Hi, my wife and I just rescued a puppy. We have both been around dogs most of our lives but have never had our own. She is 4 months old, half lab/half hound, and really smart. She has the look of a lab but the demeanor of a hound, very relaxed, most of the time. Our situation is as follows: 1. We take her on big walks twice a day, play with her and she is fed in the morning and night. She was feeding three times a day, but became uninterested in the mid day meal and the vet said to go to 2 meals, and that would be fine. We are trying so hard to crate train her. What we do is pretty much keep her in the crate at all times except when walking her, feeding her or playing with her. Once she is in the crate, she is fine. She doesn’t really whine, or whimper or anything. I need to give her a treat to coax her into going in, but once in, she really doesn’t try and get out. If she is not in the crate and left alone for more then a couple mins (2-3) it is almost guaranteed that she will pee somewhere. If she is left in the crate, and taken directly from the crate outside, she goes there (and we praise the heck out of her when she does!), and that is what we have been trying to keep consistent with. I just don’t know when I will know when I can keep her out of the crate (to make lunch, change over laundry, etc.) alone for a while where she wont pee. Is there a way to tell when a dog is house broken and wont pee anywhere if left alone? Are we doing the crate training properly?
Finally, 2. When taking her for walks, she will bite and go after the leash to bite and chew on it and if the leash is held out of her grasp, she will nibble/bite at your loose hanging shorts. When trying to get the leash or shorts out of her mouth, she will only go nuttier and harder to control. It is like she thinks we are playing back, but in reality, we are trying to get a completely different point across. Also, when playing, she will bite (not hard, soft like a puppy) and when trying to reprimand her, she object and bark and it seems the only way to remedy it is to take her for another walk or ignore her (but when we do that, we are worried she will pee). Also, we have been told to be strong and give the tough love thing, but cant help having the feeling that the dog looses a little faith in us as owners every time something goes wrong…Any help or suggestions would be GREATLY appreciated. She is signed up for a puppy class in the next couple weeks, and I do have a yard trainer collar that is like an electric fence collar, but I cant start to use that until she is at least 6 months old.