Puppy rules/boundaries??

katie_southwest

katie_southwest

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I have a 3 month old West Highland Terrier puppy. Shes adorable and we love her to bits, however me and mum are slightly disagreeing on rules/boundaries etc. With it being mums house obviously she has the last say on where puppy is allowed etc..
1. She has been allowed the run of the house except for sitting room as decent sofas in there that we dont want chewing! Now mum is saying she wants her kept in one room as shes having the run of the house and thinking shes top dog(she nipped mum this morning so thats where that came from) So she is now in kitchen/dining room with child gate on and access to back garden.
Do you think that is ok? I just feel a bit like whats the point in having her if shes in the kitchen all day, and i dont want to be in there all the time checking on her when she quite happily potters around the house with me whilst im doing things.
2.Also sleeping arrangements, at the moment she is sleeping in a big storage box thingy?? which she can see out of the top of but not quite jump out of...half is blankets and half is paper for toilet. That was fine when she was very small(8 weeks) but she is growing now and I think she is getting a bit big to stay in the box all night. How old would you think is a suitable age for a puppy to be sleeping in the kitchen/similar? Or just once it is toilet/paper trained??
Sorry for the essay! But it is our first puppy and we just arent sure if we are doing things too fast/too slow??
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I think that you should have rooms/boundaries where your dog is not allowed like the living room or even upstairs, our dog is allowed to roam the house when we are there but at night and when we go out she is shut in the kitchen, this has been the rule since she was a puppy, you need to be consistent with them otherwise they will get confused.

As for her sleeping arrangements I think that you could start to move her out of the box (especially if she can now jump out of it) but keep the same blankets and newspaper on the floor and slowly reduce the amount of newspaper you put down as she gets more house trained - we started off covering the whole kitchen floor!

I hope that this helps?
 
Yes thankyou,
Thats what I am worrying about, its not fair on her to one minute be allowed everywhere and the next minute only in one room. I dont want to confuse her.
I think mainly it is because she is prone to running out into the hallway and doing little wees on the carpet which is getting a bit out of control! Obviously we cant be there all the time to open the door when she needs a wee so until she is completely house trained I suppose she should be confined to a couple of rooms and the garden.
Will start leaving her out of the box at night though and see how she gets on. Il put down plenty of newspaper too just incase!!
 
You can always try puppy training pads, they apparently have a smell to them which encourages them to pee on top, also a lot quicker and easier to clean up as the pee is soaked up like a nappy, I still use these when we are out all day just in case.
 
I think now is a good time to introduce boundaries...westi's are renound for their bad attitudes...we rehomed sh1t loads of them....all snappy little critters from being let the rule the roost.
Why did she snap at your mam?
If she is struggling with the house training side of things u would benefit from crating her as opposed to her box....and confining her to certain parts of the house, I would also keep her crated throught he night otherwise the house training will take 10 x's longer....u should not let her out of your sight when she is playing/running around when you are there otherwise you will not beable to correct her when she squats for her business...i.e picking her up and placing her outside then treating her for performing her business.
Ps she is old enough to be left in the kitchen and to sleep there, she will be more prone to start being destructive and pishing all over if she is not confined, you need to keep to a routine until she is mature enoughto be left in a bigger space without any problems.
 
CALA - Im not sure I think she was playing in the garden and got a bit over excited and caught mum on the finger
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Im aware that they can be snappy etc so thought it best to get boundaries set while she is still young
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Shes fine in her box overnight she sometimes doesnt go to the toilet at all and waits til I let her in the garden. Its when she is able to run into the hallway etc she runs to the paper and squats but sometimes stands on the paper with her backside off it!
She never poos in the house always outside its just the weeing and when she gets excited she almost cant hold herself!
She is very good she doesnt chew any furniture (table legs etc) just shoes and slippers
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I think we will keep her in the kitchen/extension and garden until she gets the hang of the toilet issues properly
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My puppy has always run of the house except for when I'm out when she's confined to one room (I don't agree with crating). It does seem a shame to lock your pup away in the kitchen, she needs to grow up as part of the family, not left on her own, bored. Just because she has run of the house does not mean she thinks she's top dog
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As for the nipping, that is to be expected from any puppy. At her age, they start teething and so start biting whatever they can find. She isn't trying to be top dog (I doubt any dog would at that age), she's simply showing normal puppy behaviour.

My girl has always been confined to my bedroom at night, but been allowed to wander around and sleep where she wishes from the night she came home at 6wks 6days old. She had puppy training pads which she learnt to use very quickly, and was happy being able to move about as she wished.

IMO, dogs need some form of freedom, even at that young age. It's not right for them to be shut in the kitchen all day long, then a tiny storage box all night. Mine has always been given freedom, and she has grown up (now nearly 9mths) perfectly behaved. She's not an easy breed being a Chow Chow, who are known for being very dominant, aloof dogs, yet I've had no problems with her with those arrangements.
 
She is not shut in the kitchen on her own someone is always with her - she has the kitchen our dining/sitting room bit and free access to a large garden all day so isnt shut away by any means, and to be honest once she has been walked she has lots of sleeps during the day so is perfectly happy with that
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Its more the fact of I cant keep my eye on her if I have to do something somewhere else in the house. Once she is completely house trained she will be able to have the run of the house again
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With regards to overnight, I do agree with you and she will be out of her bed into her big comfy adult bed in the kitchen - she tires herself out in the evenings so much that she sleeps through the night - but once she wakes at 6ish Id like her to be able to wander about and amuse herself with toys etc whilst we are getting up
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When we are in the house my puppy is allowed anywhere he likes (which is generally 2 inches behind me wherever I am!) but when he's alone he is shut in the kitchen with a baby gate over the door. He seem quite happy with this and hasn't shown any really 'dominance' over any areas in the house.

At night time, while he was still being house trained he slept in the kitchen. We found it also helped to re inforce the fact that he can't be with us all the time. Then we put a bed in our bedroom and he slept in there for a while along with the cats. Now he sleeps on t he bed with us. Not recommended by a lot of people but he's a good boy, will give it up if we tell him too and we love having him there!
 
Hehe yeah I know people whos sleep on the bed with them, problem is she cant get down on her own yet and id be worried about squashing her!!
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She is now allowed her freedom of the house again
and in the kitchen at night with gate on. And we have only had one wee on the carpet so far all day
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miracle!
 
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