Although Ebony has had the task of ringing the bells to go inside down for quite awhile. Today was the first day that she rang the bells to go outside by herself. I was almost beside myself with excitement.  I think I scared my poor goldendoodle puppy with my enthusiasm but I was so glad to have this break in her house training.  Fergus was so easy to house train but she has continued to have the occasional accident inside if I am not totally diligent. This was the first time that she took the initiative to let me know that she needed to go outside.

Its amazing how the little things in life can so totally make your day!

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Fergus, my male Golden Retriever, was a breeze to house train.  One of the things that expedited his training was he started using the Christmas bells by the door to let us know that he wanted out. Some of the reading that I have done, including The Goldendoodle book, have mentioned using bells for house breaking Goldendoodles. We set up hooks inside and outside the backdoor and hung bells. We attached bells to dowels to prevent injury, instead of string or rope.

Within hours, Ebony figured out that ringing the outside bells gets one of those tall humans on the run to open the door for her and let her in. Getting her to ring the bells to go out hasn’t happened.  We ring the bells ourselves whenever we let ourselves inside or out.  To get outside, we wait for the dogs to ring the bells themselves but after several minutes we will nudge their nose or lift up a paw to ring the bell before opening the door. Hopefully, they will get the hang of it soon. Fergus still has not rung the outside bells. He seems to be perfectly content to sit while Ebony rings the bells for him! Initially, we talked about how smart Ebony is but maybe Fergus…

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I feel a bit better today and Ebony slept in until 9am, woot!

She recognizes her name now and is getting pretty good at the come command. She is getting the hang of her leash now. Not at the level of heeling but she no longer digs in her back feet. She prances now on her leash. We did have an oops on the kitchen floor but that was my fault. I just couldn’t get going fast enough to get her out the back door.

Hopefully, I will feel better tomorrow and we can focus more on her training. Today was more of a play day for her as she and Fergus were working out their wrestling routine.

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I don’t feel well today and Ebony woke me up very early. After I took her outside to eliminate and that I fed her, I tried to get her back in her crate. I was exhausted and I had to get back to sleep. For the first time, she really whimpered and whined. I couldn’t sleep. I moved her to the large wire crate in the back yard and put Fergus outside with her. Usually he is enough to calm her down. She continued to whine, whimper and yowl.

Even in my basement bedroom, her cries kept me awake. I was desperate and beginning to doubt my ability to train her. Finally, I brought Fergus and Ebony into my bedroom and hoped she wouldn’t go nuts in my closet. Five hours later, I woke up to find them curled up around each other and pressed up against the edge of my bed. Fergus gets very clingy when I don’t feel well and will lay down as close as he can to me as long as I am lying down. Ebony just settled down and followed his lead. Nothing was chewed and there were no messes, thank goodness!

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Day three and we have been doing great so far on the house training. No elimination indoors. She whimpers while crated, when she wakes up and needs to go. To be totally honest, most of the “success” so far has been based on my predicting that she needs to go versus her asking to go out.

I trained Fergus by putting him outside every time after he drank, ate or woke up and he only peed inside the house once in 11 years. I am trying to remember when he was able to tell me when he needed to go outside. I do remember that we had bells for him to ring when he was a puppy and I will get her some bells soon. The book Goldendoodle (Designer Dog) by Kathryn Lee also talks about using bells to signal when to go out.

I have done some other reading on the web to brush up on my house training skills. BEFORE You Get Your Puppy is a free e-book by Dr. Ian Dunbar. The 73 page book is available here. I agree that it is important to learn about what you are getting yourself into before beginning a new puppy adventure. Some of the book is repetitive and it hits hard on the point that the training is the person’s responsibility. Some puppy “problem” behavior is actually natural canine behavior that can be redirected. The aspect that I have been focusing on is anticipating her need to eliminate and getting her outside. Every time she wakes up or drinks water, out the back door she goes. She gets a treat, praise and play when she has eliminated. With Fergus, I also let him out as soon as he ate but we are trying something a bit different with her food. Per the BEFORE You Get Your Puppy book, I am stuffing her Kong with her food and then wedging some bone shape treats in the opening so she has to work a bit and chew on her toy to get to her food.

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Once upon time I had a fantasy. I had this beautiful dream in which a new puppy would be easier to train because Fergus would be a shining example. He would demonstrate, she would follow.

Well, so far it hasn’t quite worked out that way. Fergus loves the sound of the “Good puppy” voice eagerly steps over her and gets in her way when I try to teach her to come. In trying to teach her to climb stairs, Fergus will gladly climb them and lay down between her and I. Potty training? He still remembers “potty” and will either pee inbetween us so I can’t give her a treat or once even peed on her when I say “good potty”. Separating them is problematic because I don’t want him to feel punished or left at. Locking him in a room while I run her outside for a potty break doesn’t feel like the best solution. If I put him outside while we work on building her confidence on the steps he whines and whimpers and his cries upset her. Thank goodness for a niece who will take him for a nice long walk tomorrow so Ebony and I can concentrate on training.

The good news is that really like each other. Ebony is very attached to Fergus and will not whimper at all as long as he is close by. He is very protective of her. In fact, last night it wasn’t Ebony that kept waking me up but it was Fergus. He woke me up everytime he heard her collar and tag clink as she rustled in her sleep in the crate. He would go back and forth between the crate and my bed, nudging me with that cold wet nose, until I would get up and check on her. Sweet, but I will think it is even cuter if we get more sleep tonight!

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