[cke]

My puppy also does not seem to have the typical call signs. I've trained numerous dogs over the years, and this one is the first one to challenge my sanity and patience like this. Not only does he not give me call signs, resulting in the necessity of a rigid schedule and crate training (which is going surprisingly well) but this dog will invariably NOT eliminate in any predictable way outside either. When I first brought him home I had the entire week off for spring break, and I literally waited upwards of two hours for him to eliminate outside after I caught him (right away, less than a few drops had ended up on the carpet) and took him outside (and this is not a one time thing, this is an every day process.) The only fairly predictable elimination need is after an extended nap. Not after food, water, play, an hour in his crate...all the typical times a dog would need to eliminate. Forcing him to remain in a certain spot (on a lead) is also not working for me or him at all, and standing still waiting for him to decide for upwards of 30 minutes at a time is wearing thin on my patience and it gets really cold (for me, the dogs could care less about the cold wind) at which point I give up, take the lead off, and go inside and watch from the door. At 8-9 weeks, I really don't think a puppy is ready for a leash and I certainly don't think it helps to keep them in certain spot for that long. The crying and whining while I try out this leash/certain spot method is my only evidence for it in this case, but it seems very counter productive so far.

Any NEW tricks I should be trying might be helpful, so let me, and everyone else, know what they are. I say "NEW" because after reading a lot of the posts, the replies from the moderators are all the same old information. Rereading and persistence is not working for me or for the puppy, so some fresh ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Kelly