New Bull Terrier Puppy- Need Advice!

[gigimac]

Dear ItsMeer,
I'm glad you don't use a crate, but IF you indeed decide to, take the door off it and store it. Rawhide is a no-no, as others have said. We also checked on our pups at lunchtimes, like you. I'll now tell you about doggie toys that work.

If you are concerned about him eventually tearing into stuff or getting depressed, we found two items in the pet store that worked really well for our pup, kept him busy when we were away. One is a red sort of triangle-shaped hard rubber toy, where you can put food inside it for them to try to get it out of the hole in bottom with their tongues. We put peanut butter in it, and after lunch, that's what he got to fool with on his bed when we were gone. We always found him fast asleep on his bed when we got home several hours later. Then we also got a round hard plastic medium-sized ball thing, again you put food in it, but you can put bits of hard dogfood, and they roll the ball around with their noses and paws, and slowly the foot trickles out, it takes them maybe an hour to get all the food out, and continues to be something they nudge around.

Now, as for normal chewing, if you ever find your dog chewing on something he shouldn't, and only if you catch him in the act, say "No," and then show him a Nylabone that is correct size for your dog, encourage him, and when he takes it, "Good boy." Transfering bad chewing to good chewing is key. Our dogs have never been without their Nylabones. They chew and chew on them, particularly after they eat a meal, and then they take a nap. We also got them squeaky pretend-sheep babies, head and four legs and fluffy white, and they love to rip and tear into those things, too. When the squeaky mechanism shows, get a new baby. Nylabone and baby are the only basics they need to chew on. We hand-washed the Nylabones periodically and machine washed the baby.
GG

[LingLing]

Very Cute!!!
I didn't use crate for my Bulldog puppy. The reason is that I work full time (away from home for at least 8hrs). A dog walker comes to my home twice during that time period (2-8 month old). I also don't want to get up in the night. So I keep my puppy in our cabana bathroom with a doggy gate so he can see us. In the bathroom, I put a small crate and his bed and lot of toys. If he chooses to sleep in his crate, great! If not, that is fine with me. He actually seldom goes into his crate to sleep. I do throw in treats so he can associate crate with good stuff. But I didn't use crate for housebreak training.
I believe that it is important to train your dog. But also I believe that owner should be relaxed about it and consider it to be a fun thing to do. Be considerate of the dog and yourself.
When my puppy and I were at a Petsmart puppy class (entry level), a young couple was very serious about housebreaking their Boxer puppy in a week. They were very frustrated and constantly crate the puppy if the puppy didn't go to bathroom when they took the puppy out. Yes, they were following the protocol. But they didn't consider that each puppy has its own development phases. With the leash training, they constantly complained about and yelled at the puppy. My sole purpose for the puppy class is for my Bulldog to play with other puppies. I feel so bad for that boxer puppy. Finally, the trainer of the class told the husband that if they continued the way they treated their puppy, she consider the behavior as being abusive. Well, they stopped coming to the class. I think they want a perfect dog so badly, they didn’t think that is an 8-12 week old puppy.
So have fun and don’t need to be overdone or stressed out about puppy training.

[chiroptera]

Originally Posted by itsmeerika

He is about 13 weeks right now.. so yes still a very curious puppy. I think over the weekend we will look at a crate for him. His potty training has been fairly easy (knock on wood) and last night was another night without accidents... I wake him up (he is very lazy) and then go out and get to business! He's funny too--this morning he curled up on his back in my lap like a baby and watched Animal Planet in that position....sometimes I swear he is like a little human!


also... I can't get photos to post! There are some on my blog though! erikathomas.com/?p=1478... he is too cute with spots around his eyes like a panda bear

AUGH!!!! He is freaking adorable!!

If you get a crate, feed him in there. Throw toys in there for him. Always a treat or toy or tons and tons of praise when he goes in. Crate = Happy Place.

The last puppy I had was my Rottweiler, right about a year ago. OMG, the first few times he was put in a crate (the breeder had already started crate training but still....) he made sounds that you couldn't believe were coming from such an adorable puppy. I mean, screaming, howling, shrieking, apocalyptic screeching.

But within a week he figured that he only got treats or food when all four paws were in his crate, so if I even looked at food, he barrelled into his crate at 60 mph, bounced off the back wall with a crash, collected himself and sat expectantly waiting for food. He never got fed a single morsel unless he was in his crate.

I was lucky in that I could take him to work, but he had to be crated mostly while I was working, although he got extremely frequent breaks and attention from all sorts of people. So it was excellent for socializing him. Now the crate is left open in my bedroom and he often chooses to sleep in there.

[itsmeerika]

Thanks everyone! For now, I have put up a wire safety gate that sections off the kitchen (and childproofed the cabinets) so that he has a safe area to lounge around in. Hopefully stays mild-tempered but I guess time will tell!