soon to be a chow chow owner!

[alicehuang830]

Hello~
I will be getting my puppy on Labor day , he will be approximately 8 weeks old. I've read and learned a lot from this forum in the past few months, still would like some advice on potty training. I live in a high rise building that's very dog friendly ( building's own dog park and a public park across the street). Since I do not have a backyard, just a balcony and I can't just take him outside if he has an accident in the house....I am going to take 8 days off of work to take care of him and plan on taking him downstairs when needed. I am just worried about the days I am at work ( maybe I will need to go home during lunch)?
Also, my boyfriend has a house. on the days he works from home he can take the puppy to his house...would the puppy be "confused" since we are introducing 2 places to him?

Thanks!!
Alice

[maikinda]

Hi Alice,

You are definitely going to have to go home at lunch. You still are probably going to have accidents since 8 weeks is very young. I don't think there is any breed cleaner than a Chow so your baby will be easy to housetrain. He will soon get used to going to your boyfriends house. It is important for puppies to be introduced to things when they are young.

Good luck with the new baby!

Laura

[DrewBear]

Alice, you will want to check with the vet that gives your pup his initial checkup, but I was advised not to take my pup to public areas until he had completed his vaccinations. That meant for about 6 weeks after he arrived at 8 weeks of age, he was limited to my backyard and 3 other family members' yards that I knew to be "safe" from any unvaccinated dogs in the past 5 years. My pup also started puppy play as he approached the final vaccination, but that happened indoors with puppies that were also vaccinated. I forget the name of the virus we're trying to avoid in this 8-14 week range, but your vet will know (if others here don't chime in).

It's great you can take 8 days off work to ease him in to his new home. Unfortunately it takes longer than that for even a Chow pup to gain complete bladder control. I agree that you should come home on your lunch break, not just for the potty break, but also to spend time with him. Pups should not be left alone for very long if at all possible, so it'd be great if your boyfriend could mind him as often as possible.

Search the forum for potty training methods. You probably need a large crate or perhaps confine him to the bathroom. In either case you'd need puppy pads (or newspaper, etc.) in a remote corner when he's left alone. You'll also do the same at night unless you want to wake up a time or two to let him out.

[gfejr7]

CONGRATS, you are on your way to a wonderful journey with your ChowChow

[alicehuang830]

Thank you for everyone's advices! I finally brought my puppy home 2 days ago. He is so sweet and friendly to everyone he meets I am so lucky to have him!

[Cindy J]

He is adorable. Have you picked a name?

[alicehuang830]

Thank you Cindy. His name is Romeo

[ski]

His name suits him! He looks like a love!!!

[alicehuang830]

Thank you Ski!
He is so sweet and friendly, I live in a high rise so we see and meet a lot of people and other dog owners. Romeo will always sit and let people pet him and take pictures of him! He is my 1st pet ever and I am so happy and delighted to have him. I was lucky enough to take a week off from work to bond with him and really made a difference. He had issues with doors the 1st day ( front door, elevator doors) by late afternoon 2nd day he was ok with it! today is my 1st day back to work and I can't wait to go home and play with him.

[alicehuang830]

My romeo is growing so fast! He is very smart and stubborn at the same time, super friendly to humans but not so much to other dogs. My boyfriend and I are thinking either hire a private trainer or enroll him in puppy class.

[Cindy J]

Puppy classes are great. I highly recommend Dogwood training center. They are very good at teaching us how to train with our puppies and the facility is pretty decent. It is a fun way to bond with your puppy.

[alicehuang830]

Thank you for your recommendation, Cindy. i will definitely check it out.

[Cindy J]

I need to call them up myself and set up some more obedience classes.

[DrewBear]

...super friendly to humans but not so much to other dogs.

Puppy classes are great, but a supervised puppy play-group is also necessary if he's not mixing well with other dogs. Supervision by a good trainer is essential. They can observe and hopefully identify what's going on in the puppy brain and find the appropriate methods to teach proper dog-dog socialization. You can't expect a pup to become buddies with every dog they meet, but you can expect them not to get into conflicts.