Hi ya'all,

We just added a new member to our family , a beagle puppy and we've named
her "Mandy". I was wondering if anybody knows how long the newspapers
should be kept out? We've owned other dogs before but never a puppy and
starting from scratch, we're new at this! She's the most adorable puppy and
doing very well with the housetraining, I must say! Any advice would be
greatly appreciated!! Oh, and another thing I was wondering if it was
necessary to moisten the puppy chow or can you just feed it like that?

Thanks in advance,
Teresa

On Fri, 13 May 2005 23:37:42 -0700 J&T whittled these words:
Hi ya'all,

We just added a new member to our family , a beagle puppy and we've named
her "Mandy". I was wondering if anybody knows how long the newspapers
should be kept out?

Why are you using newspapers? Have you looked at "crate training"
as a housetraining method? THe principle is that you use the dogs natrual
desire to remain clean, together with a watchful eye to develop a habit in
your dog of never getting the opportunity to pee or poop indoors, and
always peeing and pooping outdoors. Ever notice that when you walk into a
bathroom or hear water running you get the urge? THat's classical
condtioning. Your dog is surface sensitive and will be classically
conditioned to prefer - or not prefer - a surface to pee and poop on
depending upon what you allow. Once you have taught the dog that indoors
is an appropiriate place to relive itself then indoors will be an
appropriate place for the dog to relieve itself. THe book "How to
Housebreak Your Dog in Seven Days" outlines a good house training
technique. If you need your dog to relieve itself indoors on newspaper
then I recommend a tray and planning on continuing that method for the
life of the dog. Which does not mean you can't get the dog relieving
itself outdoors, but you will find some reluctance and there will always
be resort to the newspaper.

http://www.uwsp.edu/psych/dog/lib-SpecTrain.htm#house

greatly appreciated!! Oh, and another thing I was wondering if it was
necessary to moisten the puppy chow or can you just feed it like that?

How old is this puppy? THat makes a difference.


--
Diane Blackman
http://dog-play.com/
http://dogplay.com/Shop/

Depends on how long it takes to housebreak her. Our male beagle learned
pretty quick (we picked him up and ran him out to the lawn when he seemed to
get the urge. There might have been one OMG! shout early on too), but he
was around 3 months old when we got him. He only made maybe a total of 3
times indoors before he got the message to go outdoors via the doggie door.
After that, he may have made a total of 10 accidents over a decade.
Beagles, fwiw, are known to be pretty stubborn (their nose leads the way) as
our vet told us. He also owned a couple of them.
Pretty good since we also had a "white" carpet.

Mack