New puppy - Help!?
 

Hello,

I just brought home my 5 month old boodle (bichon poodle) yesterday. He is fairly unsure of the house and how it works, especially stairs. I am just wondering if me picking him up and bringing him into different rooms or outside is causing more damage than good? I have a leash on him and I've tried to guide him but hes not having it and I don't think dragging him along is good either. Does anyone have any tips or suggestions?

Thanks :)

Use treats to convince him to do the stairs! They aren't too steep are they?

I like Marty11's idea with the treats. Lavishing a lot of praise when the dog successfully climbs 1 or 2 stairs might well encourage the dog to climb more stairs. Good luck!

We started at the bottom of the staircase and put treats up on each level, about 3 levels to start with. Pup feels more secure going up than down, so generally starting at the bottom gives them more confidence, and starting out with just 3 stairs doesn't make it so scarily high for them when they turn around to come back down. Gradually increase the number of stairs and soon he'll be taking them like a champ!

As for going from room to room--offer a handheld treat from across the threshold and call to Puppy in your best soft persuasive voice (it often helps if you crouch down). Of course, praise lavishly and give them the treat when they venture over the threshold.

Patience is your best tool here--but puppies are pretty adaptive and I suspect once he settles in your biggest problem will be to keep track of him as he runs from room to room and up and down the stairs. :D

Generally, imo, it's better to let pups explore and move around on their own instead of learning to rely on you to pick them up all the time.

Thanks for the advice. I was probably jumping the gun because that night he learned pretty quickly how to go up and down. Now two days later he is doing it without hesitation.

My Bichon did the exact same. First few days, no way. Then one day, he just went at 'er and viola........flew up and down like crazy.

Access to the house
 

It's also a good idea to restrict access to parts of the house until your dog is more mature and reliable. As an example would you allow a child that just learned to walk to have complete unsupervised access to your home? Not likely. Too much to get into and much of it is not safe for kids or dogs.

Enjoy!!

[QUOTE=stellarose;1036324]Hello,

I just brought home my 5 month old boodle (bichon poodle) yesterday. He is fairly unsure of the house and how it works, especially stairs. I am just wondering if me picking him up and bringing him into different rooms or outside is causing more damage than good? I have a leash on him and I've tried to guide him but hes not having it and I don't think dragging him along is good either. Does anyone have any tips or suggestions?

Thanks :)[/QUOTE]

I think by you carrying your puppy around it just reenforce his fears of the stairs and the house. Does he have a favorite toy you could put on a step and try to made a game out this. I agree dragging him along is not going to teach him him anything , it could made him learn to run the other way when he see the leash .