General advice please!

So my partner and I have a 9 week old baby girl called Lacey. We already have a 7 year old male, who we adopted three years ago. Tyson (older dog) needed quite a bit of training when we got him and he is now a brilliant, well behaved boy who absolutely adores Lacey. However, she is our first puppy, and I am feeling quite nervous about her training! I just want to be sure that I am doing the right thing with training. it is difficult to train inside as I can't use treats for Lacey around Tyson as he has terrible atopic dermatitis and cannot have them. When Lacey goes to the toilet outside or comes or sits when I say, she gets a big pat and told she is a good girl, I'm just not sure if this is enough? Some general puppy training tips and tricks would be great! Thanks

Welcome why don't you pop over here and introduce yourself?

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Treats help loads; is it that they can't be allowed in the house, or just that Tyson can't eat them? Maybe you could do the training when Tyson is in another room? Five minutes per training session a few times a day is enough, so it's not a long time to have some time away from Tyson just so Lacey can have treats. They really do speed up the process (Loki wouldn't learn paw until I switched to using chicken ). Anyway, you're doing the right thing with the toilet-training, make a massive fuss of her for going and she'll know she's been good.

Is there any training advice in particular that you want?

I suppose it wouldn't be so bad to have Tyson in a separate room, it's just that when Lacey has done something really well which I would like to reward, Tyson is usually around and I don't like the idea of treating her in front of him. But yes when I allocate specific times for her training by herself I will be sure to treat her. I think I have the right ideas but am mainly nervous which makes me doubt myself. I am a bit worried about on and off lead training when walking. I have been lead training her inside as I have read not to take her far outside before her second vaccinations. I am also not sure whether to leave her with Tyson when I am not home. They get along wonderfully and sleep together by choice and I have never had any problems with them together but it may be best to wait as I still havent had her for all that long? Lacey just always seems very content and happy when Tyson is around and they seem to benefit each other in that way but I am just unsure on that one at the moment. Thank you!

Well, I've never had two dogs before, but members here with two dogs often advice not to leave them unsupervised together, simply because a disagreement in the dog world can escalate very quickly, so it's safe to make sure you're there to split it up. Dogs will often have a fight and then go back to being best friends afterwards.

As for the walking, I'd just get her used to the lead and then get her used to walking even before she goes out. I did that with Loki so by the time we could go out, he was already walking pretty well. For the pulling it's advised that as soon as they pull, you stop and just stand still for a moment. So your first walk out might be a very slow one

It's hard to train them without treats. I think a seperate room would help as the sessions should be short 10-15 minutes. You can move the training outdoors when you can. I would not leave them alone together personally because a small disagreement can turn out badly if there is no one to supervise

If you can train Lacey separately as suggested that also makes for great quality time with her.

When we got Vinny we would separate our 2 when going out. We're never out for very long and we would also make sure they were well tired. So they pretty much sleep when we're not here. Giving them things like stuffed kongs and chewy toys also help to keep them occupied and not be too bothered about having to be around one another.

Great that they get along so well and best of luck with your new addition

Total agreement with everyone above. Treats are a God send, however if you are able to find a type of toy that she loves it is maybe worth keeping it from her until special training times to make her want it even more.

Okay thanks very much! I will allocate more alone time with Lacey and treat her. If it is best to keep training sessions short anyway i wont feel so bad leaving Tyson out. I will send him out for play time with my partner I will also keep them separate when we are not around to supervise just in-case. Is it also best to keep them separate when Lacey is an adult? Thank you

Personally I feel it is best to keep two dogs separated when you are not around, with any breed, at any age. Little silly disagreements can soon escalate to a fight between dogs if you aren't around to stop it.

Baby gates are a God send for this, especially for your little one.

You are being responsible and thinking out the future so things will work out fine

Great advice given, if you use treats Lacey will come one a treat (pardon the pun) darcy responds really well to them

I have two dogs and when I train Zeke I just pop Archie in the bedroom as he would just want to steal Zekes treats but giving them lots of praise is encouraging. I find that Zeke works better for food it makes him concentrate more. Good Luck x

Very true, and there is no way to be sure and it's definitely not worth the risk. I will grab myself a baby gate tomorrow, I think that will be perfect in our situation. Thanks so much! And I have just tried a training session separately with Lacey with treats and it really does make a difference! Thank you! by the way, when toilet training, when she has an accident inside I pick her up, say "no" once, and take her straight out to her toilet area, and I don't make too much of a fuss about it. Is this correct when she has an accident? Or is there another step I should be taking?

Kristen37 wrote:by the way, when toilet training, when she has an accident inside I pick her up, say "no" once, and take her straight out to her toilet area, and I don't make too much of a fuss about it. Is this correct when she has an accident? Or is there another step I should be taking?

Everything is right apart from the "no". Don't scold for making mistakes with toilet training, if you see a mistake has been made just take her very calmly outside and wait until she goes again. When she does make a big fuss about how good she done and she will learn that when she goes in the right place she gets praise.

Scolding for toilet mistakes can confuse the dog as to what the problem is.

But yes, pretty much right what you are doing again

Hello I echo all the advice given above about training - Treats are definitely great for luring your pup whilst training. When we toilet trained Otis we never made a fuss when he went indoors as sometimes we couldn't catch him on the way to the mat but if we did we just we took him outside and lots of praise when he went. Sounds right what your doing Just wanted to share how we did it.

No worries at all! I'm glad I don't need to scold her for an accident, it didn't really feel right anyway! Thanks so much! And yes I can tell the difference with the treats after one training session! Will definitely be keeping it up

Also about the training sessions, keeping them short is good because they won't get bored or lose focus after a while, but always try to end them on a high note, so stop even when she's doing well, rather than stop when she's gotten bored or getting confused