New puppies

[Deby]

We have just acquired two lovely cross alsation/border collie puppies who are absolutely gorgeous! I was very nervous as I have never owned dogs before and have alot to learn. They are incredibly bright and eager to learn/be trained. Anybody got some good text books or bits of advice on this.

Also, when and how can I train them to pee outside and is it possible to teach them to do it in a particular place, if so how?

Thanks in advance.
Deby

[Franglais24]

Congrats on your new balls of fluff.

Fortunately my other half had experience of dogs as a youngster but here's a few ideas we've employed:

The first tip is that you need to be consistent - if they do something unacceptable you need to tell them *every time* that it's not allowed. Apparently, hitting or smacking is not part of dogs' natural repetoire so it doesn't work, unless it's a tap on the nose with a stern "NO!".

As for where they should pee, we didn't have much of a problem as our two are essentially outdoor dogs that are let in as a treat. They were told off and sent outside whenever they did anything unsociable. Try to get any males used to peeing on solid objects such as telegraph poles or walls, as opposed to bushes; they can easily spoil a lovely hedge. Likewise, training a female to pee on gravel will avoid having your lawn go patchy.

Make sure the dogs eat AFTER the humans in their pack, so they know their place.

Feeding titbits from the table is really asking for trouble, but you might find that training humans not to do this is possibly the most difficult task of all! The theory being that if the dogs know they're not allowed food from the table they're less likely to sneak a look up there in the hope of stealing; but more significantly they won't be driven to drooling, in expectation, as you eat. Yeuk! This I think is more relevant here in France because we tend to eat on the patio more often.

Try get them used to being in a car, and to associate the car with nice things such as walkies in new places, rather than going to the V.E.T.

Our second pooch was 18 months old when we got him and is so used to having at least one person/dog around he hates being on his own so much we can't risk it. So it might be an idea to get each dog used to being home alone. You might actually find it easier to train one dog at a time, on walks for example.

Whatever you do, don't let them jump up at guests, especially children. Apart from frighening or injuring people, jumping up can also be expensive by way of ruined doors and window cills, and scratched car paintwork.

You've got alsation crosses presumably because you want them to look after the house. So make sure you get into the habit of indicating to the dogs that the visitor is a friend, before letting the friend in. Maybe look the dogs in the eye and use a special word. This way the dogs will sense that something is different in the event that someone comes onto your territory without your say-so.

If there's a chance that you'll ever have French people looking after them, you could train the dogs to be bi-lingual. Seriously! Especially emergency words, eg "Arret!" as well as "Stop!"

Quite an effort I know but any effort you put in now whilst they are pups will be well-rewarded when they're older. There's much in the addage "you can't teach old dogs new tricks".

F24.

[Corinne]

I could go on forever with tit bits but will try to minimise it for now.

The Alsation is back to being called a German Shepherd. Funny but even in Alsace (the region of France the name Alsation came from) they will not know what an 'Alsation' is.

Having a German Shepherd/Boarder Collie cross, you will have your hands full...having two....enough said :.) BOTH breeds love company, stimulation and lots of direction. The German Shepherd in particular likes to know who the leader is (and make sure its you!) and being told what to do.

Find out where your local dog club is NOW!. The age that they let dogs join does very but some have puppy kindergarten which are perfect for getting your pups socialising with other dogs. Go along to the proper classes to see if it is the club for you and to get a feel for what you should be trying out at home.

Training two at the same time will be quite time consuming and will (as F24 has said) be better if you train each independantly. That could mean two seperete people training a dog each or that you tie one dog up while you train the other. They can learn by watching each other but they can also learn the bad things too. With two you do need to make sure that both look on YOU as the boss!!!!! as two can have a tendance to gang up together. I have been told that having two the same age is more than doubling the work.

They are NEVER to young to start learning the little things though so start now. Simple things like getting them to wait to eat until you give an order and teaching them to give you a paw on request are good basic things for you to enforce boss status. Also good to get kids (if you have any) to take part in this bit also as they also need to be seen as higher up in the pack than the dogs.

One more thing that you can do to show that your boss is to not let them on the furniture and beds. The top dog always gets the best bed so make sure it is you and not them. We do not allow our dog in the Kitchen and did this by hanging a bead curtain so if she tried to sneek in we would hear her and could shout No. She then thought we could see through walls LOL

One other thing we found useful is to use a bell (we use a wind chime) so the dog can tell us when she wants to go out. When you are training the pups to go pee outside and you are really going to have to do one at a time as they will just go out and play together. Tell him/her what it is you are going out for (NO play while you are out is important) then help them knock the bell with their nose, give them loads of praise and out you go. Then, job done, back in you go. If they don`t go in 5 mins or so then go back in and try 10/15 mins later.

There are many many forums on the internet that you will probebly find really useful being a new dog owner. I have used one or two German Shepherd specific sites that give great advise and have no problems giving advise to and breed/mixed breed owner.

[Mutts]

For toilet training overnight, put them in a large box (childs playpen size) with their blankets in one corner, water in another and newspaper in another. Keep newspaper in the house and when they "go" catch 'em quick and plonk 'em on the paper. As days/weeks/months go by move the paper towards the door, then finally outside. Having said that, they must be sent out before bedtime and praised when they pee.

Dogs like these will often associate themselves with one person and that can become a pain. Regular visitors to the house, or children in particular, can be asked to put their food down. Better still, get someone to take their food bowls away for 10 minutes before returning them. When our dog was a pup, he started growling at my young son - the dog was sent to his bed, then turfed out by my son who sat on his blanket for a while before the dog was allowed to return. It's all about making sure the dog knows his place is at the bottom of the "pack", not fighting to be "top dog".

You've had lots of good advice so far - enjoy your dogs and try to be patient with them.

Good luck

[Deby]

LAST EDITED ON 04-Aug-04 AT 08:59 PM (BST)

Thank you all so much for your good tips and advice.

I have been trawling through the Internet and am blinded by sites and information! Anyone got any good 'free' sites with downloadables or even just really good book recommendations.

Thanks again,
Deby

[Ferligot]

My rather boisterous english bull terrier is 1 now but as a new pup he ate everything and anything in site! Window sills, skirtings, door frames etc. We had all the toys and chews that were recommended but he still chewed his way through my home. He pooed and weed everywhere til i eventually and reluctantly bought a crate. It was a case of get a cage to put him in while we were out or get rid of him. It worked wonders, it gave him a break from the kids and vice versa and he stopped doing toilets indoors completely as they don't like doing it in their own beds. So if they start wrecking your home do think about it. I didn't like crates at all but he is a very happy and non-wrecking dog now.