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bendog2000 · 10-09-2012, 03:47 AM

Hi,

First post here - and first time with a pup for many years. I am trying to get Ben house trained and have hit a hurdle and now I'm scared that I am taking him backwards. Is there someone here that can help with some practical advice?

Here's the problem... Ben was/is paper trained - his breeder kept him in a large crate with his brother and sister. So, he has a preference for newspaper. Which is good. I suspect some sort of scolding may have been used as he is a little shy about his toilet habits but we've been relaxed about it and he doesn't seem to be hiding anything. We collected him at 9 weeks.

He's been with us for a week and has a small crate (probably too large but so far he has not soiled it) and a larger den area that the small crate is left in when we cannot be with him for extended periods (overnight and when we have to leave the house for work). When in the larger areas the ideas is that he sleeps in his crate and has a safe place to toilet in his living area.

When we can give full attention he is supervised in the room we are in.
When we are partially attentive we let him sleep/play in his crate with us and let him out if we can see he wants to be active - we try to move our priorities around to supervise him. If we are not able to make sure he is safe them we either lock him in the crate or in his crate/den area.

There are puppy pads in both rooms and he uses these most often for wee. For wee & poo he's been able to go outside which was fantastic. However he likes to go poo in the mornings and evenings and he hates the cold/dark/wet grass. He'll let me know he's thinking of a poo or a wee and get excited at the door. When he gets out he panics and forgets what he wants to do. Once he shot off and poo'd on the concrete (which is fine) but mostly he will return to the house or if he is on leash spend the time crying and shivering in the cold until we give in and take him inside - probably 10 minutes with him pulling on his leash for most of those sessions.

So, I am minded to let him relax on the cold thing and rely on the daytime sessions to make the point. When he is older I hope to be able to teach him that outside is fun, even when wet. In the meantime I am thinking that extra special treating and praise when outside and lighter praise when inside on the pads, no praise when off pad might help? I'm worried that his paper preference has already regressed to wooden floor for poo - is my passion to get him to go outside forcing him to unlearn his paper preference?

Any shared experience that can help me make sense of this? I don't want to let him down.

10-09-2012, 03:47 AM	#1
bendog2000 Yorkie Talker Join Date: Oct 2012 Location: UK Posts: 15	New Pup - housebreaking in cold/wet weather Hi, First post here - and first time with a pup for many years. I am trying to get Ben house trained and have hit a hurdle and now I'm scared that I am taking him backwards. Is there someone here that can help with some practical advice? Here's the problem... Ben was/is paper trained - his breeder kept him in a large crate with his brother and sister. So, he has a preference for newspaper. Which is good. I suspect some sort of scolding may have been used as he is a little shy about his toilet habits but we've been relaxed about it and he doesn't seem to be hiding anything. We collected him at 9 weeks. He's been with us for a week and has a small crate (probably too large but so far he has not soiled it) and a larger den area that the small crate is left in when we cannot be with him for extended periods (overnight and when we have to leave the house for work). When in the larger areas the ideas is that he sleeps in his crate and has a safe place to toilet in his living area. When we can give full attention he is supervised in the room we are in. When we are partially attentive we let him sleep/play in his crate with us and let him out if we can see he wants to be active - we try to move our priorities around to supervise him. If we are not able to make sure he is safe them we either lock him in the crate or in his crate/den area. There are puppy pads in both rooms and he uses these most often for wee. For wee & poo he's been able to go outside which was fantastic. However he likes to go poo in the mornings and evenings and he hates the cold/dark/wet grass. He'll let me know he's thinking of a poo or a wee and get excited at the door. When he gets out he panics and forgets what he wants to do. Once he shot off and poo'd on the concrete (which is fine) but mostly he will return to the house or if he is on leash spend the time crying and shivering in the cold until we give in and take him inside - probably 10 minutes with him pulling on his leash for most of those sessions. So, I am minded to let him relax on the cold thing and rely on the daytime sessions to make the point. When he is older I hope to be able to teach him that outside is fun, even when wet. In the meantime I am thinking that extra special treating and praise when outside and lighter praise when inside on the pads, no praise when off pad might help? I'm worried that his paper preference has already regressed to wooden floor for poo - is my passion to get him to go outside forcing him to unlearn his paper preference? Any shared experience that can help me make sense of this? I don't want to let him down.