowl and not think of him as just a pet or an object. My Chow will also stop on the spot and refuse to go, with her she is telling me she doesn't want to go the way I want she wants to go the way she wants. If it is hot where you live he may be sitting down because he is getting hot, my Chow will do that on very hot days if this is the case let him rest and don't force him to go until he is ready. with my Chow all I have to do is say are you ready and she will let me know, she is an adult Chow though so that will come in time as yours gets older.

I have never had to potty train but on the other post you posted people gave you good advice about crate training and having him go in a box. There is no quick magic way to pottty train just do what the other posters have told you and give it a few days. You might want to go down to your first post, there is some potty training adice for you there.

Also with the walking, how fast are you walking him, don't look at the other dog walkers that are dragging thier dogs down the street, Chows like to stop and sniff, that may be your problem, are you giving him time to go when your out. Chows take thier time and look for spots to go.
IliamnasQuest
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Post by IliamnasQuest »

Hi Jeff (guessing that's your name!) -

You asked how to stop your pup from pooping in the house. I've been training dogs pretty seriously for 17 years and this is my view on it. A puppy learns not to potty in the house when they have an owner that is observant and consistent.

If he's pooping in the house, then you are failing to keep an eye on him. A puppy should never have free run of the house when he can't be observed, because they WILL go when and where it's convenient for them. They just plain don't know any better. But by providing good leadership we can "explain" to them what's appropriate and what isn't.

So here's what I would recommend for you and your pup. First, he is never loose in the house unless you can actively watch him. This means if you're going to watch TV or be on the computer or take a shower or cook dinner - he can't be wandering around free. He needs to either be confined in a safe area, or he needs to be tethered to you so that you can keep an eye on him. As soon as he starts showing signs of needing to go out (sniffing, circling) you stop everything and you run him outside. STart using a word that will eventually mean "go potty" - I tell my dogs "hurry up!". He won't understand it at first, but he will after awhile. When he does pee or poop, praise him! Let him know that this was wonderful! Then take him in and play with him a bit.

Second, get some good cleaner and thoroughly clean the places where he's already pooped. These places will attract him until you get the smell up. If possible, after cleaning move something onto that spot (a piece of furniture, a plant, whatever).

Give him full access to water until a couple of hours before bedtime. You can cause urinary tract infections if you limit water. If you're gone all day and he's left in the house, he WILL have to go. Puppies just don't have very big bladders and can't hold things very long. Peeing frequently isn't because they're trying to be bad, they pee frequently because they don't have much choice. As they mature, they gain the ability to hold it longer and the desire to hold it longer because they want to go outside.

And if all else fails and he keeps going in the house, use a rolled up newspaper. Anytime your pup pees or poops in the house, pick up the newspaper and bop yourself over the head with it, while saying "I SHOULD have watched him better! I SHOULD have watched him better!" .. *LOL*

Biting and mouthing is a completely normal puppy behavior. Young animals learn bite inhibition through the reactions of those around him. If puppies were born in the wild, they would stay with their littermates much longer and they would learn from each other that biting HURTS and they would learn to inhibit biting on each other. But since we take puppies from their littermates early, then we become the ones that they have to try mouthing to see where it leads. So you can try acting like the littermate. When he puts his mouth on you, let out a loud high-pitched "OUCH" and then turn away from him and refuse to play with him a bit. This is effective on a lot of puppies and since yours is not biting hard it may work well.

You can also try to re-direct him whenever he bites. If he's chewing on your shoes, try a gentle "eht eht!" and then direct him to a toy, play with him with that a bit and praise him for it. Puppies NEED to chew, so we just need to get them to understand what is proper to chew and what isn't. Khana (now 15 months old) really had a chewing need, and I found that normal toys just weren't interesting to her - but she loved plastic bowls and paper plates! Yes, she'd rip the paper plates up all over the place, but because I gave her things that she really enjoyed so she rarely chewed on a "wrong" thing.

If that doesn't work, you may need to go to a spray bottle or something like that. Have the bottle close by when you play, and if he bites just give a squirt of water. Many chows are not impressed by water so it makes a good deterrent. But I think that your pup will learn quickly if you are consistent with the "ouch" and stopping play when he mouths, and re-directing him to toys. Chows usually are pretty good - German shepherds are sharks in puppy coats, and a lot of those end up going through much more training before the mouthing stops! (I have chows and shepherds).

Good luck with your puppy!

Melanie and the gang in Alaska
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ngraham
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Post by ngraham »

Jeff,
you have gotten some great advice about house training. None of us are being mean or hard, but that's one good things about this message board, you ask for help, you are gonna get it. LOL Since this is your first dog, you have to learn right along with him, and a chow is a good breed to learn how to house break. You just have to be consistent with him. Keep an eye on him. When he starts sniffing and/or walking in circles, he has got to go potty. It isn't going to hurt to take him out to go potty every hour if you can. Take him to the same spot outside so he knows that his place to go potty and learns that's what you are expecting of him. The bigger he gets, the less often he will need to go out. Get some pet stain/odor cleaner and clean the spots he's gone potty at. He's going back to the place he went at before... which is what he should do. You just need to teach him that that spot should be outside and not in the house.
As far as water goes, he has to have water all the time. Chows, even as pups, drink alot of water. I tried taking the water up too... until I was educated better by the members here. It didn't help when I was doing that, and it seemed once I left the water down, it was alot easier to gauge when Koda would need to go out.
As far as chewing goes... that's what puppies do. It's a natural thing for puppies to chew. You just have to teach him what he can and can't chew. Make sure he has access to things that are OK for him to chew, and when he chews on something he isn't supposed to, gently, but firmly tell him NO, and get his attention away from whatever he wasn't supposed to chew on, to something he CAN chew on. Chows are smart dogs... it won't take him long to learn. The big word in all of it, is consistency.
Nancy and Tai

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Post by kingalls »

"And if all else fails and he keeps going in the house, use a rolled up newspaper. Anytime your pup pees or poops in the house, pick up the newspaper and bop yourself over the head with it, while saying "I SHOULD have watched him better! I SHOULD have watched him better!" .. *LOL* "


Priceless advice :lol: :lol: :lol:

But seriously, they need to be watched - the circling is a dead giveaway that your Chowling is ready to go.

There's been alot of good advice and I'm sure that you will be able to use alot of it.

Good luck,
Karen

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Post by Victory »

The others have given good suggestions about potty training; so I won't repeat them, but Pekoe's Jeff is right when he says that chows can take forever to go potty, so their walks are often longer and slllloooooooooooowwwwww. Firesong goes right away because she wants to play, Darkwind takes forever to find that one perfect spot, (that looks like all the others to me) before he goes.

About the biting, chows are mouthy in their play, my two will mouth each other and sometimes bare down a bit much and then I hear a yelp, and then they are licking each other to make up. However, they are never, ever allowed to mouth me or my clothes. A grown chow as big teeth, a strong jaw and mouth play is in my opinion to be discouraged. First get toys lots of toys, and use them in play not yourself. Second, no more chasing games, You can't out run a grown dog, so don't start with a puppy; you aren't prey, don't act like it. More importantly, if you teach him, (by allowing it) that it is okay to chase humans, knock them down and play bite how are you going to teach him to distingish between you playing with him and a child running in fear?

You can run with him, wrestle with him, (but no mouthing of you), play fetch, or my favorite game bat the hand with the paw. If during the game he mouths, game over, walk away and ignore him. He'll soon learn that mouths are for food and toys not for humans.

This sounds severe, but I've run across too many dogs, whose owners allow rough mouth play and then don't understand that other people don't apprieciate it. Even mild mouth play can end up with a wound and with the reputation of Chows you could end up with a lawsuit or worse haveing your chow classified as a "vicious animal"

Also remember you are in control at all times; if he begins to be over excited during play, stop the game, make him sit or lay down. Then engage in some gentle stroking or petting. Control is your responsiblitie, your job, you purpose, I can't stress this enough, control, control. As sixchows said on another thread, these chows really don't want to be in control, they need you to do it for them.
Victory, Darkwind, (our angel), Firesong, and Dreamdancer
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mafiosa728
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Post by mafiosa728 »

These are really great advice. I've wanted to post and ask about potty training too, but jeff2 already did. I've had Maximus for almost a week now and I think it's about time to stop babying him too much and start training. :lol:

Well, when there are times that I cannot let him go outside the house, would it be alright if I just isolate him in a particular part of the house (I have a baby gate for him) when he starts circling and sniffing? Could he get used to the idea that it is the place for him to poop inside the house?

There's a slight glitch, though, when I lay newspapers around the area, he starts playing with and tearing them. :lol:
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Post by sweetpea »

I hate it when people train the dog to potty inside. In my opinon all this does is confuse them as to where they should go. I'm going thru this with my daughters pug. She wanted to paper/liter train him, then she moves here and the rule is dogs potty outside. I have fought with him for months and cant for the life of me get it thru his pug head where to do his business! He's good when I'm home because I watch every move he makes and I make him go outside several times. But let everyone be gone for a half hour or more and he's crapping on my floors.
Some might disagree with me on this subject, but its my opinon. I personaly would never do it.
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Post by mafiosa728 »

Thanks for the input, sweetpea. So it will be confusing to him, hmm. He's still young (turning two months old tomorrow) so I guess I could still correct this confusing habit.
Xenia & Maximus
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ngraham
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Post by ngraham »

It's just me too, but I agree with Becky. You confuse them when they have a choice of going inside or outside. A babygate is great! I used one for house training Koda. But he learned to potty outside. The thing that both you and Jeff2 will learn is... chows are not like other dogs. We really don't even consider them dogs. LOL Most chows as they get older, will NOT go to the bathroom where they have to dwell also. Meaning... if you gate one up in a room, they are not going to go to the bathroom in that room. It will not take too long to potty break these puppies, if you just be consistent with it. Ease of house breaking is a chow trait, All of us who have house broken a chow will tell you it's absolutely true. Koda is 5 months old, even BEFORE he was 5 months old, I could go to work (which meant leaving him by himself) and come back 10 hours later and not one poop or pee spot in my house. He was sure doing the "I have to go potty" dance when I walked in the door, but he refused to degrade himself by using my house as a bathroom. That's a chow. It was not hard at all to house break either of my chowlings. If both of you will be totally consistent with your chowlings, you will be amazed at how easy they were to potty train. But that key word always is CONSISTENT. Be consistent about watching them looking for a place to go potty (sniffing and walking in circles), be consistent about taking them out after they wake up from a nap, after they eat, after they play and right before they go down for a nap.) Be consistent about taking them to the same spot (OUTSIDE) to go potty at and be consistent about praising your pup after he has gone potty where he was supposed to go. Honestly, you're probably only talking a couple weeks here of hard core potty training. It does not take too long for these guys to catch on. But giving them an option of pottying in the house when you are not there, will confuse them. Not the thing to do as far as I am concerned, but like Becky, that's just my opinion.
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Post by Brisco »

I have to agree, I think it would almost be torture for a Chow to have to go to the bathroom in the house. Actually I've never had to put any effort into training any of the 3 Chows i've had other than those points already stated about keeping a constant eye on them when they are in, and even then only for about the first week. none of mine have EVER had a single accident in the house. My male will not go in the yard, he waits for his walk. And my female, now 10 1/2 months old only goes in the lower section of the yard if a put the walk off too long. Otherwise there is nothing to clean up at all. This is not from my great training skills or even because I have the greatest Chows in the world (I think so anyway, LOL) It's just something that they have both done on there own due to the Chows very clean habits. I think they would just BURST if I left them inside long enough.
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Post by mafiosa728 »

Thanks for all the opinions! Maximus and I have begun yesterday, and I'm trying to be observant as best as I can. I'm encouraged with your stories about potty training, so I'm sure Maximus and I can do it together, too. Just more patience, understanding and love.

Thanks again. I'll update you once we've made progress! :D
Xenia & Maximus
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