At a lost

[MonaLee]

Hello,
I’d like to stick with the program, but i’m kinda overloading (getting up at 03:00 and 06:00) for the pippi run.  River (Australien shepherd) is 2 1/2 months old.  Maybe i’m doing too much, River doesn’t poop in the house, pippi yes from time to time.  I try to keep at a regular schedule feeding, crating and pippi outings.  We have a big yard and he goes out on walks 15 minutes a day broken into 4 - 5 walks.  I’m teaching sit, down, stay (10 seconds).  He is not a “tough” (male) dog but i’m wondering what i’m doing wrong.  He nips and tries biting sometimes harder and harder.  I try the yelp cry, but that only makes him stop a few seconds and he repeats.  I’ve tried the passive restraining (making him sit next to me and calming him by petting his chest) but sometimes he becomes the male puppy, growling and trying to bite my hand holding the collar.  I would appreciate your advice as i don’t want to corrupt this sweet dog by my ignorance or fear.
Kind regards
Mona

[JMFS]

Hi Mona!

At 2½ months old not pooping in the house is a big step!  Peeing is tougher because their bladders are so very small.  When mine were puppies I would give them all the water they wanted when I was home, but I would take it up 20 minutes before I left and then let them outside right before leaving.  I would give them just enough to wet their tongues if I was going to be gone for a while.  When I was staying home I would take them out every 20 minutes or so and I taught Gertrude to ring a bell to let me know when she needs to go out.  Adhering to a schedule with feedings will make potty training much easier so good work on that! Taking up water an hour before bed won't cause him any distress and may help get rid of that 3 am potty break, especially if you take him out right before bed time.  He's still pretty young, though, so it may take a bit of time before his bladder can hold the liquid for longer periods of time.  Where does he sleep?  Momo was crated throughout his puppy years and never peed in his crate.

The fact that he's stopping when you yelp is encouraging.  Restraining him passively, though, is actually rewarding him for the behavior.  He's possibly putting bite + petting together so it's a good thing when he nips.  The growling could be his way of telling you he's frustrated at being restrained.  You'll see the methods here are "force free," meaning it's up to us to teach the pups to make the "right" decision (in our human opinion anyway). 

When you yelp do you also turn your back on him and / or move away so he understands you're disengaging?  Since he's not continuing with the nipping after you yelp and he takes a second to think about what's happening it sounds like he'll get it eventually.  Australian Shepherds are super smart.  They're also super hyper and I don't know about prey driven so much as herding. 

He's going to need some games to challenge that clever brain of his.  One of my favorites is the "find it" game where I put treats around the house for Gertie to sniff out.  It started out Really easy.  A treat in front of her followed by "find."  Then a treat a little further away from her, again followed by "find."  Each time we reset the game she had to sit and stay.  Since River is good at 10 seconds you're already on your way to teaching him this game.  :)  Slowly we increase the difficulty and eventually you'll put the treat out of his line of vision so he has to work a little to find it.  Over time you can make it harder.  I have put treats on top of boxes, behind dresser legs, on window sills, under her blanket (that didn't work out well for the blanket, lol, and I haven't done that one again but our other dog, Abbi, is excellent at finding those without doing damage).  Sometimes I make the game really easy and sometimes I make it pretty darn tough, which is a big part of what I like so much about that game.

Anyway, I thought I'd throw my ideas out there since I'm awake and I know I appreciate quick answers so I gave it a try.  And now I go get sleep myself!

[Adrienne]

Welcome to the draining, (albeit rewarding) puppy owning club! When I read about owners of pups of this age, I imagine circles around their eyes due to the lack of sleep and all the stress between getting pups out to potty so often, getting pups used to their crates, collars, leashes and starting training on top of that. And then, not to mention all the nipping! Kudos to you for managing to train sit, down ad stay in such a short time!

Jennifer provided you with great tips there! Your puppy is very young right now and still has little bladder control. Last pups I had to foster at this age required two nightly trips around the time you are taking yours out. Then a week or two later, only one nightly trip was enough, and then another week only one early morning trip at 8:00 AM when he last night outdoor trip was at midnight (8 hours of sleep finally!)

Accidents during the day are pretty normal at this age, your pup may want to hold it, but by the time he realizes it, pee is already coming out. Frequent trips, recognizing early signs, praise and rewarding outdoor elimination, and using the crate and right products to clean messes can help. https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/7-secret-potty-training-strategies/

Just so that you are aware, consider that young pups may also pee when they are excited or a bit intimidated, but these are not really a potty training issue, but something emotional that tends to get better with time. You can read these types of peeing here so that you know what I am talking about:

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/submissive-urination/

You can find various bite inhibition games here:

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/bite-inhibition-games/

and here is a guide to train pups to gauge the pressure of their bite:

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/train-dog-take-treats-gently/

More nipping options and troubleshooting:

Most pups don't like to be restrained for long at such a young age. Some can be touch sensitive if the breeder didn't handle them much. Your hands are perceived as what keeps him still and he may object to that. Try to make being restrained briefly as a positive thing. Look at the collar grab exercises described in the lower portion of the recall under "troubleshooting": https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/obedience-101/recall/ 

Here's a guide split into smaller steps:

Collar Touches/Grabs

Puppies may struggle with being grabbed by the collar especially if the collar grab leads to something unpleasant. It's therefore a good idea habituating puppies to collar grabs in case we need to get ahold of the puppy in an emergency situation.

So work on this, equip yourself with high-value treats. Call your puppy show a tasty treat and slightly touch the collar while you simultaneously feed him the treat while you are touching the collar, then remove your hand from the collar the moment your puppy is done eating the treat. Repeat several times, collar touch/treat, collar touch/treat, collar touch/treat until upon touching the collar your dog looks at you for treats.

Next, start raising criteria: slide your fingers gently under the collar, feed a treat, once done eating, remove your fingers from under the collar. Rinse and repeat until your pup seems happy when you slide your fingers under the collar.

Next, gently hold the collar with your hand and feed a treat, once done eating, remove your fingers from under the collar and release. Rinse and repeat.

Next, grab the collar and gently let your pup walk a step while you feed a treat, once done eating, release. Rinse and repeat.

Next, grab the collar and gently guide your puppy towards a treat you are holding in your other hand. Once done eating, release. Rinse and repeat. 

Next, call your pup from a distance and when he arrives, grab the collar, make him walk a few steps and feed a treat. Once done eating, release.

As seen, the goal is to make great things happen when the pup's collar is touched. 

Same with petting and holding the pup, create positive associations with touch by feeding a treat when petting and holding and then stop petting holding when the pup is done eating. Treats happen contingent upon being pet and held.  Repeat several times until your dog appears more comfortable with being touched. Then you can gradually progress to petting and holding for longer by gradually adding duration. You may then raise criteria and try to progress to petting and holding and giving the treat right after a few strokes of petting or holding rather than at the same time being pet/held.  Work at your pup's pace, if at any time you are petting/holding and he tries to bite, it's likely because he isn't ready for that length of time or intensity of touch. Consider that pup can also get nippy when they are cranky and in need for a nap. Take a few steps back in the process and resume from there. 

Hope this helps,

Let me know if you have any more questions or need more help.

Best,

Adrienne