[ketters12]

I will tell you about Tobey- he was pretty easy to potty pad train really and we didn't even have that goal in mind. The only thing that stunk in the end, was the location of the pad but I will get to that so you see why. When I was home with him, we did the crate training. if I took him out of the crate it was directly to the potty pad which at first was in the garage because it was January and there was snow on the ground and he was only 8 weeks old. after he went potty, then he would be allowed to play, but in a limited area. I kinda cleared out my living room so I could have 2 beach towels layed down side by side as his "play zone" he had to stay on the towels. this kept him from wandering in other rooms and me having to chase after. I could sit on the floor and play with him and if he looked like he needed to potty, I could catch it quick enough to wisk him off to the potty pad. He got about 30 minutes of play time outside and then back in the crate for a little while- of course with feedings and all that too. at night, I would set his crate on my night stand so he could see me and i could hear him. if he cried and pawed at the door to go out, I took him to the potty pad. I showed no emotion because he needed to learn that the reason you get out of the crate is because you are either quiet or you need to potty. If he went potty, and still whined a little in the crate, I knew he was just being fussy. It was a lot of work. I probably got up 3 times a night for about 3-4 weeks.

I had several days off when I first brought him home which helped (like 4 days) and then I had to make a plan for what to do when I went to work because he wouldn't be able to hold it and I didnt want him to ever pee in his crate. So we decided to have him in our kichen- a pretty spacy area and we put his pad in there underneath a counter top where a chair normally would be. Then he had blankets and food and water. This when well. But this is where the location of the potty mat becomes important. He eventually learned jump up to the top of the baby gate and pull himself over and hop down on the other side. Luckily my husband was working on school work in the other room. It eventually became apparent that maybe we didn't need the gate. but what we were stuck with was that his potty place was in our kichen. After about 5 weeks he started just sleeping in our bed and he would go to the end of the bed and whine to get down, I would set him on the floor and he would walk right through the living room, in to the kichen and go potty on his pad. he knew where it was because that is where it had been all along. So, If I had to do it all over again, I would probably first think about the location of the potty pad and then section them off in that room, or use a ex-pen or whatever. But that again was only for the 8 hours I wasn't home. I would say at night, take away the pen so you can interatct for the evening but keep working on potty training- I still used the crate method.

The thing I have learned is that one a potty pad has it's established place, it is very hard to change it to another location. Tobey was 100 percent potty trained after I got home from a vacacation in mid March when my husband told me that he now can hop down by himself at night and goes to potty on his own. So we brought him home on January 20th so it was about 2 full months of working really hard. but I was a brandnew dog owner and wanted to do everything right like all the books say, so I worked my butt off- otherwise I am sure it could take forever for them to get the hang of things.

Now I am starting all over again in some ways because we just moved into a friend's townhouse with wall to wall cream carpeting. out old house had all hardwood floors. so he's been piddling here and there and using his pad in right spot about %60 of the time. so that is frustrating but I am sure It will get better.