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Lucy is 11 weeks old and she's been home since Monday night. She has yet to use the potty pads. If we catch her going, we pick her up and taker her to her pad. She'll stand there a second and then run off. I just can't get her to understand what I want. She only has access to 2 rooms right now- the sunroom where the pads are and the adjoining living room where we are usually hanging out. The sun room is tile. The living room is carpet. She has only gone on the carpet.

I've also taken the paper towel that I used to clean up her potty and put it on the pad thinking the smell would help her figure it out.

Help! :confused:

Okay first buy from Pet shop a spray that eliminates the smell of the urine. Orange Oxy spray is what one of the brands here is called. You must soak the carpet with that to remove the smell

You will need to limit her area so more - maybe the sun room - use an expen or some child gates to keep her in a small area, where she has enough room to move around a bed to nap in, and the puppy pads off to one side in her area.

Every time she wakes up you can put her on the peepad. After you play with her put her on the peepad, after you feed her put her on the peepad.

It just takes a fair amount of persistence and diligence on your part

GL:)

I agree, limit her space. Only allow her out of the pen when she is being held or played with.

I would also dab a bit of her mistake on the pee pad.... The pee pads are scented to help with that, but when I was teaching Harley to go on the grid I found that worked better.

I can get some gates and limit her space more but I'm still not sure how to get her to go there that first time? Is it luck?

I agree with the above posts, you need to limit her access, especially at this young age.

The breeder sent my baby home with a playpen (for human baby) that she bought in a yard sale. She told me to split the bed in half, put his bed on one side (size to fill up the entire side), and pee pad on the other side. Since dogs hate getting their bed dirty, he always pee and poo on the puppy pad. After he's older I started taking him outside and put puppy pad on the grass. He is now fully trained to go outside on the grass. Just remember, one step at a time.

Hope this helps.

This is exactly what I was going to suggest. You are giving your baby far too much space to start with. I've used this method with other breeds before too and it works wonderfully. Another thing I might add is when you use this method and see her using the pad, immediately praise and treat her the second she is done and she will start to get it. :) Good luck! Remember this is a process that takes time, patience and requires consistency. You can do it!

You have a very wise breeder. I have a 4x4 x pen that divide in half and then divide one of the sides again into one 3x2 area that fits the pee pad and a
1x2 area for sleeping. I have a doorway cut in each piece.

When my puppies are 3 weeks old they will leave the bed and go to the pee pad. Then when they get a little older, they venture over to the big side for playing and eating.

This early training pays off when it is time to house break them.

It might be a challenge to potty train her if she has that much access to the house. I was at another apt that had the perfect sized bathroom for her to be confined in and she would stay in there when I couldn't watch her with her bed, toys, potty pad, and food/water. Once she gained some control over her bladder, I moved her into a crate to reinforce that and moniter when she really needed to go. She does fantastic now!

I put her in her crate last night (right next to my bed) and she slept until about 3:30am. I took her out and she went!!! It was on the patio but at least it was outside! :)

Inside we are keeping her on our laps or on a leash with us at all times I'm hoping this works...she seems to be able to hold it for quite awhile for a puppy her age/size.

We put her in her crate during dinner last night though and she screamed bloody murder! How do you stand that crying? The kids were begging me to let her out.

Mine would cry and pee herself over and over when I first crated her (I would literally clean up her accident and within minutes, she forced more pee out because she knew she got to come out of the crate for me to clean her up) and so I switched it up. Since your puppy is only 11 wks old, I would really consider a playpen with everything in there that she will need, even a puppy pad so that if everyone is gone, she doesn't have to hold it and can relieve herself although I know you are trying to potty train outside. Technically, your little one can hold it for a max of 2 hours only since the rule is they can hold it for 1 hr for every month of age. I would try taking her out every 30 minutes if you really are serious about potty training. I know that sounds like a lot of work but you really want to set them up for sucess. It'll take some time on your part for a few weeks but eventually they learn and you'll be happy that you took some of that time to really focus on the potty training.

I would consider the open playpen as others suggested or a small area of the house where you can keep her in and put a petgate up. I kept mine confined in the bathroom for at least 2 months after I got her since she hated the crate. Its really hard to figure out when they really need to go since they need to go constantly because they have tiny bladders. If she is crying that badly in her crate, maybe you can move it to where the most family activity happens and have your kids sit by the crate and talk to her to make her feel more comfortable. Ellie's crate is right in my bedroom, she is able to see us all the time and when its time to take a nap or sleep, I cover the crate with a towel, so that might help make the puppy feel more comfortable if she is crying a lot. Ellie knows its her sleeping place and her place to hide from everyone else. I've trained her to go into her house on command when she needs to go to sleep or I'm gonna have to leave the house for a while. Crate training all together really, is a separate portion of training and its something that you can't force the dog to accept right away. When I crate trained, I played games with her and would throw toys into the crate to get her to walk inside on her own and left the crate open for her to go in and out as she liked. Once she walked inside on her own, I would close it for a few minutes and sit by the crate to give her some ease of mind and fed her treats. Right now at this age, the only time she should be forced to stay in the crate is at night when its bedtime for everyone. If you want to crate her to potty train, keep the crate time short as possible because you don't want her to soil herself in there and you can really make it easy on yourself by keeping her on a schedule that way you'll have an idea of when she'll need to eliminate.

If you need a playpen, just go to yard sale and buy an used baby one. Mine was only $15.00.

"You have a very wise breeder. I have a 4x4 x pen that divide in half and then divide one of the sides again into one 3x2 area that fits the pee pad and a
1x2 area for sleeping. I have a doorway cut in each piece.

When my puppies are 3 weeks old they will leave the bed and go to the pee pad. Then when they get a little older, they venture over to the big side for playing and eating.

This early training pays off when it is time to house break them."


JeanieK, I have been reading about starting early pad or litter training at about 3 weeks old and I am intrigued to try with my next litter. I can see how it could be such a help for the new families and easier on the puppy. Would it be possible to post pictures of this set-up? I am having trouble imagining where to put doorways in each piece. What is the other 1/2 of the pen for, play? I have been reading about the "mistymethod" of using unprinted newspaper, and also several sources on the internet that praise using "dog litter" or wood stove pellets in a litter pan. I am inclined toward the paper method right now. Thanks.