New OES Puppy 10 weeks old, tips?
I have spent some time researching your forum and have some questions with regard to behavior and training for OES. Our puppy has been with us now two weeks and is now 10 weeks old. She come from a breeder who suggested we try to avoid crate training. I have read one of Ceasar Milans books and like his ideas. I have had other dogs and had great success with them however this is our first OES and my first puppy in more than 20 years. From what I have seen so far she is much stronger willed than any other dog we have owned which from the research i have done can lead to serious issues if we don't establish the pack and rules early on. We have restricted her access to the house on the breeders suggestion to assist with house breaking and have had some success to this point. We have used positive reinforcement and have started today to also use a few pieces of her food as treats when she is successful. She sleeps well at night, by my bed on my old housecoat and lets us know when she has to go pee in the morning usually very early. Then will go back to bed until we get up a little later around 630 -7:00. We try to keep her bed time and feeding times the same too, to establish a routine. We also have four children and three cats. The kids are 15, 12, 7 and 3. The cats are much older and seem indifferent and generally leave her alone unless she trys to play. Then they are just cats...snotty to her and usually no major deals. I haven't had to step in yet where i have with some other dogs that have come to visit, in years previous. She is very good with my wife and I. We have established a good feeding routine with ceasars ideas in place. We are waiting on the vet to get her parvo shot so we can start taking her out for regular exercise and walks. She is well behaved when being bathed, and groomed, and no issues here at all. My main concern is how she is with the younger children. She is very good if the kids sit on the floor and play with her with a toy or pet her gently. however as soon as the kids shy away, or run at all, she will nip at them. I know with the running this is instinct to her to heard them and she uses the nipping to redirect. However I don't let her nip at me when we play. And use ceasars correction techniques to correct her, with some success. I am looking for suggestions on how to work the kids in to her play time so we can work on getting her to play at a higher energy level with the kids without nipping. Next is the house training. I don't have a large yard but it is big enough for everyone. Should I set up a pee area for her that is fenced off to reinforce that when we bring here out to pee she does it in that one location only, then she can come out of the are to play in the rest of the yard? right now she has no fixed address for her bathroom in the backyard. If the kids are up and out she will launch into play mode and forget about peeing. This makes it difficult to control both dog to pee and kids to stay calm and wait for the dog to finish before play time starts. Inside the house she is stuggling. She is good in our bedroom at night, as long as we react quickly enough. In the main room, small kitchen and living room, she is restricted here and goes out the patio door. Here we have set mats up by the door, and try to watch for her signs to get her outside quickly. Still about fifty fifty but not to bad so far. Any other suggestions? Thanks. Scott |
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| I am really not a fan of Ceasar so I won't comment on that.
I would reconsider the crate - if you look at the Sheepiepalooza thread you will notice there is a reason for them to be crated as they get older and they will get used to it better at a young age. My girl LOVES her crate and all of my boys can be found in one of the spare crates at various times for no other reason than they wanted to go in there. At that age she should be walked on a leash for potty breaks and not just let out for pee breaks. I am sure others can add more. And Welcome! |
| Thanks,
I will take a look at that post, and reconsider the crate. We have some from our old dogs so we will be able to move up in size as she grows. Scott |
Hi Scott!  Welcome to the forum and congratulations on your new puppy!
What's her name? 
Regarding crate training, I will echo Kerry's statement and say that I am a big fan of it. It is useful in so many ways, not the least of which is potty training. I would definitely recommend that you reconsider the issue. We can give you positive posts to read regarding that if you're interested. Just as a rule of thumb, though, and for informational purposes, your puppy can only hold her bladder for about an hour for each month of her age, plus one. So, at 10 weeks old, she can hold it for about three hours - MAX. She will need to be let out to pee and poop about 20 minutes after she consumes water or food. If you want her to eliminate in a certain area of the yard, now is the time to establish it. Take her out on a leash and walk her to that area and let her do her business there. Praise her like crazy when she does and give her a little treat if you like. As for the nipping, that is very normal for a sheepie puppy at this age (and for many months to come!). But, not to worry, you can train her not to do it. Just remember, in training her, you also have to train the children. When they play with her, they need to be giving her appropriate chew toys, so she won't use them as a chew toy. Make sure you've got plenty of things for them to give her when she nips at them. It takes LOTS of time and repetition, but it does work. I have a 4 1/2 year old male who, to this day, still greets me at the door when I come home with a stuffed toy in his mouth. When he was a puppy, I gave him one every day when I came in to keep him from nipping me with those razor sharp teeth. 
Hope this helps. We're here for you! Being owned by a sheepie is a whole new experience and I'm sure you and your family will love it. They are adorable, loving, hard headed, stubborn and too sweet for words. Welcome to the club!  |
| I totally agree with the others about the crate training. Jenny is my third sheepie in the past 30 years and I wish someone had talked to me about crating with my first two. Jenny was 11 weeks when we got her and my breeder didn't crate the litter so the first 3 weeks with Jenny were sleepless nights to say the least, but she adjusted and now that is "her room". Just my opinion, but I really think that the crate helps to establish the pack order in the home.
Congrats on your puppy and remember we like pictures here. |
| Let's make it unanimous for the crate! Some of mine are crate trained, others are not. The ones who are have a "den"......a private place they can retreat to when they need to get away. This is especially handy in times of stress or they want a private nap.
Their complete trust in the crate comes in handy if the dog must be crated at a dog hospital for any reason. Also dogs should be transported in the car within a crate that is well secured to keep from flying about. This is far safer for the animal as well as safe for all so Fido isn't running free within the car causing distraction to the driver. Remember the crate is their private house. It should not be used to punish the dog. You want they to associate being in the crate with comfort and calm. Many times I've "misplaced" a dog only to find it sound asleep in the crate. If they could have secured the door, they probably would have for more privacy. |
| Welcome to the community! |
| ohhhhhhhhhhh a 10 week old sheepie is a handful!!!!!!
NOT CRATE TRAINING  RUN TODAY and buy a crate!
I'd say to remember that all of your concerns are that you are dealing with a baby baby. She's VERY young. I thought I'd die my sheepie was so "bad". Now I totally realize that she was just a baby. She's five months now.....and all of what you are concerned about has improved. It will for you too! Just hold on |
The crate is no different for a dog than a child having it's own bedroom. A place to go to when they are tired or want some time away from all the activity. My dogs all love their crates (in the van, dog shows or motel rooms) or their kennel in the house. A lot of times I will be grooming one of them, look around & the others are laying in their kennel quietly chewing on a nylabone & keeping an eye on me! Most important thing is never use the crate for punishment. If it does something bad, correct it & then love it. Their attention span for correcting bad behavior is only about 4 seconds. So anything after that has the dog wondering what the devil it did wrong. 
As for the little children...........here' what I taught my grandchildren when they were little: Walk & they will walk with you, run & they are going to round you up! It is bred into the dog & rightly so. Won't hurt the kids a bit to learn that when they are out with the dog, they need to slow down. Best thing to do as far as exercising the dog is either let it run when it is only with adult humans or put it with another friendly dog & let them run & play & chase each other. As a herding dog, it is going to need more than just regular walks on a leash to expend it's physical & mental energy. Every so often they just feel like they have to run in circles, cut & run back the opposite way. Again........another trait bred into the herding dogs. |
Beaureguard's Mom wrote: Being owned by a sheepie is a whole new experience and I'm sure you and your family will love it. They are adorable, loving, hard headed, stubborn and too sweet for words. Welcome to the club!
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| Thank you for all the tips and points. I am going to set up a crate from one of our old dogs today, and introduce her to it once we clean the old dog scents out.
Her name is Annabelle, i figured out how to add her as an icon. thanks again. scott. |
Welcome to the forum 
You've already had lots of great tips, I don't have anything to add really. She's a baby, and a baby sheepdog at that so nipping is normal but definitely something you want to avoid letting her get in the habit of doing. Just ask the kids not to encourage it by playing rough etc... and encourage her mouth to be on toys instead.... eg nipping hands, I would say no, then distract her with a toy and praise her for playing with the right "toy" Crate training is a great idea, they really do come to think of the crate as a homey den-like bed. I personally am not convinced it helps a lot with house training, but it keeps the pup safe and your house safe when you aren't watching. |
| We have a puppy at the moment too and are going though the redirecting of nipping. It seemed as if it took our first dog Edgar forever to get the no bitting thing down but we kept at it and he is great now.
I don't know if you are already doing this but taking away their water at night really helps cut down their accidents and make them sleep longer. We did this with Edgar and now with our new one. We take the water away at eight pm. Edgar never really liked his crate. But we used it for a year until we were very comfortable with him being loose and he proved himself reliable. He doesn't have a crate anymore (except a traveling soft pop up one). Our new puppy likes her crate and will sleep in it willingly. |
| Your baby is also teething so nipping is extreme at the moment. Lasts awhile too, make sure the kids dont overexcite the pup if she is hypo, then time out with a good chew toy till she calms down. Like little kids they can get overexcited and hypo quite quickly.
If your not happy with using a crate then look at an area in the house that is "Puppy Safe" and use a baby gate on the door for her special area that or even a puppy pen for her sleeping or time out area, that way they can still see you but have an area that is theres especially if you have to go out then you know she is safe and also nothing detrimental to chew on as it is a puppy proof area for her to relax in. I did not use crates or crate training previously with my OES, but with the two youngsters at the same age I have now I have one in a large crate and the other in a pen where they have there time outs and also sleep in overnight. They love it, it is there space and I only have to say Beddy bye time and they both go running to there special places. They have toys in there and compfy bedding and they think of it as there little private rooms and when I have to go out I know I can come home and they have been safe and not chewed anything they are not suppose to get into  .
When they grow brains I will advance too no crate or pen just like I do with my older ones they will have free run of a room to sleep or when I am out. |
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