How do you house train a small breed puppy in this weather when they don't wan to go out?

[ThespianTendencies]

Got our 2nd dog yesterday evening, an 8 week old tiny bichon x toy poodle. She's lovely and had a very settled first night (sleeping under my son's bed!) but whenever I take her outside to do a wee or poo (and I am not expecting her to know what I am expecting yet) she just stands between my feet waiting to come in again. The weather has been shite and I have a little fleecy jumper for her but I am at a loss as to how to proceed. I have puppy pads - which she also doesn't use yet - but don't really want to encourage her to pee and poo indoors. However, it is proving pretty pontless taking her out to have her standing there shivering. I went through all this with my lab when he was a pup but he was bigger and a bit more hardy and it wasn't blowing a hurricane either. Your help will be gratefully appreciated.

Is she trained to use puppy pads? Keep these at the door. When she goes there to pee/poo lift her outside even if she's mid pee or just finished on the pad, still take her out and say your command words. Give her a small treat like a little bit of carrot there and then after she has done the toilet outside.

Every time she does a pee say a command such as "pee pee" and for a poo we say "hurry up". This is so once trained they'll do the loo on these commands which is handy in crap weather and at service stations.

Just re-read and seen she's not using puppy pads. Keep these near the door and lift her onto them when you think she's ready to do the loo or if you're too late lift her straight outside. She will get the hang of it, persevere with it.

Hi OP,
Congratulations on your new member of the family!🐕
The best thing to do is to take her out at the relevant times,i.e.after she's had a sleep,after a meal,when she starts sniffing the floor intently and or in little circles.whip her outside to designated spot and say wee wee or poo then congratulate her within two seconds of her going.
When I trained my little Lhasa cross I was constantly watching her for signals that she needed to go and out the door we went.I won't say I didn't stand out at 2am freezing cold but putting the hours and days/nights paid off as she was house trained very quickly and we didn't spend ages and ages waiting for her to go but being distracted by a very interesting leaf blowing past😊
Good luck,enjoy your new puppy...

Thank you all. The main problem is that she won't go out, or at least won't stay out in the cold with me! I am happy to wait with her to mooch around and then treat her if she has a wee/poo but she jsut shivers and then stands between my feet wanting to come back in - she is so teeny! I have puppy pads at the back door and have made her a jumper to wear but she is not staying out side long enough to achieve anything. Is it going to be a terrible thing if I wait until the weather is a bit less shit and jsut pop her on the pad by the door for now?

I found my dog needed to move a bit to pee or poo so could you pop a lead on her and just walk a little in the area you want her to go on. I toilet trained mine in the depths of winter last year and just stuck it out waiting outside but the difference is mine was a much larger dog than yours so he didn't have a problem with the cold but he hated the rain so we huddled under an umbrella.

My only concern I would have with using pads until the weather changes is that our weather is so unpredictable and who knows how many cold and rainy periods we will have and if there are many she may end up so used to peeing and pooing inside that you find it much harder to break that habit later.

Thanks [bitey]. I tend to agree. I bought a lead today so will pop her coat on and stand until something happens. You just feel so sorry for her shivering and having not a clue why she’s out there!

I found with our latest border terrier pup (so not quite as small as yours but still teeny), it took quite a few trips to the garden for her to not be completely overwhelmed. We had crap weather too and she just seemed too far out of her comfort zone to think about peeing. It's very early days for yours so I'd let her build her confidence up over the next couple of days. Puppy pads are not ideal but we did need them for the first few days until she was brave enough to pee outside. We then took her out and put a pad in the garden, she quickly got the idea

[oops4] that is very reassuring advice. In my overthinking frame of mind I think I should just be persevering with her outside but she weighs 0.8kgs and is literaly clueless as to why she is out there plus she is clearly cold so it seems a bit pointless, plus she only got here yesterday so it an awful lot for her to take in. I will start afresh tomrrow morning when I wake her. So should I go out before i have attempted to feed/water her?

I can't advise without some photos ...

I would, as soon as she gets up. I'd still take her out frequently and go through the motions so she gets used to it but just don't push it so it scares her off the garden. Keep the trips fairly short and build them up. If it's dry, play a bit to try and get her relaxed. Then in a couple of days once she's a bit more settled make it less about fun and more about going out to toilet.

bloomed Here they come!!!

I did training in January 2 years ago
It’s grim
Sending 💐

Summer

I trained a little border terrier in December/January last year. Grim.

Keep a big coat with a hood by the back door at all times.

Agree with a lead to get them to walk around. With smalldog she would follow me around, so we would do tours of the garden while waiting for her to perform. More walking required for a poo than a wee.

Our word was ‘wee time’ in a singy voice, which was embarrassing.

I wouldn’t do puppy pads, just keep her in your sight at all times and immediately go outside at first sign of anything.

She is gorgeous by the way!

Wow she is adorable!

Jasmine Bloomed She is actually even better looking than the pictures show - a funny, furry little bundle. And she is fearless! She stomps up to my big old lab and just wants to play - I am supervising it all but letting them find their way and it is so amusing to watch. My lab, Max is so patient! She is also ridiculously cuddly - the love is growing already. Jsut want to get things right with the toilet training etc.

I can imagine there's a feisty soul in there. As others have said, I'd keep it fun in the beginning as she finds her feet. Hope the weather treats you kindly.

Morning all - so here we go! I set the alarm and took her out, jumper an' all for her a morning wee. I put the lead on her too which she was most confused by but I was gentle and let her mooch about. But she basicall stood there shivering and then went between my feet! I moved her along but the garden is so muddy right now and wet that it is just not that appealing for her to explore. Waht shoudl I do? I will persevere but she has not had one wee or poo outside yet and I don't want to get stressed but I don't want to enforce diong her business indoors either! Also, she has not eaten today either. She has had a drink but not eaten. She is playing well.

I took my puppy out at the all the times he 'might' have needed a pee or poo. Lots of those times he didn't go but I still took him out lots because as soon as they do go you can praise and then they start to 'get it'. I viewed every accident inside as a missed opportunity to praise him where I wanted him to go so personally I would just keep doing it.

1st wee outside! Felt a bit if a pratt getting all excited about it :-D Also made her boiled chicken and she wolfed it down. Now sleeping on my lap :-) I know that is no indicator of her 'getting it' yet, but at least she has done it once. Shame was, tath she had just eaten her chicken so I had nothing to top that as a treat.