House Breaking

Thanks to people from the Internet for this information

House breaking is similar to toilet training your child. As with the children part of the problem is that the muscle and nerve development may not be present to let them know until just before they get the urge, that they need to go. As with children accidents may happen. Some authorities state that a dog does not actually have full control until they are 4 months old so they should not be expected to wait more than 3 hours. Until 3 months every 2 hours may be too long when they are up and playing.

Prime times for elimination are within 20 minutes of eating, immediately upon awakening from night or naps and after strenuous exercise. Go out with your dog and praise him when he does the right thing. If you have a particular area you wish him to learn to use take him to that spot. Put a name to the elimination process such as "do your duty" Later it may be very convenient to have him "go" on command.

Your house may be a very large place to a small puppy and she may well not be able to find the door at first. So limit her access to certain areas preferably where you are or by his crate until he learns his way around.

Remember to praise your puppy when he does his duty in the proper place. This is much more effective than punishing accidents. If your dog has asked to go out and you either missed his signal or ignored it you should not blame your puppy but remember next time that he has asked.

There are a number of good books on house breaking which you can obtain for further reference.

Poodles are very much a people dog and in order to develop their charming personality you should take care of their:

Emotional Health - Poodles will relate to humans very well and are sometimes more dependent on human company than other breeds, therefore, you puppy will want to be close to you and if not allowed to spend sufficient time in human company will not develop into a happy, contented dog. As one bumper sticker asks, "Have you hugged your dog today?"

Your poodle will always be ready for play. Make sure your play does not become teasing. If you are playing catch make sure she is allowed to catch the ball or whatever. If she has to work at finding something don't make her work too long before she has success.

Poodles can play well with children. However, they must be taught not to jump upon them when they are very little. They must be taught not to close their mouths hard on someone. If you puppy has a tendency to chew on you it is best to stop it when he is young, as he is going to grow bigger and his little playful nips might become painful. If your puppy bites too hard, do not slap him, rather take a piece of loose his skin and pinch it gently increasing your pressure as he increases his and decreasing accordingly.

Puppy Toys - Puppies and young children also explore their world in similar ways since the edibility test seems to be their most used form of exploration. You need to puppy proof your him in much the same way as you baby proof by removing dangerous objects and noxious materials from reach. Provide him with toys that are safe and chewable. Watch for squeakers and eyes that come out. Remember that puppies often are attracted by shoes and love to chew on them so keep them out of reach. If you give him an old shoe to play with don't expect him to know the difference between the older shoe and your expensive new shoes. Raw hide chews should be avoided as should the "chew hoofs" that are sometimes sold for dogs. A standard poodle can easily splinter these like a bone with the same disastrous effect. Many poodles like stuffed toys to play with and to cuddle with and will carry them around even as adults. Foam stuffed toys are best as the material is non-toxic and the toy can easily be cleaned in the washing machine. Be sure and remove eyes and sew up all small holes as they occur or else they will quickly be expanded.

Introducing your puppy to new places, things, other pets, and people

Kids and puppies

Children should not be allowed to pick the puppy up. The puppy may jump out of their arms and hurt himself or may scratch your child in the process. Kids may squeeze too hard. Puppies should be taught not to jump up or mouth the children. Children must be taught not to tease the puppy. The children should be taught how to train the puppy. Children will need to learn how to approach the puppy. High voices, jumping, flapping hands and arms and other sudden movements are difficult for the puppy to understand and these common actions by children often bring out the chase instinct in a puppy..

DOCUMENTS AND OTHER STUFF

Tattoo - Each purebred dog has a tattoo number. (The Canadian Livestock Act considers only those dogs registered with C.K.C. (Canadian Kennel Club) or with certain other foreign Kennel Clubs such as A.K.C. to be purebred.)

If your puppy is registered he will have a tattoo in the inside of his ear. It is unique to him. The number is made up of 5 or more digits. The first three letters are assigned to the breeder, the next is the number of puppy in that year so if your puppy has a number 3 he is the third puppy registered in that year, the last letter is the year letter. 1997 dogs have letter G, 1998 letter H. Each subsequent year has a specific letter of the alphabet.

I will tattoo my unregistered pups as well, for identification purposes. They will have 4 digits. The first letter for the Father, the second letter for the Mother, the Number for the pup and the letter for the year.

Registered pup's Name - Your puppy will have a kennel name or registered name which appears on his registration certificate. Obviously this name is too long for everyday use so your dog needs a call name (i.e. the name you use when you call him). This can be abbreviated from his registered name or you can use an entirely different name. Depending on the litter I may have already selected a name for the dog as I may have decided on a theme for the litter and wish all the dog names in the litter to reflect this theme. If I have not chosen a name I will provide with a sheet with spaces so that you can choose an name which fits into 30 letters and spaces. More information will be provided on that sheet. If you have purchased a dog on a non-breeding contact, your registration certificate will have "non-breeding" written across it. That means that even though your dog is purebred it is not intended for breeding and if the dog is bred the litter cannot be registered.

Pedigree

The pedigree is simply a listing of the ancestors of your dog. They will be listed by name, title and colour.

The pedigree is read from left to right. Your dog is the dog in the middle on the left. The dogs listed on the top lines are the sire (father) and his parents, grand parents and great grand parts. The dogs appearing on the lower lines are your dogís dam (mother) and her parents grandparents and great grand parents.

For more information there are many books available on general dog care and training and books especially written for poodle owners. Here are some titles which you may find of interest to you

How to Raise a Puppy You Can Live With - Rutherford and Neil, Alpine Publications 1981

contains a description of puppy development and discusses methods of initial training and treatment for your puppy.

The New Complete Poodle - by Lydia Hopkins revised by Mackey J. Irick . Howell Book House 1976.

For the show oriented reader discusses origin and breed standards for all sizes of poodles and covers the development

and pedigrees of some of the more important poodle kennels. You will be able to find some of the ancestors of your

poodle (from the names on the pedigree) listed and pictures in this book.

The Pearsall Guide to Successful Dog Training by Margaret E. Pearsall

Howell Book House 1980 covers training methods from Puppy Kindergarten to advanced obedience work and trials. If you take your dog to obedience classes you may see your instructor using somewhat different methods however this will give you the basics.