How old is too young when it comes to shock collars
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| Hi! Most of us on this forum would not recommend using any sort of "shock" collar on any type of dog- even one known for aggressive tendencies, like a pit bull. I would first suggest talking to your breeder about youir puppy's behavior, and see if he/she has any suggestions for you. Try to steer yourself away from any pain inducing training techniques- go to puppy classes, get the book "dog whisperer" The Dog Whisperer: A Compassionate, Nonviolent Approach to Dog Training, by Paul Owens, Norma Eckroate
Cesar's Way : The Natural, Everyday Guide to Understanding and Correcting Common Dog Problems (Hardcover), by Cesar Millan, Melissa Jo Peltier People Training for Dogs, Cesar Milan's DVD look for some pitbull specialty forums or discussion lists too. At this age your puppy is still a "baby" think of it as an infant- you wouldn't shock your infant because she is crying for her 2 am feeding- you'd get up and feed her  Puppy isn't going to sleep through the night yet, and at 8 weeks is probably really missing her littermates.
Hopefully, some other members may have advice on helping keep your baby quiet at night, and how frequently little ones at that age will wake up for potty outings, etc. I hope you and your new puppy have many years of happiness ahead of you! Karen |
| Hello guest,
I agree with Karen. I don't think there is too many here would recommend a shock collar on any age of dog. You might try putting a sheet over the crate so that it is more "den" like. I would take out the heating pad, because the pup is old enough to regulate his own body temperature, just a blanket or towel will do fine. This age puppy will need lots of bathroom breaks throughout the night, you can take up food and water right before bed, but make sure that it gets put back down early the next day. That did help me in training my sheepdogs. If you go to the bottom of my post, it has the words PM or email. If you will PM me I found a forum that specializes in Pitbulls and your questions might be answered better there. It will be a few months of sleepless nights, but with patience and postitive reinforcement training you will eventually find that you are sleeping more, and have a wonderful family member for a long time to come. Good luck to you. Stormi and co. |
| A Shock collar will be a no-no. Any pain inducting device will only turn a dog more aggresive than what it was before. Crate training will be in order ot let your new dog that the crate is a safe and place fun to be, and that night time is for sleeping.
Stormi beated me with advise. Lennon was a whimping pup and covering the crate with a towel did wonders for him. Keep in mind that you will still have to wake up at night to let your pup relieve himself. The time they can hold it follows a rule of thumb: Hours doggie can hold = Age in months + 2 until 12 months. Start training your puppy to go on command and teach him to let you know he has to go. There will be sleepless nights, but don't fall in the temptation of letting him sleep with you to calm him down or you'll never get rid of him later on. Be patient and consistent with the training and you will be rewarded, we've all been there. Browse the forum for advise, you'll find lots of good ideas. Good Luck!! |
| Thanks guys, your time is appreciated i have been doing a little of that so i will keep it up and maybe do a little more. |
| I would take her water away at 7PM and when she goes in the crate for night no pads to pee on. You can cover her crate with a blanket, if she has no problems or needs to go potty she will catch on and go to sleep, it is hard but be firm. The crate works. good luck |
| if she does go in the crate then what? I have tried that it didn't work, but she was as trained as she is now. Even now, when she is out in the day its like id hse can't find the pad she will go anywhere |
A shock collar would NEVER be recommended for this purpose - regardless of age. I don't know how long you've had her - but 8 weeks is still very young and she needs time to adjust to her life without her Mom and littermates. Sleep deprivation is bad - but you've got to expect it when you get a puppy!  It's like having a newborn baby!
I know very little if anything about pitbulls - and all breeds are different (have their own little quirks and training needs) - I would suggest discusssing this behavior and training with a responsible pitbull owner. I agree with all the suggestions and comments above too!!!! One thing I'm curious about - have you seen any signs that she may have a hearing problem??? Deafness is very common among Pits and some of the behaviors would have me wondering. Good Luck! Kristen |
| Try putting a small portable ticking alarm clock type clock in the crate with the dog. I used this for my Boxer when he was a pup and it worked. Usually the dog thinks it's hearing Mom's heartbeat and it calm and relaxes the dog.
Good Luck and avoid the shock collar!!! |
| I'm going to step out of the 'crate' on this and suggest taking him out of the crate, like someone said all dogs are different, crates do not aggree with all dogs, and from observation most pits I've seen don't like them especially is 'strange' places, and you could be running the risk of him becoming kennel shy. I had similar problems with my dogs, the most recient a 4 month old sheepie (Rufus now 10 months), what I did was made my bedroom the 'crate'. at night I locked both of us in the room, he had his bed and blanket and a few toys that stayed in the room, when we got up we went right out the door to do our buisness...if he had to go in the night he bit me or hit the door to get out and I took him right out...after the first few nights he was fine he would go to sleep or sit and chew a bone either way I was ASLEEP! Last week I brought home a 10 week old sheepie pup I applied the same concept to her and she has never messed in my room at night, the diningroom is another story, and she sleeps all night. Just to add my oldest dog, Lacey and St. mix, does what your dog does, she stayed upstairs the first 4 days the new pup was here, will not look at her or be in the same room...she is coming around slowly, it seems to be an attempt to show the pup Lacey is Queen.
I hope you get sleep soon! |
| Hi-
My personal belief is that you should avoid the use of a shock collar... I think it could cause you a whole different set of problems down the road. Here are some ideas on crate training that might help... it sounds like she might need to settle into a schedule. Dogs love schedules and will often make you stick to them. - Never use a crate as punishment. - Always remove collars when putting your puppy inside the crate. - Cover the crate with a blanket so that it's dark inside... like a den (leave room for some air though). - Feed ALL meals INSIDE the crate so the puppy with associate the crate with a good thing. - Start out crating her when she is tired so that she will sleep in the crate (be sure you have taken her outside to potty before you crate her.) Use a treat to get your puppy to go into the crate while using a happy voice saying "night-night" or whatever word you would like. Make sure she has a puppy-safe toy in there too. - Her crate is her den... she should never be made to potty in her den. For Potty Training- If you control what goes in, you will control what comes out. Feed at regular times... for puppies, we feed at around 6am, noon and 5pm. Pick up the water dish by 7pm every night unless it's terribly hot. Take her out to a designated "potty area" each time and make sure she's taken out to potty: everytime before she sleeps; immediately after she awakens; immediately after she eats; after she plays and often in the middle of playing. There will always be accidents but these ideas may help. With any puppy it has to be consistancy and repetition... eventually, "no" will be understood. Give her time to settle in to her routine... she's just a baby yet. Before she goes to bed for the night (better yet, before you go to bed!), take her out to play so she will be tired enough to sleep tonight. I wish you and your little girl the best! Jaclin |
| It was always my understanding that when it comes to potty training a rule of thumb is one hour for each month of dogs age plus one. So at 8 weeks your pup can hold their potty for a maximum of 3 hrs. Welcome sleepless nights. As far as the crying when I get my pups I put them in an area of the house that they will be least likely to disturb anyone and hopefully noone will disturb them. Then I suffer through the puppy potty nights. I truely believe in a hands off training. I have only smacked one puppy once (not hard) just enough to let him know I meant business. (he was biting during feeding when I got him, now hes completely a pussy cat, but I never had to smack him after that) |
| That night crying is horrible. I have Lucy who I rescued when she was a year old. She adjusted to the crate well but was still hard to house train because she was in a small pen and didn't have any choices for ayear. Now, I am fostering Nikki who is an OES mix. He HATED the crate I mean HATED it. I wouldn't let my son put him in it in fear that he would get bite. We think there might be some vocal cord damage for what ever reason because he doesn't cry like the average dog. He has a schreaching howl/scream. From the outside you would think a strangled woman was being killed in my house (God bless my neighbors). Well, because he lifted his leg on everything I realized after a few days I had to crate him. What I did to try to get him used to it was I got a KONG and filled with food. I feed my dogs dry food and wet food is in thier Kong or treats. Well, he cryed the first two nights but the next morning Lucy eat his kong because he was too busy crying and that ended that. He doesn't cry anymore. He goes in his crate by himself and will stay very happy all night long. The first few weeks I still had to get up and walk him. He was 6yrs old so he could hold but wasn't used to it and I thought it was only right to help him adjust as much as I could. So he loves his crate and he loves his Kong. No tears had to be shed and a positive all around experience with crate was how it ended! Good luck! Puppies are a challange but that is why they are so cute and that stage only lasts a short while. Dogs that crated from the beganning us usally pick it up in no time! |
| As the owner of an American Pit Bull Terrier I would have to say a definite NO to the shock collar. I went through this same thing with my guy and believe me it doesn't last forever. He is 11 months old now and enjoys his crate. I started out with making it very fun for him to be in there by giving him chewies only in his crate. I put an old comforter down for him to lay on and a soothing sound maker next to his crate. He seemed to like the sound of crickets best. After about a week he would wake up around 3 times a night to potty and that was it. He would happily go back into the crate and back to sleep. I also covered his crate at night so he knew it was time for sleep. Putting a puppy pad in the crate with them only tells them its ok to potty in there. I know it can get frustrating and sleep deprivation is no fun at all but soon you will have a loving loyal companion that will stand by your side for a long long time. Good luck to you and your new addition. |
| Ahhhh, night time howling....... a subject near and dear to my heart. I have an almost 12 week old puppy and was begining to think I'd never get another night sleep again. Remember, they are just babies and just like real babies it takes them time to learn. We have progressed from practically all night howling to a few wimpers in the middle of the night. I tried all the usual tricks, clock, hot water bottle, music etc but non of them seemed to work. Your puppy is adjusting to some pretty big changes, he is in a strange place, away from his litter mates and you are teaching him all sorts of new things. BE PATIENT, a shock collar is a terribly cruel piece of training equipment, especially for a puppy. If you teach your puppy with love and positive rewards you'll have a much better result. Put him in his kennel at night and leave him, don't go back til morning. If possible go to him in the morning BEFORE he starts to howl. It may take time but he will learn. In the meantime, just like Mom's with new babies, take naps and rest when you can. My puppy has just started letting me sleep, it's been a long few weeks. But the joy he brings me is worth the temporary tiredness. Good Luck! |
| Some years ago, I took a series of vet tech courses in college taught by a wonderful vet named Dr. Irv Herling. He taught his students that , at night, a puppy belongs at the side of your bed in a box lined with something soft. He explained it like this: in their wild state, if a puppy gets lost from the pack, he will howl, wimper and bark. This enables an older member of the pack, usually the mother, a means to locate him and bring him back into the fold. If your pup starts to whine in the night, just put your hand down and touch him, and he knows he is not alone. This helps form a strong bond between you and your dog.
I know some folks don't like dogs sleeping in the bedroom with them, but many experts, including the author of The Dog Whisperer, recommend it. I have always taken Dr. Herling's advice, and I have never had a puppy, no matter how young, keep me up. Sure, I had to get up for feedings and pottying, but at all other times the puppy slept. Eight weeks is awfully young. I've never had any real luck training a pup until about 16 weeks. I know it can be frustrating, but if you could lower your expectations for a little while, you might be able to relax and things could go a lot better. As far a shock collars, I once attempted to use one on a rescue Sheltie who, I swear, barked when a leaf dropped in San Francisco (we live in Baltimore). It didn't do a thing. She would bark right through the shock. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. (We later learned that a shot with a spray bottle worked much better and was much kinder). Don't lose heart. Before you know it, your pup will be all grown up and these issues a memory. |
Ben's Mom- I agree with you and think it is important to do that when you first bring a puppy home For the first couple of weeks when I brought my puppy home I did just that. However after I returned to work and he was sleeping during the day it became a real problem. He wanted to play all night!! Just reaching out to reassure him wasn't enough. I hoped that by that time he was secure in his new environment and moved him out of the bedroom. My hope is that once he becomes accustomed to sleeping all night he can come back into the bedroom. In the wild puppy moms don't have to get up at 5AM and go to work  . I think it is very important when a puppy first comes home and is young that he knows that you are there, I'm just not sure at what point they can (need) to learn to sleep all night. Too bad they can't talk! |
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