Indoor / Outdoor Toilet Training

[anna]

Hope this is the right section for this question :D

We have a nearly 5 month old Finnish Lapphund - she has been with us for just over a week. She has had a great start with training (thanks to TerraNik!) and is now almost accident free inside. She's been really good about demonstrating when she needs to toilet, so we take her out and she does her business and praise/reward her.

However, she's inside during the day while we're at work. I'm worried that she can get underneath our side gate (at the moment - when she's older she won't be able to) so I'm not giving her inside/outside access while we're not home. If we're gone for less than 2 hours we're crating her and she's fine (she just goes outside when we get home), but for the longer period while we're at work I'm not sure what to do about her toilet. Yesterday was her first day home by herself, and she did a couple of wees but didn't poo inside, which was great. What should I provide her with and train her to use for toileting inside while we're not home? I've seen various options with puppy pads and that fake grass pet potty (?), are these good options? She's confined to tiled areas.

Thanks for your help!

[Tiggy]

Could you block off under the gate somehow. I've got a 10 week old pup and I've had to put wire fencing along my whole front fence and block the gap underneath, it doesn't look to pretty but it'll do the trick until I can take it off :D . I've also made him a run down the side of the house with access to the laundry. It must be a big gap if she can get under at 5 months old :D .

[anna]

We could block off the gate, but that's not really what I'm worried about as much as the inside toileting. In the long term I don't plan for her to be left outside during the day, so I'm more interested in an inside toileting option

The gap is probably 8cm high - the ground underneath the gate slopes, didn't realise that until I had a good reason to look at it!

[Erny]

I'm not altogether keen on the "kept inside" option. I guess we place different liklihoods for our causes to worry, but my greater concern would be a fire and no way of my dog escaping the home. So I'd prefer my dog outside or to have free access to outside. It is all about choices, though.

If inside is what you want (which renders the problematic 8cm gap under gate irrelevant) then you need to teach her to toilet on something specific in a specific room. I would have done this from day dot if you'd know back then what you wanted, but that's not to say it can't be taught now. The only difference is that you take your pup to this new spot, as though you were teaching toileting from scratch. There are toilet pads that I understand have pheramones impregnated and which encourage the dog to toilet on it. There are also special faux grass doggy toilets, if you want to use something like that. Some teach their dogs to use a kitty litter tray. Some teach their dogs to use the toilet itself, although I'd be a bit concerned that smaller dogs would fall in and not be able to get out - besides which, this alternative simply is not my cup of tea, so to speak.

If you change your mind and decide outside is ultimately what you'd like but for the time being the backyard doesn't feel safe due to your pup's size, then you could barrier up the gap underneath the gate and perhaps also use something like a puppy pen, fashioned and secured so as to provide a 'mini backyard' so to speak. I did similar for my boy (who was so thin that he could slide through the steel picket bars of my fencing - I threaded shade cloth through it but did not trust that alone for times when I would be absent) by using an oversized crate to which I attached his play pen to create a 'yard' to the crate. The most important thing was making sure the play pen was completely secure so that it could not be knocked over.

I also would recommend that free access to inside/outside not be granted without supervision until such time as your pup's toilet training is 100% completed and reliable.

Edited November 5, 2010 by Erny

[Paul Bright]

puppy pads are good worked for me when my dog was a puppy :D

good luck!

[poodlefan]

We could block off the gate, but that's not really what I'm worried about as much as the inside toileting. In the long term I don't plan for her to be left outside during the day, so I'm more interested in an inside toileting option

The gap is probably 8cm high - the ground underneath the gate slopes, didn't realise that until I had a good reason to look at it!

I suggest you at least consider installing a dog door. Allowing the dog to toilet inside will undo the training she's had already. Dogs need fresh air and sunshine - especially growing ones.

How about a temporary fence around a small part of the back door. I'd honestly suggest you lower you gate to fix this though.