Hi everyone! I just got my first puppy, an Eskie named Sadie, she's about 8 weeks old. I've wanted a dog for a long time and when I saw her I fell in love. My husband agreed she was cute (He likes to pretend he doesn't care about my pets but he plays with them plenty!) so we brought her home. She is incredibly sweet, she follows me all over the house and sleeps under my chair in the evening. We have 2 cats who are a bit freaked but they're slowly coming around, checking her out when she's sleeping. We also have 5 rats but she doesn't seem to pay any attention to them which is good.
Here are some photos of her:
We're starting puppy training at Petsmart in a few weeks, but I'm doing whatever I can for now. I starting teaching her 'sit', and she seemed to get the hang of it pretty quick. She doesn't like to go on walks in the morning but in the evening she'll walk and run down the sidewalk with me.
I've read lots of articles on training and stuff but I have a few questions if anyone can help.
I'm using the crate to help housebreak her and it works okay overnight, she'll go outside as soon as I take her out, but then after meals she doesn't go potty outside. I read that I should put her in the crate for 10 mins if she doesn't go outside, but when I put her in she'll cry for anywhere from 5 to 20 mins. If I take her out while she's still crying won't that reinforce the crying? Should I always wait until she stops before trying outside again?
Also she likes to chew on the crate and she's gotten her face stuck in the bars a few times. I put the Bitter Apple spray on but she doesn't seem to mind, it ends up all over her face and paws. (I sprayed it on last night, and it was still wet this morning.) Any other ideas to stop the chewing? I'm hoping her face grows fast so it won't get in there anymore.