buddydobe

Ok, so I have my new 8 week old boy. When I take him out, he obviously is curious about eveything, especially all the little leaves, twigs, and tiny stones...How do you guys handle that? I want him to explore, but I also don't want him eating something that's going to hurt him or make him sick.

Also: How long can pups of this age hold it during the night in their crate? I want to get him housetrained...so I'm watching him, and take him out every 3hrs, plus right after meals of course...Last night I set my alarm at 3hr intervals so he could go and not have an accident...so far so good...Thoughts?

Thanks

Hound

You are accidentally training him to only sleep for 3 hours. Let him wake you up instead. Eventually he will sleep longer and longer.

I've never had a twig/leaf/stick chewing problem. However, my dogs are all on leash until around 5-7 months of age when they are outside of the house. It solves the problem.

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eclaire

I have a 4 month old Dobe and she LOVES eating twigs and sticks and grass and flowers. I swear she would prefer a bowl of that instead of her food. I try to keep her away from it during our walks, but she often sneaks it. I'm not so worried about the grass and flowers as I am about the sticks. She just passed a few small twigs the other day and I don't like that... I have a feeling that they would easily cause internal damage...

Oh and she does this even when she is on leash... actually, she tends to not do it when I left her off leash at the park....

Any thoughts??? I don't know what to do either except keep fishing it out of her mouth....

errica

Regarding the crating and potty breaks:

I did that the first night and Apollo was pissed that I had woken him up. He actually laid down on the lawn and went back to sleep. So I figured, he'll cry when he needs to go, put him back in the crate and sure enough he woke me up after 8 hours (total) and went outside like a champ.

Second night I slept by the crate again, waiting for the "let me out to potty" cries - not to be confused with the "I hate you for leaving me in here" cries - and he went 8 hours again.

Last night I threw him in the crate, went to bed and let him out when I woke up, about 7.5 hours and no problems.

I'd say give it a go and let him let you know when he needs out! Just be careful to put him right back in the crate without playing at all, so he doesn't associate crying to get out with freedom and play time!

buddydobe

Good plan! I'll try it tonight. I won't last long sleeping like a puppy!

buddydobe

Yeah it's tough...He has a puppy proof dog run, but there are still 100's of tiny leaves and little pieces of things that blow around or fall from trees...i watch him constantly on a leash when he's out, but it's tough...b/c all he wants to do is eat that stuff!

errica

Hahahaha! You got that right! I lasted 2 nights, for the record!