My personal opionion is that 7 weeks is way to young to be taking the puppy outside. I was told not to take them out until they had the first set of shots. I got Gucci at 8 weeks, and I kept her in the crate most of the day and took her out of crate to play for about 20 min. intervals. They are newborns and need to rest. Gucci was trained to go in her crate with a wee wee pad on one side. I wouldnt recommend that, I finally weaned her out of going in the crate and placed a pad outside the crate in an area of the room that I kept her in. I never closed the crate, she had access to come out and eat and do her business on pad. I just kept a gate by the doorway so she could not get out and hurt herself. Till today she is comfortable in the room and she sleeps there to.
Today Gucci is 18 mts old. she goes outside but I live in the NorthEast and it is cold outside,so she goes inside on the pads. She does have accidents with number two but she misses the pad. I will tell you that you will need lots of patience for they are not fully trained by a year or older. Others have used the crate method and it worked great for them. You will have to decide on which method you will use. Have patience, by punishing him at that young age is heartbreaking and he doesn't understand. If you decide to keep taking him out be persistent and reward him with treats and praise when he does go where you want . There are many threads that have been posted in the past on this subject go to the research forum.
Good luck it will work out and there are many people in this forum who will help answer your questions. |