Problems with Maggie

[MaggiesPapa]

My Girlfriend and I have recently adopted a Beautiful Chocolate Lab puppy. She is now 11 weeks old. We've both had dogs and puppies before, and are experienced with training methods. However, Maggie has been our biggest challenge yet, and the most difficult. We've read through these forums and they have been quite helpful. Maggie has been doing great in some areas, and not so great in others. Lately it's been pretty frusterating. We certainly are not giving up on our puppy, we just want to be pointed in the right direction to continue training her. Our biggest issues are:

-Potty training: She started out pretty good, even to the point where she would "signal" us when she wanted to go. We are strict with the habits of putting her out frequently, and after naps, feeding, etc. She is also rewarded after doing buisness outside. But, the past few days she doesnt seem to get it. For example, last night we went for a walk. Before we came inside, maggie did her buisness outside(and got a treat). After comming inside, she peed at the bottom of the stairs, then while cleaning that accident, she peed at the top of the stairs. Shortly after, at bedtime, she peed on the bed(keep in mind we put her out after each accident). She continues to pee inside, after being outside. We've read that scolding accidents is wrong. (fair enough if we ignored her, or werent home,) but when she blatantly does it infront of us, how does she learn that peeing inside is wrong? We've cleaned up more accidents in the past 48 hours than we have in weeks.
(I should note that during the day, while we are both at work, she is confined to the porch(with food, bed, and toys). When we come home from work, there'll be no accidents, and she'll then go outside and do her buisness. This is great. We'd love her to treat the rest of the house like this.)

-Chewing/Biting: We realize she is a Lab Pup, and will chew on everything. We've read all the tips online about replacing the object with her toy. This tip is on almost every website we\ve looked at. This tip simply does not work with Maggie. We've bought her soooo many toys to chew on. Rubber ones, soft ones, hard ones, flavoured ones...she simply prefers shoes, fingers, hands, toes, pant legs, and whatever else shes not supposed to have. She rarely has any interest in toys. We play with her and encourage playtime with her toys, and take her outside for excersise daily. We agree with, and follow the positive reinforcement techniques. Most websites say to reward good behavior, ignore/DO NOT punish bad behavior. Fair enough, but these websites do not explain how to correct bad behavior. but We cannot ignore/sit back and watch her destroy furniture, clothing, and our younger siblings. She tends to get very rough with hands and pant legs. How do we correct this type of behavior, without scolding her?

We love Our Maggie, and look foreward to her life long companionship. She is growing so fast, we're worried about her behavior as she gets bigger. Her puddles/accidents are getting bigger and harder to clean out of our laminate flooring. As she gets bigger and stronger, we're worring about her dammaging our things and hurting smaller children and animals. She is not agressive or jealous, and she doesnt growl or bark. she just gets over excited, and rough.
Iv'e tried to include as much info as possible. Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Also, I've heard good things about a "clicker", and at this point we are willing to try anything. Anybody had experience with these?

[Tanya]

patience. she is a puppy, it isn't a straight road to training, there will be improvement then backward slides (two steps forward one step back - sometimes one step forward two steps back!). keep it up.
you can redirect instead of ignore when she is doing something she shouldn't.

If she is peeing more than normal (for her) then maybe she has a UTI (especially if she is dribbling a lot)

Puppies require ALOT of your time - like a new-born baby.

[BigBrownDog]

I would also recommend you crate her when you are not around. If you find she is damaging your stuff and your home, you should confine her so she can't do that and in the process hurt herself as well.

I second Tanya's advice - you need to be patient - she's a baby and you have a long way to go before she grows up and acts like an adult dog.

[Sophiesmama]

Patience, patience, patience. I know there are members here that might not agree with me, but I have never agreed with the idea of giving a treat when they potty. I always felt that if you treat them, they may WANT to potty for the treat. Myself and some others have found that some puppies think. "Oh there's mama, she'll treat me if I pee" and they don't differentiate indoors from outdoors. I had a friend that had a pup that would go outside, and follow her inside and promptly pee. Almost every time! She quit with the treats and soon it stopped. The fact that she goes quite awhile when you aren't home without pottying, would reinforce this theory. She sees you, and she pees! My advice is for you to take Maggie out every half hour or so. Always go out the same door. Always use the same command. We used "outside". We'd say, "Sophie Outside". Then take her to the same spot each time. It is good to do this on a leash. That way she knows it time for business, not play time. Praise her when she potty's. Dogs love to please their people. If you keep consistance each and every time, she will soon get it. Also, puppies often pee more than once. Make sure you stay outside long enough each time. Sophie's last accident was at 4 months. Also, puppies can be inconsistent, sometimes they will be doing great and all of a sudden backslide. You just have to keep at it. Biting.....They are all mouthy little critters. Sophie has torn up so many things, along with our arms and hands! What we did was to put a hand on her muzzle EVERY time she bit, and command "Don't Bite!" in a stern voice. Don't let her slide even once. We tried the "replace with a proper chewy" approach. Didn't work. This did, she stopped around 3 months. She continued to chew everything else she could get into, but stopped biting us! She has just recently started slowing down being Kid Destructo! Good luck! I am here to help if you need me. By the way, we lost our 12 yr old in May 2011, her name was Maggie. She was my heart dog.

[SharonaZamboni]

Have Maggie checked for a UTI. Make sure to use special enzyme-based pet urine cleaner on the spots BEFORE you use any household cleaners. Regular cleaners will destroy the enzymes in the urine removers. You want to remove the odor to help keep her from going to the same area to pee.
Consider crate training. Sometimes dogs do regress in their behaviors and you have to start back at the beginning.
The biting will slow down considerably once her adult teeth come in. We used to put our puppy's foot in her mouth when she was biting, and it seemed to help her realize that it hurts when something bites!

[MaggiesPapa]

Ok, so just to make a liar out of me, Maggie has been great ever since my rant, lol. Actually she hasn't had an accident inside since either. She seems to do that when we have company in as well. But I'm happy to say she's doing much better, and even seems more affectionate towards us.(instead of biting our hands and faces, she gives kisses now)...sometimes.

Tanya: Thats a great point. Two steps foreward, One step back. I'll deffinitly have to remember to keep that in mind. Like I said, she hasn't had any pee problems in a few days, but she has a check-up next week, so I'll mention the UTI to the vet. Thanks.

BigBrownDog: We/Maggie have been using our porch area as a "crate". Its a pretty confined area, with a closing door. She's been going there for naps, and it's pretty much the only room in the house where she will not pee or poop. It's working pretty well actually. We realize she's not an adult dog, and training will take time, and patience. We're enjoying the experience. It's great to get advice from other lab owners. Thanks for the Tips.

Sophiesmama: So sorry about your Maggie. We've been down that road. It's never easy losing a long time buddy.
You make a great point about the treats for potty technique. We may start weening her off the treats for pottying soon. Thanks.
About grabbing the muzzle/stern voice when she bites...We've also tried this method. She just thinks it's a game and tries to bite faster and harder. My girlfriends Grandfather mentioned a technique he's used for nippy dogs; When she bites your fingers, press down on her tongue. She Can't "clamp" down, and lets go of your Hand. It doesn't hurt her, and she doesn't like it, so it seems to be working.

SharonaZamboni: We've been using Lysol disinfectant all-purpose cleaner, but I'll definitly pick up some pet urine cleaner. great tip, thanks. We're hoping that once the adult teeth kick in, the biting/chewing will slow down. It's all we can hope for, lol. But I liked the idea of sticking her tail/foot in her mouth when she gets too rough. She's getting carried away when she "plays" with the cat. Thanks for the advice.

One other thing I'm concerned about...She likes to sneak away to the litterbox and eat Cat Poop... My sisters chihuahua used to do this, but grew out of it. Is this a weird puppy habbit, or will she continue doing it? lol.

[SharonaZamboni]

Good to hear it's getting easier! I have no idea if you can permanently stop her from eating cat poop. One more reason my cat goes outside, LOL. You can start with "leave it". She'll at least leave it when she knows you're watching

[Samson]

Unfortunately some Labs love to eat poop. You need to get a cover for the litter tray or put it out of reach. Alternatively watch like a hawk and correct them immediately.