My 4 1/2 month old Sheltie will not toilet when on walks. Is this normal because he is still young? I have tried leaving him until I know he is Bursting to go and then keeping him out for hours, but he will wait until he gets back to the garden. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Whenever you take your puppy into the garden to do his toilet use a command given in a happy voice. I use "Be Quick". You will find if you use the command and praise when your puppy performs you will soon have a dog who will perform to order.

Incidentally, a 4 1/2 month old Sheltie should get no more than about 15 minutes walking maximum!

John

Thanks. He does go on command to 'go toilet' in the garden but not on walks.
By the way I didn't know he should be walking for only 15 minutes max. I will cut down then. Will I have damaged him by walking him for longer? How do I find info. out about walking times for different ages of dogs? I have books, and have spent hours and hours on various websites and have never come accross this info.

Cheers

Your pup's either too excited by the outside world or a bit scared, don't worry he will not be able to resist cocking his leg in a few months. If he will only do poo's in the garden it will save you having to pick up in public and try to find some were to put it, much easier at home. If you have been walking on lead or carmly off you will not have harmed your pup by long walks, but it is better to take everything slowly with puppies, increase walks, play time, food and the time left on own little by little. Have fun.

Your pup is doing exactly what you have trained him to do. Go to the loo in the garden! As Jackie says don't worry it'll happen when it happens and if not then there really is no problem just makes it easier to clear up after your dog. I've never seen walks for my dogs as a toilet trip but an exercise one so if they go they go if not then so what.
Bec

I agree, the only problem comes if you take the dog away from home for longer than just for a walk - holiday for instance.

You could try dong this (IFyou don't feel too embarrassed) which is to pick up after your Sheltie but take it with you and pupt it down somewhere. After a while as your dog smells his own smell, he may feel confident enough to perform .

The drawback is that you have to pick it all up again!

give it a bit of tme too, for as your dog grows in confidence he may be better at going outside the garden.

good luck! :)

Hi - no puppy of such a young age should need to go out for walks. They will get all the exercise they need playing in the house and garden. Too much exercise too young can damage their growth - their bones are not yet fully formed and the growth plates that provide the growth are very delicate. Similarly - you should not let the pup run up or down stairs. You could talk to the breeder - they should be able to give you sound advice on this score specific to the breed - mine for example, Cockers, should not get long walks until they are about eight months old and almost fully grown - for larger dogs the time will be longer. Smaller -- shorter etc.

Use the garden to collar and lead train - also by giving the toilet command and that will encourage the pup to go when you ask it to.

Just out of interest - why are you so keen tohave the pup toilet when you are out walking? Isn't it better to have it in the garden where you can clean it up and dispose of it at your convenience rather than having to walk for ages with a bag of poop? Although my Cocker does go on command in the garden, I wish he would not go when out for a walk - instead - five minutes in and we have a parcel to carry 'til we get home - boo.

Good luck with your little one - I'm sure you'll have some lovely timesd ahead.

The problem with long walks at that age is that the bones are still soft. execessive exercise at that age could lead to hip problems in later life by literaly opening up the socket in the pelvis into which the femoral head fits. Gradually scale up the exercise during the first 9 to 12 months.

Regards John

Thanks guys for the info. I guess that's why we have resources like this, because you can read and read and read and research for ages but nothing beats experience. Cheers

Why do you want your dog to toilet away from home?

At 4 1/2 months like everyone else has mentioned no puppy should be going on long walks

I only wish every dog in own village wouldn't pooh away from home then my garden would not resemble a dogs toilet

Sadly most owners in our village don't clean up after their dogs unless someone catches them "in the act"

My CKCS adult is a show dog & has only once toiletting away from home & only then because his tummy was slightly upset.

He doesn't even wee & mark like other dogs, which is a worry if we are away all day but as long as he's not in distress it's obviously how he naturally bahaves

Be happy that your little one is house trained & forget the long walks until he is much older 7 has stopped growing

The reason why I wanted to know whether it was normal or not for my Sheltie to not be toileting away from home was because I would like him to go before we get back into the car, (if we have used it to go somewhere for a walk) or when at other people's houses, we would rather him go outside rather than inside.

About this whole exercise as a puppy thing. I have a Basset Fauve de Bretagne puppy that is 13 weeks old and we take him on one 10-15 minute walk every day. Is that considered excessive? Other than that walk, he stays in the backyard or plays in the house. On the walks he rarely runs, but in our backyard he occasionally "goes greyhound" and starts running FAST LAPS around our yard. Should we discourage it? He is so obviously having fun, I'd hate to make him stop....

Hi

One of my friends CKCS goes "cracker"dog round the house out through the cat flap & then laps of the garden

Doesn't seem to have harmed him

I had one who refused point blank to go anywhere but in our own garden. She held it for HOURS when we took her on holiday for the first time - she finally just couldn't hold it any longer. It was shortly after that she wasn't so fussy, but still preferred ours. Now she'll go anywhere.

And we did use the 'go potty' command and she knew it, she just wanted to go on her own 'toilet' LOL.

Don't worry too much - he will outgrow it - if you stress about it then so will he and that will only make the situation worse. When he finally DOES go elsewhere make a BIG deal about it so he knows it's okay. He's been taught he can't go in the house, that he has his place, he needs to learn there are other places that are okay as well.

Wendy J

I've got both extremes. One that hates going to the toilet on a lead and the youngest who will go any where, any place any time, her view being if you've got to go, you've got to go. Lots of smelly bags being carried home on lead walks. Oh, for more bins around our area. I much prefer them to do it at home in our garden as it's easier. Once he is a bit more confident he will probably go on command where ever you are.

Debbie

Know just what you mean Debbie. My Jasper is much better now - but when he was younger just a few months ago - he would go anywhere - somethimes I didn't even realise - hubby always did though - fortunately. I remember one time standing in a garage of someone who makes wooden garden ornaments buying a pressie and he went right at my feet - I hadn't a clue, not the best sense of smell, what a monkey.

Dogs - who'd 'ave 'em :-)