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Originally Posted by autism mommy Well what im thinking is this I have a 6 month old cocker s. he does pretty good with the potty outside I dont use pads with him at all. I was thinking if I took them both out at the same time would it be confusing to them? Will they want to play instead of pee? Pluse Ive never had a dog this small so Im thinking will she wanna go in the snow?plus ive had one near her crate just in case and she will go on it so I thouight it would be eaiser. Not in a lazy was becouse I take my cocker out but less confusing. also my cocker hummer can hold it in his crate all night no problem. But will molly since shes a small breed? |
Having an older dog train a younger one seems to work fine. I don't think it will confuse them. We don't have a fenced yard, so we take Loki out on a leash (I usually just use a flexi retractable and stand on the porch.) That focuses him on doing what he needs to do. He knows that when I put his short nylon lead on we're going for a walk or in the car or whatever. So he has learned the routine. With the leash you are right there to praise them when they go and stop them from getting too distracted! Soon they become much more independent and figure out that they are out there to pee, and they hurry up to get that treat!
As for snow, we shovel the yard if it gets more than a few inches deep. He only needs like a 5x5ft square. I throw Loki's jacket on him so his belly doesn't get wet - although then he just spends more time out there! We just wipe his paws off when he comes back. For bad snowstorms we keep a blowdryer by the door just in case. The first couple of times he saw snow he was like WTF? But my husband went out there and played with him in the snow and he figured out it was fun.
For sleeping through the night - it takes a while but they do it. We went through the crying in the crate but he figured that out quickly. I would just set an alarm at like 2am to let him out. Sometimes I'd let him sleep with us for the second half. Then he would be able to hold it 7-8 hours and I'd let him out as soon as I got up for work. Finally when he would sleep through the night. Now he looks at me when I get up at 6am and goes back under the covers. I let him sleep in until he goes and rings his bell to go out. You just need to remember that their bladders are tiny. Take her out when you take your cocker out. She'll get the hang of it, and soon she won't have to go as often. (And there will be accidents in between. It just happens.) Loki goes outside every 1-2 hours but he probably drinks 3 times as much water as he should. On a day where he drinks the normal amount he goes out every 2-3 hours. Also, even in the last month or two I've noticed he's holding it longer. They say their little bladders don't fully mature until 2 years old.
How old is your little pup?
JeanieK I'm not criticizing people's decisions. If you make a choice to use pads then that's fine. I'm just observing a mentality on here that Yorkies are impossible to housetrain so people give up and use pads. Based on what I've read in training books and learned from the trainer, they aren't the ideal solution for the dog. Maybe for the human, but nature tells dogs to pee outside. They can be trained otherwise, but it's harder to make that distinction. Yorkies are DIFFICULT. They are small. Housetraining takes a long time with a lot of mistakes. Loki was a nightmare to housetrain. But we persisted, read books about what to do better and signed up for training classes (not for the housetraining, but because he was a terror in general!) Training has focused his energy, and we still do it because he is still a monster in some ways so we have a lot to work on and it's fun. He wasn't fully housetrained until he was a year old, and even then we watched him constantly. Only in the past 4-5 months have I been able to totally trust him. A year of constant hard work paid off. The thing is, that once they do get the bladder control - then they already know what to do and it just clicks.
And Loki doesn't LIKE the rain. He tolerates it because he gets a yummy treat.
Now he's so fast he doesn't even get wet.
