Hi everyone!
We got our little Hugo right around Christmas-time and he's a pretty stubborn, feisty guy. He's 16 weeks old now and just got his rabies vaccine last week. Since then we have been trying to teach him to potty outside when we are home (he has pee pads and is gated in the kitchen while we are at work. My husband is home Tuesdays and Thursdays so it's only 3 days a week when he is left.) Problem is, he is NOT pooping outside. At this point he has not had a poop in 24hrs despite us bringing him out very frequently yesterday. It's cold and I think he doesn't like it, but he likes to romp in the snow.
We live in a 3rd floor walk-up apartment so getting him suited up with sweater, boots, harness, etc and out of the building is a bit of a to-do (and he bites furiously the whole time).
We've tried putting pee pads down for him outside, which works if he's hesitating to pee out there, but he just won't poop. We've tried the attractant spray but it just reeks and does nothing. I've stood out with him for over 20 minutes and he just ends up crying at me, wanting to explore or go inside.
We are trying to slowly move the wee pads towards the door, and he is okay to pee in the new pad spot, but still poops where the pads used to be. We only moved it about a foot away, and are diligent with Nature's Miracle to clean up messes.
I'm afraid we're confusing him but he simply can't hold it all day when we're gone, so the pads are necessary. He holds it all night and sleeps in his crate, so there are no crate-messing issues. I'm just concerned now about him not pooping outside! I've heard doxies are hard to housebreak and I don't want to be one of the unlucky ones. I'd really like to take him to work with me one day!
Now I move on to issue #2.. Biting. I know puppy mouthing is natural but this is more than that. He gets VERY nippy and draws blood. We tried yelping and folding our arms but he just lunges at us. We leave the room and it only works for a couple of minutes. "No" or anything like that just amps him up even more.
What's more is that, if leaving is the only solution, what do we do when he's biting us while we're trying to get him ready to go outside?
He lunges at our cats and bites their ears and legs, and the cats just take it. We're afraid of him hurting them so when we're not home we not only gate him in the kitchen but we make it impossible for the cats to get in there ( they are obsessed with stealing his food). No amount of distraction, clapping, etc gets him away from the cats once he's fixated. Our trainer says to utilize "leave it" or "drop it", but yeah right, there's no use, he gets way over the top, and when he pull him away he bites us. We can't lie down with him because he will chew our hair and nip our faces.
We spend tons of time playing with him and taking him out, and he goes to puppy classes and meets lots of dogs and people in our building, and I just don't know what to do. If we're in the apartment and need to leave him in the kitchen for a bit to do something else he barks and cries the entire time, but does not bark when left home alone (we recorded him one day on our computer). How do we get this to stop, because ignoring doesn't seem to do anything.
Sorry to throw this lot at you, but I need some real dachshund expertise here!
We got our little Hugo right around Christmas-time and he's a pretty stubborn, feisty guy. He's 16 weeks old now and just got his rabies vaccine last week. Since then we have been trying to teach him to potty outside when we are home (he has pee pads and is gated in the kitchen while we are at work. My husband is home Tuesdays and Thursdays so it's only 3 days a week when he is left.) Problem is, he is NOT pooping outside. At this point he has not had a poop in 24hrs despite us bringing him out very frequently yesterday. It's cold and I think he doesn't like it, but he likes to romp in the snow.
We live in a 3rd floor walk-up apartment so getting him suited up with sweater, boots, harness, etc and out of the building is a bit of a to-do (and he bites furiously the whole time).
We've tried putting pee pads down for him outside, which works if he's hesitating to pee out there, but he just won't poop. We've tried the attractant spray but it just reeks and does nothing. I've stood out with him for over 20 minutes and he just ends up crying at me, wanting to explore or go inside.
We are trying to slowly move the wee pads towards the door, and he is okay to pee in the new pad spot, but still poops where the pads used to be. We only moved it about a foot away, and are diligent with Nature's Miracle to clean up messes.
I'm afraid we're confusing him but he simply can't hold it all day when we're gone, so the pads are necessary. He holds it all night and sleeps in his crate, so there are no crate-messing issues. I'm just concerned now about him not pooping outside! I've heard doxies are hard to housebreak and I don't want to be one of the unlucky ones. I'd really like to take him to work with me one day!
Now I move on to issue #2.. Biting. I know puppy mouthing is natural but this is more than that. He gets VERY nippy and draws blood. We tried yelping and folding our arms but he just lunges at us. We leave the room and it only works for a couple of minutes. "No" or anything like that just amps him up even more.
What's more is that, if leaving is the only solution, what do we do when he's biting us while we're trying to get him ready to go outside?
He lunges at our cats and bites their ears and legs, and the cats just take it. We're afraid of him hurting them so when we're not home we not only gate him in the kitchen but we make it impossible for the cats to get in there ( they are obsessed with stealing his food). No amount of distraction, clapping, etc gets him away from the cats once he's fixated. Our trainer says to utilize "leave it" or "drop it", but yeah right, there's no use, he gets way over the top, and when he pull him away he bites us. We can't lie down with him because he will chew our hair and nip our faces.
We spend tons of time playing with him and taking him out, and he goes to puppy classes and meets lots of dogs and people in our building, and I just don't know what to do. If we're in the apartment and need to leave him in the kitchen for a bit to do something else he barks and cries the entire time, but does not bark when left home alone (we recorded him one day on our computer). How do we get this to stop, because ignoring doesn't seem to do anything.
Sorry to throw this lot at you, but I need some real dachshund expertise here!