Hi all, I'm having a bit of a dilemma here.

We don't have a backyard. My maltese x cavalier is now just over 1 year old, and ever since she we got her we have been training her to go on paper laid on the enclosed back patio. (The laundry leads off the tiled patio, and this area is where she 'lives' if we're not able to watch her. Her paper is at one end of the patio, her food and water dish at the other, and her bed's in the laundry.) Paper training was not done as a step to toilet training her to go outdoors, my plan was that she be paper trained permanently so to speak. Although she hasn't had any accidents lately, I don't think she'd have any qualms of doing her business on the carpet if she felt the urge, it's like "out of sight, out of mind."

The past few days I've tried bringing her out into the front garden on a leash but because she doesn't have regular access to it she thinks it's Wonderland and would rather run around, sniff, dig, chew.. anything but pee. This morning I was out there with her for an hour and she didn't pee but as soon as we went inside she peed on her paper. Same thing yesterday.

Plus, the weather has been truly horrible the past few weeks, wet and windy every single day and its been a pretty frustrating and woesome experience for me standing out there with her in the wind and rain.

I don't know what to do. Should I work on fully paper training her? It's obviously what she's used to. Although she'll do her business on the grass when we're at the park or on walks she has always had her paper there for her inbetween. Or, should I get rid of the paper and try to work on her going on grass only? The only problem with that is, what if we're not there to bring her out? Like I said we don't have a backyard so her trips to the grass would have to be supervised on leash.

What should I do? I'm also thinking of getting a second pup to keep her company but obviously I want to get these toilet training issues out of the way first.

My aunts dog is paper and outside trained. My one dog Dozer goes outside but if I put paper down he will use it, he's around 2years old. Ur best bet would to take a slightly used (damp paper) and put that outside with some rocks to hold it down and take her there to the same spot everyday. This way she has her smell on there and it just helps to train her. As for the paper training in the house pick it all up when u are home and be on the ball for taking her out. If u still want her to be paper trained only put it down when u are not home. Also make sure u clean her toilet area real good. Hope this helpd some :)

ttfn :)

Hi Maiko,
I'm assuming that your dog is quite a small dog :). In this case you could train her to use a large cat litter tray, which would help with cleaning up after her as the smell of her urine would be in the tray and not on the floor. She may take well to this - I know of a terrier bitch who likes to use a plant tub in the garden to wee in! :)

The idea of using her already used paper to train her outside is very good too ( show people often do this for bitches who wouldn't 'go' all day otherwise)

just my 0.02p worth

hope it helps some :)

Regards
Dill