What Works Best For This Case?

[perla]

I really need your thoughts on this. We just brought home a 9-week Westie puppy on Wednesday. I was wondering what would be the best way to housebreak her. We want to train her to potty outside. She's been trained to potty on newspaper/puppy pads. Here's our situation, we put her in a playpen (in the kitchen area) and take her out every time we see she is about to go potty. But when we miss the sign, she'll just go on a training pad that we leave in there. During the day though, she has a few accidents when we played with her in the living room so I think I shouldn't let her play in the house until she's housebreak??. At night, we took her out for the last toilet at 11 pm and during the past two nights she didn't go all night until I woke her up at 6.30 am to go. Do you think keeping her in the playpen will make the housebreaking harder? Should I use the crate instead? And if we put her in the crate, should we put her in the playpen during playtime or should I discard the playpen at this stage until she's crate train?

......more info here

What I was doing the past two days was to take her out to potty in the yard then once she finishes, I praise her and play with her in the yard for 15-20 minutes then I bring her back to the playpen. She's has a sleep corner (I put a small dog house/bed there) in there as well. After a play she'd take a nap and once she wakes up I take her out to the yard again. But like I said, she sometimes goes in her playpen (the potty corner) so I think having a playpen is kind of defeat the purpose of housebreaking since I do not want her to go inside the house (the playpen is in the kitchen area).

If I let her stay in the crate, how often should I let her out to play (in addition to potty breaks which is around every hour...she doesn't go every often though)? I'm thinking about putting her in the crate and take her out every hour to potty then let her play in the playpen before putting her back in the crate. Would this work?

Edited January 21, 2011 by perla

[persephone]

She is tiny..and she needs you to take her out around every 1/2 hour!Say "do wee" or something every time she starts to go ..praise her for weeing etc outside

Crate training does NOT mean locking a puppy in a crate for hours and hours .... do a search on here for 'crate training '

You may also enjoy reading from this site CLICK HERE

Have fun with your new little puppy

[Fleuri]

She is tiny..and she needs you to take her out around every 1/2 hour!Say "do wee" or something every time she starts to go ..praise her for weeing etc outside Crate training does NOT mean locking a puppy in a crate for hours and hours .... do a search on here for 'crate training '

You may also enjoy reading from this site CLICK HERE

Have fun with your new little puppy

I found taking the pup out every 1/2 hour worked really well....never had the oppertunity to potty in the wrong place and after meals,water and after waking. I know it's very time-consuming but it really worked well to successfully house/toilet train. Also in between toilet breaks you have to watch her like a hawk and I wouldn't put newspaper or pads in the pen during the day this might encourage her to wee on it.

I have heard crate training works really well. I think I will crate train my next dog. Good luck.

[poodlefan]

I really need your thoughts on this. We just brought home a 9-week Westie puppy on Wednesday. I was wondering what would be the best way to housebreak her. We want to train her to potty outside. She's been trained to potty on newspaper/puppy pads. Here's our situation, we put her in a playpen (in the kitchen area) and take her out every time we see she is about to go potty. But when we miss the sign, she'll just go on a training pad that we leave in there. During the day though, she has a few accidents when we played with her in the living room so I think I shouldn't let her play in the house until she's housebreak??. At night, we took her out for the last toilet at 11 pm and during the past two nights she didn't go all night until I woke her up at 6.30 am to go. Do you think keeping her in the playpen will make the housebreaking harder? Should I use the crate instead? And if we put her in the crate, should we put her in the playpen during playtime or should I discard the playpen at this stage until she's crate train?

If you are providing her with a training pad inside, then you will not easily succeed in training her to go only outside. You are sending conflicting messages to her about where it is 'ok" to go.

A pen that allows a pup to eliminate away from where it sleeps is too big if you want to train using the pup's natural inhibition to keep her bed clean (assuming you didn't buy her from a pet shop in which case that inhibition has been eroded )

So you'd need a crate but you'd need to be taking the dog outside after regular intervals and after she eats, after she wakes and after play AND during the night until she can sleep through. That means you'd have to hear her stir or she'd have accidents.

You have to watch her constantly not to miss signs. You have to spend time outside too and reward her going out there.

The play pen will be useful for when you can't watch her so she can't get into mischief but if you want to teach her to go only outside, then that's what you have to encourage from the start.

Edited January 21, 2011 by poodlefan

[perla]

Thanks for all your opinions! I start putting her in the crate this afternoon. The crate is too big so I partition it to make it smaller. She seems to be doing ok in there for now (fingers-crossed). One more question though, I work from home but when I'm work I can't really keep my eyes on her. Should I put her in the playpen (no more pee pads in there) to play or should I put her in the crate (after potty breaks and a bit of a play outside)?

[persephone]

You can not keep a puppy in a crate and just let it out for toilet breaks She is a puppy - and needs to walk/play/dig/run .Why not leave her outside by herself when you are working? In her playpen, perhaps? If you start doing it right now.. it will be easier for you all!

Make sure she is hungry... leave her meal outside with her..and some interesting toys..don't fuss over her.. or tell her Mummy will be listening, etc etc... just walk inside again. If/when she whinges etc.. IGNORE totally . Only go out to her when all is quiet...even if she barks for an hour!!

Being absolutely committed will mean only a day or two of hassle... giving in by talking to her /letting her inside will mean confusion and a lot of hassle :D

[perla]

You can not keep a puppy in a crate and just let it out for toilet breaks She is a puppy - and needs to walk/play/dig/run .Why not leave her outside by herself when you are working? In her playpen, perhaps? If you start doing it right now.. it will be easier for you all!

Make sure she is hungry... leave her meal outside with her..and some interesting toys..don't fuss over her.. or tell her Mummy will be listening, etc etc... just walk inside again. If/when she whinges etc.. IGNORE totally . Only go out to her when all is quiet...even if she barks for an hour!!

Being absolutely committed will mean only a day or two of hassle... giving in by talking to her /letting her inside will mean confusion and a lot of hassle :p

The past two days I let her play in the kitchen. Her crate is one corner and she'd go in there by herself to rest when she wants to. I leave the crate door opened most of the time. The problem is it's so hard to keep an eye on her even when I'm now working off my dining table which is right next to the kitchen so I can see her but she still has accidents all over (when I put her in a playpen..smaller space...she would go on the newspaper 100% of the time). She also shows no sign when she wants to pee/poo. Yesterday she was diagnosed with UTI so this may be explains the accidents with the pee. But for the poo, she doesn't always go within 30 mins after the meals (sometimes she does, many times she doesn't). This morning I took her out but she didn't go outside but she did after 5 mins that we came back inside....on the kitchen floor and not on the paper that I leave there. I'm a little frustrate but wonder if the poo accident is also the result of the UTI??? Is it even possible to toilet train the puppy when she still has UTI so should I wait until she's better to retrain her again. I still take her out every 1/2 hour like you suggested though ;)