We have a 9 week old Lab pup, this is his 3rd day in our home. We have a crate for him, where as now whenever he eats, drinks or sleeps he happily goes to his crate. As soon as he wakes from the crate we take him to the garden for his business and reward him with a fuss and a treat. Sometimes though when we put him out in the garden he won't go, we bring him back in and little accidents happen...I was wondering to try introduce puppy pads out in the garden? Could this help? Thanks for the help?
Hi @twix31 , welcome to the forum. He is just a baby yet. My memory for the puppy stuff is a bit hazy, but unless you have a "pen and crate" set up I'm not sure puppy pads are that helpful. Any time he does anything outside, reward big time - 2,3,4 bits of kibble and lots of fuss. If you take him out and he does nothing, pop him back in his crate for 5 mins before trying outside again. That normally helps to get the message across. Others may have other tips!! jac
Hi Jac, Thank you for taking the time out to reply back to me, I think we will just continue how we are and leave the pads alone, but like you say introduce lots more treats on successful toilet missions in the garden Thanks again Tom
At 9 weeks I think accidents are going to happen a lot. Luckily it's summer so try and spend lots of time outside. Every time he wees give a cue, I use "have a wee" so then every time they are in their toilet area and you give the cue they should start recognising what you want them to do. Luna is 4 months now and we haven't had any indoor accidents for about 2-3 weeks now! So it does take a while. You just have keep getting them outside every 20-30 mins! Give the puppy pads a miss. He'll pick it up soon xxx
With my Zeke I did pretty much as drjs@5 suggests, praise and treats. When he did have an accident inside if I caught it as it was happening I'd immediately pick him up and take him outside. I'd give a stern "no" as I picked him up. I also incorporated some doggie bells hanging from the door knob, each time we went out I'd take his paw and touch the bells, then out to do his thing, more treats and praise when successful. Eventually he rang the bells on his own, big treats and praise, that worked for awhile but eventually he'd ring the bells just because he wanted to go out and/or a treat, not necessarily because he had to do his thing. Now at 22 months he'll just sit at the door and stare at us. Keep in mind 9 weeks is very young, your pup is easily distracted so don't be too frustrated, it's a growing process for you both. The following is a photo is an example from the internet of the bells I used.
Ah thank you, we have just been worrying We'r doing something wrong and he might not pick up what We'r wanting him to do, we will deffinately leave the pads alone then, Thanks for your help Tom
Haha, this is brilliant!! The bells idea is great! How old was your pup when you started to use the bells? I think Ralph would just want to eat and chew anything like that at the moment! Thanks for the help :--)
I would just like to say that telling your puppy "no" in a stern voice when they toilet inside isn't recommended. Try to remember that it's not the puppy's fault, he simply has an immature bladder and hasn't learnt to go outside yet. It's the same as telling a baby "NO" for going in its nappy. It's your responsibility to teach your puppy to go outside and, until you have done that, any mishaps are because you didn't let him out in time. So, don't beat yourself up about him when he does go inside, it happens to everyone, but take it as a learning experience for you, not for him. The second you think "the puppy needs to go out in a minute" is the second you should put down what you're doing and take him out. Trust your instincts, and don't delay.
I understand what you're getting at, however it worked with Zeke, there were no signs of him needing to go, he'd be walking across the room and just stop and tinkle, no warning, no look, just out of the blue, the no a few times and picking him up taking him outside got him to go to the door. We got Zeke at about 8 and a half weeks, he's about 22 months now, he probably tinkled in the house a half dozen times, if that, since he came to live with us.
Hi and welcome. Is he a fox red pup? What's his name? As Fiona says, I would just pick him up and clean up any accidents with no fuss. If you tell them off everytime he has an accident, it could make him go and hide to have a wee which is worse. Make sure you use a cleaner that doesn't have ammonia like most normal cleaners. I've used simple solution which is available in most pet shops. And make sure you praise him everytime he goes outside.
I'm glad you have a dog that learned to go toilet outside. But look around the forum at all the puppies that have been brought up to do the same without using a harsh tone. Doesn't that make you wonder if it would have happened without you using that harsh tone? Because, you know what, it would. And, if you don't need to use a harsh tone to get the same effect, why would you?
I imagine you picture I was screaming my head off, a simple stout no was all it was, and only a few times before he learned to go to the door, anyway it worked, it didn't damage him, he's a great, happy dog (as anyone can see from the many videos of the lad I've shared with this forum), he learns rapidly and doesn't pee in the house. I'm not looking for an argument. I shared my experience which is what the OP was asking for, you disagree and that's fine, that's the whole idea behind a discussion forum, not everyone will agree with everything.
I'm not imagining anything of the sort. I imagine it's, as you said, simply a stern "no". I'm saying there is no point, and it can be counterproductive. And I ask, since it's absolutely not necessary, that a puppy will be toilet trained without it, that the OP (and everyone else) consider why they would scold a puppy just for the sake of it. If you applied the same logic to a human child at the same stage of physical and cognitive development, everyone would agree that it's simply nuts to scold them for not using the proper toilet place, yet it's perfectly acceptable to do it to a puppy? Why? It's not an argument. You are sharing your experience, which is "I scolded and my puppy was toilet trained". I'm certainly not disagreeing with that. I am disagreeing that the scolding was the best method, or, in fact, had anything to do with the fact your puppy became toilet trained. If you had a banana in your pocket every time you took your puppy out, your puppy would have been toilet trained. It doesn't mean the banana had anything to do with it. My interest lies in advocating the LIMA method of training dogs; that is, Least Intrusive, Minimally Aversive. Advocating aversives, even what you consider to be extremely mild ones, like using a stern tone of voice, is dangerous. Your puppy may be confident enough to not flicker an eyelash at it (in which case, it will be wholly ineffective anyway, so pointless), but some dogs are of a far more nervous disposition and will be affected by it. So, even a stern "no" can make them anxious and lose trust in their owners. I repeat.... your puppy can be toilet trained without using a stern, firm or otherwise negative tone of voice. If scolding is advocated by a stranger on a forum, and someone doesn't stand up to say it's not the best way, then someone reading it may do it themselves, thinking it is necessary. And their puppy gets toilet trained, because every puppy gets toilet trained once their bladder matures and they start seeing the whole house as their den.. But, if they know it's absolutely not necessary and can, in fact, lead to issues of the puppy not wanting to toilet in front of you, then they are educated. Knowing this, they can consider, why would they choose to scold their puppy, when it's absolutely not necessary? That's just mean. Not to mention, if he goes inside, it's your failure, not his. Scold yourself. I'm not trying to incite an argument. I'm simply trying to educate. When there is a kinder way, why not try it?
I think there's always room for us to think over how we've trained things, and decide if there's a better way to do things in future. There are tons of things I would do differently now, because of having more experience and knowing more effective or clearer ways to teach something! It's not quite the same thing because he was an adult at the time, but once I said "No" to Lucky for trying to pee in the house and I felt absolutely awful about it. He went to cock his leg against a blanket hanging on the clothes drier, and I said "Lucky NO!!!" out of instinct. And he stopped and looked at me with this desperate look on his face. He was eating chicken and rice that day because he had a bad stomach, and it has so much more liquid in it than his dry food. He must have been feeling so uncomfortable and was being such a good boy for holding it in as long as he could. Then I, being a silly human primate, told him off for something that was completely not his fault, I should have realised that he would need to go out more often.
Hi, thanks for the reply His name is Ralph, I'm not really sure if he is a fox red, he has a lot of white in his coat, little stripes on his shoulders, I guess he'll grow out of them? In the last couple of days, we havnt had any accidents in the house, he'll pretty much wake up from a snooze in his cage, we'll go straight outside and I'll wait till he does his business, then fuss him and praise him with a little bit of ham (this is the only time he gets ham, just after toilet times) We'll play for a while, head back into the house, play some more then he'll just take himself back into his cage ruffle his little nest and that's him asleep again! This is how we go on pretty much all day.. Just before he goes to sleep, he seems to go through a really finger, hands, feet, socks etc bitey chewy time which hurt like mad with those little razor blade teeth! Does anyone have any tips on to tone this down or help with it in anyway? Thanks so much Tom
Hey, we all do that kind of thing every now and again, so don't beat yourself up about it. We're only human, after all (isn't there a song about that? ). The difference is, when you plan to do it, maybe it's worth reconsidering your training plan. Here's a link to an old thread discussing this, prompted by an article by the hugely well respected trainer, Denise Fenzi (which is linked in the thread) : https://thelabradorforum.com/threads/do-you-really-never-say-no.13815/
