Puppy help.

[nixinoo]

My nearly 7 month old puppies are still not reliably housetrained. If the door to the garden is open they will trot outside to go but if it's shut they will just go on the kitchen floor! They are confined to our (large) kitchen at the moment but I would like to let them in the house! To compound matters I am having DS#2 in three weeks!!! Is this normal?! Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Difficulty house training is a pretty common issue to have if you have multiple pups from the same litter or of the same age.

That said, I don't think not being entirely reliable at only 7 months is unusual. Some dogs do just take a bit longer to get the hang of it.

You need to go right back to basics with them; don't leave the door open and instead take them out regularly, praising them when they do go outside and not making a big deal if they go inside. Having the door open for them is likely causing the issue as when it's open they have no need to indicate when they want to go out so they're not learning how. Hence when they do need to go and it's not open the only option they think they have is just to go inside.

Ideally you need to do this with them individually, not just always taking both of them outside together.

If you're on Facebook join the Dog Training Advice and Support group - it's full of incredibly helpful advice given by qualified behaviourists. There are comprehensive files on toilet training - follow those and it will eventually click.

However you've given yourself an extra hard task by getting two puppies at the same time - it's quite depressing but Google littermate syndrome so you know what you're up against.

It's unlikely you'll get this sorted in three weeks so enlist all the support you can ...

Brilliant! Thanks guys! I will follow your advice!