teacher

OK, he is on the Hills science food for puppies (small bites). I have switched back to the routine feed at breakfast (if not eaten in 15minutes take it away) and about 6pm at night. (same deal, 15 minutes then take it away). I notice he is now eating his food right away! Yay. I see that what everyone is saying about him not being trained - when I get home at lunch time I tell him to toilet and he does. Now he's been outside all morning but obviously is holding on and doesn't go until I tell him to. So, can you paint me a picture of how this progresses. - right now we are taking him out to toilet regularly. The doors are always open so he can wander in and out, so he never shows us that he wants to go out. Obviously if he sniffs around I get him outside quick. (i know the signs!) how long do we continue this for....do you just stop it one day and test him? Do we have to wait until he starts whining at a door to go out for toileting>>?

OK I hear what you're saying but this is where I get confused _ when he came to us as a puppy we DID toilet train him, well, by that I mean we did what we were told would work - now I question if we did it long enough or right. Here is what we did: Upon waking in the morning we would take him right out on the grass and stand there rain, hail or shine and say "do poos" and we would stand there with him on a lead until he did it. When he did it we praised him. We did this maybe 2hrly - after every sleep, feed, wake etc. In fact it felt like we did nothing else for the first few months! But we have never gotten to the point where I feel like I can trust him inside. (But right after Xmas he seemed to be fine inside - no toileting inside at all. Now in the past week it has started again.) If he did not do it we would go inside and try again in 30 minutes. We were consistent! But we found that even when he did a poo outside he would again poo inside when we weren't watching. I now think we should have watched closer - it's just a REALLY BUSY household with lots going on...but now I see that I am going to tie him to me!!!!! and watch him! Also I guess I presumed that he would be going all morning when he needed to while he was home alone outside. But now I'm finding it interesting that when I come home, I go outside to hang the washing on the line and I say to him "go poos" and he runs straight away and does poos and wees. I wonder if he holds on waiting for me to tell him to do it??? HaVE we missed something in the toilet training?? We certainly stopped standing outside with him telling him to poo becasue we figured he was going poos when he needed to as it was there on the lawn to prove it! Am I missing the boat???

Thank you all for your replies. I will try to answer some questions to make things clearer: - If I take him outside to toilet he often times doesn't want to go and will just sit down. I try again later or take him for a walk so he will do it. - consistency: well, he is outside all morning then I am home from lunchtime onwards. I know he toilets outside (I collect it all!) so I presumed he knew that outside on the grass was the right place to toilet. ... when I am home in the afternoon I toilet him outside and then let him inside. I don't unerstand how a little 8mth old maltese can poo when he just poo'd twice an hour ago!!!!! (I guess that's where I got the idea that he does it on purpose. - when he makes a mistake it is cleaned and I spray well (good area around the spot) with an odour remover (Oderex). No household cleaners used. - when I toilet him outside a always say "GOOD BOY!!!! POOS, GOODBOY" - is this enough encouragement or does he need a treat too? - we have 5 children at home and he is LOVED TO BITS by them all. They walk him, toilet him, play with him. He gets so much love and attention from 4pm onwards and weekends its great but when he comes inside I ask the children to just leave him to wander around and not hype him up. I want him to not pee in excitement or become rough and rowdy inside. This seems to work well. When outside they run with him and play catch etc. - He has NEVER EVER pood or weed in his night pen. He goes in there around 9pm and gets up at 7.30ish. Feeding: well it started routinely with breakfast, and dinner but it seems that he stopped eating breakfast. I should have taken it away from him until next meal, but seeing it was 7pm at night I felt like all day with no food was mean, so he now just has food in his bowl to graze on all day. It is now 1.30pm and he still hasn't eaten his breakfast (always has PLENTY of water). I am finding this hard, it is our first ever pet. All my family are farmers - who have dogs that live outside. their idea of training a farm dog is NOT to pander to it. If it poos rub it's nose in it, give it a wack. I HVE NOT done this and won't do it but I'm just getting a little frustrated. I don't know another person who has an 8mth old puppy having accidents inside. All look at me and say "oh no, mine stopped that at 3mths etc." Presently I am letting him inside, but only on his "inside bed" which is a rug and he is tied on 2m lead so he can't wander the house. When he is outside I have gates up but, I do want to move-on and let him become an inside dog...I'm just stuck for knowing HOW to do this as I thought I was doing everything right. Huh, please feel free to teach me!!! Thanks alot for listening

Hi everyone, I have an 8 month maltese darling boy. He has been desexed a few months ago. He mainly stays outside (as it is summer here) with his kennel on our big decking area. He is home alone for the mornings and I come home at lunchtime. The plan was that he was going to be an inside dog. At night he gets put into the garage in a large pen we made him with his bed and a few toys. My problem is that he toilets inside. Mainly poopee. An example is: I got home yesterday lunchtime. Went outside and told him to pee (he did immediately) then told him to poo (he did this immediately). A couple of hours later I took him for a walk and he once again poo and pee'd. As it is summer our doors to the outside need to be wide open - it's so hot at the moment. Because of this he can wander inside and outsdie as he wants, although I tend to tell him to go outside. However, I cannot watch him 100% of the time. There are times that he will come inside and just lay down in the shade somewhere - under the table - and be happy. But he then sneaks to the bathroom/bedroom/toilet and does a poo and sometimes a wee. This was a problem when he was little and so has spent ALOT of his life outside on the decking, only coming in sometimes when watched. However, the past few months he has been quite good and we have not had any accidents. Now this week he has done it three days in a row I am frustrated and SICK TO DEATH of this. I totally feel that he KNOWS what he is dong.... he had already pood twice yesterday afternoon and STILL did it inside. He is very intelligent. If he knows I want him outside but sneaks inside he will zoom to his "blanket" inside because he knows I'm happy with him on the blanket. (but doesn't stay there when told to!) I just want to know - can I fix this? - will he every become a reliable inside dog? - everyone else I know have dogs just chilling-out in the house no problems - what have we done wrong? Even now I will get someone to toilet him before he comes inside, but when yo do this and he STILL poos inside it becomes annoying. I don't have a crate - but I do have a airline type of carrier plastic container. But I can't imagine putting him in there while he's inside - it looks like torture. I like those big wire ones that are open, but I don't have one of those. Please help.

Hi Mel, I have a 5month old Maltese male puppy who has just been castrated. The sheet our vet gave us said to keep them inside for the next 24hrs to keep them warm. After surgery they may have trouble keeping warm. He said just don't walk/run them for 24hrs. We were suprised to find the next day our puppy was running around the yard and totally happy. His wound looks great and he is in our fenced yard all day. I think 10 days inside would be MURDER for a pup! (and you!!!!) Maybe take a look at the wounds and keep them in a fenced yard where no other dogs can get in and be too rough. Our puppy also cocks his leg to pee and has done so for a couple of months. Do you have any troubles with them pooing in the house?? (are they maltese?)

Thanks for the replies No he doesn't seem afraid of anything - if a bus or noisy car goes past he may stop and look but never cowers or runs away or whines. It's either me or one of my children who take him and they have noticed the same problem - in fact it puts them off wanting to walk him :-) He can be trotting along just fine, then just stop and sit and stare at me...just sit there and refuse to move!!! Then he may try to just trot in the opposite direction (toward home). How long should I be walking a little 5mth maltese puppy? I was thinking I would take him on a brisk little trot for 20 mins.

Our 5mth Maltese male has been going for a walk for a couple of months now. We always take him down the hill and onto the same road, walk for about 15 minutes and turn back. He's always so excited and can't wait to get down the hill - pulls a bit. Once we get down on the straight he would normally walk happily and do alot of marking along the way if we let him. He is being neutered today so I guess that will stop. Anway the past week he has got about 5 minutes into the walk and he stops, sits and refuses to go any further! He usually has already had a good pee and a good poo. This puppy is little, cute and has big personality.....and when he is sitting there on the side of the road refusing to go any further I wonder WHO IS IN CONTROL HERE>?? He actually pulled to go back the other way (home). I picked him up and walked a little way and then put him down and encouraged him "walkies, good boy". He went fine for another 5 minutes and did the same. It's so annoying - me carrying the dog!!!!!!! When I gave in (after realising I was needing to drag him), I turned and started for home and he was off-like-a-shot....trotting away like he was a professional! When we got to the hill to go up to home he was so happy! Is he being lazy? Do I pick him up and persevere or give in at the 5 minute mark? I usually take him for a walk after he's been home alone all morning, and he gets really excited when I put the lead on, so I can't work it out. He has lots to drink during the morning and it's only just starting into summer here - not hot at all.

I have a 5mth old male maltese puppy. I am hoping for some advice or correction if we are doing something wrong. This is our first dog and are trying our best! At night he sleeps in a pen in the internal garage. He has a bed in there and newspaper and toys Every night for months now he has been holding on at night and goes wee and poo after his breakfast. As I work part time he goes outside onto our deck where he has a kennel and a grassy area around the house. I come home at 1pm and usually take him for a walk or play with him for a little while. When the kids come home from school he goes for a walk (if I didn't take him) and they play with him. He has his dinner after us at about 6.30-7pm and into the garage for bed around 8pm. When he was little we would take him outside onto the grass every couple of hours to get him to poo and pee, then bring him back inside the house where he tended to sleep in his little inside bed. Now because he is outside alot of the time, he poos and wees when he wants and he comes inside for short periods of time. The problem is this- nearly every time he comes inside he does a poo somewhere in the house (not the same place each time). Occassionally he will wee. Usually we tell the kids they need to have him on their laps and keep their eyes on him. But there is always a poo becasue he is not watched 100% of the time. The idea is he would be an inside dog. I thought he would be able to just wander in and out of the house like other doggy's I've seen. I thought he was "house trained" because he does his business outside. If we take him out and say "do wee's" he will do wee or poo (usually wee). So - why is he so sneaky with pooing inside? When I read anything about this they say don't make a fuss, but then others say "be stern and shout NO if you catch him" I don't know what to do! I'd love anyone's advise on this, our doggy is turning into an OUTSIDE doggy and that wasn't the plan