New JRT! How do we start her training??

[chotty]

Hi! We recently picked up our new JRT puppy and she's absolutely gorgeous! She's very affectionate and seems to be a quick learner, but I want to make sure we're starting her off in the best possible way.

She already seems to be getting the hang of puppy pads, and mostly pees on them, with the odd accident. She will also pee and do number 2s outside in our little bit of garden. However, she seems to dislike being outside sometimes, whimpering to get back in, and planting and refusing to move. She then tries to climb the steps to the back door again unless we pick her up and take her further away from the door. Will she eventually grow out of this once she's more confident? Or should we be doing something to make it more fun as opposed to strictly business? I don't want to confuse her. She's not yet fully vaccinated so we can only go in the garden just now.

Also, she's started biting and wrestling quite a lot. Will hold onto trouser legs/sleeves and wrestle until she eventually lets go. I've tried to use 'ah ah' and 'NO' and 'leave it' but she takes no notice. Same with the biting, I will do a little yelp and ignore her but she just bounds back thinking it's a part of the game!

We also sometimes have to leave her for a maximum 2 hours to go to the shops/do the horse/ time when we''re both at work, and she just howls. We leave her in a puppy crate with a pen around it, with toys, water and puppy pad as well as her bed and blanket. How do we stop her from howling and barking?*I've tried just leaving her for very short amounts of time and coming back to her, slowly increasing it, but she still howls and I feel dreadful for it!

Should I just persist with what I'm doing and see if she eventually figures it out, or should I try something different? I haven't had a dog for years so out of practice with all this!

 

[Molly'sMama]

bumping for you .. not much advice as I was a tiny tot when we got our JRT. I think just ensure you don't encourage the biting/nipping and take her to meet other dogs whilst she's young.. I'd advise proper training classes, we'd never have coped with our retriever pup without them but it's so helpful having advice and a rigid structure xx

 

[Wiz201]

I don't use puppy pads, I just get them straight out every hour outside. She'll get used to being outside eventually.
I start with the basics and aim to ger her doing them by 4 months when she's starting to go outside on walks. That's maybe a two second sit and a down. You can also practise lead training inside the house and get her used to a collar. I got my cockerpoo pup used to a collar by putting it on, then pulling gently on it and treating at the same time.

 

[CorvusCorax]

If you had the choice to pee inside, or pee outside, which would you choose? that is the problem with puppy pads, it teaches them that it's OK to pee in the house. Then you say OI! NO PEEING IN THE HOUSE! If it is always and only outside, there is no ambiguity or confusion. You have to watch her all the time for signs of circling and sniffing and pop her outside. Also monitor her food and water intake. She is a small pup and won't be able to hold anything for any amount of time.
It also depends on how she was raised and where - dogs which learn they can pee and poo anywhere as tiny pups will be harder to train out of it than pups which have learned to distinguish between where they sleep and hang out and where they go to the toilet.
If you only ever shut her away when you leave, that will be why she is crying. She needs to also be in the crate when you are at home/around and it must be a positive association, for example, she could get all her meals in the crate.
With the biting, bear in mind she is a puppy and she is a terrier, ragging and biting is what they are inclined to do.
As I mentioned in another post, the yelp has to be a shock to the dog, to make it stop. If it is a little squeak then you will just make yourself sound like prey and little terriers love a bit of squeaky prey. If she nipped her mother hard, she'd be turfed out of the box.

 

[Clodagh]

Agree with CC, I have never seen the point of teaching a pup to pee in the house. Ours go outrside every 20 minutes for the first week (not at night!) which may be overkill but the fewer accidents inside the easier to teach.