Previous post gone- Reggie, 6 weeks first week home- Help!

Hi all, I posted on here yesterday about our new pup Reggie. He's 6 weeks old & this is his third day with us.

He seems to have settled in ok, the night times are quite hard but hopefully getting better.

In terms if house training him, it's not really very consistent so hopefully that will help with training pads/ newspaper- although the past 2 nights he's not gone near the newspaper to pooh, only to wee & then he rips it to shreds! He poohs & then steps in it, getting it everywhere!

I'm hoping the whining & crying at night will ease off & we left him on his own for an hour today, when we got home he wasn't crying until he heard us on the other side if the door so hopefully he was ok- apart from the pooh & pee he'd left us lol!

Any advice on first few nights, house training & biting will be much appreciated.

Thanks for reading

well he is too young to have gone from his mum really and he wont be able to be toilet trained at that age.

As we said in the previous post you can't expect too much from him at such a young age.

yeah he's far too young too understand anything other than 'wheres my mum'

Jason, the mother wasn't looking after the pups which explains that part. The "breeder" didn't do a very good job either. All in all its not a good start.

Hayley wrote:Jason, the mother wasn't looking after the pups which explains that part. The "breeder" didn't do a very good job either. All in all its not a good start.

yeah well i never said she was?? the pup regardless is still in need of its mother and it would still think that aswell

No need for the defensive manner, I was just filling you in so you had all the facts.

Thank you Hayley, I agree the breeder didn't do a great job in terms of feeding & the mum wasn't a mum from the age of about 3 weeks. So I don't think Reggies missing mum at all, more likely his litter mates.

Lastnight was a slight improvement & he did have afew silent bouts where he must've been sleeping but it seems our pantry where the boiler is kept was scaring him as its quite noisy when the heatings on- obviously louder at night as nothing else going on. So that was an issue, as soon as it went off he was fine.

Hoping to restrict him to just the utility room tonight, rather than kitchen aswell. Fingers crossed for us as we also have a poorly boy xx

Hayley wrote:No need for the defensive manner, I was just filling you in so you had all the facts.

i had a feeling you would think that by the tone but sorry no i wasnt meant to sound defensive love

i had my first staff from 6 weeks old and he found it very hard being away from his natural mother but they do get used to it but tend to become more clingy in the long run.

He's alittle clingy but its improved over the past 3 days, he's not following us everywhere & doesn't wake when we leave the room to go to the loo, in the kitchen ect. He stays asleep & doesn't wake with noises which is good- especially with a loud toddler lol!

It's just the nights & house training but I understand these will both take time as he's still SO young. I'm glad we took him away at this age though as he wasn't getting much love before xx

yeah thats fair enough.. he just needs love 24/7 and the right diet really tbh lol

It's difficult enough when a puppy is ready to leave mum, never mind at his age. But you took him for the right reasons and I'm sure he will soon settle, it will just take a little longer being so young. It will get better as he learns to control his functions. Just make sure you follow the toilet training advice from the experienced people here ( every half hour etc. ) and accept that he will have accidents. But remember the fewer accidents he has the quicker he will learn.
If, as Jason says, he becomes clingy...........well there is nothing nicer than staffy cuddles.

Today's been a good day. Reggie is alot more active & playful. He's just knackered himself out playing with afew toys for a good hour- he's now curled up snoring & farting!!

He also did a pooh on the training pad without us placing him there

Yes the breeders never seem to remember to mention the snoring and bum burps..........wonder why??
Re the toilet training ...... see he's learning already.
Glad he's settling in, reminds me of a great piece of advice I got on this forum " A tired staffy is a happy staffy"

Sounds like you are making some progress there with Reggie. I'm sure you will be fine

I would get him off the pads at 8 weeks and start to train him to go outside , i don't agree with paper or pads but i understand why your using them at six weeks old

reuben wrote:
If, as Jason says, he becomes clingy...........well there is nothing nicer than staffy cuddles.

why the long pause lol?

Jason wrote:

Hayley wrote:Jason, the mother wasn't looking after the pups which explains that part. The "breeder" didn't do a very good job either. All in all its not a good start.

yeah well i never said she was?? the pup regardless is still in need of its mother and it would still think that aswell

Let's get one thing straight. At 6 weeks a pup is fully weaned and doesn't need its mother from an emotional point of view. What it does need is two more weeks of social interraction with its litter mates and handling by humans.

A 6 week old pup cannot be fully housetrained for a few weeks yet. What you will need to do is take him to his 'toilet' area every hour (minimum) and after every sleep, play and feed. When he pees/poos in the right plce, give loads of praise, if he has an accident inside, then just clean it up & don't say a word.

It's going to take time.

Well interaction with its litter mates isn't really an option & he is getting plenty of handling by humans.

He's defo alot happier than he was when we first got him, he seems more relaxed now- hence the farting!

We're keen to get him trained outside but it's still very early days so the pads will do for now. When we took him out for a tester he ate as much grass as he could get to!

Caryll wrote:

Jason wrote:

Hayley wrote:Jason, the mother wasn't looking after the pups which explains that part. The "breeder" didn't do a very good job either. All in all its not a good start.

yeah well i never said she was?? the pup regardless is still in need of its mother and it would still think that aswell

Let's get one thing straight. At 6 weeks a pup is fully weaned and doesn't need its mother from an emotional point of view. What it does need is two more weeks of social interraction with its litter mates and handling by humans.
A 6 week old pup cannot be fully housetrained for a few weeks yet. What you will need to do is take him to his 'toilet' area every hour (minimum) and after every sleep, play and feed. When he pees/poos in the right plce, give loads of praise, if he has an accident inside, then just clean it up & don't say a word.
It's going to take time.

matter of opinion tbh.. i've found from re-homing many pups myself that they need there mum for the first 8weeks of there life. This because they need to be naturally rejected by there mother not us taking them away suddenly

As he is only 6 weeks that 2 weeks is important you have to be his playmate and Mum at the same time. Clean up after him when he messes, no harm in pads and papers in these 2 weeks, and play and cuddle up to him like his family would and you will both be ok

Has he got a nice teddy? He might like to snuggle up to one, Lily had her Lilac Ted for her 1st year and used to sleep with her head on him.

Yeh he's got a teddy, it's black & white- like his markings & we've been putting it in his bed(s) along with the comfort blanket we have to the breeders that they put with the litter mates & mum a week before we collected him.

He's been really playful this evening so hopefully he will be tiering himself out for the night ahead. I know I'm in for a long night with my poorly son x

how do you get them to accept the teddy n not shred it?

jojobda wrote:how do you get them to accept the teddy n not shred it?

You don't . Nah, I don't know, maybe you can. Loki was nice to all his teddies at first, but then he decided it was better to disembowel them.

Glad Reggie's settling in a bit more Loki came to us at 8 weeks and he was clingy too, following us around all the time, etc. I think they're like that at any age, because it's all new to them.

Dont expect too much till at least he's 8 wks. He will change so much in 2 wks so dont expect too much of him. Look at this next 2 wks as settling in.
He will pee n poop where he isn't supposed to. He's got to learn from u what he would pick up from his mom n brothers n sisters.

One day at a time is the way to go.

My pup had a giant Nemo soft toy he would snuggle upto at night, I got my pup at 8wks but it does take a few weeks to settle and get into a routine.

mrscams wrote:Well interaction with its litter mates isn't really an option & he is getting plenty of handling by humans.

He's defo alot happier than he was when we first got him, he seems more relaxed now- hence the farting!

We're keen to get him trained outside but it's still very early days so the pads will do for now. When we took him out for a tester he ate as much grass as he could get to!

Dog to dog interaction is just as important as human interaction if you don't want a dog agro dog in the future.

jojobda wrote:how do you get them to accept the teddy n not shred it?

Hes only 6 weeks old, he couldn't shred jello lol

mrscams wrote:Well interaction with its litter mates isn't really an option & he is getting plenty of handling by humans.

No, I know it isn't - I was just answering the post that said he needed his mum. He doesn't.

However, because he was taken from his siblings so early he will take longer to train with regards to toileting & bite inhibition. You're going to have to be very consistent & very patient.

Jason wrote:matter of opinion tbh.. i've found from re-homing many pups myself that they need there mum for the first 8weeks of there life. This because they need to be naturally rejected by there mother not us taking them away suddenly

It isn't opinion, it's fact. They will get their 'rejection' from their siblings, and although they will still enjoy seeing their mother, most 6 week old pups will be seperated from her anyway! What they do need is the social interraction with their siblings.

My parents live just round the corner & have a chocolate lab, we've introduced them afew times now & Rolo (the lab) seems more scared of Reggie lol!!

There's also an Alsatian next door & they've met through the fence

Caryll wrote:

mrscams wrote:Well interaction with its litter mates isn't really an option & he is getting plenty of handling by humans.

No, I know it isn't - I was just answering the post that said he needed his mum. He doesn't.

However, because he was taken from his siblings so early he will take longer to train with regards to toileting & bite inhibition. You're going to have to be very consistent & very patient.

Jason wrote:matter of opinion tbh.. i've found from re-homing many pups myself that they need there mum for the first 8weeks of there life. This because they need to be naturally rejected by there mother not us taking them away suddenly

It isn't opinion, it's fact. They will get their 'rejection' from their siblings, and although they will still enjoy seeing their mother, most 6 week old pups will be seperated from her anyway! What they do need is the social interraction with their siblings.

No... rejection from being clingy and trying to suckle. all proper breeders would agree

So so so proud of Reggie!

His toilet training has come on amazingly, for such a young pup.

Lastnight was another whiny night but not as bad at all. I had to send my husband down at 5:30am though as it sounded like Reggie had hurt himself :/ Plus the room he's in is right below my toddler sons room- who is not well at all- so it was keeping him up too.

Reggie hadn't hurt himself, hubby's aid he was playing with his ball in the middle of his room lol!! Anyway there was NO pooh at all! There were 2 pees but no pooh!

He ran straight out of his room, onto the training pad by the back door & poohed (there was a training pad in his room too)

Thought the morning he did a pooh on the pad so we tried letting him outside & he did one after afew mins if sniffing & playing with my mums dog Rolo.

Later in the day, hubby took him out again while out for a fag- another pooh!

Then this evening he ran to the back door, scratched at it whining. Hubby let him out & he did 2 small poohs!!!!

WOOOW!! I'm shocked he had picked this up so quickly at 6 weeks old.
The pees aren't as consistent but I think I prefer it this way round lol.

Just thought I'd share my excitement & joy at my darling wee boy- uber proud mummy

Thats great news, progress Xx

good to see you are finding a way forward

That's fantastic at 6 weeks. You must be soooo proud of him.
Glad he's settling in.

Hi Mrscams, I did respond to you on the post that disappeared.

It sounds like you are doing a very good job with a tiny puppy - well done!

And I DO hope that your toddler son is very much better very soon - you are very brave in taking on a tiny puppy as well as tiny son.

Thank you for the best wishes for my son- he's got really bad conjunctivitis & a horrid cold on top so isn't in the best spirits.

I'm finding it difficult at nights as Reggies room is right below Masons & his whining wakes my son up

He's doing really well!

Hopefully he'll stop whining at night very soon & then your son can get a bit more sleep. I know the first few nights can be awful.

I'm glad he's made such progress the past 3 nights we've had him so hoping it will carry on so well xx

I'm glad to hear that your son isn't suffering from anything terrible (although I know it seems like it to him and you at the moment). Been there myself! although thankfully not with a puppy to take care of as well.

I just KNOW that you are doing everything possible for your son and for your puppy, you have your hands full for sure.

Hopefully, every succesive night with Reggie will be easier for EVERYONE concerned.

Do let us know how you get on - Good >< Luck!

Shiva has been pretty much the same. She whined a lot at night but the amount reduced every day and now she sleeps through for the most part. We put a hot water bottle under her blanket and that seemed to settle her. Although we haven't tried her in a room on her own.

The pads are hit and miss for her. We cant take her outside as we have a shared garden and she isnt getting vaccinated till the week after christmas. We have a balcony though which she was terrified off when we first got her and now she wants to go out there and poo. Not sure if its the best idea as we dont want her going there when she is older but it seemed a better idea because it is out in the open air.

I think with peeing she goes to the puppy pad by chance when she is there, despite all the praise etc she is still going on the carpet and seems to have found a preferred area there. We say 'pee, pee, pee' quickly and put her on her pad when she does so. This seems a bit pointless to me. I am worried that she just thinks that we are disturbing her toileting. Are we best just to leave her where she is until she is more able to go outside and old enough to understand potty training?

Last night was a great night, I didn't hear a peep out if Reggie all night

I went to bed at 9:30 though as I'm worn out with my poorly boy. Since getting Reggie me & hubby have been going up to bed together & setting him up for the night together so lastnight was a first for hubby.
I was zonked by the time he came to bed so that might have been why I didn't hear Reggie!

My son was coughing all through the night but didn't get up, I was awake most of the time he was coughing & didn't hear Reggie then either

I woke with a sticky, gunky eye this morning- must have caught conjunctivitis from my boy Hubby came down & said Reggie had done a pooh & 2 pees in his room but the pooh seemed fresh so he'd obviously held it

Took Reggie straight out this morning into the garden & he peed & did a tiny pooh!!

So so proud

Now the only thing is- he has been chewing EVERYTHING in sight this morning!!

shiva'smummy wrote:Shiva has been pretty much the same. She whined a lot at night but the amount reduced every day and now she sleeps through for the most part. We put a hot water bottle under her blanket and that seemed to settle her. Although we haven't tried her in a room on her own.

The pads are hit and miss for her. We cant take her outside as we have a shared garden and she isnt getting vaccinated till the week after christmas. We have a balcony though which she was terrified off when we first got her and now she wants to go out there and poo. Not sure if its the best idea as we dont want her going there when she is older but it seemed a better idea because it is out in the open air.

I think with peeing she goes to the puppy pad by chance when she is there, despite all the praise etc she is still going on the carpet and seems to have found a preferred area there. We say 'pee, pee, pee' quickly and put her on her pad when she does so. This seems a bit pointless to me. I am worried that she just thinks that we are disturbing her toileting. Are we best just to leave her where she is until she is more able to go outside and old enough to understand potty training?

How old is she? Provided she's 8+ weeks, she'll understand it, just keep up with it. You are disturbing her toileting but that's the point, really, you put them in the right place and then praise them when they do it. I think you'll be making it difficult for yourselves (and for her) in the long run if you decide to leave her until she's older.

mrscams wrote:Now the only thing is- he has been chewing EVERYTHING in sight this morning!!

Yeah, they do that watch him like a hawk, tell him "no," when he's chewing/about to chew something he shouldn't, then distract him with playing or shove a chew-toy into his mouth . If you have a Kong or StagBar, they're very helpful. They grow out of it eventually if you keep at it.

Hiya as someone that took on a young puppy to (marley was 6.5 weeks) may i make a suggestion re sleeping we got a box not a a huge one and of a night wrap him in a blanket or towel like you would a baby and put him to sleep this worked for us and marley slept well! We also made sure he was wrapped up during the day and made sure he slept so he wasnt overtired. You need to take the place of mummy right now so think like a mummy would with him and your get there, we now have a 5 month old pup who is soooo loyal to us because we were the ones who looked after him xx