2 Puppy Questions

[tomo]

We have a lovely new puppy and have some questions:

1) We heard about the crate trick when getting a puppy to sleep the first couple of nights. We thought that sounded a bit tough. Our puppy has managed to stay in her bed in our room and sleeps there during the night. No crate required. She seems aware that she is meant to stay in her bed. My question is when should we try and let her sleep outside, or will this be too hard to do. The bed we have can be carried outside.

2) In regards to toilet training our pup keeps peeing in our bathroom near our toilet. Is she smelling our smells and thinking thats the place to go? Would it be worth me going to the toilet outside where we want to the pup to go? She has occasionally gone outside and we have done the usual big deal congratulations.

Thanks for the help.

[Lollipup]

Congrats and welcome to DOL

A couple of questions - what breed is the puppy and how old is she?

When they are really young they can't hold it through the night and as she is not confined and has a choice of where to go, she can happily walk away from her bedding area and go to the toilet in your bathroom. It is possible that she is smelling cleaning products with ammonia in it as this smells like urine to them.

This is where crate training comes in handy - it works on the principal that the puppy naturally does not want to go in its bedding area. You would probably have to take her out through the night once or twice too depending on her age. Crate training is also really useful for lots of other things such as transporting the dog or medical care. I thought it was a bit rough when I first heard of it but now I wouldn't go back. My dogs love their crates. :) Lots of other happy dogs on dol are crate trained too.

You could still do it without a crate but you may need to take her out through the night. Also removed her drinking water about half an hour before bed time and don't feed her too close to bed time.

Is there a particular reason you want her to sleep outside?

[persephone]

:)

Some links here if you click on them ..heaps of info on toilet training and crate use :)

LINK

LINK

LINK

[I love goldens]

For the outside sleeping thing- if she isn't giving you any trouble and sleeping through the night, why do you need to put her outside?

Our puppy does sleep outside though,and she slept out there from day 1. I think your puppy will be pretty stressed from the warm inside to outside, but you can experiment

[Sandra777]

Just a point about putting the pup outside - it will need a proper bed suitable for outside - buy a good sturdy kennel and put a nice warm bed inside - though I do agree with others, if it's no problem inside I wouldn't be in any hurry to make it sleep outside but that's your choice.

[tomo]

Thanks for the help. We are in Far North Queensland so at the moment it is very warm no matter where the puppy sleeps.

Puppy has actually been getting better toilet wise. Only issues today were when she got too excited. Every other time she seems to be taking herself outside.

[Christina]

Thanks for the help. We are in Far North Queensland so at the moment it is very warm no matter where the puppy sleeps.

Lets hope there are none of those huge pythons there that would fancy a warm, sleeping small puppy as a nice snack

Sleeping inside on your bed or in your room sounds good to me.

She may pee where you go. Can't do any harm to try it.

[YOLO]

Getting a new PUP, so also wondering about these questions…

First puppy many moons ago tried the whole “leave him in his bed” routine. It worked eventually.

2nd Puppy, tried it, she cried too much so we brought her into our bed.

3rd Puppy, didn’t bother, she started in our bed.

On the whole, it didn’t seem to make any difference in the long run.

So I'm thinking we will start her in with us, move her to her own bed as she settles, then into a shared area with Japer once she’s up to it. After that, she can make up her own mind.

Not sure what is the best method for toilet training. Tried those pads that are supposed to encourage them, didn’t work. Found newspaper more effective.

Should I try a litter box? Sand or commercial litter?

At what point should I give the puppy her own access to the yard (via puppy door)?

[minimax]

Getting a new PUP, so also wondering about these questions…

First puppy many moons ago tried the whole “leave him in his bed” routine. It worked eventually.

2nd Puppy, tried it, she cried too much so we brought her into our bed.

3rd Puppy, didn’t bother, she started in our bed.

On the whole, it didn’t seem to make any difference in the long run.

So I'm thinking we will start her in with us, move her to her own bed as she settles, then into a shared area with Japer once she’s up to it. After that, she can make up her own mind.

Not sure what is the best method for toilet training. Tried those pads that are supposed to encourage them, didn’t work. Found newspaper more effective.

Should I try a litter box? Sand or commercial litter?

At what point should I give the puppy her own access to the yard (via puppy door)?

Why use any of those, just take it outside regularly to get it trained if you want it to go to the bathroom outside. Otherwise you'll train it to go inside

[luvmybulldog]

Thanks for the help. We are in Far North Queensland so at the moment it is very warm no matter where the puppy sleeps.

Lets hope there are none of those huge pythons there that would fancy a warm, sleeping small puppy as a nice snack

Sleeping inside on your bed or in your room sounds good to me.

She may pee where you go. Can't do any harm to try it.

And Cane Toads - I'm in Brisbane and the toads have been out in force every night - My dogs can't go out at night without being leashed. I usually go out first with the broom and do a toad patrol before taking them out.