Hello

I know this is a problem of my own making - similar to the other post on toilet training, but Molly is nearly 6 months now and still only partly clean.

We recently moved from a flat. When we got her we used puppy training pads and I have to say I was suprised at how qickly she picked up using them. She still had the odd accident but was generally very clean. Everyone was told about the not getting cross if she messed and giving her praise when she got it right.

About a month ago we moved to a new house and since then she's gone from bad to worse. She has a wee in the morning in the garden and we spend the rest of the day taking her out at intervals but all she wants to do out there is sniff around and dig. There's only so long we can stand out there for, and then when we come back in she'll end up going somewhere in the house (always on carpet).

We give her lots of praise for doing it in the right place and have a strategically placed bag of treats by the door. I know she's still a baby but my carpets are getting ruined. I've thought about putting an off-cut of carpet on the grass to see if she'll go on that and then gradually making the area smaller before eventually taking it away, but then I think this might make her even more fond of carpets?!!!

Any ideas?

have you put puppy training pads in your new home?

if not then i would advise you to do that.

if you have then ur carpet way sounds like a good idea

Are you catching her in the act when she does wee on the carpet? If so have a punishment tool, mine was a load of marbles in an ice cream tub (shaken when he was in the act) and a very load "NO!", sort of shock system, but it worked...... and of course oodles of love and hugs when she gets it right. She may just be very confused, what with moving and everything and need to settle down a bit.

Sympathies, you feel like all you ever do is wash the carpet!!! :(

Hi, yes we have used the pads. There's one in the kitchen which she never uses and one in the landing in case she gets court short during the night (she sleeps upstairs).

She has only used the kitchen one maybe once or twice but is fairly good at using the one upstairs. We've attributed this to the fact that the pad was on the landing in our flat.

We very rarely catch her in the act - she goes off into the dining room whilst we're watching TV and when I shower in the morning she goes and poos behind the dining room table. (She's only been out about ten minutes prior to this). We can;t shut the dining room off as you have to go through that to get to the kitchen.

hmmmmm she needs re-programming, you can train her out of it, but remember her blueprint is a little stronger what with her age than most pups going through housetraining. Persistance, patience and consistency is the name of the game!

P.S I was told Olbas Oil on the place where they wee is good, i know it works for cats but have not tried it on dogs....maybe someone else knows of a deterrent........

I would contain her in an area with washable flooring any time you cannot watch her all the time. What about a child gate/barrier across the kitchen/dining room opening? If your haouse is very open plan then you may need to put ther in a crate while you shower etc.

In the evenings keep her on a lead at your feet, so she can't sneak off.

"We very rarely catch her in the act - she goes off into the dining room whilst we're watching TV and when I shower in the morning she goes and poos behind the dining room table. (She's only been out about ten minutes prior to this). "
Your dog is having accidents when she is not being supervised. So supervise her more!
I would recommend going right back to basics, and supervise your dog at ALL times. Do not give her the opportunity to make a mistake...of course she finds it more comfy to wee in the warm and not in the horrible cold garden! During the day, keep her in sight when you are at home. You MUST deny her accessto the dining room (or any room) unless she is supervised directly by you. Use baby gates, puppy panels, anything. If she wants to go in the kitchen, go with her. puppy pads have a place if you are out, but there should be no need to use them when you are in.......take her outside when she wants a wee. because you can see her you will now know when she wants to go. Rather than use the pad at night, take her outside. If you think she will have a secret wee whilst you are asleep, invest in a crate for her bed. your pup will not wish to soil her own bed, and will wake you up if she needs out. get up and take her outside. When you are in the shower, pop her in her crate den. In summary your pup should always be in one of 3 places
1. asleep
2. crated (short periods)
3. supervised.
There WILL come a day when your dog can wander round unsupervised, without fear of wee, but that day is not yet. With perseverance and diligence it could well be very soon. You just need to break the cycle.
I recently had my afghans sister to stay, a kennel dog, who was not housetrained, aged 20 months. I did with her exactly as I have described to you.....she was housetrained in 1week. and able to be trusted without being crated. :) her owner was dead chuffed, now she is a house dog!

The kitchen/dining room are open plan as I explained in a previous post and therefore cannot stop her going in there. There is a baby gate across the dining room to stop her wandering round the rest of the house but that's as much as I can do. She has not got a crate and I therefore feel it would be un-fair to now start putting her in one. i would put her outside but (a) more often than not it's raining and (b) if something makes a noise she will bark and annoy the neighbours. If I'm in the shower and can't hear her then this could go on for ten minutes or more.

I cannot possibly watch her every second as I do have to go to the loo and shower etc otherwise I would smell as bad as the carpet!!!!! LOL!

Please don't think of providing a dog with a crate as being 'unfair' - it's not a punishment if used appropriatly, and many dogs really like their crates - age doesn't come into it - my dogs were 2 and 9 when I introduced them to a crate (they share a *huge* one) - they're in there at the moment as we have the builders in - and even when they aren't shut in, I will often find one or the other in there chilling out...........Most dogs LOVE their crates when they are introduced properly - honest!!

Hi Digger

I think that may have come across slightly wrong. What I meant was that I thought maybe introducing it at this stage when she hasn't been used to it is unfair.

Don't get me wrong, I did toy with the crate idea for a long time before we got her - even went to the shops and looked at some but then we decided that the place we were in at the time would not allow us enough room (very small kitchen) to get a substantial sized one. We also thought that putting it in the room where we would be (front room) would defeat the object as the crate is obv. meant to gave them their own space to get away from everyone and if it was in the same room then this wouldn't be achieved.

Molly's mum has a crate but I didn't think introducing one now would be a benefit - you obviously have had success with yours though?

Hi,

This may be no help but have you thought about putting panels around your backdoor I don't know whether its paved or not?That way your not drapsing down the garden ,find it harder to dig a hole leave her out there for 10 mins also periodically then once she been there she will use it again .You could alo put the wet training papers out there to help get the message.Just a thought:-) you culd also leave your door open on dry days then?

Regards Briony :-0

I realise what you are saying Claire - which is why I tried to explain that my dogs weren't introduced to a crate until they were well into adult hood - it really is a boon, not just for toilet training, especially in an open plan house like mine with a busy family......

Sorry Digger, i hope you didn't think I was being rude. I just went to P@H and had a look at some crates so will give it some serious thought over the weekend.

Just out of interest, what size should I be going for - she's a westie? I thought possibly the beiggest one they had (wasn't actually that big) and it was £99 - does this sound about right for a crate?

No worries, I was just concerned I wasn't explaining my self properly :-) I'd go for the biggest crate you can afford/accomodate for indoor use - the one my two (a Springer and a Springer cross, both on the small side) is about 4' deep, 2'6" high and 2' wide. The dog should at least have room to stand up and turn around - for a Westie a min of 2' in deepth and width and maybe 18" high. Ofcourse you can get bigger - but bear in mind that for toilet training purposes the dog really needs to be restricted to a sufficiently small area that it can't do a poo and still sleep comfortably - you might find the easiest way to do this is to put a cardboard box in the crate to restrict the area if you get a bigger crate.......

HTH

PS - a crate with 2 doors is more versatile than one with only one - especially handy if you want to use the crate in a variety of situations ie - in a B & B, or in different rooms in the house..

Thanks for your help - I will give it some serious thought over the weekend and will also have a look on the net at other crates apart from those at P@H.

Thanks again

Argos does a crate for £38.75 (I have one for my Aussie and it is very well made and should last years) which would me more than big enough for your Westie :) - you could block part of it off while you are trying to restrict the amount of space she has :)

Daisy

Hi Claire

When I was housetraining my Sammie I had the same type of problem. She was never clean at night and she was about 6 months. It got to the point where every morning I had a "mess" to clean up. Then I went out and bought her a Kong toy (a large one). At night I used to stuff it with food and then I gave it to her before I went to bed. Amazingly enough, when I came down in the morning, there wasn't any mess. I figured out that she spent so long trying to get the food out that she got so tired and fell asleep and couldn't be bothered to mess! Every night after that I gave her the Kong and it really did work. I don't know if I was just very lucky but it's definately worth a shot!

I hope you have some luck with it.

Charlene