[Nitrosmom]

My husband and I put a deposit down for a basset puppy last weekend after a brief search about the breed. Now that I have a date for him coming home, I am petrified! Our last dog was a beagle, difficult to train, but by the time he died, he was very well behaved and only peed in the house after I cleaned the carpet. Guess he had to make sure it was marked as his. Anyway, we will be bringing Nitro home Aug. 9. I am hoping for suggestions to make the house training as pain-free as possible. I am a stay-home-mom-full-time-online-student, so the puppy will rarely be home alone. Should I have the carpets cleaned again before we bring Nitro home to make sure the beagle smell is gone? Will that help?

 

[Mikey T]

Should I have the carpets cleaned again before we bring Nitro home to make sure the beagle smell is gone? Will that help?

It certainly would not hurt but it is unlikely to remove all the odor. Enzymatic cleaners can help but if it is an older pet stain even then it is unlikely to be 100% successful which actual requires removal of the carpet and the pad.

How to Remove Urine Stains and Odors from Carpet

The reason that this type of stain is so difficult to remove is because of the uric acid crystals found in urine. Any type of urine from mammals, whether it is human or pet urine, contains uric acid crystals, which can only be removed by using an enzyme based cleaning product. Traditional products involving soap and strong chemicals aren’t able to work because they do not break down the uric acid crystals. The only permanent method of removing urine odor and stains is by using products specifically designed to bind with and destroy the uric acid. This is exactly how our enzyme based cleaners work.

I am hoping for suggestions to make the house training as pain-free as possible.

Basset are nautorious difficult to housetrain harder than beagles. The first step is a strict schedule of eating. sleeping, and play which while make the needs of the pup more predictiable which makes eliminating accidents by being proactive much easier

for more complete details on housetraining see
quote]Do not rely on a puppy to tell you when it's time to go out. That is expecting too much responsibility and communication at too early an age. It is up to you, the adult human, to know when he needs to go out. Watch his activity level and the clock.

A 12 wk puppy who is busy playing may need to urinate every 15-20 minutes, whereas a resting puppy might go for an hour, and a sleeping puppy can go 8 hours at night. Activity makes urine! Activity makes urine! Repeat this 10 times, slowly. This is a very important lesson for new puppy owners. [/quote]

Another common problem area is relying on the dog to come up with a signal to tell you when it needs to go out. It actual does not happen that often. It is better to teach a cue for the dog to use that you will not ignore. One of the easiest is [url=http://www.clickersolutions.com/articles/index.htm#puppy]Ringing a Bell

 

[Mikey T]

While housetraining is the area most new puppy owners focus on it is actual one of lessor inportant aspects of training that occurs during the first few months of a puppies life. Even if you screw it up you have plenty of time to correct it. There are some more critical aspects of puppy development that you only get one shot at.

1. Socialization and Hibituation, Nothing is more important in ending up with a well adjusted easy to live with dog.

Countdown to a Crackerjack Canine Companion

The day you get your puppy, the clock is running. And time flies. Your puppy's critical period of socialization will begin to wane by three months and its most impressionable learning period starts to close by five months. Not surprisingly, most behavior and temperament problems are created during this time. There is so much to teach and nearly everything needs to be taught within just 12 weeks, when you puppy is between two and five months of age. It is vital that you know WHAT to teach and HOW to teach it. Going to puppy classes, reading behavior and training books and watching puppy videos is the quickest way to find out. But you need to do this BEFORE you get your puppy.

...The optimal time to socialize your puppy is BEFORE it is three months old. Unfortunately, your pup needs to be confined indoors until then. This relatively short period of social isolation at such a crucial developmental time could all but ruin your puppy's temperament. Whereas dog-dog socialization may be put on temporary hold until your pup is old enough to go to puppy school and the dog park, we simply can not delay socialization with people. On the contrary, during the first month, while your pup is grounded at home, socializing with people becomes the Prime Puppy Directive. Without a doubt, raising and training a pup to be people-friendly is by far the single most important aspect of pet dog husbandry.

Capitalize on the time your pup is confined indoors by inviting people to your home. As a rule of thumb, your pup needs to socialize with at least 100 people before it is 3 months old. This is actually much easier than it sounds. Invite a different group of eight men each Sunday to watch sports on the television. (Generally, men are pretty easy to attract and train if you offer pizza and beer.) Each Monday invite a different group of eight women to watch Ally McBeal and Dateline. Catch up on all your outstanding social obligations by inviting family, friends and neighbors to weekly Puppy Parties. On another night of the week invite some neighborhood children. Above all, don't keep this puppy a secret. And of course, the great thing about socializing a young puppy is that it also does wonders for your own social life!

Puppy Socialisation and Habituation (Part 1) Why is it Necessary?

O’Farrell (1986) studied while conducting research at Edinburgh (Royal Dick) University Veterinary School had a behavioural problem to a lesser or greater extent. A similar, but larger, American study fixed the figure at one in four. In one year my practice treated 773 dogs - 79 of them, that’s 10 percent, had problems of fearfulness towards people or the environment due to a lack of early socialisation or habituation and a further 4.5. percent were inept at relating to other dogs, again due to a lack of early socialisation. The problem is immeasurably greater than these figures suggest. Many dogs show a weakness of temperament or inability to cope when faced with a particular situation, without their behaviour becoming problematical enough for the owners to seek help from a behavioural counsellor.

Puppy Socialisation and Habituation (Part 2) How to go about it

WHAT NOBODY TOLD YOU ABOUT RAISING A PUPPY

AVSAB Position Statement On Puppy Socialization

Because the first three months are the period when sociability outweighs fear, this is the primary window of opportunity for puppies to adapt to new people, animals, and experiences. Incomplete or improper socialization during this important time can increase the risk of behavioral problems later in life including fear, avoidance, and/or
aggression.

Behavioral problems are the greatest threat to the owner-dog bond. In fact, behavioral
problems are the number one cause of relinquishment to shelters.3 Behavioral issues, not
infectious diseases, are the number one cause of death for dogs under three years of age.

2. Bite Inhibition
Bite Inhibition - How to Teach It

3. Fustration tolerance of being left alone. Basset being more social than other breeds tend to suffer disporportionately from Seperation Anxiety. This can be minized if efforts are taken early on to expose the dog to small periods where it is alone.
Separation Anxiety

Puppies and newly adopted dogs are at higher risk to develop separation anxiety if they are smothered with constant attention their first few days home. It is much better to leave for brief periods extremely often so the dog’s early learning about departures is that they are no big deal and predict easy, tolerable lengths of absence: “whenever she leaves, she comes back.

if the above article have not total scared you I have one more
It Takes a Pack to Raise a Puppy

 

[Elvismom]

Thanks - as always - for the info, Mikey! I don't know how you keep all the wonderful articles/knowledge you have in such an organized manner that you can find it and share it. But I'm sure thankful you do!

I have 2 3 month old pups that I'm sure were taken from the litter too soon and then spent a while in homes that didn't give a damn. These articles are great!

 

[LottesMama]

I don't have much experience or advice since we have only had our basset for 3 months and she is our first, but I thought I would chip in that she was really easy to housetrain. My husband is home with her all day and after about 3-4 weeks of grabbing her and taking her outside in the middle of a piddle she has learn to go to the back door and either give us her "I need to tinkle" look or if we aren't watching she will bark. She is only 5 months old and its been at least 3 weeks since she had an accident.

 

[Nitrosmom]

Mikey T, thank you for your wonderful reply! You are such a wealth of knowledge, I am so glad I joined this forum. You have given my some excellent advice, and I have my son reading the articles you posted with me so that when our "baby" comes home in three weeks, we will be ready for him! Keep the info coming!

 

[murraysmom]

One thing I might add about nighttime:

I've always kept my pups in a small crate with comfy bedding near my side of the bed. The puppy won't want to soil his bedding, so when he has to pee, he'll start fussing. When that happens, I get up, carry the puppy on a leash outside to his potty place, tell him to "tinkle" or whatever word you're using, praise when he does, then carry him back to his bed. Sometimes I have to do this a couple of times per night with a young puppy.

By doing this, the puppy is learning that when he fusses you will take him out. This has helped alot in housebreaking my pups over the years.

(When the pup gets older, I use bell training, as mentioned above. It's pretty easy to train them to do this, and when we travel we take the bell along to hang on hotel doorknobs.)

 

[Mikey T]

so when he has to pee, he'll start fussing. When that happens, I get up, carry the puppy on a leash outside to his potty place

Works well provided you are not a heavy sleeper. I need to set an alarm clock for the middle of the night. The other thing that works for me, not a recoomendation for other is when the pup gets a bit older is attaching a leash and harness to the dog and on my wrist in bed this movement of the dog will wake me but it is not 100% risk free.