Monday, June 15, 2009

My Puggle, Jett

Thanks for the comments Mr. Puggle! Jett is a little naughty too, she is still in the biting stage, so when my daughter has her friends or cousin come over, we end up putting her away or on her leash. Her little teeth are sharp as razors!

Still trying to get her potty trained. Any kind of freedom she gets it's potty time where ever she happens to be. I have to be with her constantly in order for her to be good, it's exhausting! I know she is still little so hopefully it will only be a few more weeks. Thank goodness for Nature's Miracle stain & odor remover! PETCO.comThere is so much info about potty training dogs, puppies, puggles, but it really is all the same stuff. Be consistent, reward and praise. Some dogs are just quicker to learn than others and I think beagles and pugs can be stubborn, so patients is a virtue, I'm not giving up on her, she is just too darn cute!

I also tried the bitter break spray, suppose to keep your pup from chewing on things. Well I sprayed a little make-up sponge and gave it to her. Now she was supposed to hate the taste and spit it out and then when applied to other things then she would not chew them because of the taste. Not exactly what happened. Jett took off with the sponge in mouth, would not give it back, I think she might of actually liked the taste, or she just liked the sponge. Anyway, it didn't work as well as I hoped. Going to keep trying though. Biting and chewing are a puppy stage I'm told and she will get past it, right?







Saturday, June 6, 2009

Life with a Puggle Cont'd

Jett, our 8week old puggle has been with us now for 2 weeks. Still working on the potty training. I have her on a very set schedule and take her out every 45 min to 1 hour. I've gotten conflicking info on the potty pads. I did buy them and put it in front of the door that we take her out, she was not the least bit interested in it. Some people feel it teaches the dog it's ok to do her business inside so you shouldn't use them. My thoughts are, hey, she's already doing her business inside anyway!! But, I took it up and decided not to use it, for now anyway.

I don't allow her to go in her favorite room, and by that I mean my living room that she is so found of peeing in. She has now learned that she can't go in there. I accomplished this by having her on a leash all the time at my side. This is a bit cumbersom to say the least, but it works, no accidents happen because she knows I 'm right there and I take her outside all the time. However, I'm curious when I do let her venture off by herself, if she will immediately potty somewhere? I can't get myself to let that happen and find out.

So the question is this, when do I know if she is potty trained if I never let her out of my site and have her with me and take her out rather than her letting me know when she wants to go?

When I figue out the answer I will let you know.

Monday, June 1, 2009

Life with a Puggle

We've had our Puggle for 1 week now and she is the cutest puppy I've ever seen. I fell in love with her big sad eyes from the first picture I saw of her. Her name is Jett, given by my 5yr old. Who is the real reason I wanted a puppy in the first place.

Jett is carmelly brown with touches of white here and there, big brown eyes and a short tail that curls up onto her back like a little piglet!

We started the potty training right from the beginning, showing her where to go outside and taking her out every hour on the hour. This is still a work in progress, she hasn't quite got the idea but it will come, (I hope!).

She has so much energy, we have to play with her lots and have been taking her in the car as much as possible. She enjoys riding on my daughters lap. We go to the bank and see my oldest daughter who works there and we go to Petco a lot! She was a huge hit at the park, so many kids came over to meet and hold her is was great. She was so gentle and let everyone handle her without so much as a peep! She is great with kids and the adults loved her too!

Petco has actually been a wonderful resource for us. We have never had a puppy or dog before so we had to research and ask a lot of questions. I have called and went to Petco numerous times and been able to have personal assistance from their trainers and staff, and also took Jett and my daughter to one of their free dog training seminars. It has been great! Thank you Petco!

Jett has taken up biting lately and by biting I mean shoes, chairs, rugs, tables, toes, fingers, legs and her own tail! You name it she will bite it. At first it was kinda cute, you know everything with puppies is cute until they draw blood! Anyway, we had to do a little tough love, time outs in the kennel and holding her snout closed to establish dominance, that is also what the mother dogs to to settle pups down. It has started to work a little but hey, she's still a baby. There is also this great product that the trainer at Petco told me about called Bitter Break that helps with this problem. I'll let you know how it works!

That's all for now I guess, talk to you soon.
Annette
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