Puppey litter training

[annlee3817]

Hey, we're only 2 1/2 weeks into having a puppy, puppy classes delayed as the jabs in our town weren't compatible with the ones she had so have had to restart. So, we are doing our best to train at home, she was doing great on the puppy pads in the beginning, but has regressed, we are praising when she goes outside and mostly she is for poos, it's just the puddles of wee inside we are getting a lot of even after a good run outside in our garden. I've been leaving the backdoor open as it's in the room we work in, so can keep an eye on her, tried to place the pad she has weed on by the door, but she just destroys it. It's early days and I know it can take time, but any tips would be appreciated, she's a 10.5 week cocker spaniel :) potty training the toddler in a couple of weeks so would love to not be mopping up two lots LOL

Ditch the puppy pads. They don't understand that they can't go inside with those there. Take puppy outside every 20mins/half hour at first and lots of praise if they go. You can't just leave the door open and expect them to go out by themselves.

Use a small part of the garden for toileting- fence off if need be so they understand it's for that rather than a general play outside and use a phrase - go wee wee or get busy etc

My cocker spaniel is 6 months old now. I would say she was about 4 months old before she was toilet trained.
It's hard work at beginning as they need to go so often. We went outside after eating, playing, drinking, sleeping and every time she started to sniff the floor. And stayed outside with her until she'd been.
At least you have nice weather for it at the minute. We were toilet training in the snow. It was so cold that sometimes I was tempted to just let her wee on the carpet.

Ditch puppy pads. Cocker spaniels are insanely smart - you can easily train them in a week, if you are consistent.

But she is too young, right now, to automatically learn she needs to take herself outside. You need to take her outside. Every 30 minutes, after every nap, every drink of water (it literally passes through them in seconds tbh), after every play time etc.

I agree with ditching the pads, you need to be really vigilant about bringing her outside and have lots of patience, she is only a baby and you have to expect puddles. I got the bells that hang on the door handle, rattled them every time we went out to the garden, by the second day puppy was tipping them to go outside and she was only a week or two older that your pup.

Thanks all, definitely getting her straight out after naps, but think it's the in between we are failing on, will be more consistent, and more frequent. Yes definitely lucky with the weather, hope it continues, and ok will look to ditch the pads then, loads of different advice online which is why I wanted to ask people what has worked for them :)

Are you attempting to work from home at the same time? She will really need someone's undivided attention for at least a few weeks to get the hang of toilet training. And if you miss the window, you could end up with an incontinent dog, although I think that is unusual in cockers.

You are not going to end up with an incontinent dog! They may not be housetrained but it is not going to cause incontinence.

Do agree that you can house train puppies pretty quickly if you are consistent and get them outside at frequent intervals.

Puppy pads are designed so that the puppy pees on them and not the floor - they have a specific scent built into them to encourage toileting.

So, as others have said, you need to ditch them. Puppy needs to be taken out every half an hour, as well as after meals, naps, training and play sessions. Lots of praise when she gets it right, ignore when she gets it wrong.

We also added a “go toilet” command every time ours did a successful wee or poo outside, and now we can open the door, tell him to “go toilet” and he will go on command.

You can house train dogs at any age - there’s no window.

Thanks all, my job is fairly flexible so I can devote a lot of time to her in the day and make up the hours in the evening when the husband is home, she did great today, only four wees inside, I'm confident all will be fine, was just after actual tried and tested ways rather than what one book is telling me :)

They all get there in the end, some just take longer than others! Our beagle was toilet trained in a matter of days but I know other owners who exactly the same things as we did and whose dogs weren’t trained for a couple of months.

A lot of it is just down to your individual puppy - there’s a tendency on here for people to say “you need to do x if you want y” but animals aren’t robots and they haven’t read the books!

Honestly she will get there, but really you have to watch them like a hawk and take them out ALL the time. It really helps to have a word for it which you use every time they produce, and obviously reward and praise enthusiastically. Guide dogs use “busy busy!”

If you can afford to take a week off (or schedule your diary so you can take plenty of breaks) definitely ditching the puppy pads, and being vigilant about taking puppy out - straight after food, straight after waking up, straight after any play sessions, and if there is any time left in between that when she's awake, set a timer and also take out every 30 - 40 mins. It's a week or two of focused effort that will pay dividends in the long run. I adopted a rescue dog last year who had never been in a home and honestly he was pretty much fully toilet trained in a fortnight. All dogs are different of course, but comparing that to my first dog, where I didn't have such a strict routine and relied far more on puppy pads, he took closer to 6 months to be fully toilet trained.

Oh - and tons of praise when she does go outside obviously