Cocker Specific Discussion > Puppies

Toilet training a new puppy

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astankovic:
Hi,

My wife and I just got a 3 month old Cocker puppy and he is just the most adorable dog I’ve ever seen.
He adapted very well to the house, he follows us everywhere, likes to play and all that, he is just a great dog. After two days he learned that he is not allowed to go upstairs, and even though he is following us around the house, when we go upstairs he stays on the first floor. He also understands when we say NO.

Anyways, I would like to know how can we teach him to pee and poop outside. We take him outside every morning, night and few times during the day. He does the business outside when taken out, but if we don’t he just does it on the carpet. We always have to watch for him and when we think he is going to do it we take him out.
Now, I saw some dogs that people have trained not to do it inside but to wait until taken out or to ask (by barking, or scratching on the door, or something like that). How do we go about training him to do that?
He is three months old, is he to young to be expected to learn that? We just had him for one week.

Any advice and/or book recommendation would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Alex                    

Gilly:
Hi Alex,

I would say that 3 months is a bit early to expect too much from a young puppy  ;)
Have a read of the FAQ which you'll find here http://www.cockersonline.co.uk/forum/viewtopic . php?t=2014 hopefully this should point you in the right direction, but remember not all dogs do things at the same speed...some just naturally take longer than others  ;) :D

Gilly                    

PennyB:
You should be taking him out very regularly. I would say more than a few times a day so he gets the idea that that is the place to go and then praise him when he does rather than getting him to ask you (too much info for a small pup). In the beginning I'd do it at least once an hour, which is why pups need so much time spending with them. Puppies have small bladders and so can't wait for someone to realise they need to go. Mine used to have the habit of telling you after he'd done it—so in the middle of the night I'd rush downstairs to let him out because he was crying only to step in a pile of poo on the way. Even if he has had an accident its worth putting him outside anyway while you clean up.

Don't despair as it can take up to 6 months for some pups to completely get the hang of it.

Mine at 4 months has got the hang of the catflap courtesy of his big sister, but he still has the odd accident overnight (big sis Ruby took longer to train though).                    

astankovic:
Thank for your replies. We are taking the puppy out around 4/5 times a day, but I see that that’s not enough. Currently my wife and I work opposite schedules so the he is almost never alone (except for 3 hours). We will try taking him out more frequently.
I have some other questions but I’ll post them as a new post.

Thanks,
Alex                    

GarryJ:
Hi

I have just picked up this thread, my little one Leo is nine weeks and whenever I take him into the Garden he runs to the Grass and Pee's and then has 2 sniff around before he goes for a Number 2.

The thing is all the books say you should praise but if I go near him he stops and runs around. If I stay still I crouch and say well done and shout him over but he does not seem intrested, he has found a couple of bushes so he tends to run over to them and start to destroy them. I really want to get his tail wagging but it does not seem to work.

I can't complain as I am having very few accidents (I take him out after every meal, when he wakes up, in the middle of playing with me or my other dog, nearly on the hour) in fact today he ran to the back door after waking up and asked to go outside BUT I feel he should know what a good boy he is so it re-enforces the fact that he needs to pee outside.

Does anyone find this with there pups?                    

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