9 to 12 Week Old Pups - How are we doing?

[Rae]

For those of you with 9-12 week old pups, how are we doing training and behavior wise? Any bad habits?

Tank is stubborn. He gets way too rough with my kids (he's still a baby!) and we're dealing with a little bit of a dominance issue. He gets really wild from about 6pm to 8:30pm, where I'm having to watch him like a complete hawk.

His bite inhibition is still being worked on. I can tell he's wanting to be gentle, I feel his lower jaw quiver when he mouths me. Other times, he just snips. He's also doing the whole growling bit. I certainly have a job on my hands. We're completely potty trained and Tank knows the sit, working on down, and come.

[danelover626]

Spartacus is 11 weeks we have a two story house so potty training is a bit challenging since he will wait by the door when he is down stairs but when he is up stairs he doesn't know exactly that there is not a door up there so he will go if we don't go down stairs with him. He is very vocal he comes when called sits to be pet and were working on standing still and stacking He does like to mouth but not very hard.

[danielleboyer09]

My little one is 8 weeks and hes big in the biting stage, but i just make sure and tell him ouch that hurts and after 3 or 4 more times i think hes starting to see that it hurts and he will start to give kisses instead. He is doing sooo good on potty training, he will wine and whimper to let me know when he has to go potty, my biggest thing is night time! but last night and the night before no accidents in the house! i was soo excited!! He knows how to sit, we are currently working on laying down. Now walking on a Leash is a different story, he HATES the leash, so I dont know what im going to do about that, right now im i easing my way into it lol. He only barks and growls at my husband, you see he works nights and when he comes home at 6 in the morning and we (me and my daughter) are sleeping, he wakes up the puppy coming through the dog and you would think we had an attack dog, until he sees that its just daddy lol. Also he is like scared of water, I had to give him a bath and he was terrified!!!

[mdmbutterfly]

My little guy is 9 weeks and is also chewing everything! I have worked with my boys (skin kids 4 and 10 y/o) on bite inhibition...he gets rougher with them then with my dh and I. Maybe because the pup sees them as pups too? Evening seems to be his most active time as well...any mischief will be then for sure! As we don't have a yard for potty time, he is doing very well at walking on a leash. We're working on sitting when people approach to say hi. Potty training is coming along fairly smoothly, but not perfect just yet.

Rae...our pups could be stunt doubles! Lol!

[Devil Dog]

All sounds like typical Dane puppy behavior.

So many people new to the breed sometimes expect more from a pup, because of their size. Training yes, but also enjoy the "puppyhood"..it won't be long till you won't be able to pick up to cuddle.

Dee

[Flannery]

We have a 12 week old female (picked her up a few days short of 9 weeks.)

Doing beautifully with:
Redirect (She's started redirecting herself now after a few corrections - you can actually see her stop herself mid-naughtiness.)
Commands like come, look and sit
Meeting strangers
Bite inhibition (not 100%, but we are getting there.)
Sleeps through the night
Loves walking on a leash
Listens to "drop" when given the command
Rides in the car like a seasoned car-riding professional
Truly can entertain herself
Doesn't play too rough
Takes treats with no teeth at all, just tongue and lips (it's weird, my male does this too.)



Yikes, not so much:
Too vocal, talks back
Crawls on and snaps the air at her brother
Still whines in crate
Is the dog version of a garbage disposal - tries to eat everything!
Has regressed a little with the housebreaking, but she's done well today
Tries to get in between me and her brother when I'm showing him affection
Pulls and zig zags on the leash when we walk with her brother or another dog, does fine on the leash by herself
Whines and tries to push open the doors of the rooms where she is not allowed


Tomorrow we are taking her to a puppy playgroup. It's reserved only for puppies in her age group, so I might have more to report. Hope it's only the good!

[Tybee]

I need to figure out how to post a photo.
George is 9 weeks old today. He is GREAT at chilling in his doggie-room. We use the command "settle" when we are done playing and we want him to chill in his crate.
We've loaded him up with all kinds of kongs filled with kibble, and it's really satisfied his need to bite and chew. He's working well at bite-inhibition, responds well to a yelp, then starts licking instead of biting.
He's a little shy with strangers. We may have overloaded him a bit with visitors to start, so we're going to slow down on that. He barks and growls, and I'm a bit worried, but I'm hoping that a puppy class will help with that?
He loves his leash, and follows our 4 year old Sophie (also a Merle) around like she's a goddess.
I'm in LOVE with this little wonder. He's my first little baby puppy in 15 years. It's all brand new to us!

Tybee

[mdmbutterfly]

I forgot to mention in my previous post that my puppy is OBSESSED with dandelions. Flowers, leaves, stems...the whole thing. My challenge is to find a dandelion free area for him to do his business. Otherwise, he plays with and tries to eat them instead of going potty. Lol!

[PepperPaws]

Thank you so much for asking! Pepper is nearly 11 weeks now and is coming along pretty well. It is still quite a challenge on the nipping....man she really tries to be gentle sometimes....but she is too rough with my boys and when she is a wild child in the evenings, she is a complete nut and does everything she is not supposed to do (our evenings have not been so enjoyable many times ) - that being said, when she is good, she is so good and sweet and cuddly). She is learning lots of commands and does so good, doing so good at house training and coming along with crate training... Her wake up and ready to play time is most of the time about 4:45 am and I am dealing with this alone and a bit sleep deprived . We are being very consistent in rules and pack order - and giving her plenty of run around time outside (starting to wonder if this is OVER stimulating her - is that possible?). Again - thank you so much for asking! Overall, making progress, but very challenging...

[Sigler]

Lola aka Lola Pee

She is snoring in the crate right now. Just a doll. DD has not made much progress in housebreaking so we are working on that. I have friends with dogs and Lola got to go to the farm today where we play off leash. I wanted to be sure she didn't get a scare and she was fabulous!

She stayed right by my ankles off leash and met the group with great manners. Oh I hate people that say "but she is going to get so big".

Ya well you could use some weight watchers yourselves. Abby and Finn were very protective of her. I love puppies. Lola is my grandpuppy, here from Chicago for a babysit.

I was working on stay, which I think they have to know before come and she didn't get it until the bumpasses showed her.

She was like "crap you guys, is that what she wants?"

[LeaningPost]

Like alot of the others, Pandora at 13 weeks is a bit of a challenge, but 80% of the time she behaves extremely well (and it is wonderous to watch her grow physicaly and mentally every day !!)

Potty training, 100% now. We are lucky that we have an extra large pet door, and Pandora has 4 step-siblings to show her the ropes, and teach her proper yard etiquete lol. Commands, Sit/stay/down. Just starting on get (retrive... she love to fetch so it should go quickly), and release. The big one we are focusing on now is come. We are about 75% there. The amazing part is that she is responding to hand commands more than verbal. Not so good for the come in the middle of Zoomies, but all things will come in time

Crating has never been an issue from day 1. We use a baby gate/play-pen set up for her, so she is fairly open.. but house safe. Usually one of our other dogs lays close to the pen when she is in, so she is content. She doesn't whine at all unless she needs to potty (of course that is about 5am usually)

Nipping, biting we are still a work in progress. She does the "I hate this" growling, and nips at times (usually at Lorrie, not so much with me). As a general rule, putting her in a sit/stay, then a short ignore eases the problem. It has been ALOT better in the last week. We may have hit a plateau age wise where she is figuring it out !!

I think Devil hit the nail on the head tho. Although we are not new to the breed, we missed out on much of Clydes "puppy" time, so "growing" a Dane is new to us !! It seems we expect ALOT more out of her at her age simply due to the fact that she is getting so big so fast. We generally take a deep breath, and remind ourselves she is barely 3 months old. All is good, and she is still our sweet angel... well all of our mutts are!!