Greetings! We just yesterday brought home a 8 week old black lab puppy named Tilley! When we arrived home for the first time we brought her to her outdoor potty are and she peed. Since then she has not relieved herself outside and is digging and eating dirt and leaves. (She has not been outside before at the breeders!) Help please! Thank you! Laura
Everything is interesting to young pups. We have a puppy pen outdoors where they toilet, then they are allowed to play in the garden (with supervision!) as a reward for ‘‘performing” Note the chair - they can take a while!
hi there!! my puppy likes to eat leaves and rabbit poo...which is very odd. anyway, my trainer is a SAINT and has suggested this and it is working like a charm: 1) remove the leaves, if possible. 2) take her to the potty spot and give her ONLY the length of the leash to find a spot to pee. if you move or follow her around, she will think she is in charge and has the run of the land which is obviously not what you want to encourage going forward because she will then just eat leaves instead of doing her business. 3) don't say anything UNTIL she starts to pee- say "go potty, go potty" over and over until she is done. then, she will be used to hearing noises while she's peeing so if in the future a train goes by or anything, she won't be startled. 4) once she is done, say GOOD GIIIIIIIRL and act like her peeing is the best thing she's ever done 5) and then walk her right back inside. the trainer says "going outside is strictly business" which of course can be altered once she is older but for now she needs to know that going outside is for potty only. this takes some diligence but if you practice at it she will start to pick up on it and you'll have a very obedient puppy, good luck!
My pup was similar to start with. I went outside with her every time and would wait for her to do a wee/poo. I had to keep her company so she would deliver so it does take a lot of patience but it did pay off. I never played, got her attention etc. to teach her that it was ‘toilet time’ but made a real fuss once she did her business. She also did lots of exploring the garden, chasing leaves etc. It’s all new so they like to take their time. Bailey is now 18 weeks and she happily goes out on her own and sorts herself out so bear with it, your pup will get there. It just takes time for their confidence to grow
For me, saying that your puppy can't have fun outside at this stage is removing the potential to use fabulous reinforcement for toileting when and where you want. Using a pen or a leash will encourage your puppy to keep their mind on the job in hand but, once done, letting them have a run around in the garden will give them a brilliant reward that will reinforce the toileting happening as soon as you let them out, building this as a habit.
Well, I went out and played with Molly and she was toilet trained as soon as most pups -pretty reliable by 4 months. I think I practically lived in the garden with her for the first few weeks -if she was awake we were outside (and she was an autumn pup.) I think she had lots of fun exploring, chasing leaves, chewing up plant pots and learning to show me what she’d found and to scamper around after me. I don’t think toilet training is a big deal - there will be accidents to clean up at first but it soon passes.
I often use the post toilet in the garden period in the garden as an opportunity to play magnetic recall and start to build recall against distraction or an opportunity for some loose lead walking practice.
