Hello,
We have a 10 week old female great dane. We have never had a great dane before. We also have 2 other pound dogs (1 45 pound terrior mix, and 1 40 pound border collie mix) We would like to ask advice on a few things. We have never had a puppy before either.
When can we start training her? She has accidents going thru the house and are not sure if we should pick her up to take her thru the house or just tell her "no". We don't know when we should start crate training her, because her bladder is kind of small. She drinks, she pees.
Also, we feed her CA Natural and her poop is really loose. She has been on that for 2 weeks. We give her 1 to 1.5 cups 3 times a day.
She has also started barking and snapping at our border collie. We aren't sure if she is seriously angry or playing. She gets all teethy and won't back down. Is it too early to start telling her no?
Any advice would be appreciated. We have a ton of questions and I am sure we will have many more.
Thanks, ceej ( cj.elliott@gottschalks.com)
reply
On potty training, you can
On March 23rd, 2009 SuperRen says:
On potty training, you can start right now. You should go ahead and start her on the crate training, you might want to get a large crate with a divider so you can make the area she's staying in smaller or get a smaller crate and move up (cheaper to get one with a divider). She should stay in the crate any time you can't watch her so not just when you are sleeping or out of the house, but taking a shower, in the bathroom, cooking, eating, reading, etc. All other times she should be on a leash attached to you so she can't sneak off and have an accident without you knowing. In the crate she should just have enough room to sit, stand up, lie down and turn around comfortably. She shouldn't have enough room to potty in one area and sleep in another. No food or water before being put in the crate. No food or water in the crate for now unless she is let out right after eating to potty.
At 10 weeks she should only be able to hold it about 3 hours or so, so don't expect a miracle. She may not be able to hold it all night, but if she sleeps all night she may hold it all night and have to go RIGHT away as soon as she wakes up. She will need to potty shortly after eating (within like 15 minutes usually), drinking a large amount, playing or sleeping (that sounds like all the time, right?).
When she starts sniffing around, turning circles or doing any other behaviors that you find signals a need to potty, take her immediately outside to her potty place, tell her to potty, then ignore her until she finishes. Praise her!
When she has an accident (avoid as much as you can, every accident is a setback in training) you can only do something about it if you catch her in the act. If you see her having an accident, clap your hands and say NO in a deep firm voice, don't yell. Take her immediately outside to her potty place and tell her to potty. Then ignore her until she finishes. Praise her like she just did the best thing in the world (well, she DID didn't she?). Give her a few more minutes to make sure she's done, then take her back inside and clean up any mess she had made. Don't punish her. Don't rub her nose in it. Don't look at her sternly. It wasn't her fault, it was yours for not watching closely enough.
If she has an accident and you don't find out until you come across it later, just clean it up and move on with your day. Give yourself a little reprimand for not watching close enough.
The general for how long she can hold it is 1 hour for each month of age plus 1 so if she's 2 months old, she can hold it about 3 hours, 3 months = 4 hours, 4 months = 5 hours, etc.
Are you feeding dry food only? Adult food? Table/people food? Treats?
Has she been dewormed? Had a fecal examination? Vaccinations?
As far as the barking and snapping at the other dog, usually I feel that other animals will teach their own limits. If your other dog won't and you don't like the behavior, it's OK to give her a little time out. She will learn that when she acts that way, she gets alone time and she will avoid it. With you, you should never allow her to behave that way. If she gets too rough, tell her No in a deep firm voice, don't yell, then walk away and ignore her.