We have 2 washable pads in the house. He's better about using the one outside of his "house"/playpen area (where he stays when we are at work). However, he will use it, and then play on it (gross!)
He redirects well when I catch him laying on it to chew on his bone or play. But I have no way of catching and redirecting him when we're at work. After the first few weeks, he's gotten much better about not going on the rug. We've had a few accidents, but he's definitely figured out that isn't the right spot!
We initially tried to teach him to go outside. We had a very mild winter in our area and as a result, we've had a HORRIBLE time with ticks and other bugs this spring/summer. We found 5 ticks on our poor baby in the first 3 days that we had him, so Mommy called a halt to that idea until he was old enough to start on tick medicine. Even after we started him on medication, he was still picking up ticks even though we were keeping the grass cut, trying to keep him on sparse areas, etc... So Mommy again called a halt to that idea.
Unfortunately (and I know that this isn't helping) the stop and start and stop of outside training hasn't helped things. On top of things, our placement of the pads was disrupted due to some flooring repairs we had to have done. They were supposed to be done weeks ago, but as these things go, we still have no flooring in over a 1/3 of our home on the first floor. Currently, the placement of the pad outside of his play area isn't ideal (very close to main walkway), and I know that's not making things any easier for the little guy.
Knowing this, I know that we won't be able to get 100% from him until we're consistent. And we won't be able to be consistent until the repairs are finished at a minimum. We've had bad timing for sure! For right now, I just want to try and come up with a method to teach him that no matter where the pad is, it's for one purpose only! |