I bought a puppy from the pet store a few days ago. When we first got her she didn't walk on the grass. Now, she is walking, but she doesn't smell around to pee. Within 5 minutes of being outside she messes in the house. I'm not yelling at her because she doesn't know any better. When outside she usually plays with leaves and chews on the grass. I don't know what to do... she goes out regularly and I stay out there for about 15 minutes.

I hate to say it... but that's what you get for buying a pet store puppy. In case you are unaware of the back ground of where these puppies come from, they come from a puppy mill. Puppy mills are mass production breeding farms where it doesn't matter if the parents to these puppies are siblings themselves. These puppies are born into their own feces and literally, the strongest survive. There are a lot of genetic things that could go wrong in these dogs as they get older, not to mention health problems. I would hope by now that you have taken your puppy to a vet for a health check up.

With that in mind... That is probably the number one reason why your puppy potties where she sleeps. Since birth, she has lived in filth. The mother dog wasn't able to keep her nest clean due to the circumstances. Or she didn't know how to keep her nest clean which taught all her puppies that its OK to potty where they live.

Pet store puppies are very hard to house train/crate train. They don't know the difference between clean or dirty. The best thing I could tell you is to stick to your schedule and don't deviate for a couple months. Control everything that the puppy eats and drinks. Praise and treat every time puppy goes outside to go potty even if it takes you a half an hour to watch puppy go potty. Also, make sure the puppy is on good quality puppy food. Innova, Canidae (life stages), Natural Balance (life stages) are just a few good examples. If you can control the quality of food that the puppy puts into its body, you will have better luck with the house training part.

Whatever you do, do not buy puppy pads. Any time the puppy goes potty in your house, puppy goes out immediately. Don't ever let a puppy watch you clean up your mess. It is instinctive in dogs that the mother dog cleans up after puppies after elimination. Time for puppy to grow up.

If you need help on figuring out a good schedule for your dog to be on, don't be afraid to ask. There is a lot of great advise given on this site. See what will work for you.

She never messed in the crate, just right after being outside. She hasn't messed inside since I wrote this. It is like she knew I was frustrated. She pees and poops within 2 minutes of being outside. I take her about every 3-4 hours. I don't think she is from a puppy mill. She was given to us with her breeders information.

Still a puppy mill puppy. A lot of those breeding dogs are papered. Sometimes the papers are forged. Sometimes the puppy farm will buy well bred dogs with papers.

Unfortunately, in this day and age, AKC papers don't mean much anymore. Now its based on the ability of the parents. I wouldn't get too excited over papers. Your dog is still the product of a puppy mill in some type of fashion. The puppy may not have come from a large breeding farm but probably came from a small breeder who is selling their pups to local pet stores.

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Originally Posted by Luv_a_bull098

Still a puppy mill puppy. A lot of those breeding dogs are papered. Sometimes the papers are forged. Sometimes the puppy farm will buy well bred dogs with papers.

Unfortunately, in this day and age, AKC papers dont mean much anymore. Now its based on the ability of the parents. I wouldnt get too excited over papers. Your dog is still the product of a puppy mill in some type of fashion. The puppy may not have come from a large breeding farm but probably came from a small breeder who is selling their pups to local pet stores.

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I don't know a single breeder who would put their dogs in a pet store.
Good breeders will screen new homes and make sure it is suitable for the new puppy to go to.
We even visit the new owners homes before they are allowed to take a puppy to make sure everything is OK. You don't have to be rich, but you do have to have a place for the pup to sleep and have adequate fencing and show to us that you have researched the breed and know their requirements.

I'm not saying you got a 'bad dog' by any means, I'm sure you have a loving, sweet dog, but in the future I would keep in mind that pet stores are not places to buy puppies.

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Originally Posted by Luv_a_bull098

Still a puppy mill puppy. A lot of those breeding dogs are papered. Sometimes the papers are forged. Sometimes the puppy farm will buy well bred dogs with papers.

Unfortunately, in this day and age, AKC papers dont mean much anymore. Now its based on the ability of the parents. I wouldnt get too excited over papers. Your dog is still the product of a puppy mill in some type of fashion. The puppy may not have come from a large breeding farm but probably came from a small breeder who is selling their pups to local pet stores.

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In my area responsible breeders are now doing/providing DNA testing to answer any questions in advance.

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Originally Posted by JudyKayTee

In my area responsible breeders are now doing/providing DNA testing to answer any questions in advance.

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Exactly, with my breed (Miniature Poodles) PRA which is a genetic cause of blindness is a real problem in the breed.
We test all dogs to make sure they do not have or carry the defective gene before we breed them.
That's where it can get a little complicated which is why I recommend ALL people planning on breeding should brush up on their knowledge of genetics.
With PRA there are 3 gradings, A, B and C.

A means the dog is not blind, will never go blind and they do not carry the problem.
B means they are not blind, they will never go blind but they DO carry the gene
C means the dog may not be blind yet but it WILL go blind, it also carries the problem.

A+A will only produce A's, no puppies will be blind or carry the gene.
A+B will produce (in theory) half a litter of A's and half a litter of B's
A+C will produce All A's but they will also ALL be carriers (Making a litter of all B's)
B+B will produce ALL B's
C+C will produce an entire litter of C's

It's just a swab of their mouth and then off to the lab for testing, not hard to do at all but most people don't bother.

Sorry for the sidetrack, I just find it all very interesting, sorry if no-one else does :)

I'm interested - I have a friend who breeds Labs and presents prospective owners with DNA testing to show both genetic defects AND prove that the dogs listed really are the "parents".

Yes, the parentage proof is a big one, especially when showing.
In Aus all dogs must be microchipped before being sold and all dogs must be microchipped before being bred so they can match the DNA results up with the microchip number.

There have been several cases where a dog had been put to stud, a DNA test proved that, yes, he was the right dog when in fact the owner had just switched his papers with another dog, this way the microchip proves that the DNA matches the right dog... (The microchip number is printed on the dogs papers)

Confused yet? :D

Out where I live, we had a pet store that was shut down about 6 years ago because the animals weren't taken care of properly. I can't remember the name of the agency that shut them down, but the agency walked in to the pet store for an inspection and shut them down that day. There were two GSP puppies in that store that my mom decided to buy. The sales associate was telling us that these puppies came from a small town about 2 hours away from us. My mom knew exactally who that breeder was. He isn't a huge breeding farm, but he does have puppies on the ground all year round. They were very good looking pups with no papers of course :) There is another breeder in town that I would dub a small-time puppy mill. She breeds designers like they're out of fashion. There is a huge sign in front of her place and her van has the logo on it. Her kennels are not desirable and I have met a few pups from her facility. They're all a little weird in the head. She also supplies a family run pet store with puppies. One puppy had mange, I told the associate, but they gave me a blank look. Poor babies. So that's where I got the idea of small breeders selling to pet stores. They get top dollar for their pups, and the retail store doubles it. Its ridiculous if you ask me!

When you see animals in any unhealthy situation, including a pet store, do you call the authorities?

As for the breeding talk going on here :)... If ever I decide to breed again, my pups will go out on limited registration. Pets don't need to be bred. I have seen too many "pets" that had puppies... They're all sitting in my kennels out back :(

I contacted Animal Control.. but that was as far as it got. Didn't go back and check up on the puppy. The pet store that the puppy was at claims to rescue dogs. So I'm sure they said the puppy came with it on then took it to the vet.

We don't spay/neuter pups before they are sold but we make sure we get to know the person buying the pup before they take it so we know what sort of person they are and gain their trust in knowing they will not breed.

All our pups come back to us for discount grooming anyway so we get to check up on them every 6-8 weeks.

I'm glad that pet store got shut down love a bull, I think pet stores should be limited to products only and not be allowed to sell live animals (except maybe fish)

My mom has called the RSPCA about a stray cat that had kittens under her house, they told her that they would HIRE her out a cat trap for $50!
What the heck?
Mom didn't have the money so she cared for the kittens, got them tame, vaccinated, wormed them and found them homes.
She plans on getting the female spayed soon. She is pregnant again now (we didn't think she would be able to have kittens after being hit by a car)

If only people in the USA were as responsible as other countries. Its seriously a breeding nightmare in America. Im not sure if you have heard of these wives tales.. but according to the hill billies a female should have at least one litter in its life time and male dogs shouldn't be neutered because the dog will lose its spirit and will to live. There are tons of free puppies that flood the newspaper every weekend. And I hate to say it, but America has one too many labs. No one cares about quality, they're just looking for quantity. For the few awesome breeders, they really do deserve a standing ovation. Americans have literally ruined the pure bred. Not to mention the irresponsible dog owners that are the reason for so many mixes to hit the shelters. My moms rescue does home visits as well. We go and check out the home and talk to the adopter at great length about the GSP breed. We have turned down a lot of applicants because they just want a hunting dog. Or the infamous... "we like how pretty it is". The sad thing is, those people will go buy a puppy and wreck it. People make me so mad sometimes :) But now I'm rambling. Lol

I could talk about breeding nightmares all day. It's an epidemic.

The sad thing is that most people aren't educated when it comes to breeding. The puppymills are horrible, but just as bad are the backyard breeders. We get a lot of that on this site.

It's the people that bought a dog from a pet store, take it home and think "Oooh, wouldn't it be a neat experience if our pup had puppies of her own?" So they breed, without any testing, without any knowledge, and then they come here asking for help.

The sad fact is that most of these puppies will probably end up in a shelter, or sick because of genetic defects.

Millions of dogs are euthanized every year because of puppymills and backyard breeders.

Bob Barker said it the best "Have your pets spayed or neutered".

Let them be pets, not money machines.

Just to bring it home. These dogs were once puppies too, someone bought them because they were cute, cuddly, adorable. Then they grew up, became trouble. I know for a fact that none of these dogs came from a reputable breeder, they're either puppymill bred pet store bought or newspaper backyard breeder bought dogs.

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Milo, Jack Russel Terrier, 3 years old

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Punky, Dalmation cross, 10 years old

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Lucky, Australian Cattledog/Dalmation, 7 years old

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Porkchop, Labrador cross, 3 years old

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Billy Goat, Kuvasz cross, 1 year old

These wonderful animals and many more are available for adoption at my local Humane Society. Statistically, only 1 will find his/her forever home, the rest will most likely be euthanized. Those are the cold hard facts.