coco22 Posted November 18, 2007 Share Posted November 18, 2007 hi, I've just got a cavalier male puppy last week and it's 8 weeks old now. We've had him for the last 6 days and we're desperately trying to get it toilet trained. We have laid newspaper in the laundry room and we take him to the laundry room after he wakes up, has eaten, after playing with him or when we notice that he's sniffing around and is going to pee or poo, we'll take him to the laundry room and we stay there with him, close the door and ignore him. We were hoping to praise him and give him a treat when he does his pee/poo. However, when we leave him on the newspaper, he will move away and then lie on the ground and look at us. After a few minutes, we would let him out and he would then pee on the carpet. It got worse today when we let him on the couch and he pees on it. He also chews on some of the cables on the floor which is dangerous. We would catch him in the act, tell him firmly "NO" and then give him a toy to play with but he seems very stubborn and will continue to attempt to chew again. We love him a lot and know that he's very smart (he learnt to 'come' and 'sit' the 3rd day we had him) but we're not getting anywhere with regards to toilet training and his chewing. We have enrolled him for puppy preschool which will start next sat. But from now until then, we hope to get some advise from here. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
persephone Posted November 18, 2007 Share Posted November 18, 2007 (edited) Ok... firstly your pup is a BABY!!! he needs PROTECTING from power cables etc...he is a baby, and they learn from putting things in their mouths! Does he have chew toys/kongs/bones for his use? he does not knwo why youare shutting him away in a laundry he will be very confused secondly..are you in a flat? Is that why you are training him to toilet inside? Thirdly... you may want to NOT let him on the carpet/couch until he DOES get some bladder control and toilet in an appropriate area. Then.. have a look here..from one of the many housetraining threads on here. you are not alone! Dogs don't speak English so saying things like "no" doesn't work for all. Dogs forget what they've just done within about 5 minutes so showing any dog an old mess just doesn't compute. Housetraining methods should perhaps be a permanent sticky as I'm always posting this method here, it involves kindness and reward but will require you and all in the household to be: CONSISTENT If it doesn't work, it is usually a lack of consistency. I normally get a new foster dog on a Saturday morning, I concentrate on the process on the Saturday and Sunday and Monday morning, quite often they've got it by Monday evening. Try this and let us know how you go please. I have had success with over 40 dogs in the last 4 years, of all ages from 1 to 12 years, including bad abuse cases. HOUSETRAINING TIPS Ok - first thing to do is decide on the command (I call it “do wees”) you will repeat over and over. You have to really focus on the dog for about 2-3 days to be successful. You have a pocketful of special treats on hand all the time for the first 2-3 days. Walk the dog several times a day and every time the dog wees, you get very excited and keep saying “Good boy/girl, do wees, do wees” – give the dog treats every time. First thing in the morning, last thing at night and every time you see the dog eat or drink (both precursors to weeing) whisk the dog into the garden and repeat the command “do wees”. Get very excited and present treats every time dog goes. The dog’s aim in life is to please you. If the dog should have an accident inside the house – say NOTHING at all. The dog soon gets the idea that when he/she goes outside you are really, really pleased and he/she gets rewarded. NB: Please note that the smell of urine must be properly removed for any housetraining to be successful. There are products on the market such as “Urine Off” but they are very expensive. A mix of white vinegar and water is a much cheaper alternative and should work for tiles and other surfaces although you should always take care with wood etc. For carpet/rugs, I use either a mixture of Napisan/water or bicarb of soda and water. I completely soak the stain using a dab on technique with a cloth. When it is very wet, I use an old towel to soak up the excess moisture. Again, be careful on any expensive carpet/rug, I have never had any problems but I cannot guarantee any method here. Edited November 18, 2007 by persephone Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chloebear Posted November 18, 2007 Share Posted November 18, 2007 Sorry can't help with the toliet training but what about a kong for the chewing so that way he will get the reward of food for chewing it rather than your other items. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Animal House Posted November 18, 2007 Share Posted November 18, 2007 Hes a baby, he wont be toilet trained reliably for weeks yet, puppies have little control over their bladders. Good tips from Persephone. Also, you should puppy proof your house/unit, not expect the puppy to not chew things. Everything he sees is available for chewing, so you need to give him suitable chew toys and keep the other things out of the way. Can you get him to toilet outside? He probaby thinks hes being punished put in the laundry room, so hes not learning anything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coco22 Posted November 18, 2007 Author Share Posted November 18, 2007 Chloebear, I have bought him many chewing toys and he has a kong too. We're going to put away the cables now becuase it's too dangerous. Persephone, we live in an apartment and the entire apartment is carpeted except for the laundry room and the kitchen. In fact the method that i have mentioned to toilet train him was suggested by the trainer of the puppy preschool that we were going to attend next saturday. We are certainly willing to give other methods a try too. he's only had his first vaccination. Is is alright to take him out for a walk? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coco22 Posted November 18, 2007 Author Share Posted November 18, 2007 Hes a baby, he wont be toilet trained reliably for weeks yet, puppies have little control over their bladders.Good tips from Persephone. Also, you should puppy proof your house/unit, not expect the puppy to not chew things. Everything he sees is available for chewing, so you need to give him suitable chew toys and keep the other things out of the way. Can you get him to toilet outside? He probaby thinks hes being punished put in the laundry room, so hes not learning anything. we live in an apartment and the only 'outside' we have is a balcony. however, there is a flyscreen door that needs to be opened to get there so it will be hard for the puppy to get in and out of the balcony unless we leave the flyscreen door opened. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chloebear Posted November 18, 2007 Share Posted November 18, 2007 I have never toliet trained a dog, but if it is like a toddler it takes heaps of patience, time and rewards......good luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wylie Posted November 18, 2007 Share Posted November 18, 2007 I suggest you either get some puppy pee pads or use 1 piece of paper that he has piddled on in the new lot of newspaper you put down. Puppies will start to recognise that smell and that is where they are meant to go. Toilet training and puppies is about consistency and he probably already knew about outside and it will take him a while to figure it all out. In the mean time i suggest you stock up on lots of enzymatic cleaners. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
persephone Posted November 18, 2007 Share Posted November 18, 2007 living in an apartment makes it tricky,I am sure there are better qualified folks than me who will help you All I can suggest is that you maybe invest in some of those pee-pad things and put them in the laundry? OR..when he peeson the carpet next..dab it with a tissue, and then put some on the paper where you want him to go....this means it will smell like a toilet area. Could you maybe get some artificial turf, a square of that could be used on the paper, perhaps? If he was used to grass or concrete where he was bred, then the texture of carpet etc will stimulate him to toilet Paper won't. Hmm. he is way too young to go out on the street yet, I feel. Poor pup. Some folks on here recommend crate training, too..handy for when you are trying to train, and for when you go out... here are some links for you to read http://www.dolforums.com.au/index.php?show...=crate+training http://www.dolforums.com.au/index.php?show...=crate+training http://www.dolforums.com.au/index.php?show...=crate+training Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miranda Posted November 18, 2007 Share Posted November 18, 2007 You are expecting an awful lot of an 8 week old puppy who has little control over his bladder. He will be at least 4 or 5 months old before he is reliably toilet trained and the fact that you live in an apartment does make it harder. If possible I would leave the fly screen to the balcony opened, put in a doggy door and train him to go outside. As persephone suggests you will probably find it easier if you crate train the puppy. Regarding chewing, puppies will chew anything they have access to and this is another reason to crate your puppy when you can't supervise him. Please show a little tolerance, as others have said this puppy is a tiny baby and you can't expect puppies of this age to be trained in a week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cavNrott Posted November 18, 2007 Share Posted November 18, 2007 He is a baby puppy. The same as a human baby he has no control over his bowels and bladder. You need to be consistent and patient. I have house trained few pups and my Cavalier boy was 15 weeks before he was completely toilet trained. He had very few accidents inside the house because he was also being crate trained. I used the crate if he didn't oblige when I took him outside at the appropriate times and when he didn't eliminate I popped him in the crate for 15 minutes with a toy, then we went outside again. After he had obliged he was praised and treated and he had the freedom of the house for an hour before we went through the process again. When he was free in the house I kept my eye on him so I was able to learn what his signals were when he needed to toilet. I would use caution if you are letting him out onto the balcony. Hopefully you are at ground level and the balcony is safe for him. Please make sure he can't fit through the bars or jump over the balcony when he gets a little older and bigger. Is there a reason why you can't take him outside to toilet? Your puppy is not being stubborn, puppies chew everything they can get hold of. It's normal behaviour. They learn by exploring with their mouths. Puppy proof your apartment so he doesn't come to harm by chewing things that will hurt him and keep things up and out of his reach. I wouldn't walk him out on the streets until he is fully vaccinated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coco22 Posted November 18, 2007 Author Share Posted November 18, 2007 living in an apartment makes it tricky,I am sure there are better qualified folks than me who will help you All I can suggest is that you maybe invest in some of those pee-pad things and put them in the laundry? OR..when he peeson the carpet next..dab it with a tissue, and then put some on the paper where you want him to go....this means it will smell like a toilet area. Could you maybe get some artificial turf, a square of that could be used on the paper, perhaps? If he was used to grass or concrete where he was bred, then the texture of carpet etc will stimulate him to toilet Paper won't. Hmm. he is way too young to go out on the street yet, I feel. Poor pup. Some folks on here recommend crate training, too..handy for when you are trying to train, and for when you go out... here are some links for you to read http://www.dolforums.com.au/index.php?show...=crate+training http://www.dolforums.com.au/index.php?show...=crate+training http://www.dolforums.com.au/index.php?show...=crate+training I did soak up the urine with tissue and left in with the newspaper in the laundry room. But that didnt help. I also bought the puppy training drops and put some on the newspaper as well. I think he might have thought that the laundry room is a punishment room. am thinking of maybe feeding him in the laundry room as well so that he will have more positive experience in that room. alternatively we can also try feeding and doing toilet training at the balcony. We did consider crating as well if the above fails. I understand that he's only a puppy and we'll be very tolerant of him. Will keep all of you posted how things goes and thanks for all your advice and suggestions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coco22 Posted November 18, 2007 Author Share Posted November 18, 2007 He is a baby puppy. The same as a human baby he has no control over his bowels and bladder. You need to be consistent and patient. I have house trained few pups and my Cavalier boy was 15 weeks before he was completely toilet trained. He had very few accidents inside the house because he was also being crate trained. I used the crate if he didn't oblige when I took him outside at the appropriate times and when he didn't eliminate I popped him in the crate for 15 minutes with a toy, then we went outside again. After he had obliged he was praised and treated and he had the freedom of the house for an hour before we went through the process again. When he was free in the house I kept my eye on him so I was able to learn what his signals were when he needed to toilet.I would use caution if you are letting him out onto the balcony. Hopefully you are at ground level and the balcony is safe for him. Please make sure he can't fit through the bars or jump over the balcony when he gets a little older and bigger. Is there a reason why you can't take him outside to toilet? Your puppy is not being stubborn, puppies chew everything they can get hold of. It's normal behaviour. They learn by exploring with their mouths. Puppy proof your apartment so he doesn't come to harm by chewing things that will hurt him and keep things up and out of his reach. I wouldn't walk him out on the streets until he is fully vaccinated. Our initial plan was to toilet train him in the balcony. But we have a low bench in there with potted plants and we're afraid that when he gets older he might climb up and fall over. We're on the thrid floor. He's only had his first vaccination so we're concerned about taking him out. But once he has all his vaccinations, we will definitely take him out for walks. We're not expecting him to be fully toilet trained but we hope the current situation will improve a little with a little changes in our method of toilet training. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jed Posted November 18, 2007 Share Posted November 18, 2007 He isn't old enough to have bowel/bladder control. Instead of newspaper, buy some puppy pads from the petshop, and put them in the laundry. Put a couple in the house too. They smell like dogs should go on them - but they don't work for all pups. At this stage, the urge to go comes on - and he has to go RIGHT NOW. Not in 30 seconds when he makes the laundry. If you have a couple of pads in the house (they are backed with waterproof material) he might just get to them. Don't throw them away after each use, shake soil down the toilet, and if you want you can dry them in the sun and re-use, but I chuck mine out when they are very wet. Keep taking him to the pads when he wakes up and after he eats. In a while, he will get it - some are faster than others, and rumour has it that girls are faster than boys. I also think that how the pups are raised pre purchase has some influence on how easy they are to toilet train. I keep mine in a large puppy pen - before 6 weeks, they do soil their bed, which is on one side of the pen. From about 5 weeks, they are outside on the lawn for a few hours morning and evening, and back to the pen for meals, and to sleep at night. From about 6 weeks, they are toileting in the opposite corner to the bed. When they leave home at 8+ weeks, they always use the designated toilet area, and I have found most buyers have little trouble toilet training them. Don't take him outside until 2 weeks after his second vaccination. He is not protected from viruses which live in the environment until that time. Move anything which he can chew which may be unsafe - they explore things with their mouths, so expect him to be chewing on all sorts of things. I couldn't count the number of phone cords I've lost to puppy teeth. (They can't get to electrical cords) Be patient, and good luck. Remember, for a short period of angst, you will have years with a nice, well behave dog. Grit your teeth and persevere. Good choice of breed by the way Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erny Posted November 18, 2007 Share Posted November 18, 2007 (edited) Don't take him outside until 2 weeks after his second vaccination. He is not protected from viruses which live in the environment until that time. But be aware also of the flip side of the coin, where the greatest and most permanent development of the brain occurs inside the critical period (generally 8-16 weeks of age) and is the best time to expose pup to all manner of worldly things it will come across and need to deal with during its lifetime. Missing out on experiences during this time carries the very real potential of a dog not being able to handle new and novice experiences very well or as balanced as we might like them to. Experiences inside the critical period are permanent and the memories of these experiences will be drawn upon to help the dog appropriately react to stimulus during its life. Strike a balance and utilise common sense. Edited November 18, 2007 by Erny Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coco22 Posted November 18, 2007 Author Share Posted November 18, 2007 this evening, i saw obi sniffing around the carpet and took him to the newspaper.... he did his poo on it and i praise him and and give him treats. and just now my partner took him to the laundry room after play and told him 'toilet', he stepped onto the newspaper. even though he didnt pee there but i think he is learning where the toilet is. he did also hv some misses but it's ok, we will persevere. Tomorrow I will get some puppy pad and leave a few around the apartment Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SparkyTansy Posted November 19, 2007 Share Posted November 19, 2007 I haven't read all the posts so sorry if someone has already said this, but one thing I would recommend you do is to make sure that when you take puppy to the laundry and you definately think it is time to go, do NOT give up... stay there as long as you have to encouraging your puppy to toilet... Cover the whole floor in newspaper if you havent already. A puppy as young as yours is never much more than half an hour off toileting, which means if you have to, just stay in there so you can be ready to praise when he does go. I had a terrible time with my little puppy last year... he was going literally every 5-10 minutes and with no warning at all... i started to take him out every 10 minutes and would stay out there repeating the phrase until he went... no playing or distraction... as soon as he went he would get more than enough praise from me plus a food treat - when i introduced food treats he learned a LOT quicker. Eventually he knew what was expected of him outside and that if he went inside he got no praise at all... It may seem like you are not getting through at all and then one day they just have a breakthrough... look forward to it!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coco22 Posted November 19, 2007 Author Share Posted November 19, 2007 today obi pee on the newspaper 3 times! twice when we guided him into the laundry room, and another time he ran into the laundry room by himself after play. this is great progress. he did also have a few misses today.... because we guided him to the laundry room and stayed for abt 10min, but he didnt seem to want to pee, so we let him out. next thing we know, he pee on the carpet. anyway we're concentrating on the good part.... and he's really improving. i have to get some training pad soon as i think the newspaper dont really do a good job of absorbing the pee quickly and sometimes obi steps on the puddle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
persephone Posted November 19, 2007 Share Posted November 19, 2007 good news about Obi ! hope it continues to improve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poodle wrangler Posted November 19, 2007 Share Posted November 19, 2007 Sounds like things are improving- be consistent and vigilant and you'll see good results. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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