With the first four ingredients as Ground Whole Grain Corn, Chicken By-Product Meal, Soybean Meal, and Animal Fat, Science Diet Puppy Bites isn't the best thing out there even if it's not a cheap brand. Improving the quality of food will help to cut down on stool. But remember, puppies are babies. They pee and poo a lot and don't have the ability to hold it like they will when they older. 14 weeks is pretty young. My bunjee was still kinda 50-50 off the pad and on the pad at that age. It wasn't until 5 months when he really started to "get it".
Scolding her and punishing her when you get home to find the pee and poo does the both of you absolutely no good at all. She doesn't understand why you're so mad. In fact, she might come to think when you're home to release her from the laundry room, it's punishment time and she's less excited to see you home. Puppies have short attention spans. A big firm NO is or any other scolding is only useful if you can catch her in the act. Otherwise, they don't make the connection between the pee'ing and poo'ing and the scolding and punishment (not that i agree with punishment form of training anyways). If you see the mess when you come home. Just quietly clean it up. Concentrate your efforts on potty training her when you are home.
How are you training her to use the potty pad when you are home? She doesn't instinctively know to use the pad. You'll have to teach her and teaching her take a lot of time, patience and consistency. Just leaving it with her in the laundry room, she might think it's a toy for her to play with (as evident by her tearing it up) and not a toilet. When you are home, take her to the potty pad every 30 mins or so and tell her to "go potty". When she does, reward her with lots of treats and praise. When she tries to play with or tear the potty pad, give her a firm, loud, NO!
Be patient with your little one's puppy phase. She'll get it eventually. Good luck! |