Hi
I have a 9 week old puppy called Tia who i love dearly already, but am confused from Dorset! I have read so many conflicting opinions about toliet training ie, the best way to go about it that i am really unsure about which is the best thing to do. Right now i am putting newspaper down on the kitchen floor, she sometimes uses it but more often there are loads of puddles all over the floor. I dont scold her when that happens but do give her loads of praise when she does go on the paper.  I have a garden and obviously my aim is to get her going in the garden as soon as i can train her to do so.  I would appriciate any advice anyone can give me, something i am not doing and should be or a method that has worked for somone here
thanks alot.

                                                                 julieann

if you do a search on here, you will find lots of threads with loads of advice on this subject.
good luck :-)

You are right to be confused - there are almost as many people with theories with puppies as there are when you have a baby!  You choose the way that suits you and your pup/baby.

Your methods are what I would use - purely use the paper to minimise the mess and for ease of cleaning up.  Plenty of praise and reward when the pup does the 'right thing' (ignoring the mistakes) and take the puppy out regularly, going with her, and giving plenty of opportunity to get the reward.

We started Poppy in the garden straight away, we didn't bother with the newspaper/training pad stage.  We took her out first thing in the morning, after she'd had a drink/food/play session/sleep.  Stood outside with her and said "Do wee wee" several times, then when she'd been we'd immediately tell her "good girl" and give her a treat.  Over time she has learnt to scratch at the door if she wants to go out and the door is closed.

You'd be surprised how quickly they learn where's the right place to go and make their own way there.

We recently used the methods you describe to housetrain our new puppy.  For perhaps 2 weeks we made no progress despite us giving lavish praise (And liver!) when he went in the right place then suddenly one day he got it!  We were so exited!  Your puppy is only 9 weeks so has very little control, continue as you are - eventually all the hard work will pay off!

Hi Julieann,

I would strongly, strongly advise you NOT to papertrain.  The reason for this is that you are right now teaching the pup that it's ok to go inside.  Then you will move the paper outside and the pup will somehow have to re-learn that it's NOT ok to go inside anymore.  This obviously conflicts and confuses the poor pup.

Throw the newspaper away - right from the beginning, the inside is the place NOT to go, while outside IS.  Take your pup out often - after feeding, after waking up, after a play session, and every hour at least in between that.  If your pup goes outside, praise and give a treat.  If your pup goes inside, ignore it and clean it up - think of it as your mistake for not watching more carefully.  If you see your pup squat and about to mess, pick them up and whisk them outside and wait till they do something. 

Make sure you clean up any accidents inside with biological washing liquid - there are other products but this is the cheapest option and works as well as the others.  If you clean it with bleach, that smells of ammonia to a pup and it will just encourage the pup to go there again.

You might also want to consider using a crate if you don't have one already.  These are really useful for lots of things, one being toilet training.  Your pup will not want to toilet inside its crate, so you can put the pup in there and have an hour or two off from watching it.  Everyone needs time out - you included.

We have a 6 month old GR who is now properly trained :)

The way we did it was to take her out into the garden regularly and praise her every time she did it in the garden. If she did it in the house we ignored it.  We did use newspaper in the house to protect the floor but didn't encourage her to use it.

She also had her own room to sleep in where we put her at night and if we go out (this used to be the "study" but now appears to be Honey's room!!).  She doesn't like to soil her room so the first thing we did on coming back to the house (or getting up) was to take her straight into the garden - you need to be quick.  In all it took a couple of weeks to train her

We got our pup when she was 11 weeks and the breeder had her paper trained. We continued this for the first few days but changed tactics. We kept taking her out in the garden to one spot and waited until she went, she was then praised and given a treat. She soon learnt that this was the place to go but she is still a baby and has the odd accident. I always let her out after meals, after any playtime and food, but she likes to eat in the garden.

I think its personal choice, so only you can decide how you want to go about it, some methods will take longer than others.

why do you make her go on the papers , just take her consistently out every hour and she'll get it. Easy!

I agree Manny.

Thanks alot guys for al the advice, believe me its really helped and given me a much clearer idea of the way to go, i will continue with the paper for a while to protect the floor and i cant always be there for her on the hour everyday put can on some days, i will not encourage her to use the paper as such, but will encourage her in the garden at every opportunity i get and do away with the paper as soon as i can, also i thought as i have another dog chloe, maybe Tia will pick up the sent in the garden and that will encourage her. Again many thanks for taking the time to help
                                                                           julieann

I'd only put paper down when you go out - if you're in the house too you don't want her to think that it's okay to go indoors. So when you're in, pick up all the paper and watch the pup! It's very timeconsuming, but it's the quickest method.
:)

hi ya ive just got an eight week puppy, and the strangest thing is, he whines at the door to be let out for the toilet in the garden! i'd agree with the straight outside, what i tend to do is take him outside roughly every hour or after food play etc tell him to do wee wee's but if he doesnt bring him back in and try in half hours time. mind you he's more interested in playing with the grass rather than doing his business! it took me over eight months to train my last dog maybe this was because i used the paper training first? good luck.

I am in agreement with the others that are saying ditch the paper. 

I think this is why it's so important to be able to be at home with a puppy and one of the reasons why people who have to go to work find it difficult.

My pup is 12 weeks now and I've had 2 wee accidents in the house in the past 4 days, that's all !  I think it's all about finding a routine, creating habits etc.  This is what our routine is and it's working so far...

6.30 (ish) get up and take puppy straight outside.  I just stand there and say Hurry Up until he wee's and only after he's wee'd do I give him lots of good morning praise :)
Then he has his breakfast and straight after breakfast we go back outside.  I just stand there still and tell him to hurry up until he's been and done a wee/poo.   When he does it he gets lots of praise and then we play.

Then as the day goes on, I take him outside after every play session, after every meal and every time he wakes up.  I also watch him and if he looks like he's sniffing around, I take him out again then too.

It is a bit difficult to be there all the time for this but it does work.