I hope someone could help me. I have a 13 week old cav and had her for 4 weeks now at first everything was rosey NOW we are at the end of our tether. We got her a cage as we was advised to do and first she would sleep well, but she is now going to toilet wee all on her bed and no.2 in the cage.  She does get alot of time away from the cage and we put newspaper near the back door to encourage her to go in the garden. She will go and run in the garden then straight back into the house and mess on the kitchen floor.  I have spoken to some other dogs owners and they said she is a dirty dog and that we will nether be able to sort her out.  And also she is like a baby to my partner who willl not stop picking her up and treating her like a baby. will this make her a spoilt dog like the toy breeds you see on television (snappy)

Appreciate any comments and thankyou in advance.

With respect, she won't train herself and you need to be out in the garden with her!  Also, putting newspaper in the house will have the effect of training her that it's OK to wee and poo in the house rather than the garden! Personally I don't believe there's such a thing as an ingrained characteristic called "dirty dog" - especially in one so little as 13 weeks - but you can easily have an unreliable dog if training isn't consistent and persistent.

I'm interested in what you say about your partner too because it sounds as if there's some underlying conflict about what both of you seem to want from this pup. Affection alone won't make a dog snappy but you don't want a situation to develop where the pup becomes distraught if separated from your partner. However, at 13 weeks and having only had her for 4 weeks there's still some settling in to do on all sides.

"they said she is a dirty dog and that we will nether be able to sort her out"
For goodness sake, this a 13 week old puppy you're talking about! She won't even have full control over her bowel & bladder yet!
Roz has given you good advise & I'll also suggest you take her to a good training class - as much for your partner & yourself so you can get good advice about reaching a compromise in her training.

Ditto what the others have say It's no good just expecting a puppy to teach itself, you have to be consistant & everytime she wakes up or has been fed or looks asc though she wants to do something take her out & stay with her  until she goes & then make a big fuss of her. I teach my dogs to go on command & also tell them we are going "pees" as I go to the door

BTW picking a Cavalier up should not make them nasty or snappy I've only met a few iffy ones & that was their breeding & upbringing(multi breeders for money) Cavaliers are very people orientated & usually cannot get enough human contact

Hi. I'm the proud mummy of Harvey, he's an 11 week old Cav. He too has a crate which he loves but did do a few wee's in his bed at the beginning - night time and during the day before my very eyes!!! I now get up at 3.30am every morning to take him outside to wee and this really has worked for us - seems to have broke the habit, also how are you cleaning the bedding? I treat the wet area with toilet training solution from pet shop then wash with biological wash powder as it breaks down the enzymes in the wee - if your puppy can still smell the wee and he will if you wash with non bio, he will continue to toilet in that area, surgical spirit sprayed over the area after washing is also supposed to be effective. As Roz mentioned, the key to sucessful potty training is consistancy and please don't forget, he is only a baby and accidents will happen until his tiny bladder develops. Also, I would ditch the paper idea altogether, get him straight outside, it's so much easier. Good luck and hope this helps.

Hayley x

I've got 2 Cavs and a Yankee, and they've all been hard to housetrain, so it must be me as I know other people can do it easily! She will learn eventually if you teach her. As the others have said, make sure you take her out frequently and make a huge fuss when she does go in the right place, and clean up any mess in the wrong place with biological washing powder. My little monsters have been nearly a year old before they were really trustworthy, but most dogs are a lot quicker than that. And fussing shouldn't spoil them as long as they have a reasonable amount of discipline too. :-) Welcome to the world of Cavalier slaves!