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08-19-2014, 09:47 AM | #1 |
Yorkie Talker Join Date: Jun 2014 Location: Canada
Posts: 12
| How to transition from pee pad to outdoors I would like to start transitioning my 4 month old yorkie poo from using the pee pad to going outside. He can hold it all night in his crate and hasn't had an accident in a while other than aiming a bit off the pee pad. I currently have him sleep in a crate in my bedroom at night and during the day he stays in the kitchen where I have a pee pad in the corner. He plays and runs to the pee pad to do his business pretty reliably. He also knows that he must go potty at the beginning every time I take him out to the backyard. Ultimately I want to get him to ring a bell to signal to me he has to go potty. I live in a 3 storey townhouse and I don't know how to go about training him to tell me he needs to go outside. He spends most of his time on the 2nd floor in the kitchen and does not get free house roaming privileges yet. Plus I have a lot of stairs to get past until he reaches the bottom floor to the backyard. He can go up and down the stairs but I just don't feel like it's safe for him to do so on his own just to ring the bell to go out. I've seen him go downstairs too fast and flip and fall down the last 2 steps. Should I start off by taking out the pee pad in the kitchen and then retrain him to ring a bell before going out? Maybe when he learns to use the bell, I can keep one in the kitchen where the pee pad used to be? |
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08-21-2014, 05:06 PM | #2 |
Donating YT 1000 Club Member Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Toluca Lake, CA
Posts: 5,491
| I would ring the bell every time you take him out to pee so he gets used to the idea of the bell meaning going outside to pee. I would worry about the stairs as well.
__________________ CarolynBuster Brown "The happiest people don't have the best of everything, they just make the best of everything." |
08-21-2014, 05:32 PM | #3 |
♥ Love My Tibbe! ♥ Donating Member Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: D/FW, Texas
Posts: 22,140
| I'd start taking an old, used pee pad to the yard when I take him outside & when he starts approaching his pee pad in the house to "go", tell him to "wait" or "stop", walk over & pick him up, say "let's go potty outside" in an upbeat, happy voice and take him outside, along with an old potty pad you've put aside in a closed plastic bag and put him on the outside pee pad to help give him the idea that you now want him to begin to potty outside and tell him to "Potty outside". He may or may not try to go right on the used pad but when he used the grass, you'll know he's starting to think for himself that the grass is the best place to go potty. He'll take forever most likely at first but just give him time and wait - he'll eventually go. Then, lots of praise & a treat and back inside for a fun play session. It usually takes a couple of weeks to get it down that he needs to go potty outside now when he's taken outside and placed in the spot you want him to use in the yard. Once he learns that he is marking outside and leaving his scent for all the dogs outside to enjoy, he'll prefer to go outside - it's natural and dogs have pottied outside their entire existence on the earth so it's instinctive to want to "go" outside where other dogs can "appreciate" their scent and markings about the yard. Once he gets it down that outside is the place to "go", he'll begin to tell you he needs to go outside by looking at or standing in front of the door you normally use to take him out, look hard and steadily at you until you notice him and ask him if he wants to "go potty?" or he'll paw at you, go around in circles, growl or bark at you in order to communicate that he needs to be taken outside to potty. Don't worry, they make their wishes known one way or another when they need to go outside to potty. And you know his potty schedule and when he's likely to need to "go", so you'll know what it is he's trying to tell you, however he chooses to express his need to go potty outside. I wouldn't train on the bell as when you are visiting, on vacation or if you move, the dog is often confused w/out his bell to ring. Some on YT say their dogs ring the bell constantly just to get to go outside, an annoying enough phase they all go through w/out ringing bells, during housebreaking. Yes, they "lie" to us for a while and indicate they want to go potty just to go outside & check it out. This phase passes and they grow tired of it after a while, particularly when they see your displeasure with them when they don't go potty & you let them know how wrong that is to fib to mommie just to get to go outside! lol. They eventually get the message & stop that trick! Each dog will tell you in his own way that he needs to go outside to potty and really doesn't need to ring a bell to get his point across, believe me.
__________________ Jeanie and Tibbe One must do the best one can. You may get some marks for a very imperfect answer: you will certainly get none for leaving the question alone. C. S. Lewis |
08-25-2014, 03:27 AM | #4 |
YorkieTalk Newbie! Join Date: Aug 2014 Location: Ann Arbor, MI, USA
Posts: 5
| Not sure how it is for fully pad trained dogs, but our Aria is 17 weeks old, definitely not fully potty trained. It's interesting because we started out trying to teach her go outside and inside but I'm wondering if it was too confusing for her. She would go outside happily and then in her playpen (with her house and pad and toys) she would jump up on the side of the cage and beg to go out, then pee just about everywhere in her playpen. I think that she assumed since she could go anywhere she wanted outside she could pee or poo anywhere inside too. Eventually we just switched to indoors and she's doing well. So I'm betting that if the dog isn't fully trained then going outside isn't hard at all lol. |
08-25-2014, 04:15 AM | #5 |
Senior Yorkie Talker | I had the same question and asked our trainer from PetSmart. Since we have a pad upstairs and downstairs that she uses when in either place, she told us to keep the one upstairs for now as it is convenient. But the one that is downstairs move it closer to the door everyday until you are outside. Also, as far as the bell, she said to put the bell up and like other said you hit it every time you go out. Then just let him play around it, and even when he hits it on accident make a big deal out of it and give a treat and take him right out. He will soon understand that the bell means go out. And it will click that it is to go potty. I hope this helps.
__________________ (¯`·._.·{ Kiki E. & Laila Marie }·._.·´¯) {Instagram: @Miss_Laila_Marie --- PetBox 10% Off Code: LAILAMARIE} Last edited by LailasMommi; 08-25-2014 at 04:16 AM. Reason: spelling |
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