Hi All
Some of you may remember that we lost our 2 oldest dogs within 2 weeks of each other at the end of last year leaving us with our 4 year old shepherd girl and a horribly empty house! We rescued a 12 week old shepherd in late November and he's nearly 6 months now and doing great. We have just brought home a lovely wee baby beardie Dougal and are having so much fun.(Out in the garden in the sleet at 2am!Lol!) It's great to be back to a "normal" house although no dogs will ever take my 2 lovely old girls' place in my heart and I still have a wee cry regularly. Dougal is 7 and a bit weeks old and is doing really well.  He is trying very hard to do his business in the garden and we are praising the life out of him. The problem is that I realise we are not actually toilet training him unless he is being treated. He has almost no teeth and every treat I try is of no interest. I've tried tiny bits of chicken, hotdog, cheese etc and all he does is either ignore my hand or gum it and spit. Anyone any ideas please? He gets his dried food moistened to a semi-porridge and guzzles it. It's been years since we had such a wee pup and even then it was labs and GSDs who manage food much better. Bit at a loss with this one although I know time and some teeth will improve matters.
Thanks
Gill

Would have gone for cheese....but does not seem have taken Dougal's fancy.

How have you got him so young? He should still be with his dam and litter mates. Is he able to eat his kibble OK.

Never had a pup turn away from a tiny cube of strong cheddar,sliver of peperami when older, use it from 3 weeks old when introducing them to standing on the table etc.

He may simply not be food orientated so verbal OTT praise or a special toy kept for those times may have to be enough.

> We rescued a 12 week old shepherd in late November and he's nearly 6 months now and doing great

> We have just brought home a lovely wee baby beardie Dougal and are having so much fun

Id seriously question a breeder who let you have this pup with a GSD pup at home?

> The problem is that I realise we are not actually toilet training him unless he is being treated

Actually, my most reliable and quickest dogs were trained withOUT treats.

> I've tried tiny bits of chicken

I'd persevere with the chicken pieces. I think it can take pups a little while to get the idea of titbits.

>Id seriously question a breeder who let you have this pup with a GSD pup at home?

Why?

Because to me, the GSD pup is still going to be very demanding and require a lot of time with training etc so to bring another youngster into the house is going to be a big challenge IMO.

To me its equal to selling someone 2 puppies from the same litter.

Thanks.

I personally think it depends on the individual- if they are familiar with dogs, training dogs ect then in my opinion should do just fine.

I personally feel I would do just fine with 2 youngsters and really have no problem- as long as I work with them individually & not one on one
so they bond with me. Eventually focus training together. I have done this- but now having a full time job not something I would want to take on.

Hi All
Dougal is 7 and a bit weeks old and is doing really well.  He is trying very hard to do his business in the garden and we are praising the life out of him. The problem is that I realise we are not actually toilet training him unless he is being treated. He has almost no teeth and every treat I try is of no interest. I've tried tiny bits of chicken, hotdog, cheese etc and all he does is either ignore my hand or gum it and spit. Anyone any ideas please? He gets his dried food moistened to a semi-porridge and guzzles it. It's been years since we had such a wee pup and even then it was labs and GSDs who manage food much better. Bit at a loss with this one although I know time and some teeth will improve matters.
Thanks
Gill

Just wonder you say the pup doesn't have that many teeth & gums the food- just a question but do you think he is as old as what they say? Just sounds a lot younger that's all.
I always used treats/praise/toy when potty training my puppies. Then eventually I weaned them off of that- worked wonders- Moose was basically house trained at 4 months.
Have you tried maybe some canned food- or maybe tripe? Tripe is very stinky but dogs love it. Taking the lil one to the same spot all the time works well to :-)

This baby is very young and sounds as if he may not be properly weaned, would forget about treats at the moment you don't really need them just praise when he get it right. What are you feeding could be that it needs to be served as a porridge if he is not fully weaned and has not yet got his baby teeth.

> I personally think it depends on the individual- if they are familiar with dogs, training dogs ect then in my opinion should do just fine.
>
> I personally feel I would do just fine with 2 youngsters and really have no problem- as long as I work with them individually & not one on one
> so they bond with me.

Thats fair enough, and if the OP is able to do this then great :)

Im guessing you only had him a day / two so its very early to be expecting too much (but you'll already know that) 

How many teeth does he have?

Hi
I am lucky to be at home all day and I have had dogs since I was a child and we have had 3 dogs at a time for many years of varying ages and age gaps. I have plenty of time to spend with them individually so I don't foresee a lack of attention or bonding as there are 6 adults in our home all of whom are involved with the dogs. The shepherd is my pup and the beardie is my 22 year old son's but I am doing the puppy minding through the day or the nights when he is at his part-time job.
Dougal is definitely 7 weeks and 6 days old as I know the breeder well. I saw pics of him immediately after he was born and I saw him in the whelping box when he was 7 days old and have visited him regularly since he was born. He was seen at my vets yesterday and the vet says he is fantastic. He does have teeth, just not a full mouth of them and I am probably wrong that this is the issue because he certainly can chew as the tiny teeth marks in my toe will prove. His puppy kibble is dampened to make a mush and that goes down a treat. He just seems not to be keen to take food from my hand and also seems to dislike the texture of the treats I have tried. Maybe my cheese is just not smelly enough!!

He is on Wainwrights puppy and I mean that i dampen the kibble. Maybe porridge was the wrong word. it just seems to go a bit mushy.I have had him a day and a bit and as I say he does have teeth just not a full mouth. Very sharp canines,  all of his top incisors some of the lowers and a couple of big molars.

It just sounds to me like he hasnt got the idea of treats. My pup didnt quite understand titbits at first but now she does :)

I'll be thinking of you when im on 3am toilet duty :)

The other 2 dogs certainly understand treats and are more than happy to help out! :) I will just keep trying because he loves his food. Just thought my idea of what is an appealing treat to a pup might be outdated and that there might be some new ideas out there which would catch his nose as he doesn't even seem to sniff what I have in my hand. Possibly just need to be patient and it will come.

You too??? OH was deaf through 4 babies and many dogs. His hearing is not improving with age! :D What age is your pup claire_14? The shepherd picked up toilet training in a week which was great but he was fully 12 weeks when we got him. Unfortunately he had missed out on his early socialisation so we have had to work hard on that (and will be for some time to come!)!! I am realistic that it's very early days with Dougal and there's masses of work to be done but frankly that suits me. We have had a lot of rough stuff recently between losing my 2 older girls before Christmas and then my mum very suddenly just after Christmas. I need to be busy and have my mind taken up so this situation suits.
Gill

She's 12 weeks on Saturday (we kept her from a litter we had). Im always amazed when OH utters the words "the pup slept well" errrr NO i was up 3 times with her lol. To be fair i think she's just pushing her luck at the minute and just wants to go out and play, I say nothing to her, just carry her downstairs and only talk (praise) when she's performed, she's a bright spark and already seems to rule the roost (i have her mum / a 1/2 brother from last litter a flatcoat and a lab to contend with lol)

I'm glad you are enjoying the distraction :)

You have your hands full with that lot!! My oldest girl was a simply gorgeous lab whom we got to be my oldest son's intro to dog handling. She was an amazing pup and grew up to be a wonderful girl who stayed with us for 12 and a half fab years, but I couldn't dream of having another lab so soon. It wouldn't be fair to the pup as I would be comparing them. 3 dogs is our magic number and now we are full! Dougal belongs to the same son and will no doubts be a totally different dog to the lab but for sheer lovability he has some big paw prints to fill!! :)

> You have your hands full with that lot!

I sure do lol, and thats nothing compared to the number of dogs some CD members have :)

I have a litter of 5 1/2 week old litter, and they have their dry puppy food semi dry (jsut some water splashed on before serving.

They have had sharp mouthfuls of teeth from four weeks (first through at 3 weeks).

Are you sure that the pup really is the age he is said to be?  I can't see how he would not have teeth enough to deal with pretty much any food, and everything else like trouser legs..

That's exactly how I have given Dougal his feed although I tried him with some dry at teatime today and he coped just fine. Like I have said I am 100 per cent sure of his age! I know the breeder as a friend and got the pics on the day he was born and have visited regularly!! He does have teeth- more than I had realised actually now that I have looked more closely. There are gaps but the whole top front some of the bottom front, all canines plus some molars and he definitely can deal with trousers, toes and fingers.
Actually as if to prove me wrong to worry he has taken hot dog and chicken this afternoon so I guess he just needed to get the taste.

That's good.

Pups like children have two sets of teeth, the baby teeth start coming out after 4 months.

Similarily there are fewer back teeth than in the adult.

I know someone who makes and sells very tiny biscuits for dogs, they will send them by post if you can't collect them. Message me and I will give you their website details. I use these for dog training rather than the liver cake they make.