How to properly confine a puppy

[HollynLA 1]

Hello everyone

Rudy is 8.5 weeks so of course, he is no where near being potty trained. I bought an xt play yard which is large enough to place his pee pad/ugodog, bed, some toys, and have a little running room. We're on day 3 of using it. The problem is that as long as he can see any of us, he squeels, and I mean squeels LOUD! He howls and cries non-stop. If no one is visible to him, he does not do this. What do I do? Should he be confined out of sight? Our kitchen and living room is very open and large, and I have his pen kind of centralized thinking it would help for him not feel alone. Obviously, that's not working. My husband is working nights and is trying to sleep during the day, so I don't know what to do. Any help is appreciated.

Btw: as long as he is confined, he uses his pad, if he is not confined, he uses it about 25% of the time.

[emmasmom 14]

First, congrats on the new puppy & welcome to Chatter! You will love it here!

Now, as far as the noisy puppy when you are around, he just wants to be next to you. So, I think until trained, you may have to put up with it, it will get better with time. But, if your goal is to potty train him for outside only, take him out at least every hour to potty to start out with. Then you can slowly increase the time. If he goes outside, praise, praise, praise....then bring him in & let him run around for a little bit, (as long as you watch closely) then back in the pen till the next potty time & repeat. I've found, you just have to be more stubborn than they are! Good luck!

[Seastar 44]

At this age they really are forming their lifelong bonds with you, and as much time as you can spend directly in contact with the puppy, the better. So playtimes right after pottying, maybe some carrying/cuddling prior to napping in the playpen, repeat, repeat, repeat for several months.

[Kae+Gizzy 5]

I am also a mom of a new puppy and seriously it's like having a newborn child lol. The only time Bella is confined is when I'm cleaning or out of the room. She spends most of her day playing with me, sleeping on the sofa or tearing around after my other Tzu.

As Rudy is so young he is going to miss his siblings so much and even though he can see you he just wants to be near you. Tzu are a very social breed.

It's also quite a stressful time for a puppy and as Paula has already mentioned, they are bonding with you at this age.

I usually play with Bella during the morning for a while until she tires then she has a nap on the sofa. Maybe after Rudy is tired from some playtime, he might readily accept his pen for a nap.

[eeyoredag 0]

I am going thru some of this now with Tonka. He is 10 weeks old. I have pee pads around my parrot cage because she likes to hang and squirk out the cage so that's convient for Tonka and then he has pee pads in our bedroom which is his safe room. He is free roaming otherwise but my apartment is only 645 square feet. When I leave the apartment I baby gate my bedroom doorway to confine him and he throws a BIG fit!! He screams like a little girl!! I have been going out for a little bit every day so he will get used to being confined when I'm gone. I'm in a wheelchair and he tries to beat me out the door so that won't work.

He would scream the whole time I was BUT this past week he has started to quiet down after a few minutes. I am SO happy about this new development because he gets SO worked up I thought he would get sick. IF I try to confine him and I'm in the apartment he doesn't stop screaming no matter what. He went at it for 2 hours straight and I just couldn't stand it any longer. Good thing I have a deaf neighbor but you can hear him outside the apartment so I can't do that any more.

[HollynLA 1]

Well, maybe my idea that he was quiet when I was gone was wrong. I went grocery shopping earlier today and when I came back, my husband (who was sleeping due to working night shift) was awake and said Rudy was screaming for the past 20 minutes. I had been gone about 90 minutes. I took him out of course so my dh could go back to sleep. The only good news with that is that he used his pee pads the entire time.

I have been bringing him outside a little at a time but he is trying to eat every little thing on the ground and has not potty'd outside at all. I will continue. I plan to use the play yard as his confinement when I have to leave and have a pee pad in it.

Also, can anyone tell me if you use are using a collar/leash on a dog this young yet? I attempted to put one on Rudy for when we go outside and he freaked out.

[ShihtzuBeauty 47]

I brought 3 of mine home at 8wks. and I did get them used to the leash/collar right from the start. Let him sniff it and "explore" it a bit then while your sitting w/him just slowly put it on once he's used to that you can add the lead. I always used the soft thin mesh collars for them when they were babies.

With the lead if he's struggling once you have it on don't make a fuss about you holding it let him "drag" it around and play w/it then continue to work up to you holding it and him learning to walk on it you can use treat reward and Lots of praise for this too.

[GizmoHappyKitty 1]

Well, maybe my idea that he was quiet when I was gone was wrong. I went grocery shopping earlier today and when I came back, my husband (who was sleeping due to working night shift) was awake and said Rudy was screaming for the past 20 minutes. I had been gone about 90 minutes. I took him out of course so my dh could go back to sleep. The only good news with that is that he used his pee pads the entire time.

I have been bringing him outside a little at a time but he is trying to eat every little thing on the ground and has not potty'd outside at all. I will continue. I plan to use the play yard as his confinement when I have to leave and have a pee pad in it.

Also, can anyone tell me if you use are using a collar/leash on a dog this young yet? I attempted to put one on Rudy for when we go outside and he freaked out.

I prefer to use a harness and a leash on my tzu, it is much safer and easier on their little necks.

When mine were tiny i confined them when i couldn't watch them 100% of the time otherwise i would have their ex-pen wide open and had it blocking off the rest of the house and when they had to pee they would run right to thier little area and would go right on the pee pad every time (well in Kitty's case -my female tzu- we litterbox trained her when she was a pup and she would run right to her litterbox every time she had to go). The litterbox training worked great for her since we moved into an apt. before we got her and as she got older we moved the litter box out to the balcony. She no longer uses a litter box now that she is older, but she is the only one of my dogs that if i can't make it home in time to take them out, i can leave the balcony door open for her and she will do her business out there instead of in the house.

Michele and the pups

[tzuhouse 4]

I am also a mom of a new puppy and seriously it's like having a newborn child lol. The only time Bella is confined is when I'm cleaning or out of the room. She spends most of her day playing with me, sleeping on the sofa or tearing around after my other Tzu.

As Rudy is so young he is going to miss his siblings so much and even though he can see you he just wants to be near you. Tzu are a very social breed.

It's also quite a stressful time for a puppy and as Paula has already mentioned, they are bonding with you at this age.

I usually play with Bella during the morning for a while until she tires then she has a nap on the sofa. Maybe after Rudy is tired from some playtime, he might readily accept his pen for a nap.

Good point about missing the siblings....so interaction with him as often as possible will help with bonding and as Nancy said, you have to be the most stubborn but it will get better..

Oh and we need some pics of that beautiful Bella.....PLEASE !!!

Well, maybe my idea that he was quiet when I was gone was wrong. I went grocery shopping earlier today and when I came back, my husband (who was sleeping due to working night shift) was awake and said Rudy was screaming for the past 20 minutes. I had been gone about 90 minutes. I took him out of course so my dh could go back to sleep. The only good news with that is that he used his pee pads the entire time.

I have been bringing him outside a little at a time but he is trying to eat every little thing on the ground and has not potty'd outside at all. I will continue. I plan to use the play yard as his confinement when I have to leave and have a pee pad in it.

Also, can anyone tell me if you use are using a collar/leash on a dog this young yet? I attempted to put one on Rudy for when we go outside and he freaked out.

I have a new puppy too, but he is now 16 weeks old (man how time flies). I always put either a collar or harness on them and let them get used to that first, then add the leash and just let them drag it around the room on their own. They will freak a bit at first, but will get used to it very easily. When using a collar, I don't pull or tug on it, more for guiding than anything. Right now with all the snow, it is hard to thread the leash through to the harness every time a tiny puppy needs to go out...it just takes too much time....so i started putting a very small, thin leash around the neck and connect it onto itself....so it slips and slides easily and use that...Rudy pretty much knows now where to go, so i just kinda guide him with the leash and again, never tug or pull on his little neck.

Good luck, it DOES get better...