having a few problems.

[Honormum]

So...Teddy is just 10 weeks and been with us for 2.

He's wonderful in nearly every way and we adore him.

However, the biting and the toileting is getting me down at times. I suspect I'm probably expecting too much, so feel free to tell me if I am.

House training - excellent at night. As soon as we hear him on the newspaper (he's in a crate in our bedroom), we whip him out, he goes, we put him back to bed - easy.

During the day, we take him out about every 45 minutes, and leave the door into the garden open a lot of the time BUT he is having as many accidents as ever. We try to watch him like a hawk, but a lot of the time, he'll wee 5 minutes after he's been put outside and had one...and 2 minutes after that.

We are training him to a cue word, and he is very good at performing when he's taken out...but doesn't seem to have made the connection that he should only go outside.

Is it just a matter of patience? At the moment, I feel the only reason he goes outside is because we catch him in time - a bit like potty-training a toddler. He's not crated in the day - because he's not really left alone - would crating him help?

The biting - it's almost non-stop. He bites hard and obsessively, even when we yelp dramatically - it seems to actually fire him up more. He has started to bark at the same time and charge at us - he turns into a gremlin! Our poor lab is getting some of it, but if she tells him off, it doesn't stop him. Unless he us sleepy, you can't stroke or play with him without it turning into a biting match. I am covered in scratches and bruises.

He has chew toys, he gets pigs ears, he has a stag bar, he gets dentasticks. We try to walk away when he gets too much but he tends to grab trouser legs and feet.

He just doesn't seem to have had any social skills taught by his mum - another example is that if I give our lab a treat first and then him one, he will actually jump up at Bea's mouth. I'm frightened that if he did that to another dog, they would really turn on him.

[elaine.e]

Firstly, sending you some  because you sound like you need them at the moment

At 10 weeks a few puppies are progressing well with their housetraining and don't have many daytime accidents but most still haven't got the hang of it, so don't worry. You're not doing anything wrong so just carry on being patient and he'll get the idea eventually. Of my 2 current Cockers, William was pretty much clean in the house by about 12 weeks or so but Louis took quite a lot longer than that.

I can't really help with the biting because I've never had a bitey puppy (hope that doesn't sound smug, I've just been really lucky) but I wonder if trying him with a stuffed Kong might keep him occupied for longer than things like pigs ears and dentastix. I'm not a fan of dentastix because I think they contain a lot of rubbishy ingredients and when William was a puppy things like that and pigs ears used to go straight through him and I think they made him a bit hyper as well.

I'm sure somebody with cockerdile puppy experience will be along soon to help

[Honormum]

Thank you Elaine.

I hold my hands up - I can be a stress-head.
Teddy is fabulous - he's funny, beautiful, happy and easy in so many ways.

It hadn't even occurred to me that the pig's ear and dentastick might be hyping him up - I will avoid them in case and use his Kong. (I had actually posted about what to put in it and got some great ideas.)

He is quite excitable - he barks quite a lot, for eg, when we're getting his food ready, when he wants to play etc. I've started doing a bit of training with him every day and just introduced the concept of "wait"...but he can barely keep his bum on the floor.

We're due to start a training class in a few weeks so maybe that will help us calm him down.

As I say, he is 99% fabulous.

[LinziS]

You are doing everything as you should but he is still a baby and got a long way to go in terms of learning...not much comfort I know when your hands and feet are getting shredded at every opportunity but he will get there in the end. I wore ugg boots for the first few weeks and was forever removing a dangling cocker from my dressing gown in the morning.
Sometimes when they get a bit hyper it is best to pop them in their crate or behind a stairgate to give them (and you) some time out.
My Tilly is very vocal when sorting her dinner or preparing for a walk....woo woo's continuously...something my older girl never did so came as a shock to me at the noise these little beggers make.

It will get better...PROMISE x

[Honormum]

Thanks Linzi

He's our first cocker, and only our second puppy (plus our lab is 11.5 now, so her puppy days are a distant memory!).

I've been wearing flip flops to put him out (for ease), but uggs sound like a better idea! I think time-out to cool down is a great idea. We have gates between rooms downstairs so it's easy to do. I'm sure he'll calm down when hems allowed walks - we took him to the beach on Monday (said to be ok by a friend who is a dog trainer) and let him walk along the tide line and he slept for the rest if the day.

It's just an intense time, isn't it, when you're at home with them all day.

[8 Hairy Feet]

Aw puppy days (or should that
be puppy daze) can be challenging
but he's only a baby and you know
these times do pass so quickly
we should be able to treasure them,
they grow so fast, you look down and your
sweet pup :luv:has turned into a dog.
steffxxx
ps :bigarmhug:for you!

[Ruby Tuesday]

He is so young, just give him time. Our Jem was relatively slow to pick up on house training, and was probably about 7 months before she was 99% trained. Just keep doing what you are doing.

She was also a manic biter so I really sympathise. I was in tears at times as most of it got directed at me. Distraction was the only thing that worked, give him an empty coke bottle to chase around, put treats in a kitchen roll, fold it up and let him get them out, just anything to focus his attention elsewhere. It will pass. Jem is now 10 months and the only time she gets a bit mouthy is when we get home and she is really excited, to be honest I thought she never stop, but she did.

Stick with it

[Jane S]

Not sure if anyone's already mentioned this so apologies if they have - re house training, it's best not to leave the door open so pup can come and go as they please - doing this can make it harder for a youngster to distinguish between "inside" and "outside" as there's no physical barrier between the two. You might find Teddy makes more progress if you can keep the door into the garden closed

[Joules]

I can sympathise - I found the first few weeks with Coco really hard and even sometimes thought I had made a terrible mistake 

She took ages to be totally housetrained - I got her in October so spent many hours out in all weathers begging her to do her business.  She still peed in the house and also the odd poo for quite a while - it felt like she was just doing it to show me that she could - of course that was not the case.  Some pups take longer than others - like children, they are all different.  I had loads of people tell me that their pup was fully housetrained in 2 weeks and never weed in the house - I think some people lie, some forget what it was like and some are lucky! 

One thing though - what are you using to clean up when he pees inside?  If you use anything that contains ammonia (a lot of disinfectants/bleach etc do) he will think it still smells of wee and will keep going in the same place.  If there is any trace of smell (obviously they can smell is much more easily than we can) they will carry on.  You can get special liquid cleaner from pet shops or biological washing powder/liquid is meant to be very good at getting rid of any trace of smell.

You are expecting a lot though if he is only 10 weeks old - I know it seems to go on forever but, in reality, the worst only lasts a few weeks or sometimes months (sorry)    Just keep doing what you are doing and it will eventually click 

[Neon]

I really understand how you are feeling.  My situation with Toby's toilet training was almost identical to yours.  (I only crated him in the daytime if I needed to pop out).  There were days when I honestly thought he would never be house trained but I carried on with the training - outside regularly, told him to "toilet" then reward with a treat.  Eventually, the penny dropped and he was taking himself outside, but not until he was about 6/7 months though.  (This was just his wees, he always rushed outside to do his poos though, from the first day).  They are all different and with your patience, he will get there before you know it.

As someone said, they grow up too quickly and this will soon seem a long time ago - easy for me to say now, I know, but been there and got the tee shirt.    Keep up the good work! x

[Honormum]

Not sure if anyone's already mentioned this so apologies if they have - re house training, it's best not to leave the door open so pup can come and go as they please - doing this can make it harder for a youngster to distinguish between "inside" and "outside" as there's no physical barrier between the two. You might find Teddy makes more progress if you can keep the door into the garden closed

Thank you for that - I did wonder if leaving the back door open would cause more problems than it solved. I guess there is no replacement for actually keeping a fierce eye on him and acting on his cues.

He does puzzle me, though. For example, I've had to take my children to swimming lessons this evening, and left a piece of newspaper by the back door (he's not being paper trained on purpose, but he has previously weed on a towel that was left there so I thought of was worth a shot). As expected, he'd had a wee on it - and nowhere else in the room. However, tonight, while I've been cooking in the kitchen, I left clean paper down in the same spot...but he's weed and pooed everywhere but!

When he can make it through the night, I think we'll move his crate downstairs and reduce it's size so he learns to "ask" to go out.

[Honormum]

Thank you all for your lovely, supportive advice and comments.

Yes, I keep hearing people tell me that their dog NEVER messed in the house/was housetrained within a fortnight etc. It's like having a toddler - the first question people always ask is whether your puppy is clean in the house.

My husband did remind me today that he distinctly remembers me crying a few weeks after we got our lab as a puppy, saying, "I don't like her"! Because she was constantly dragging me round the kitchen in my dressing gown.
I know deep down that this is such a short phase and Teddy will be a big boy in the blink of an eye - it's just hard to think that when he's biting me to death and I'm cleaning up a puddle for the millionth time. 

We have hard floors downstairs so I've been wiping up his mess and then wiping over with a lemon and white vinegar solution, inbetween washing with Flash. Maybe I need to buy a purpose-made pet odour spray?

[Neon]

I used this, it kills odour, removes stains and kills the scent to discourage re-fouling.  It's great and there's also one for soft fabrics too.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Simple-Solution-Hardfloor-Stain-Remover/dp/B000TZ1X4S/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1350585454&sr=8-1

[Joules]

Not sure but Flash might contain ammonia

You could try something like this:

http://www.petsathome.com/shop/simple-solution-stain-and-odour-remover-4ltr-58814

I think Pets at Home do their own version too.

Or bio liquid/powder will do the job too (and is much cheaper!) 

[panda66]

I thought it was just me failing to toilet train.  Lila will ask to go out for poos but wees inside constantly. I take her out and stand then she comes in and does it. She seems to think the bathmat is the place to go. She is 22 weeks so don't lose heart, like babies some take longer than others.