27-07-2008, 11:47 AM
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Pet Forums Senior Member
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Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: East Sussex
Posts: 520
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Re: Help! Training Puppy around 3 dogs and another puppy?
Hi,
At such an early age the only thing you need to be doing is house training. Normally a puppy (from a good breeder), will leave its litter mates at 12 weeks and go to its new home. Then the puppy should be given a week or so to settle in.
Basic obedience training can then commence, so for now just let Molly settle in find her place and have fun.
Obviously you'll want to correct her for any undesired behaviour, and in most instances this is best achieved by ignoring the undersired behaviour completely; no verbal/eye contact, be aloof... then encourage the desired behaviour and reward with petting/verbal praise/treats.
Molly has been taken form her litter mates way too early so she is bound to have some behavioural issues as a consequence, but be patient with her and don't expect too much at this age, in truth dogs are always learning 
It sounds to me like Molly is just trying to find her place within the new pack, (hence the barking when you pick her up), and it is your responsibility to act and be a leader. This process would take way too long for me to explain here, so the best thing you can do for Molly, yourself, and the rest of the dogs is buy this book:
The Perfect Puppy - By Gwen Bailey
This book covers everything, explains how dogs learn, shows you how to become a leader, and how to correct unwanted behaviour in a positive way.
One quick thing I will mention though is what's happening at bedtime. As Molly is very young she should be taken out at least once during the night to do her toilet.
She should sleep on her own bed, not on your bed, even if she does bark/whine. If you pick her up when she does this then you are teaching her that barking/whining will result in her getting her own way (dogs are very manipulate, even at the cute puppy stage, so you don't want to encourage this behaviour). If she is sniffing around then take her outside so she can do her thing, but should you do this with the least fuss, and be calm when you do so.
Then it's straight back to bed and Molly goes back to her bed. Other than if you think she needs to toilet, (which should only be once during the night), ignore all other attempts at her seeking attention.
If you can do this you'll find that within a week she will understand the routine. At 3 months she should be able to go for 6 hours at night, but not for 6 hours during the day, obviously
Hope this helps
Angela
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