Hello anyone? I'm new to this so bare with me. I'm having a Cavalier king charles spaniel and want to know the best way to house break him. He'll be 8 weeks old when I get him.Are Cavaliers easier than other breeds to train? Everyone I've spoken to say that they are very bright, does that make a difference? Or is that a load of hogwash? The breeder said to invest in a puppy pen when I leave the house for a period of time as the pup is used to being in one at the moment. The breeder has started paper training him also. Any help would be good bye kes!!

hi im new to this as well so i may not be any good but here goes i got molly [staffordshire bull terrier]when she was 12 weeks the breeder also suggested a pen which i found very usefull if we went to the shops would put her in and shut the gate she didnt mind it at all would let her straight out when i got back and the same for bed time she was an angel right from the time we got her home no chewing very few acidents.as for training i think be patient put out first thing in morning and then every hour oh and dont forget last thing at night before saying goodnight leave papper by back door .im sorry i couldnt advise u any more i dont no if it helps getting them at 12 weeks but it seemed like she was allready trained so i cant give out to much advice hope it all goes well for u and the pup xx

However bright your dog is it will not help with bladder control, different dogs are able to control their bladder and bowel and different ages. The bowel will come under control first and the bladder will follow, sorry but often toy dogs are later than others. But there are no rules and when you dog can control it's self it will do so, just keep up the training and don't become distressed about it.

Hi, I've read lots of posts and I've had pups in the past. I have to say I have never used pens or crates or anything for sleeping and training. All I've done is leave the pup in the kitchen at night in his basket with some newspapers down, taken pup out last thing at night and then settled him/her. Next morning maybe accidents on the paper but completely ignore these, put pup in garden and praise for results. Dog has become house trained within a few weeks. No problem. Maybe I've been lucky but I think the key is remain calm, don't shout or smack for accidents. Think if you take a pup on it's like a child, you wouldn't get stressed at your baby for pooing so same goes for the dog! Hope you have a great life together!

CG

That's the way I train them as well, CG. It's always worked for us, too.
:)

hello kes - i have a 13-week old cavalier, also my first ever dog. you're lucky - you'll have an amzing time, i can't believe quite how much i love our ruby, i never thought it was possible to be this enamoured of a dog! the 1st couple of weeks while we mutually got used to each other were hard work but after that fortnight things seem really idyllic :)

do remember what i think jackie said - smaller dogs can take longer to get physical control of their bowels/bladder cos they're smaller. but that said, rubes got the idea VERY quickly that going outside on the lawn got her a treat so she was doing that v quickly. she does still soil in a corner of her pen at night - the pooing's now starting to stop and hopefully give her a few more weeks the weeing will too. she obviously doesn't want to its just she can't hold herself more than i reckon 4 hours at the mo :(.

we do have a crate - but we got a big one, so as to use it more like a playpen/safe area than a 'crate' in terms of traditional crate training (whereby people use a smaller crate so dog won't soil it, as they will NEVER soil their sleep area, so are forced to learn to hold themselves) - do you have Gwen Bailey's book 'The perfect Puppy'? I got recommended it by so man people, off here and also my breeder and trainer - its is my absolute bible! well in there she recommends having a playpen - so its like a safe mini-pup-room, we can leave ruby in there when we can't supervise her (at first left her in there even if she was unsupervised for tiny periods, so she didn't learn to do unwanted things - if you're there with her you can always distract her from unwanted behaviour, otherwise she'll soon learn what's fun! ;) ) Ruby loves her crate too - she often puts herself in it if she just wants to sit, watch & rest. She has her basket adn a couple of chews there to entertain herself.

WRT toilet training, she picked it up dead quick - at first we took her outside all the time, after drinks/food/excitement/big plays/visitors arriving/once an hour/if she sniffed & circled etc - get a warm jacket! - and any time she went out there, we made a big fuss of her and gave her a good treat. she soon picked it up. if she went inside, we just completely ignored it and one of us cleaned it up while another played w her somewhere else (make sure you use either hot biological washing powder or a special cleaner from pet shop, so she doesn't start going back in same place cos of the niff.)

We also used 'puppy pads' a bit at first - these are kind of like nappies (you get them from the pet shop though), but square flat & go on the floor. we put one by the back door for 1st couple of weeks - they have a scent on them that we can't smell but dogs can, and it attracts them to go on the pad to do their business. this got ruby to get in habit of going to the back door when she needed toilet - we watched her like a hawk and if she went to the pad, we whipped her outside straight away so she actually toileted on the grass and then we rewarded her. if she accidentally went on the pad we just ignored it. a lot of people don't like the pads, as they think it can confuse the pup as you're kind of teaching them its ok to go in two places, but we found them useful in this capacity. We also used a pad to designate a toilet-spot in her cage/playpen & still often leave one down in there at night. We've tried not doing so, but she still goes and then (as our crate has a plastic tray in the bottom, the whole crate is swimming in wee in the morning and we have one v distressed and mucky pup :( - she doesn't have control yet and it doesn't seem fair to let her get in a mucky horrible mess just to speed up toilet-training by a couple of weeks. If she's still not clean in the night in another month, i'll do something about it then, when she does have control.)

hope this extraordinarily long post is useful! you'll have the BEST time - they're such a lovely lovely breed. they are definitely bright little things :) - teach your pup to play games & you'll really see the intelligence: now ruby's learnt to retrieve she LOVES it! well worth persevering with that one - oh and we found the Kong toys are a godsend for when you want to actually talk to your visitors rather than have to play constantly with your excited pup :D - keeps her physically & mentally busy for anywhere up to an hour....!

have fun :)