seashell Posted February 17, 2009 Share Posted February 17, 2009 Hi all, sorry to start another toilet training problem thread, but you guys were so helpful with my first one that I thought I'd try my luck and ask again. Our 4 month old cavalier toffee will toilet outside if we take him out at the right times. He sleeps in a crate at night in our room and scratches the sides if he needs to go, so that's all fine. When we are at work or otherwise not home, we confine him to our kitchen with newspapers and he generally does his business there. The problem is when we let him roam the place while we're home, we generally only let him roam after he has peed, and preferably pooed too. But anyway, if he needs to toilet again he will just do it on the carpet or basically anywhere he wants to. We do clean it up with special pet pee cleaner. We've just opened up the kitchen area (before it was gated so when he roamed he couldn't get back in) hoping if he really needs to go he will go back to his newspapers, but he doesn't. Preferably we'd love for him to just go to the back door and wait, possibly bark or scratch the door so we know he wants to go out to toilet. Is there any way to train him to do so?? My ideas were to firstly walk him to the door each time (i have to admit we carry him most of the time), possibly make him sit at the door? He's actually rarely keen to go out, if i walk him out without a leash he usually tries to turn around and go back in! Unfortunately we can't get a dog door yet, because just after the door there are steps which he can't get down so we need to carry him. Hubby is thinking of a solution to this, possibly a ramp but we were hoping when he's fully grown he can make it down the stairs... but for now a doggy door won't help cos he'd just go out and be stuck. Sorry about the long post, any suggestions are greatly appreciated!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mini_M Posted February 17, 2009 Share Posted February 17, 2009 Preferably we'd love for him to just go to the back door and wait, possibly bark or scratch the door so we know he wants to go out to toilet. Is there any way to train him to do so?? After many false starts, we've just gotten our 16 week old pup to do exactly this. The secret was treats! Every time after we put him outside and he weed, we would jump up and down excitedly and then give him one of his favourite treats (cubes of frozen roast chicken). They were in the fridge inside, but if we kept the jumping around and praising going while we brought him in and opened the fridge to get the treats, he quickly understood he was being treated for the correct toilet. After only about 2 days of this, he started going to the back door and looking at us expectantly. If he was out of sight he'd start whining. Until we let him out for his toilet and then repeated the treating game. Try it like this. Ian Dunbar recommends treating after toilet as a way to get your dog trained, and it certainly worked for us. bye! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeeJane Posted February 17, 2009 Share Posted February 17, 2009 I took my puppy out every one hour, and I go out using the same door. TIll she got the idea, thats the place to wait to go out. she is ok now Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pmiller Posted February 17, 2009 Share Posted February 17, 2009 I'm trying to have the same success with my 13 week old Cav. Sounds like the same scenario you describe with my boy. We average about 2 or 3 accidents inside per week. My partner and I pounce every time he goes near the door in the hope he is telling us he wants to go outside! Sadly, I think it has just been a coincidence. We treat him intermittently with a little bit of cabana when he goes outside (we take him out hourly). We'll just persist with this approach. Be curious to hear if you have any success... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charli73 Posted February 17, 2009 Share Posted February 17, 2009 We had this problem when our pup was young, we considered training her to ring a bell but thought that might be a bad and noisy idea... She eventually just stood at the back door and wouldnt sit, just stand and look at us so we knew she needed to go out.... I dont know if it will help but by going to the vback door we just knew... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teebs Posted February 17, 2009 Share Posted February 17, 2009 I used the crate for my dogs, once they were in bed if they cried, they were taken outside, and i would wait for them to go to the toilet, once they did that, they were taken inside, into their crates, and back to bed. It didnt take them long to work out crying = outside. If they are inside and just want to go out, they will come and cry and let me know. I am a really deep sleeper, Atlas usually holds it during the night, kaos always needs to go - after me sleeping through her crying and a few mistakes, she now comes and noses me if i dont hear her cry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seashell Posted February 17, 2009 Author Share Posted February 17, 2009 Hi again, thank you so much for your replies! It seems that we just have to be more persistant and keep up with what we're doing, but it's great to hear that they can learn just by taking them out the same door each time etc. Mini_M I do treat him almost everytime he goes outside, but I think we don't make a big enough fuss and perhaps we need to give him something really really tasty instead of his regular treats - thanks for the suggestion will certainly try that! pmiller, if I remember I'll let you know how I go! Your cav sounds like toffee, everytime he is near our door I get so excited, but really he is always just wandering around there not needing to pee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frosted Posted February 18, 2009 Share Posted February 18, 2009 Those crazy Cavs... my 15 week old boy is the same... although I wish we had 2 or 3 accidents a week. More like 3-4 a day. He know where to go. He is not silly. We even have had him stand at the door and wee on the carpet while I am outside 2m away from him calling his name We are at a loss really. We treat after every success, don't scold except to say "toilet outside"... and he looks at the door. He knows.... Toilet area is cleaned daily, he is fed on routine, can last all night in his crate with no worries at all and is so good in every other way. Just a bloody terror with his pee and poo! So now I have hijacked your thread, any advice for us??? Sally Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LuvMyCav Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 Hi all, sorry to start another toilet training problem thread, but you guys were so helpful with my first one that I thought I'd try my luck and ask again.Our 4 month old cavalier toffee will toilet outside if we take him out at the right times. He sleeps in a crate at night in our room and scratches the sides if he needs to go, so that's all fine. When we are at work or otherwise not home, we confine him to our kitchen with newspapers and he generally does his business there. The problem is when we let him roam the place while we're home, we generally only let him roam after he has peed, and preferably pooed too. But anyway, if he needs to toilet again he will just do it on the carpet or basically anywhere he wants to. We do clean it up with special pet pee cleaner. We've just opened up the kitchen area (before it was gated so when he roamed he couldn't get back in) hoping if he really needs to go he will go back to his newspapers, but he doesn't. Preferably we'd love for him to just go to the back door and wait, possibly bark or scratch the door so we know he wants to go out to toilet. Is there any way to train him to do so?? My ideas were to firstly walk him to the door each time (i have to admit we carry him most of the time), possibly make him sit at the door? He's actually rarely keen to go out, if i walk him out without a leash he usually tries to turn around and go back in! Unfortunately we can't get a dog door yet, because just after the door there are steps which he can't get down so we need to carry him. Hubby is thinking of a solution to this, possibly a ramp but we were hoping when he's fully grown he can make it down the stairs... but for now a doggy door won't help cos he'd just go out and be stuck. Sorry about the long post, any suggestions are greatly appreciated!! Seashell, I think you're doing the right thing and just need to persevere. Maybe take Toffee outside a little more often and really praise and treat like he's done something wonderful when he gets it right. If it continues and you don't start to see some improvement, you may need to limit the areas that Toffee can roam so that you can keep a closer eye on him. Those crazy Cavs... my 15 week old boy is the same... although I wish we had 2 or 3 accidents a week. More like 3-4 a day. He know where to go. He is not silly. We even have had him stand at the door and wee on the carpet while I am outside 2m away from him calling his nameWe are at a loss really. We treat after every success, don't scold except to say "toilet outside"... and he looks at the door. He knows.... Toilet area is cleaned daily, he is fed on routine, can last all night in his crate with no worries at all and is so good in every other way. Just a bloody terror with his pee and poo! So now I have hijacked your thread, any advice for us??? Sally Sally, I think you need to block access to most of the house and only extend it gradually as you see some improvement. That way your pup can't sneak off to a quiet place when you're not looking. You might also need to think about much more regular toilet stops, starting with every half hour and straight away after waking up, playing, eating. In other words, go right back to basics. If you are home during the day, you could use the crate to toilet train which means that you bring the crate into the main living area during the day and pup goes into the crate any time that you are not 100% focussed on him. When you're ironing, cooking etc. pup goes into the crate. Every hour you take pup out and go straight out to the toilet. If you're busy, pup goes straight back into the crate but if you have time you can have a play together or let him snuggle on your lap to watch tv, whatever, then, take pup for out another wee, and straight back into the crate. If you're consistent, it will work sooner rather than later. Best of luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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