Hi all. I have a 7 week old puppy who I am trying to paper train. I cannot take her into the garden as we get foxes and she has not had her injections yet. I aways say NO when she goes on the carpet and then put her on the paper but she never goes there. I've had her a week now and the breeder said she was basically paper trained before I had her so she has gone backwards.
Any advice?
Thanks

I still toilet train my dogs in the garden, foxes or no foxes, cats or no cats, etc etc.  Do you not go out into the garden in the same shoes that you wear inside? 

I don't want her to catch any diseases as I love her too much! So until she's had her shots at 12 weeks I wont take her out of the house

That would be a shame as then the dog will be missing out on vital socialisation experiences and exposure to every day sights and sounds in order for it to become bomb proof.  However that is your choice; we all have to make risk assessments which fit in with our own particular views and beliefs; IMHO the risk of undersocialisation is, in general, a much greater one than catching a disease.  Most dogs, like most children, are underexposed to infections which IMHO can trigger autoimmune diseases as we disinfect ourselves to oblivion and prevent all living forms the opportunity to develop a strong immune system.

ps I love my dogs too :D

The risks to your puppy of catching anything from a fox are far smaller than the risk, say, of somebody bringing in something on their clothing or shoes.  Please also bear in mind that these weeks are CRUCIAL in getting your puppy socialised to all sorts of things outside the house - at 12 weeks she will be entering a 'fear period' which means she will find new things too scarey, and incorrect handling at that age can make for problems all her life.  Please get your puppy out and about ( tucked in your coat if necessary, or travelling around in a car) NOW..

Training her to go outside makes the whole toilet training business so much easier as there are no 'inbetween steps' - she's trained to go outside and you don't runt he risk of her mistaking any paper left on the floor as a suitable place to go.

I think you're making a big mistake by not taking your pup outside.  As others have already said the pup needs to experience many different situations/noises/smells etc and IMO you could make your pup nervous by not taking the pup outside.  I have never ever heard of anyone doing this.  The paper training is a great mistake too.  We are on our fourth Rottweiler - Alfie is 9 months old.  When we collected him at 7 weeks we had no paper down and kept taking him outside to pee every 10 minutes at first gradually increasing the time.  I think by putting paper down you confuse the puppy because you then have to teach it to go outside at a later date (two jobs then).  The pup should know from the start that there is only one place to relieve itself and thats outside.  We crated Alfie at night and only used the crate as a bed (no paper at one end) and had a water bowl in it for night.  We would get up in the night to let him out (because he would whine to go and pee).  By 8/9 weeks he was trained.  No confusion!!!

Please listen to the above advice. It is so important. You can't protect your puppy from everything & she needs to encounter germs, viruses etc before she can build up immunity. She also needs to see that there is a whole wide world out there!

Thanks for all your advice, i guess you're all right and I'm just being an over protective mum! its just she's my first puppy and i'm paranoid! She has met lost of people and travelled in the car and been to different houses plus we seem to have endles streams of people in our own house so she is getting socialised. I think i might start taking her out then. Thanks for all your help. :-)

It is not just people that she needs exposing to but cyclists, cars, trains, buses, motor bikes, scooters, skateboarders, horses, dogs, cats, sheep, cattle, shopping trolleys, wheelchairs, walking sticks, people with beards, hats, glasses, carrying things, children, gates, children's rides outside supermarkets, etc etc etc the list is endless.  The socialisation window effectively closes at 16 weeks therefore you need to pack in as much as possible as early as possible and then maintain it. 

tohme and everyone else, I just want to say how good it is to hear that you all agree with the importance of socialising.  I get so fed up of hearing about dogs being ruined through lack of understanding. 

I really do agree but it's geting harder to carry Dizzy anywhere - a 10 week old Great Dane in fairly heavy Luckily there are lots of people pass our house and cars etc so she sees a fair amount just by being in the garden with me :)

I think we may be running two threads here??
Socialising is sooo important and do you realy want to puppy to always do her business indoors?

I don't want her to always go indoors, only until she is 12 weeks old and fully vaccinated. Then i will take her out for walks etc and do all the extra socialisation that she has not had so far. However I am fairly confident in her as she is fearless at the moment and will happily "play" with our Irish Wolf Hound. She is a Cavalier!

Perhaps you don't fully understand how vaccinations and diseases work - but your Wolfie will be bringing in as many diseases as any fox in your garden - but don't worry - she will be carrying protection from her mother which will help her immunity until the puppy vaccinations take over.  At 12 weeks or so even the most 'confident' pup often appears to take on new fears, so be prepared and don't molly coddle her if she should show signs of wariness - this simply rewards her, but a the same time ensure she is rewarded for 'being brave'

Re toilet training - training on paper, as I said before, will prolong the toilet training process as when she's going out you will have to unteach her about doing her business indoors and start teaching her about outside, right at a stage when she is genetically programmed to be scared of new things, which will make your job very much harder :(

Do you not have your own private back garden?  If so you can take her out there, but you shouldn't take her where other dogs can go.

As other people have pointed out socialisatin is so important.  I hope you have lots of fun with your puppy.

We got Spice at 8wk 2days old,she is now 10weeks 1day old,she did not take to her 'crate' so after 3 nights of poo and crying we bought her a puppy play-den.

We put her into the garden as soon as she got home,we too get the odd fox,cat,hedgehog,frog (yuk!) ,since we invested in the den she has been clean and dry every night! the last 3 nights she slept right through from 9.30pm until 6am when hubby let her out into the garden.

We tried the paper to begin with,but all she did was chew it! Now she runs to the backdoor to be let out to do her business,even breaking off from play or meals to ask to go out!

So far with the exception of the first 3 nights,we have only had 3 tiny wee's in the house,once when she got over excited and secondly when I wasn't quick enough to anticipate her needs at the door!

Since day one we have also introduced her to my son's gsd (aged 9months),several people,pets at home stores! the local railway line and train noise,cars and the dustbin men! she is getting a bit heavier to carry now,so that is where hubby comes in handy! The only time she let me down ;) was when she flew between my legs at the door and anchored herself to the bottom of the postman's trousers :o.

Also as my husband shoots,(targets not wild-life) we have let her sniff his gun collection,as my previous dog always left the room whenever a gun came into view even if it was still in it's case?

All this is hopefully socialising her well enough to cope with what life may throw at her and I hope you have the same enjoyment with your new family member,as we are finding with ours.
Jacqueline