My golden retriever is 9 wks old, I am taking him out to his toilet in the garden more or less every hour to hour and half, and he is doing quite well, i ask him to go wee wee and more often than not he performs, he is sleeping in the utility room at present, of which i leave newspaper down on which he also performs on, my question is when it is a nice day and i have the back door open so he can play in the garden, when he has come in for a little nap (back door still open) and then he has woken up ( and i have not quite caught him awakening) he has made his way to the newspaper by the back door and relieved himself). I have tried taking the newspaper up when the back door is still open but he has relieved himself where the paper has been. does anyone have any suggestions. As i said he has a designated sand pit toilet in the far corner of the garden, maybe he just thinks its a little too far away.

You may be expecting rather a lot from a very young puppy. The little chap appears to be doing very well! He’s starting to perform on command which is marvellous! People have all sorts of ideas on how to set about toilet training and the only criteria is what works for you and even more important, what works for your dog. You seem to have a little bit of confusion creeping in. Personally, I never use paper during the day. The only acceptable place is “outside” It means careful watching and taking out even when it’s pouring with rain or even snowing. (Not usually a problem in June!) Dogs are creatures of habit and if they smell a place where they have “Been” they will go there again so mistakes must be really clean or it will be all the encouragement they need to go there again. People who train on paper use this trait. Put a piece of soiled paper just outside, and the chances are that is the place their puppy will perform. By gradually moving the paper over the matter of weeks towards the place they finally want their dog to go and the puppy will follow the paper. Again though, make sure that the place where the paper WAS LAST TIME is scrupulously clean or the puppy will be happy to stay there!

Regards, John :-)