Please, please help me, i have an adorable pup of 13 weeks but i cant get him to use his newspaper to eliminate.   Now and then he gets it right but mostly it is wherever he is standing.  Any sensible ideas would be much appreciated.

I'm just wondering if there's a reason why you actually want him to go on newspaper? All that does is teach a puppy that it's okay to wee indoors, which I'm sure isn't what you want.

I've found the best thing to do is take up all the paper during the day and simply take pup out into the garden at regular intervals (after each meal, after play, after naps and at least once an hour) to a place where I want him to go and wait patiently until he starts to perform. Then I give him the command I'll use for that ("Go wee"; "Busy boy"; "Hurry up" for example) then praise him and have a play.

If you watch him carefully (and I mean all the time he's awake) you'll learn the signs he gives when he needs to go, and that's your cue to encourage him outside before he wees. It's time-consuming, but it's well worth the effort.

I had a feeling someone would come back with that suggestion, as yes of course we all want our puppies to pee outdoors.   i do take him in the garden often but he seems to hold himself and then goes as soon as we get in!  Yesterday he was out for an hour and held on until we came in .

As someone who is following a 12 week old puppy with a cloth half the time I do sympathise :D

I left newspaper down for the first week, but found she would not use it (she would put a foot or two on the paper, but pee on the carpet ;) ) I have since lifted all the paper and just take her out regularly. She still 'goes' in the house if I'm not quick enough, but I have found that she does not like the wet, windy weather and will quite happily run back inside to 'go'.

If you watch your puppy closely and catch him as he starts to wee, quickly pick him up and take him outside. He probably won't pee for a while, but will eventually catch on. :D Good luck.

Lindy why do we put ourselves through it lol?
Reading the messages is enough to make me feel better cos i realise its not just me with a widdle arse :o).  I havent had a pup for 13 years and i had forgotten what it was like.   Good luck with yours.

If you really feel you have to get him to use the paper, and are prepared to consider that you may have to 'untrain' him at sometime in the future - have you thought about using one piece of paper to soak up an 'accident' in the hope that this will draw him back to the same place the next time........

You might also want to think about this from his point of view.  A small pup is rather vulnerable and simply may not feel comfortable out in the open - is there a more sheltered place he could use?  A passageway or covered area for example?  Do you take a treat out with you.  Some puppies cotton on to the fact that they get rewarded when they go back inside, and mistakenly believe they are being rewarded for being indoors, so can't wait to get back inside.  Also make sure you give him plenty of frequent opportunities to do the right thing - after every nap, after every meal, every play session, and every 10 minutes in between to start with.  Keeping the doors shut between rooms may help, as he can't get out of your sight without you noticing

Digger i know what youre saying but i had him at 8 weeks in between vaccinations and i was a bit coy about allowing him in my garden as i live next to a woods and we have urban foxes in that carry diseases and i wasnt prepared to take risks with him outside so the newspaper seemed a good idea at the time, but a big part of me was thinking at the time that this pup will get used to the paper, luckily enough he didnt he got used to my stone floor instead lol).   Thanks for your advice :o)

You were offered that suggestion because you instinctively knew it was the proper course of action! :rolleyes: Stay out with him until he pees! Nobody ever said puppies were easy!

Hi Daisy,

Maybe not exactly what you wanted to hear - perhaps you thought a new and speedier method had been discovered :) but JG is absolutely right.  Paper training is IMO a waste of valuable time when you should be instilling the behaviour you expect to achieve right from the beginning -  not confusing him with various places to relieve himself indoors

I see you say he *held on until you came back indoors* - try looking at it another way, you gave up before he performed outdoors :D

At his age you can't expect him to have proper bladder control yet but he should know in between puppy antics how to ask out at least some of the time <lol> - that's where your powers of observation, patience and perseverance come in.  Go back to basics, take him out and stay with him until he's already "done the deed" - use a command word of choice as he's actually doing it and praise him loads as soon as he's finished.  He'll need out on waking, after eating, playing and roughly every hour or so in between if he's not fast asleep so you will have a couple of weeks hard graft ahead but it will pay dividends in the long run when newspapers, mops etc become a thing of the past  :P

Best of luck, and wrap up warmly!
Regards, Teri :)   

Hey guess what you guys, this pup of mine actually did a poo outside today and i was ecstatic (sad i guess to some lol).  Plenty of wees on the floor still, but the newspaper is now in the bin and i shall crack on with the outdoor training, many thanks to everyone who took me and Alfie on board.

Go Alfie, Go Alfie

Teri :P

Teri its me again ..... hes a bit of a nipper, any thoughts on how to get him to stop nipping us?    I dont want to make him more aggressive, as sometimes when he nips me he does a throaty growl at me which tells me he means it lol

Just a thought but do you have a name for when you want your pup to perform??  I've always used tiddles and when mine are taken outside as pups I say the word and say it when they are performing as well.  That way, they get to realise fast what it is you want them to do outside - rather than them being distracted with smells and sniffing around :-)

Hi Daisy,

He's got you wound round his tiny paws hasn't he :P   There are a few different ways - firstly, time out.  Any game/interaction stops immediately his teeth meet skin, clothing etc.  Secondly, I squeal sharply with my pups and stop the game.  Some people disapprove of that method - personally it's worked with every pup I've ever had or associated with so I recommend ;)

When he calms in between (about 1 minute maximum of stopping game or squeaking - puppies have short memories!) offer him something appropriate to chew on.  If it happens during a game, finish by giving him a toy.  If it happens just because he felt like it, give him say a chew stick.

Like every other puppy behaviour what he is doing is normal - he just needs to learn by experience what is the most rewarding behaviour.

Regards, Teri :)

Teri thanks for that advise, funny thing is he HASNT once nipped either of my boys, which naturally i am glad about).   I wonder why he seems to prefer the two adults lol?

just being nosey, what breed is he ?? you will get thee in the end try not to worry, its sooo much easier with a pup in the nice weather, ive stood out for an hr in the drizzle, cold, windy, and came back in to a burnt tea !!

Hi sarstaff,

Hes an American Cocker spaniel, and yes youre right; when its peeing down with rain i have to really kick myself to get my coat on and stand out while pup decides whether he prefers to pee outside or indoors lol.   I,m sure we will get there in the end :o)

I forgot just how much work a puppy can be, too. And I have a 2 1/2 year old dog I bred myself so it's not THAT long since I went through this before ;) Seska is just trying it, I think :) She knows outside is for 'going' but would rather chase the other 2 dogs round and round the garden. :D I've even tried taking her out on her own. Fine during the day, but she doesn't like the dark :) I really will have to take the torch oput of the car in the morning. It's difficult trying to look for a dark puppy in the dark :D

we tried newspaper for our now 10month old staff girl, she hated it because she kept slipping on it . So we forgot about the paper and just kept cleaning the mess and just persevered with the going out before and after meals etc, first thing and last thing using the same word over and over again. she was about 5 months when we noticed an improvement and the joy and pride when she first let us know that she wanted to go out was wonderful, sad couple that we are.Its lovely having a little pup but we dont miss the mess.

With my impending new arrival, I am wincing as I'm reading this :D God it takes me back and now I've come full circle............again :rolleyes:

we rehomed a pup at the beginning of december she is 5months old and her housetraining is still not great. she will now tap on the patio door to go out but if you are upstairs with her she just wees. Yesterday I left her downstairs for a short while and and found a poo! Arrrrrrrrr.
I do praise her like a loon when she goes outside I guess she'll get there in the end, mind you when she first came to us she needed to wee about three times in the night too! she does now make it through to the morning!

All sounds perfectly normal. Can you imagine trying to get a 6 month old child to knock on the door :-))

I say a year is when they should be trained by..  If she was homed a little later also this may take a little longer then had you got her at 8 weeks.

Sounds to me all is fine. It won't be long now.

BTW some dogs never tell you and if you don't put them out when they need a little present they will leave :-)

Pam

sounds like she is doing well for her age, going through the night is a bit hurdle, well done to both of you. Ours used to do the same if she was downstairs she'd go to the door bur if she was up she would just pee. As she got older she improved and now lets us know wherever she is