Puppy!!! Moral support pleeeeeaaaase!!!

[Romanarama]

OK, he's very cute, and he loves me so much. But.....

Got up at 6.30 to take him out for a wee. -3 degrees this morning. In my pjs. 10 mins later he had that faraway look in his eyes, so took him out again and waited for him to do a poo. Success.

Went up to get the kids dressed, and in those 15 mins, he peed in the hall, and in the Ikea tunnel thing that he likes playing in, also in the hall. Went out to de-ice the car, came back in and he'd pooed in the hall.

Sigh.

Ahhh!

1. Get a warm dressing gown!

1. lots of enthusiastic praise for all outdoor peeing and pooing (yes, even at stupid o'clock

1. constant vigilance!

1. clean up mess with biological washing powder to take the smell away so he doesn't think that's where he's meant to go.

Then give him a lovely little snuggle and rub his little puppy belly

Nice post, Mistletoe.

I would add - keep him confined to one area (preferably with a tiled floor) during those times when you can't watch him fully. Little puppies left to run all over the house will, sadly, poo all over the house

Very hard work at this stage but you will start to see progress, I promise

You have my sympathy, in buckets. Let the dog + puppy out this morning for a wee, as has been the routine for four months, thought he'd done everything he needed to do, turned my back to make breakfast and when I looked round he'd done two separate poos on my freshly cleaned carpet. And the cleaning was supposed to have eradicated all previous smells!

My fault - I should have made him run around outside until he'd performed. Or so I kept telling myself while I scooped it all up and saturated my lovely carpet with bitter tears of frustration, and Secret Solution. Think it's even more frustrating when they're 85% reliable - you just hope for a little bit too much.

Sigh. The penny WILL drop. It just might take a while. In the meantime, good luck.

also carry treats in your dressing gown pocket to reward the toileting in the right place almost as he does it.

And it's not too early to start using a command word for doing it in the right place (my family's word is 'puddly puddly' . Not that he'll do it on command yet but he'll learn to associate that word with doing it and getting a treat.

And get an umbrella and a thermos mug for your coffee - you'll be spending a lot of time outside!

Unfortunately it does take time and the second you take a weeny short cut the puppy will seem to take advantage of it!

I never let my dogs have free reign of the house until they are over 2. They stay in the kitchen unless they are tired and I am in the sitting room with them.
Some puppies realise they are not meant to wee in the kitchen but do not transfer this knowledge to other rooms which could be happening with yours.

If pup has peed outside had his food etc can you pop him in his cage when you go to dress the DC. Put him in there maybe give him a kong to keep him busy. Then when you come back take him outside again.

Misletoe's advice is great it is harder having a pup in the winter! It is hard work good job they are cute really!

Wildfig, poor you. Thank heaven there are no carpets in the puppy area here (kitchen and hall)! The Ikea tunnel is in a bit of a state though!

Minimu, you're right, he almost never wees in the kitchen, but goes out to the hall to do it. If I'm watching I can spot that he has it in mind, but I'm not always watching.

The prob with the crate is that he already spends a fair bit of time in it. I was planning to take him out with me a bit more, but he's so big and wild already that it's a hell of a job to carry him. I only really take him on dedicated short trips for him for socializing, and every couple of days he comes in the car somewhere just to get used to the car. Apart from that he has a couple of hours in the crate 2x most days, between 6.30am and 11pm, and occasionally as long as 4 - 4.5hrs at a stretch. I'm always worried that it's too much. So I don't use it if I'm at home. Maybe I should, to avoid the mess. I definitely would if I had carpets!