Can't bring Morty to puppy classes

MadreDeMorty · Sep 7, 2014

So my first post was about Morty's ringworm that we are at war with currently. Because of this, we are unable to bring him to puppy school and have to miss the window that many trainers offered at their facility for his age. By the time he is able to be around other animals he will already be too big for puppy school. I was soooo excited to bring him to something like that and then my dreams were crushed because we have to quarantine him away from other dogs. I was hoping that I could socialize him around his age. I had the chance to socialize him a little at my sisters house with 2 cats (possibly gave him ringworm), a huge labrador and a bird. That was one day only around 14 weeks old. He is now going on to be 17 weeks with another month-two months of ringworm treatment. He does great with my nephews and niece so at least I was able to expose him to children. I myself am horrible at training and need help from classes because dvd's and books aren't working for me. I keep reading about how there is a window with puppies that keeps them from having behavioral problems and encourages a good temperament. Will it be too late at 6 months to start classes to get at that window to break bad habits? Aaaaaand I am having a hard time with him reversing all his pee pee pad training and just going anywhere he wants once left alone (I refuse to crate him). I fed him in one of the spots he made a mess and he seems to not go there anymore. Is this a bad thing to do? I just figured dogs literally don't poop where they eat (said in a nice way) so I feed him wherever he pees or poops other than the pee pad.

bullmama · Sep 8, 2014

Dang I'm sorry to hear that he can't do those puppy classes. You are a great person for keeping him out so others won't get it. I once knew a dog owner who still took his girl to many social events and meet ups when his dog had ringworm. :down:

As far as training goes, it's never too late! Most of the training you will learn is more of "you" being trained, and your pup will respond. However it's a total bummer that he won't get the socialization he needs.

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Alice Kable · Sep 8, 2014

bullmama said:
Dang I'm sorry to hear that he can't do those puppy classes. You are a great person for keeping him out so others won't get it. I once knew a dog owner who still took his girl to many social events and meet ups when his dog had ringworm. :down:

As far as training goes, it's never too late! Most of the training you will learn is more of "you" being trained, and your pup will respond. However it's a total bummer that he won't get the socialization he needs.

I agree, it is never too late for training. I don't know why you won't use a crate, but our dogs have always loved their "houses". Our challenge was finding crate pads that they couldn't pull out and play tug with and chew up! We did find some that are perfect!

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OOPS!

davidh · Sep 8, 2014

6 Months is not too late to train, plus a crate will help a lot with potty training. We crate all of ours and they love their spaces. Even our 12 week old pups are crate trained already and love to take naps in there.

Tgirl · Sep 8, 2014

I agree with David about the crate. My dogs love their crate. It's their personal quiet place. They will often go in and take naps on their own. I wouldn't try to house train without one.

Katie Winchell · Sep 8, 2014

I didn't put Norm in training classes right away. I thought he was well behaved until we took a trip to the pet store then I thought I had the worst dog ever. By time we got into classes he was too big for puppy so I called and talked to the trainer she was very nice, we did a one on one meeting and then she decided what class he should go in. Bullmama is right it's more about training you than the dog. I felt like the trainer was picking on me a lot, but I learned quick and then Norm behaved better.

The crate was the best thing for potty training Norm he won't go in at as long as it's the right size. A few months ago I added another frenchie to the family shes 2 and we are still working on potty training. She will not go on the pad I bought. She is finally catching on to go to the back door when she has to go but if we don't see her she will go back to the carpet and pee. I'm going to try putting a small remnant piece of carpet by the back door and hopefully she will go on that if we don't see her right away. I have bells on the door Norm rings them but she hasn't caught onto that yet.

MadreDeMorty · Sep 10, 2014

I feel bad putting him in a crate for some reason. I'm a softy and I'm scared that he will get all depressed in there while I sleep after work. I work graveyard shift and sleep during the days when I work. I feel like when I do this I will be crating him for too long and create the devil of all dogs haha. I like that he has his own space to play and roam but I see now that I am giving him too big of an area. Instead of crating I'm going to just confine him in a smaller area of the room instead of the whole entire living room. I mean he was doing great just before all this and peed/pooped on the pads when I wasn't able to wake up in time. No accidents, no problems...until last week he just forgot the pads and eats them instead. The good thing is that he refuses to poop inside now and will bark and whine until someone lets him out. Peeing is the issue though. We have a bell that we tried to train him to use but I think that my fiancé doesn't follow my lead with training styles and it just doesn't work. We'll get classes for all of us when this ringworm is resolved.