^ Thanks for the suggestion! We're pretty much fine training him now. He's a smart little guy. If anybody else has any training questions, feel free to use this thread to ask :)
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If anyone's looking for any reading on training a puppy I recommend picking up one of Ian Dunbar's books. I have been to one of his seminars and really loved it. I wish we had a Sirius dog training school out here.

alot of the peeps at the pet food places are pretty knowledgable as well, juts gotta make sure which person you talk to!
this one girl at Richmond Tisol has been a superduper help with my shar-pei!

positive and negative reinforcements does wonders. as simple as it sounds, its pretty difficult, because you have to catch them during the moment, as their attention spans are very short.

This is probably just me, but I can't bear leaving my dog in a crate overnight/unattended. They have no room to move, and gets agitated, thats why you're experiencing the whimpering/cries. Everyone has their own way of raising/training their dog, so i thought i'd share mine.

I left a box full of newspapers beside my bed at night so that when it cries or when it needs to do its job, i carried her into the box. When she was done, she would cry and i would carry her back onto the bed. I have a miniature pinscher, so i didn't mind the small space she was going to take. Eventually after a while, she was bigger/stronger to jump off n on my bed to do her job herself at night. After a few weeks, i ditched the box, and few weeks after that, i would gradually move the newspapers farther and closer towards the bathroom. There were times when she made a mistake. as a negative reinforcement, i made her sit/lie beside her pee spot and flicked/pocked her thigh(not hard, but enough to make her feel uncomfortable).

getting my puppy tmrw!!!soo stoked...anyone have any good general tips for training a puppy.ex.not to chew on everything. pooing and peeing in random spots, etc...

have fun, its like having a kid for the first little while..

a pain in the ass, but totally worth it

im kind of having a bit of trouble with newspaper training my puppy.so it'll poo on the newspaper just fine, but i never pees on it.has anyone ever used that spray to help aide dogs where to pee?

It's usually just trial and error. When you catch your puppy peeing, immediately take him to the newspapers. If you're crate training, that's the first place a puppy should go when exiting it's crate. Our puppy isn't allowed to have freedom until he relieves himself in the morning. We used to use training pads at first, but we eventually moved towards taking walks.
I wouldn't recommend newspapers either. Whenever they see it, theyll think it's for potty time, even when it isn't.
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We got a 8 week old female Maltese-Pug mix on Saturday. Most day's I'm the one watching her from morning to evening. We are crate training her and it is going well, Also I leave the crate door open for her to roam around for her comfort. My problem is when I leave the room for even a few seconds she'll start weeping and crying, It seems that she want's to play all the time and I can't leave her alone at all, not even to use the bathroom. Should I just ignore her weeps when I need to be away? then play with her when shes quiet?

TIA

We got a 8 week old female Maltese-Pug mix on Saturday. Most day's I'm the one watching her from morning to evening. We are crate training her and it is going well, Also I leave the crate door open for her to roam around for her comfort. My problem is when I leave the room for even a few seconds she'll start weeping and crying, It seems that she want's to play all the time and I can't leave her alone at all, not even to use the bathroom. Should I just ignore her weeps when I need to be away? then play with her when shes quiet?

TIA

^ i have the same problem lol...i just try to ignore it...most of the time they usually will shut up after a while

Teaching puppy alone time is something that needs to be done. Every day for at least 15mins I leave my pups in a x-pen with a toy or chew that I only bring out for alone time. This way alone time is something they look forward too. At first they may not love it as dogs are pack animals but they will learn and if you don't act differently about alone time then it will become no big deal to them too.

There is some good advice for any new soon to be owners here like myself ;p

can't wait to finally get a pet.

http://www.cesarsway.com/products/3

Watch ALL the DVDs, do wonder. Better than any trainer and vet you could ever find. These teach you how to TRAIN a dog, not how to REHAB them (like the dog whisperer series).

^I have that Mastering Leadership series... have only managed to watch about half of the first one so far, but it's great stuff. Some advice there that's worked for us, and he's really good at presenting it.

I don't want to make a new thread nor thread jack but..

What should i know about buying cross dogs?

Kinda depends on the cross and the traits of each of the other breeds... but only to a certain degree, because there's no guarantee which traits of which breed will come out.

Case in point: this brother and sister are Pomeranian x Yorkie cross from the same litter:
http://a5.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot..._4534780_n.jpg
http://a2.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot..._7408685_n.jpg

Dusty got a very Yorkie-shaped face, fluffy Pom fur, and has a real Yorkie howl and bark... Daisy got the pointy Pom face, long straight Yorkie hair, and sharp Pom yap. And both have the tightly curled Pom tail with long Yorkie-type hair. Funny thing is, the two of them hold themselves and move pretty much identical to each other...

Just got my pom 2 months old now, hmm i taught him how to pee on the pad but he doesnt know to poo on it..

any tips?

Are you wanting to only have him trained indoors?
It is usually easier to train them to poop outside as they walk around before going.
It can be taught but the best thing is to make the potty spot bigger, so more then one pad laid out together. That or put paper down as well around the pad. As the puppy gets good at eliminating on the potty area make it smaller.

im guessing the people who let their dogs pee/poop on a little pad inside their houses live in apt buildings? id try to not let the dogs do that as it can get quite stinky in your house fast! a good way to train it to go outside is every 30 minutes during the day while your at home, say to the dog "do you want to go pee pee's" or whatever you would like to say for that matter, and go to the front door. he'll get used to doing his thing outside, and he'll also get the idea of door = going outside to do his buisness. it only takes a few days for a dog to learn that.

also, a good toy to keep your dog occupied for hours, take a kong, grab a knife and get a good scoop of peanut butter and smoosh it inside the kong through the hole on the bottom and let your dog eat it, he'll sit there for HOURS workin on getting all the peanut butter out!!! works good when they're pups and you need to go out for a quick bit and dont want him chewing everything up in the house!