Hello from New England

[Chloe Meister]

Hello, I am very happy to have found this forum. Our little girl Chloe will be 6 months old on 3/20/08. She is very sweet but is also quite challenging. About 1 1/2 years ago we lost a mini schnauzer at 12 1/2 years old. We waited and decided to change breeds and chose the cavalier after careful consideration.

The biggest challenge we have is that she continues to have mishaps in her house training almost daily. We never experienced this with our schnauzers and after reading many posts in this forum we seem to be doing the right things like lots of praise, returning to the crate when she won't go etc. Is this problem common for the breed? Any advice or information will be greatly appreciated.

Chloe is a most lovable dog and we are looking forward to getting beyond this and a few other issues and everyone, including Chloe will be happier.

Thanks, Ken

[Cathy Moon]

icon_welcome:mexwav:
From my own experience my two cav pups began to 'tell' me when they had to go outside at 11-12 months of age. Until then, I managed them by taking them outside every 3 hours or so during waking hours. We kept them confined to the kitchen when we were away at work and took turns coming home to let them outside at lunch time.

[Chloe Meister]

Cathy, Thank you for the great advice and for welcoming us to the board. We have had three "clean" days in the last week so I think we are making progress.

Thanks, Ken

[*Pauline*]

Hello Ken, welcome to the board. :p

[Cathryn]

Hello Ken!! icon_welcome to the boards!!

Am happy to hear that Chloe is now having "clean" days, it can take them as little as a week to learn or much, much longer, on average they are around 1 yr before they are reliably clean and accident free.
A puppy is a huge shock to the system after having had an "elder statesman" around for a while, my in-laws had a puppy from me 2 years ago now and they tell me that she gave them a new "energy" :luv:

Looking forwards to reading more of your posts and don't forget we all adore :snap:

[Karlin]

Oh man, that brings back memories of how happy I'd be at first for *one* no accident day, then two in a row, then three, then a week... :lol:

If you don't have it, I always recommend getting Shirlee Kalstone's book on housetraining (easily available at some bookshops or widely online). I read and reread it almost daily during housetraining. It gives great advice and lots of structured schedules and really helps I think.