Well, it's been 2 weeks...
I have no real reference of "where" in the process we should be with regards to a puppy, having never HAD a puppy before...but, here's what's happening:)
She peed in her crate the first night she was here and has NOT done so since...I take her out to do her business around 11pm every night and we don't hear a peep from her until 7am. Her crate is always clean in the morning and she stretches and gives kisses when I let her out in the morning.
We go for a morning walk (which has been a learning experience to say the least) We FINALLY made it down to the end of the street without her laying down every 10 steps or so...or attacking her leash as if it were something to kill...or eating every rock, stick or leaf that happened across our path! She does her business again and we come in for breakfast...she plays with the girls before school and then we take her out to the bus with us.
When we come back in, she sits and falls asleep in Little Munchkin's lap while she watches a program and Mommy takes a break with a cup of tea:)
I then put her in her crate for some "quiet time" for about 1.5 to 2 hours...until it's time to head outside again to play, do some business and eat lunch...Little Munch and I play with her for about an hour...we use this time to work on "SIT" and "STAY"...adding to our vocabulary from "GO PEE" and "GO POOP" (which we use quite often)
Her "accidents" are now limited to the evening time and usually happen during dinner when I"m not watching her very much, but the girls are wanting to play...I should probably keep her in her crate, but I don't have the heart...she has figured out to pee on the hardwood floor instead of the carpet though, and for that I'm happy...at least for now...
Hopefully, we'll get this housebreaking thing down...SOON:)
Since she's part shepherd, we knew we'd have to deal with some of the "nipping" issues prone to that breed...I've got to admit that this is NOT a fun part...we've had plenty of tears already...but we're learning...Because she tends to put EVERYTHING in her mouth, I've had to literally pry her mouth open to extract rocks, etc...therefore, she gets a bit, shall I say, PERTURBED at me? She then transfers that behavior into "play" and starts to growl when we tell her NO BITE...
Fortunately, our breeder had a great idea...we use a pop can, filled with rocks...we shake it LOUDLY whenever she starts to nip and that seems to stop her dead in her tracks...so much so, that at least with me, she won't try to bite me...infact, she'll open her mouth right up to my fingers, think twice and stop before I have to do anything...I hope this continues and that we can break her of it completely...
It's rather difficult for me to know whether what we're doing is right or normal puppy behavior...especially when we had the most PERFECT DOG in our dear sweet Bailey...noone compares to her...
I just want this puppy to learn how to obey and just love my girls unconditionally...I want her to just want to please and enjoy their attention...From what I've read, these sweet miniature aussiedoodles seem to be fantastic companion dogs...I just need to train her correctly...
That's about it on the update...for anyone that's interested:) She's a smart little thing and the girls are loving having her around...she hasn't been nearly as "awful" as the horror stories made puppies out to be...that's another thing for which I am grateful:)
I'll let you know how we're doing come Winter...
