Well, it does sound like you are doing the best. This is just a forum and the info given and then taken into action on your part may be miles away because they (we) are not living right there…. Just keep up the best that you are doing. Wish you all the best....it can be frustrating beyond what we would understand because the situation you have with Basil is similar BUT WAAAAY different then we ever had;;;;we never had Basil!!!!!!!!! I am (we are?) behind you and wish you good luck. It is a handful. Knowing you get on the forum to vent is why it exists I guess....Take the info and apply it as best you can before the behaviorist or trainer gets involved. Remember, dogs, even Basenjis can learn something all over again with the correct input-HANG IN THERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Kudos!!!:)
Let me in or I'll poop
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Can I potty train him with the crate when we are not home but give him free use of the house when we are, including letting him sleep during the night out of his crate? This is the only reason y we have not crated him. O.k about the nipping thing, we are all going to have to strap ourselves like cowboys to a chewing toy and maybe a squirt water bottle for back up.
You can do whatever you want with him, as long as you can keep your eye on him every single second. During the day, you make it so he can't leave the room you are in…or tether him to you....while you are sleeping, you are unlikely to be able to watch him, so I would crate him. The only exception to that, imo, is if he is sleeping in your bed, and you wake up when he starts to move around. That is how we night trained several of our dogs. As soon as the puppy starts moving around, we take them outside.
We have a puppy right now too...so I totally understand what you are going thru. But I know if I walk away from the puppy, I will most likely find a puddle when I come back. I clean it up, and go on....I know if I leave her in her crate for more than three hours, I will be cleaning up pee, and probably poop. I put newspaper on the floor of the crate, and an absorbent blanket, and be prepared to clean when I come back. The responsiblity is all on ME to set her up for success...if I can't do that, then I take responsiblity for not actually training her.
For the biting, try standing up and leaving the play when it gets too rough. Usually our puppy bites when she is either on my lap, or if we are holding her..I immediately put her down (unless she is struggling to *get down, and that is a different story). Game over. You can also try spraying your hands and arms with Bitter Apple. That is the only thing that worked when Querk was a puppy.
House training sometimes takes a long time. You KNOW that he will poop when somebody walks away (separates themselves) from him.... so set him up so that can't happen. If your daughter needs a break from him, put him in the crate, and she goes off to her room. Give him something fun do in there, so it isn't a puninshment. Or she says 'mom, watch the puppy, I can't deal with him right now'.
You were meeting with a trainer, right? Has that happened yet? Hopefully he or she will have some good ideas for you.
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With the nipping try what they call "replacing the behavior" so when he starts to nip give him something to do IMMEDIATELY (and timing is everything with this exercise) that he can't possibly nip & do the new behavior at the same time…for example..Step 1-nips=chew toy IMMEDIATELY Step 2-if he gets distracted with the chew toy then you treat him with some yummy food & good praises!! Using a nice happy voice!!
Andrea once used this analogy that has stuck with me....if they had a law that all those that DON'T speed get a new car
wouldn't you NOT speed 
well same idea with dogs..
Great advice about the nipping…and I am glad you liked my speeding analogy
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Yeah the trainer is coming this weekend. During the night is not a problem, when he sees we are going to bed he goes to bed too and does't wakw up before 5…We walk away when he nips but believe it or not he kind of likes it, it's like he's playing catch and nip. He does behave when we take him for a long walk so I do believe it's just alot of energy. I started telling my daughter that she needs to spend more time with him by playing with him. I do think he might nip at her the most because she's dosen't spend that much time with him. He is persistant and wow his nips can hurt. I tried ignoring him yesturday but when he starts nothing stops him, well he dosen't like the spray bottle to I think we're gonna get more persistant with that.
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The spray bottle may wind him up more. Try the Bitter Apple on your hands. we have found that sometimes when the puppy is too tired (yes, it can happen) they are more mouthy. Sometimes just putting the puppy in the crate for a nap works wonders!
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is that like the spray on scents or do I get this at a pet store?
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It is available at pet stores and is a chewing deterrent formulated for pets so it is nasty but non-toxic. I've heard of some dogs that aren't phased by it, but my B gives me dirty looks when I open the cabinet the bitter apple is in
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Andrea..hey if I ask for advice I absolutely take it to heart
especally the good stuff Thanks for the compliment..I've been doing quite a bit of reading! And practicing!!
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O.k here's the update on the trainer..Well he's not really a trainer but knows alot about dogs. (he was referred to us by the rescue agency) Anyway he thinks Champ is unusually imature for his age and feels the excessive nipping and the nipping in his favorite area-bobbies, is due to him maybe being seperated from his mom too early. He wants us to crate train him but he says to put him in the crate with no toys, blankets bed or anything. (This I find very harsh). Also he says we should keep him crated when pple come over the house. (I'm not happy about that either). That' sll for the potty training. Now for the nipping, he suggests a citruis collar. It is like a shock collar but instead of shocking, it realeases a strong smell that the gods dont' like.
O.k I was unable to sleep last night just thinking of these methods and would really like some feedback concerning these trainng methods. I don't want to do the wrong thing and cause any probelems for our B -
Hmmmm - lots of times you have nipping puppies because they were removed from mom too early and she would have corrected that kind of behavior. So what would mom do if she were nipped by her puppy.
Growl at puppy and probably mouth the puppies head. Now I'm not recommending biting your dogs head but a firm hand on the head with a growly noise from whomever is getting nibbled on is probaly a good idea.
I always recommend keeping a dog especially puppy crated or away when lots of people come over for a variety of reasons:
1 - if they don't close the door quick enough the pup could be gone.
2 - not everyone is a dog person and may have different expectations of what a dog should be doing and correct the dog in a different way that would be appropriate.
3 - too much stress -
yeah that sounds right, now what about being left in the crate without any toys, bed, blankets, etc?
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I've only heard of citrus collars that are used to control barking; the barking sets off the shot of citrus. Are there ones that can be remote-controlled? In other words, how does the nipping set off the citrus blast?
I'm not sure of his reasoning in leaving the pup in a bare crate. Did he explain why he thought it was a good idea?
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No. I will ask him but I'm not sure a bare crate will help. How will he want to be inside if I don't keep him comfortable. The collar is remote control
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I would say that if you aren't comfortable with the advice the trainer gave you, then find another trainer.
My guess is that he suggested a bare crate because if the dog urinates in it, he will have to sit in it. Personally, I don't crate train that way. My experience has been that for a while, some puppies urinate in their crate…eventually they grow out of it. But I am very tolerant for cleaning up puppy pee and poo
I do line the crate with newspaper so it absorbs any liquid...but the important part is that a puppy really should be taken outside at most every couple of hours to become housetrained...if you don't or can't do that, it will take longer to house train a dog.As far as citronella collar for nipping...I don't think it would be effective. I think it is far more effective to disengage with the puppy..it sends and immediate message of "I won't play with you when you put your mouth on me". If it is true puppy mouthing, it will get better as the puppy grows up. If it is some bratty temper tantruming, then if you don't deal with it, it will get worse.
You really need to find a good, positive reinforcement trainer...I think that will help you. Somewhere, maybe this thread? there is a link to the American Pet Dog Trainer website, most of the people listed there are well educated in positive training techniques. For even more certification, look for a trainer with the CPDT (Certified Professional Dog Trainer) title. You can also google CCPDT, and find a listing of these trainers there.
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I agree totally with Andrea…. her suggestions are right on... IMO
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yeah I have my doubts about the trainer because well he isn't even a real trainer just "knows alot about dogs", and he didn't mention anything about positive reinforcement but he is affordable and can sort of guide us towards something. The thing is that Champ is already 1 year old and we have tried all the suggestions about his mouthing and he just dosen't stop, although the spray bottle does seem to help for a while. I am going to call the guy today and speak to him about my concerns and see if he's willing to work with our ideas and if not then we'll just be hitting this forum alot more often
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I ditto Andrea…I think there's a HUGE difference between people "know" & "love" dogs & have "had dogs" all their life giving advice vs. someone who is a "trained" professional. One who is familiar with behavior & reactions of a wide range of dogs not just the one's they've owned.
I had to go through a couple of trainers to really find one that I liked & was comfortable with. I also READ A LOT of books to find what I thought was best for my dogs. Check out the www.dogwise.com website. They have lots of great books there. I can recommend an author…Patricia Mcconnell who is not a trainer but an animal behaviorist. She's written great books & I believe she also has one on puppy training.
IMO I also think it takes time for dogs to "unlearn" a behavior. According to your posts you've only been working on his nipping for maybe a week or two. Unfortunately it's going to take a lot longer for Champ to learn what you want him to do.
Good luck
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We have actually been working with our B for about 1 month. We've only had him for almost 2 months. I know it takes time and we are giving it time but I would have at least expected the last month to have shown some improvement on his nipping. Thanks for the resource I am in the process of receiving the B hand book that was also recommended by a forum member and will look up your recomeendation. Maybe with the crate Champ will also learn some more control over all not only with the potty.
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I also wanted to start Champ in the basic training offered by petsmart but was wondering if I should wait until we work on the nipping and potty first or we can do it at the same time
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I didn't realize that Champ is a year old. That definitely is older than the average age for seeing these kind of problems. Usually play biting runs its course by the age of 6-8 mos or so…after that if you are still seeing a lot of biting, the dog has often learned to use his mouth to get what he wants.
It is really hard to diagnose, and give good suggestions over the internet. But I would seriously, seriously look into finding a good trainer or behaviorist. I am concerned that what you are describing as play biting, or nipping might actually be aggression. It might be more expensive than the guy who you contacted, but it could very well be worth it to you and this dog in the long run.
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Well I really don't think it's agressive (I'm not an expert though) but what the guy said was that he is unusually immature for his age and he was probably taken from his mom too early so no mommie to teach him the basics of nipping. I do believe this is like as if he was still a pup and in that nipping stage. He dosen't growl, show he's teeth or close his jaw when he's nipping. Well now the guy offered to come to my home to help and at no cost so we'll give it a try. We only started with the water spray this weekend and will also buy the bitter apple and see how that goes. I'm definetly going to start crating him this weekend (yes I caved in but now I realize it is best for us all).
