traumatized 7 week old pup?

[bubba7]

hi,
i got my buuba at six weeks. do to his young age i slept with him and hes pretty much got to potty where ever he felt he had to. well do to the fact that he had a week to adjust and has been eating well. ive been taking him out to go potty. he hates it! its cold and snowing here in ny. if i catch him in the act i say " no,no,no" and pick him up and take him out. well now if i say no or approach him fast he backs up and kind of crinches. unless im on the couch(his favorite sleeping spot) he doesnt like being picked up.(fear of me taking him out). when he is out he usually goes tinkle then he climbs up the single step slab then the 8" s to the threshold on the door to come in.(shaking and wimpering.....does it wether he comes in on his own or if i pick him up to come in) then once inside he does the sniff and spin and out he goes again! when he does go potty he gets some puppy treats(getting bored of them already) or gets to lick some peanut butter off my finger,with lots of good boys in a higher pitched soft voice. a little more history, when we got him my 2 boys 11 and 7 where home for febuary break. now they are back in school,so now he seems bored. im home all day and try little play intervals. on monday i started introducing him to a crate,its a puppy kennel cab for now. he howled for about a 1/2 hour then went to sleep. i let him out shortly with lots of praise and some treats. today we did it again this time it was about 15 minutes.later on after he ate i took all his bedding off the floor,played with him, and left him alone with the crate open(with bedding in it) and after a little "no ones here" whinning he went in and fell asleep. but then he wouldnt come out. he looked pathetic. i put my hand in to pet him and he was tremling. so i pulled him out and whispering "its ok, good boy, its ok" i put him on the couch and hes sleeping right now. is it to much for him to take? is he scared or resentful of me? any advice to help make this go easier for him or me?(mainly him) any advice is more than welcome. hes my little boy and i miss that little stump wagging. those eyes of his are like a guilt trip freight train!!!! thanks for listening.

 

[ssleighter]

I'm not sure I understand all of this post, but if I'm reading this right he's scared to go outside because it's cold and snowing.

Do you live in a house where you can snow shovel an area of grass just for him? Give him a place to do his business without getting tummy deep in a snow drift? Can you get him a sweater?

Let me know if I misunderstood.

Other than that, just keep treating him with something he loves everytime he potties outside, and you need to give him the treats right after he potties when he's still outside, so that he equates good stuff with being out there.

Poor guy, winter will end soon enough.

 

[bubba7]

ya thats pretty much it. the rest is just alittle of the puppies background. i keep an area shoveled for him but as soon as his feet hit the ground the crying starts. id do the sweater but i keep my house realitvely warm, sometimes 75-78 degrees(woodstove), and im afraid to overheat him plus if i see him starting to go its a little difficult to dress a pup that fast none the less myself. now that the kids and wife are home hes doing better as far as showing signs of intimidation. maybe some of it got to do with separation anxiety. we'll see. thanks

 

[laura owner]

my dog has always been scared of going for walks (now 10 months old) and always pees/poops in my flat on the RETURN from her walks. i am pretty sure in her case it's due to her being scared of dogs barking at her from balconies and she's terrified of the noise of the rubbish truck, even if she's in my flat when she hears it she paces..so going outside she's scared to encounter it. i make sure i have ham or something VERY tasty to give her now because when she is very scared she is reluctant to eat anything that needs effort (like normal dog treats) really needs something that smells v. good and tempting. just for your guide she also used to tremble when i picked her up... although i did find her as a stray at 2.5 months so might be different reasons to yours for being scared. i am still in process of correcting my dogs problem so i don't want to give too much advice yet as i'm hardly qualified as i haven't corrected my dog yet!! i would be interested to know how you get on... i just started last week taking mine for very short walks (5 mins) then when she pulls to go back home which always happens i take her up to my flat for 3 mins...where she THINKS she is then going to pee/poop,,i give it 3 mins and take her downstairs again and keep repeating this until she eventually is so desperate to go that she does it outside, then she gets the ham.. good luck! (ps: don't despair at fact mine is 10 months old and not corrected...she nearly drowned/had fits and lots of other probs so i had to keep her inside a long time which meant that getting her accustomed to walks/pooping outside took a backseat and hence i'm severely behind!

 

[laura owner]

also get your puppy a kong (the brandname of the strong rubber toys you stuff with treats/smear peanut butter inside) ... it keeps them occupied and entertained for hours... might help you.

 

[dmc1]

newpaper training?

Have you tried training him on newspaper, it worked a treat for bonnie, it may be useless if you live in an appartment. This may reduce the anxiety of going out. Although i wouldnt be too happy about goin outside in that weather anyway.

 

[EMWAZ]

Bubba7

I personally wouldn't get to worried about your situation and just keep working at it. It sounds like he's still relatively young and needs more time and I also don't think your dog will resent you. Good Luck , even adult dogs have to be re-trained sometimes.

Our other boxer didn't like to go in the snow either but eventually he would and we also had to shovel away some snow too.

 

[bayleighmom]

We have an 11 week old fawn female, Bayleigh. We brought her home at 6 weeks also. The first 2 weeks she was like your pup. Trembling, scared to go outside. I think she has adjusted to our fenced in yard finally. Sometimes she goes out exploring, playing with the cat and doesn't want to come back in!

I would also recommend bell training. It has worked wonders with Bayleigh. In the last 2 weeks she has only had 1 accident in the house. I was amazed at how quick she picked up ringing the bells! Now she goes running for the back door and pounds the heck out of the bells.

Hang in there. In a week or 2 your pup will adjust!

 

[Bers]

Make sure you're not reinforceing the fearful behavior. If a puppy is trembling, whimpering and crouching, our first instinct is to comfort it. However, a puppy doesn't see it that way and it doesn't need to be comforted. If you comfort him when he's behaving that way, he will think you're rewarding the behavior and he will continue to do it. If it gets what he wants (attention), he'll keep it up. Save your love and affection for when he's happy and outgoing, and you might see the behavior change.

When my puppy was small, I would only carry him outdoors if I didn't think he could make it on his own without having an accident, like when he first woke up or when I had caught him in the act. Other than that, I put the leash on him and led him outdoors. It's better if they go on their own because it helps them learn the way to potty area. It was also cold then (middle of February last year, sometimes 3 degrees in the middle of the night), so I know how you feel. He would shiver and try to curl up on my feet. It was the saddest thing I think I've ever seen. But I just kept walking away until he finally went. Of course, you can't keep him out there forever, so if he didn't go in 5 minutes or so, I would take him back in and put him in the crate, and let him try again after 30 min. I got him a sweater and he did much better with the cold. It was sort of a motivator, because he knew the faster he did his business the faster he would get back inside the warm house. He was 7.5 weeks when I brought him home and started house training. Keep trying, have patience, and be consistent. It will all work out!