New puppy questions.

Hello! I am so pleased to have found this site. I have been perusing around and so thrilled to have experiences of others to learn from.

Pepper is 15 weeks old and has been home for a little over two weeks. She is a tri-color delute (?) Pembroke Welsh corgi. We are all terribly smitten.

I have a few questions that I hope you all can help me with.

1. How long until she can hold her bladder more than 2-3 hours? I crate her whenever we leave the house and make a point not to be gone more than 2-3 hours. For the past week she has been doing very well. I always put a pad down in her crate in case she has to go. At night, I take her out at about 10:30 and make sure she empties her bladder and bowel (with luck) and put her in the crate for the night. I come down at 6:30 and she has usually peed in a spot on the pad and is resting on the other half of it. So I guess I am also asking if there should be a time she will make it through the night without going?

2. Some days she wil willingly walk around the block. Other days she just plops down and refuses to go beyond our yard. Should I be firm about making her walk?

3. Is her diluted color unusual? Everyone says they have never seen a corgi that looks like her. ALl her litter mates were orange and white except one other that was tri color. She is a registered with the AKC.

I hope this all makes sense. Thanks in advance.

Sarah

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Permalink Reply by Sam Tsang on July 11, 2012 at 4:14pm

Hi Sarah, you can use a piece of plywood to divide the crate yourself, make sure he has enough room to standup and turn around.

Take her out one last time before you go to bed, you'll sleep longer.

Good luck!

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Permalink Reply by John Wolff on July 12, 2012 at 4:38pm

I made a plywood cross-section crate divider. It had a crossbar that stuck through the windows. We moved it back as Al grew. Make sure it can't fall over on puppy; puppy must feel secure in the crate.

Get a notebook, keep a training journal. Make and track your training plans. List all commands you want puppy to learn. Make sure everybody in the household is on the same page, uses the same words, has the same expectations.

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Permalink Reply by Sebastian on July 11, 2012 at 10:48am

- I wouldn't put a peed pad in her crate it defeats the purpose of crate training ; which is to teach them to hold going "potty" in there "area". I have read 2 rule of thumbs for how long puppies can hold their bladder

a) for every month they are old (e.g. if your puppy is 3 months old then three hours).

b) Another, is the same as above just add 1hr

My puppy is only 10 weeks and he has been able to hold it for nearly 6 hours a few times other times he just wakes me up at night to let me know he has to go potty.

-I agree with Ludi. During the day when they're just hanging out with you I would take her/him out every 2 or 3 hours...every puppy is a little different. Also, monitoring water intake is key. I try not too give my puppy water past 8pm and bed time is between 10pm and 11pm which I take him out to potty so he doesn't have a full bladder in his crate while sleeping.

-As far as leash walking I had the same problem. Part of it is being unfamiliar with their surrounding. Tucker was scared initially, eventually he got over it and started venturing out more and more little by little. If all else fails use TREATS that stops corgis from turning into a magical stone that just plant themselves while on a leash :P

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Permalink Reply by Holly on July 11, 2012 at 4:26pm

I had a similar problem when taking walks with my Corgi, now 16 weeks. What really helped was going on walks with other dogs. My boyfriend has a dog so me and my corgi would go on walks with him and his lab. She was much more motivated when another dog was there and I think she picked up on his enthusiasm. I now have no trouble walking her, even when it's just the two of us (knock on wood, heh.)

Another thing that helped was bringing treats with me on the walk. When all else fails, I bribe. ;)

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Permalink Reply by Pepper on July 12, 2012 at 6:50am

Great news! We made it through the night without her eliminating! I tried the smaller crate area and I set an alarm for 4 hours after I had last walked her. I let her out then and then back in the crate for 4 more hours. Success! Thank you all so much for your insight and guidance, and thanks for the warm welcome.