Training from pad to outside

[iluvboo]

HI I'm back with another question. I realize that my questions are "beginners"questions; that is because I have a 7 month puppy who stays in the house. I've never had a puppy since I was a little girl, much less one who lives in the house!! When we brought the puppy home, she went all over the house, so someone said to train her to these puppy pads! That sounded like a wonderful idea, so I put the pads in several places where she had been going. Well, she finally picked one spot to go on and that is where the problem lies. It is in my dining room (we don't use is much, we use our breakfast room all of the time). the problem is that it is right off my entryway. That makes for some unpleasant smells if I dont' get it cleaned up as soon as it happens and I have to answer the door!! The other thing is that I never see her when she goes on the pad. So my question is how do I train her from going on the pad there to going outside or somewhere else in the house? I have a large crowd coming to visit and would like to solve this problem before they arrive in a few weeks. Any advice would be grreatly appreciated. Remember, I'm a beginner and didn't know any better!! :o

[dlaura]

Hi iluvboo,
I always used the "crate method" when training a new puppy.
This requires you to purchase a crate to place the puppy in whenever you cannot be watching it. Ok - our puppy would sleep in it at night and immediately upon letting her out of it in the morning I would carry her right outside. Reward the puppy with a treat when she does her business out there. I promise you - this works and quickly. I also think that the reason she has picked that particuliar weewee pad is because it is close to the door and she understands you want her to use the pad and she is trying to get as close to door as possible because she/he would rather go outside anyway. Animals have to depend on us to let them out.

I would also suggest that you have a weewee pad outside in the area you want the puppy to go - use a leash and take the puppy right to that area. It will get the idea from seeing the pad there and you reinforce this by giving it a favorite treat. Don't forget to give plenty of praise and head scratches also. We trained our dog to use a certain area of the yard - it is nicer that way - so if you have not gotten to clean and kids want to play they just know to stay from that area of the yard. Hope this helps.

Don't hesitate to ask more questions - that is how we learn.

[Amanda]

Hi iluvboo, just like Diane said, I have heard that the crate training method works really well. I have not used that method in training our dogs, but a lot of my friends have used that method and they all said it was easy and the puppies learned really fast.

When I was training our dogs, I would let the puppy sleep in the kitchen (close the kitchen door if you have one or use a baby gate if your kitchen doesn't have a door) and would cover the entire kitchen floor with newspaper. Puppies usually will pick a certain spot that they like to do their business in. After a few days, I would take some of the newspaper off the floor so that the covered area is now smaller. I would do this process until there is only a small area that is covered with newspaper. Once the puppy is using the newspaper consistently, I would then start training the puppy to do his/her business outside. Just like Diane has suggested, maybe taking a puppy-pad outside will help your puppy recognize that it is suppose to do its business there.

Also, until your puppy is house-trained, I would suggest that you do not let her run all over your house unsupervised. Try to limit the area that she is in until she is housetrained.

And the most important thing ... please remember that puppies need to be "physically mature" before they will be able to hold their pee in 100% of the time. Just like humans, it will take some time before puppies gain good muscle control (in their bladder).