Help....Please!!!! lol

[Comeflyaway]

Good Advice, but trust me, Merial the company that runs frontline guarantee's that the frontline spray version is completely safe for the use on young puppies. In actual fact, if I remember rightly, the label actually says you can use it from just 2 days old.

Stacey xxx

Good call. Just wanted to throw the dangers out there, just so the OP doesn't give the pup something that's not meant for such a young little thing. Thanks for the clarification.

[Zen Perez]

Hi there,

Your little one is adorable!

It really seems like you are approaching the joys of a puppy husky with humor and high spirits - that's the way to go! It is challenging and rewarding and challenging and fun and challenging and eye opening on how awesome these little guys are!

Our puppy Zen is just about 8 months now and she was a biter when we got her at 8 weeks. At first I thought it would be okay to let her mouth my hands if it wasn't hard enough to hurt - I figured it was her way of playing with us. Gosh! she had just left her home of 10 littermates, 2 older siblings (8month olds and rambunctious) and her parents. I remember one week in particular that was so very very rough because it seemed all she wanted to do was bite me. I yipped, she thought it was fun! I yipped and walked away - she thought the chase was on and bit whatever she could reach! I had to Yip - so loud and high pierced, turn abruptly away, and hurry myself over the baby gate we set up - and keep my back to her. After 10 seconds, I'd put my foot over the gate - if she went after it, Yip, back over the gate, back turned, 10 seconds. I would repeat this every time she bit clothes or me. I seemed to be the main one she would do this to - lucky! Let me say that I now own 0 items of clothing that are hole free ':}

So, being with her littermates and mom for 8 weeks didn't do it for our Zen - we had to continue the training at home. Like most creatures - each individual is different.

We were in puppy training by her 10th week and I am so grateful and thankful for this because I got the greatest advice that worked wonders! I had noticed she had two witching hours. One in the morning after wake-up/breakfast and one in the later afternoon around 5pm. The trainers confirmed these were two normal rough spots of the day for puppies and to help her (and my skin!) out by learning how to play tug (with rules) in the morning to get her ya yas out and then to prepare lots of frozen treats for her to chew on in the evening - we'd freeze food in hollowed bones or kongs and bring those out. We'd stuff them with either pumpkin, dried kibble moistened with water, or canned food. These two additions to our routine worked extremely well, but she would still at times attack.

A trainer gave wise words one day - puppies do not need full reign of their environment. Keep their leash on so you can step on it if you need to stop them. Keep them tethered to something if their are not behaving appropriately. This was like a light bulb. We did this and phew! even more improvement. For daily "gentle" practice, I would tether her and sit with her with a bag of treats. If I could reach toward her with no bite, treat. We worked toward touching her head, treat; petting her head, treat. Just sitting near her with no biting, treat!

Another gentle practice we did was feeding her her meals one by one - I'd reach the kibble out to her, say "gentle" and only let her take it if she did it gently. After a couple times of pulling my hand away, she got it and will eat each little kibble very gently out of our hands - we do this with treats as well - she can only take if she takes gently... Now at the dog park, she knows, "gentle" when there are smaller, older, anxious doggies about!

Oh, also, after a while, I was able to tell that some of her "biting" moments were due to being tired - so, then it was nap time! We are fortunate though - Zen's pretty good in her crate...which we did keep in our room for a while, but moved out to the living room soon after.

I'm not sure if you've explored clicker training, but I cannot say enough good things about it - it's positive, it's clear, it's straightforward, and for our dog - it works! We use it for everything, we are very consistent with training and now at 8 months, Zen she does so well!

To get Zen used to her crate, we would toss a treat in, the minute her head passed the doorway, CLICK, and give a treat. We'd practice this a few times and then bump it up to getting her in there, closing the door - if no whining - CLICK and give a treat. If she whined, we knew it was too much for her and we'd go back to leaving the door open and clicking when her head passed the doorway. It's all about working up to the level they are at so they are always successful! Soon, she would be in the crate, door closed and every so often, we click and treat with lots of praise. You can really work up the time she is in there without whining this way. We would always remain right there next to the crate with her. At night, we'd pull out the clicker and treats and do another "training" session to get her in for the night, then we'd stay next to the crate with words of encouragement, then "night night" and we'd get into our bed. We do cover her crate with a sheet which she seems to enjoy. She has toys in there to keep her happy. It's all about associating good things with the crate. Those frozen goodies I mentioned - we'd give them to her in her crate (door open at first, then door closed) and this helped the good crate vibes.

For potty training - the only thing I'll add which really helped Zen was when she did go in the house I would say "NO" firmly loudly, but not negatively, wipe the pee or pick it up the poop with newspaper and take it and her to our outside "potty" spot. I would put it and her down in the same spot so she could smell it and associate it with "potty spot". I'd keep her on leash and just stand there quietly for a minute. Whenever we would take her outside, we'd go right to the last newspaper and with her on leash, stand there quiet and still for a few moments. She was quick to learn that was her spot because it was her smell there. Soon she would scratch the door to go out and by 5 months - no accidents (as long as we were up on taking her out regularly). The first night was awful - we had no crate and she had had a dewormer which gave diarrhea -fun! It was a long night with a lot of carpet spot cleaner! Which reminds me! If she does go in the house, you have to fully get rid of the smell - soap/water, then spray with a miracle pet cleaner to get rid of all the organic matter and smell so she doesn't associate her smell with "Oh yeah, this is where I do that!"

I've written enough - I think it's awesome that you want to do right by your puppy and are looking for advice!

There's great stuff out there. On Utube - check out Kikopup - she's amazing! Training classes are another godsend! Reading about crate training - lots of cool ideas out there.

Good luck and keep having lots of fun with your playful puppy!