Hello :) So recently my boyfriend and I got a Australian Cattle Dog from my parents (who breed them). And we love the little munchkin to death! However, neither myself nor my boyfriend have ever trained a pup before so we know little to nothing. We've spent many hour combing different websites trying to get some tips, and some have been really beneficial!

But, the main problems we have with him are biting and peeing all over the house. I've been told to buy some bitter cherry spray, and I was curious if anyone has used it and had good results or if there's a better way? He's only 8 weeks old but his biting habit has only progressed and both my boyfriend and I aren't into the punishment form of training.

As for him pottying, I'm completely beat with this. I can let him out and he'll go potty and get rewarded with goodies and life is fine. Then not even five minutes inside the house and he's pottying again even without drinking any water or consuming food. We take him out frequently yet he still does this? It's becoming very frustrating always having to scrub my carpet. 

We did purchase him a kennel but I'll admit that we've been pretty slack on putting him in it. He howls whenever he's in there and we live in a duplex so I worry about noise complaints from our neighbors who have a baby. 

I'm desperate for tips and suggestions I will forever be thankful to everyone who offers up something! We love him to death and I really would like to better help him figure out the difference between right and wrong.

As a side note: I'm not sure if this makes a big difference or not but we do have an older female dog who is fully trained also in our home.

Meet Mega-byte:

Mega-byte 1

Mega-byte 2

Puppies are known to potty a lot even if you have already let them out. However, this could also mean there's a serious problem with his bladder (such as bladder stones or a bladder infection, which will cause him to go frequently). Should he be already checked out by a vet, the best thing to do is to try and give him a scent where he's supposed to go to the bathroom. Dogs go by scent, so if they go there once, they'll smell it and go to that spot. (You will probably see Mega-Byte do this, and she is good too but I'll get into that shortly) So when he goes outside, watch him where he's going to the bathroom at. Then the next time he has to go (Or he acts like he does), bring him outside to that spot and see if he goes. Reward him if he does, the little guy will get the hang of it but it will take time & patience. 

As for Mega-Byte, the fact that you have an older dog is an excellent thing for training. Herding dogs can be known to be overdominant and 'take control' of their masters, making them incharge as opposed to us. An older dog will stop that due to the natural chain of dominance in nature. It makes seem scary to see her/him be aggressive towards the puppy/younger dog, but don't yell at her/him. Megabyte is only teaching the little guy HIS place in your house, saying he's a companion, not the master. 

Thirdly, with training, it really depends on WHAT you want to train him as to how you can information. If you're wanting to teach him to be in a "Working Dog" show, you can find training information online, in a library or talk to other breeders in the community who do it. This will be very beneficial in trainining the puppy, but I also suggest watching videos of the training you're wanting to put him in. This will allow you to know the correct commands/signals, order for the dog to follow, etc. and can make training so much easier for the both of you! 

With the kennel, a puppy will howl a lot until he gets used to it. This is mainly out of lonliness and dislike of the crate itself, my best method of training (This is for cats but it should work with dogs too) is to train them like a horse with a trailer. While you're present, put him near it and let him sniff it/go in it and check it out. Let him see that it won't hurt him and make it a good experience for him (So if you were to punish him, don't put him in the crate - For he'll then think of it as punishent and it will be harder to put him in than when you started!). Give him treats and reward him, do this till he seems comfortable with this routine (So around 2 weeks at least so he gets the hang of it), then go ahead and put him in a room for the alone part. Yes, he will howl still, but only do it for a short time. For 15mins put the puppy in the crate in a room, shut the door and leave it. This will also show him that throwing a 'tantrum' will not give him his way and he will understand that you're putting him there for a reason. Though he may dislike your reason. 

With biting, the only suggestion I know for that is to try and give him something else to bite. Buy him chew toys (Preferably rubbery ones because they're more durable to the biting) and bones when he's older. Unfortunately, you WILL have to punish him, though it doesn't have to be extremely harsh. Should the puppy bite you, say 'No!' in a firm voice and gently push him away. You may have to do multiple times, but he'll see it's wrong and stop. When he starts nomming on a chew toy, reward him or praise him saying, 'Good boy!', which will teach him you want him to bite THAT not you. 

 Well, I hope this helps you with your puppy! Though I'm no expert. 

We work as "foster parents" for dogs, so we have done a lot of puppy training, especially this year.  XD

USE THE KENNEL!  I know they howl and cry and whine, but they will get used to the crate.  In fact, they'll learn to love it.  It will take a bit for him to get used to it; after you put him in, ignore him.  Give him a toy in his crate, but otherwise leave him alone once he is in there.  We also put a blanket over the top of our crates, so they can see out the front, but not the sides and top.  Every dog we have crate-trained has learned that the crate is their "safe place", and they end up going there willingly.  With our dog, we just leave the door open and he goes in and out all day.  Once our dogs are in the crate, we leave them alone - they don't get yelled at, we don't reach in their crates, etc.  The crate is totally their space.  Its funny, because whenever our boy Lucky has an accident inside (very rare), he goes straight to his crate and lays down - he knows I will not punish him there.

Puppies go potty a lot.  No getting around that.  But again, use the crate.  Put him in the crate at night; first thing in the morning, take him potty.  Let him eat/drink, then potty again.  If he has an accident in the house, try to catch him in the act and get him outside.  If you catch it after a moment or so, no point taking him out (he's already gone), so put him in the crate for a bit and then right outside.  Every single time you take him out of the crate, take him outside.  Our older dogs go out every two hours; puppies we usually take out about every hour.  We do not reward dogs for going potty outside; some of them play that up and will "hold it" so that they can get a treat every five minutes.  It is also very important to walk them around for a good ten minutes to be sure their bladder is empty; some dogs get in a hurry and only let out a squirt.  If you walk them for a bit, it gives them more time to really empty.

Biting.  Make sure he has chew toys.  If he does bite you, like Equ said say 'No!', or we say "No bite!".  If the pushing doesn't work, we just clamp their mouth shut (not too harshly) with one hand and repeat the "No bite!".  If that still doesn't work, break out the spray bottle or shake can.  We have both.  One is a spray bottle of water, the other is an old soda bottle filled with coins, rocks, noisy stuff.  Keep whichever you use right next to you.  When he bites, spray him quick or shake the bottle to startle him.  We have better luck with the spray bottle, but I know people who like the shake can better.

Edit: I know the bottles are kind of "punishment", but they are far better than hitting a dog.  And when it comes to biting, you have to stop it.  All it takes is for a dog to bite a person once and they can be put down.  Punishment, scaring them, etc. is all better than death. 

Thank you both for your awesome suggestions :) I greatly appreciate all the advice! He's a bit stubborn and hard headed but we're hoping he'll come around :). 

I'm going to try the spray bottle idea, along with the pushing and closing his mouth. 

He's done a bit better with pottying today so here's to keeping fingers crossed!

Bailey would bite during play when he was a puppy, and it started getting too hard so we started clamping his mouth shut and saying "don't bite", he got the idea really quickly.

what i do for nibbly puppies is, like kimberly said, just grab them by the snout and hold their mouth shut for a couple seconds and say 'No!'.. it doesn't hurt them, but dogs generally don't like you holding on to their face so they'll get the idea pretty quick :p Mother dogs will nip back at their pups if they're biting her and they're not nearly as gentle with their babies as we are haha.

As for going potty, every time he DOES do it outside, say a command as he's going, so he knows that you're acknowledging that behavior and then praise him. Also, never have puppy out of the crate unless you're there monitoring him.. He'll whine the first few times, but soon they calm down and just go to sleep. While he's out and about, try and keep him contained to a smaller area, don't let him have free run of the house. I use a baby gate. Every half hour, put him outside. If he doesn't go to the bathroom right away, leave him for 5-10 mintutes, then bring him back in for another 30 minutes and then back out again. Puppies have small bladders and even worse bladder control, so they'll definitely need to go at least once an hour.

And remember that he's only 8 weeks old and is in a new home. Don't expect too much progress for the first couple weeks haha just do your best to prevent him from going in the house at all. Having a trained, older dog will definitely help though. He'll copy her behavior and when she goes to the bathroom outside, he'll want to do it too.

Good luck!

Adding on to what Uni said about him being in a new home - that can take a while to really settle out.  We adopted a 3 year old Lab last year, neutered, well-behaved, and according to the shelter potty-trained.  Right.  It took us six months to get him going outside every single time, and we even asked the vet (who knew the dog from before he was surrendered).  The vet said he was definitely potty-trained when they knew him, so it must have just been adjusting to a new place.  XD  Since then we've had foster dogs that potty the first week or so while settling in, but Lucky had to be the worst.  We've had him well over a year now, and he just started getting to sleep outside of his kennel once in a while.

Hi! I was going to post a topic up on Puppy training.. but I figured I'd just post my question here...

I have a Chocolate Lab puppy ( pretty sure he's a mix), he is about 10-11 weeks old now.. I'm also having biting issues.. Is there any other methods to stop him from biting?  I've tried clamping his mouth shut.. telling him no.. I would try the spray bottle but I'm pretty sure he's going to think it's a play toy.  He loves water/snow.  He's in puppy classes and I've asked how to fix it.. and they just say to ignore him.. but he continues to jump at you and bite.  I know he's playing.. but his teeth are like razor blades.  We also have a toddler in the house.. and he likes to nip at him as well.. not to mention humping him.. which I know is a dominance thing..

How often can we give them baths?  He has dandruff and with winter being "confused" here, our yard can get a bit muddy.  I was told not to bathe them that much, but his last bath was about 2 weeks ago.

Help!?

I have tried all the things stated above but there seems to be only one thing that seems to have been working with Bristol on the biting issue.  If she bites or nips at me I curl her lip up and into her top teeth and squeeze, not too hard, but enough for her to feel it and I tell her NO! or NO BITE! while doing it.  It's essentially like mommy dog nipping back at the pup to tell them "No that hurts, don't do that".  She's really good about trying not to bite now, even while we play.

As for bathing, the rule of thumb I have heard is about once a month.  Any more than that and you could risk drying out the skin.  However, I am sure it varies from dog to dog.  Also, while on the topic of bathing dogs miss Uni gave me some advice a couple weeks back that I will pas on to you!  Don't waste your money on puppy/dog shampoo, just buy some Johnsons baby shampoo and use that.  It's safe to use and a lot cheaper!  THANKS UNIPOO! ☺

One of the first things someone told me to try was the curl the lip up into the top teeth and squeeze, but that did not work.  I'm hoping he just grows out of it!  It's like at night he sharpens his teeth so that he can bite the crap out of you the next day.  It's like he plans it out ;)  But he's at that stage now where he's sooo hyper that he just wants to play fight with everyone.

I didn't think of using Johnsons baby shampoo, I got him an oatmeal bath puppy shampoo when I first got him.  I'm going to have to try that in a month!

I cannot contribute anything to the nipping discussion, since I just have to look at my dog and say "put your teeth away!" and she does, haha. For the jumping though, a vet I knew said to gently squeeze their paws when they jump on you because they don't like it? Not sure how true it is, but he had Weimaraners and it worked for him!

Also! I use Mane 'n Tail on my horse, myself, and my dog, and I really love it! It's super cheap and you can find it pretty much anywhere. :) It keeps my dog's coat fluffy and shiny. Also agreeing with Tron about the once a month baths!

My vet told me that when they bite (my dog had an issue with nipping hands) to push their tongue down to the bottom of their mouths. 

Mega is still difficult to get to stop biting he's acting exactly how Amberellie's pup is haha. I think tomorrow I'll try the lip curling thing or maybe fun thing. Our pup loves water also so the spray bottle didn't work one bit, hopefully the new suggestions will!

Now that everyone in my house is on the same page with Dunkin's biting.. Dunkin has been doing well with the clamping the mouth and saying "No Bite!"  It took a long time for him to get with the program.. puppy classes have been helping with his manners as well.

cattle dogs are very very hard headed....my mom got.one as a puppy and it takes them literally a yr to.calm down and behave....thats what all breeders say.....my moms.female "Darcy-Lou" is sooo hard headed that we have to use a fly swatter to keep her from jumping up on people....theyre very hyper dogs...so i would suggest maybe doing something to.get the energy out!

just like horses it takes consistancy!

He's gotten a lot better with potty-training and we've only had a few oops moments the past two weeks (thank goodness) and yes! At 13 weeks, he's hyper and happy as ever. My parents breed ACDs and they said pretty much the same thing with the year old thing. He's not necessarily hard to train as he knows how to sit, lay, shake, and 'speak' but the biting and heeling if definately at full blast! 

On a plus side, he's very non-agressive with other animals of all kinds, including even bunnies :)

Biting - From my experiences, holding their muzzle and saying "No!" tends to help, however depending on the dog's breed and their genetic makeup, they might feel more dominate than what you would expect. One of my dogs (a rottweiler x terrier mix) was always thinking that she owned you. We would try to punish her and she would basically act as if we were the ones who were misbehaving.

What ended up working with her was basically showing her that WE were the boss, and she was our dog. If she would jump up on us, or nip at all, she would instantly be taken to the ground and held their until she was relaxed. (this may seem rough or violent, but just like in a pack of dogs, there is the pack leader, and there is the rest of the pack. if the pack leader doesn't like what the other dogs are doing, the dog will get on top of that dog and bite it until it submits). All this does is basically tell the dog who is boss and who is master in a language that the dog can understand.