amymeme wrote:

Lordy, he's cute as the devil!  One way I've made the crate desirable to my foster is feeding his meals in there and, initially, all treats were in the crate.  

As for night time, ummm...at 7 weeks?  Maybe every 2-3 hours?

And, speaking of 7 weeks...that's a bit young to leave the litter.  He will be missing out on important socialization from littermates and mom so you now have to be the socializer (is there such a word )  The big one is bite inhibition.  Your pup will most likely be highly mouthy and you will have to be firm in suppressing that.  You may even have to resort to leather gloves when you play/train him.  There is lots of info on here about bite inhibition (and really, this NOT aggressive biting, its just how pups of this age learn about the world.)

Also - I wouldn't leave his collar on in the crate unless you are right there with him - collars and tags can get caught in the wires.  You may wonder "huh" but puppies are the damnedest things...they will ever surprise you with their antics.

Also - for potty training, keeping a leash on in the house, as he gets older, even the leash attached to you, can help tremendously to catch him in the act and take him outside.  At this age, without full shots you really have to be careful - no un-vaccinated dogs, no unknown dogs...no walking on outside surfaces frequented by dogs.  Diseases, particularly Parvo, can be fatal at this age.  ANd expensive if hospitalization, IV's etc are needed.

Im beginning to see what you mean with about the whole biting thing. He's bites A LOT and it actually hurts for a little guy like him. I've been trying to associate biting with toys so he knows that toys are acceptable, and whenever he bites me i yell OW really loudly, don't know how effective this actually is though

Another quick update for those interested lol! Okami is doin great! He sleeps in his crate now NO problem! DUring the day it's left open and he goes in there willingly to chill and nap! Only concerns I have now is the amount of biting he does! It really hurts and he just doesn't seem to understand how much D:     But he's a good boy, just hope he learns to pull bites.

He's looking awesome, I'm really liking his coloring!

Biting will calm down. And yeah, those sharp puppy teeth can hurt bad, haha. Just keep on it like you did with the crate training and Okami will grow out of it. It's not only something that happens with puppies taken earlier than 8 weeks, all mine did it to some extent and all should have already learned bite inhibition from mom and the litter, so I think we have all dealt with it to some degree, and can relate. It does indeed get better, but you have to stay on top of it for awhile. Good luck!

He's so cute and unique. Going to be interesting to see how he transforms as he grows.

Artic_Wind wrote:

He's looking awesome, I'm really liking his coloring!

Biting will calm down. And yeah, those sharp puppy teeth can hurt bad, haha. Just keep on it like you did with the crate training and Okami will grow out of it. It's not only something that happens with puppies taken earlier than 8 weeks, all mine did it to some extent and all should have already learned bite inhibition from mom and the litter, so I think we have all dealt with it to some degree, and can relate. It does indeed get better, but you have to stay on top of it for awhile. Good luck!

I really hope you are right, because sometimes he bites so hard and so much it makes me feel like hes being aggressive and not playing.

Puppies experience the world via their mouth; they don't understand the difference between biting a stick, biting, kibble, or biting your hand.

Since you don't have other dogs in the home to teach her, it falls on you to be her pack leader by establishing the ground rules. At this young age it's easier to stuff something into her mouth that she can clamp down on when she goes for your hands. I have made the mistake with other dogs by playing with them and allowing them to bite my hands thinking it was fun; was not a fun lesson on my part as they didn't understand why I would get upset as they grew stronger.

So long as you don't encourage it, she will out grow it, and learn that your hands are good because they give rewards.