Hi all, Buddy (14 weeks old) is great going for “busy busy’s” outside, we’ve only had a few accidents inside: and those were my fault for not noticing the cue’s! However as it’s summer the door is always open, on the rare occasion it is closed, Buddy pees on the door mat. He doesn’t ask to go out or make a noise so I haven’t reached him in time. I just take him outside and say busy busy again. Any ideas how I get over this problem please? Thanks!
Hi Mandy, this is a really common problem in the summer. Folks leave a door open and assume that the puppy is house trained. Below is an excerpt from this article:https://www.thelabradorsite.com/15-puppy-potty-training-problems-solved/ "Many of us do this in the summer. We leave the back door open, so that the puppy can wander in and out of the garden or yard at will. There’s nothing intrinsically wrong with this, but it can cause problems if you are not careful Many puppies will quickly learn to find their favourite patch of grass, all by themselves. And their delighted owner is convinced they have potty trained their puppy successfully in a matter of days. But, what they have actually done, is made sure that the puppy has the opportunity to be clean. They have not taught the puppy to ‘hang on’ if that opportunity is not there. And there is a difference. With the door permanently open, the puppy never has to wait very long. And although he has learned that there are great places to pee outside, which is good, if one day the door is shut he is likely to be caught out by a full bladder, and well, you know what happens next." Don't worry too much about it - your puppy has learned where you want him to go, he just needs to learn to hang on a bit when he can't get there straight away. All you need to do is figure out roughly how long your puppy can last without a pee, and take him out, or open the door for him, before his bladder gets really full. You can gradually stretch out the gaps between trips to the garden by cuddling, closely supervising, or crating the puppy for a few minutes before he is allowed outdoors. Let us know how you get on!
