My puppy, Winston, seems to be smart and fairly willing to please -- nothing out of the ordinary. He was more or less paper trained by the breeder and we continued this for a while since he was only 8 weeks when he came home and I didn't want to risk him getting sick until he had more of his shots. Now we want to try to train him to go outside as well.
(Yes, I realize that this isn't an optimal situation & it would have been better to bring him home a little older but he is a very healthy, relatively large & sturdy pup, and I have chronic health issues so I can't always take him outside. Since he's already learned to go on puppy pads, I don't want him to unlearn, just realize that it's "OK" -- more than ok really--to pee and poop outside on walks, etc.)
I have tried different things to get him to realize that "going" outside is a good thing. He stubbornly waits until we get back in the house & goes to the puppy pads soon after. I have had limited success with him pooping outside so it's really the peeing part that's the biggest issue. I am wondering if anyone else has tried training their puppy to go outside after paper training and had this problem and what worked for them to get the light bulb to turn on.
So far I have tried spraying the grass and sidewalk with the same housebreaking spray I use on the puppy pads and even put a puppy pad outside until it blew away. I can't give him a treat because he hasn't done it even once! I've tried both taking him to the same place in our small front lawn & for short walks. Maybe as he gets a little older he will want to mark his territory & that will help?
Thanks in advance for any insight/advice you may have.
Jennifer (
Sir Winston Pupchill, my first Yorkie!
)