how long does it take before i can let ruby around house?

How long does it take before i can let ruby even into the kitchen? She will not wee in her room, which is the downstairs bathroom and will wee outside. But when i leave her into the kitchen she will be sure to wee on the floor even though i have paper down. And only after a few minutes! She would be after weeing outside and i would try her in the kitchen and she would wee there on the floor? Is she too young yet? Im trying to do it for the sake of the dog and the children? She is 4 and half months.:bang:

why dont you try crate training?

Just leaving her in one room all the time isn't actually housetraining her. You need to take her out, supervise her, use a crate if crate training, and actually train her to go outside and keep all other rooms of the house clean. You have to do this room by room and she must ALWAYS be in arm's reach, in a crate or confined toi her small room, on a lap, or tethered to you and easily grabbable. You need to be rewarding her every time she goes outside. You need to make sure she never has the opportunity to have a mistake inside because you are there to swiftly take her out as soon as you see her circling and getting ready for toiletting. This is intensive and needs hands on work from you. But if you haven't taught her where to go, she won't know. She cannot be trusted to roam through the house until she is fully housetrained and not having ANY accidents. This tends to take until about age 1. Otherwise she needs to be watched, and you'll need to close doors to confine her to areas where you can always supervise her.

I think I already suggested getting Shirlee Kalstone's book on housetraining from Amazon.co.uk? You really need to be using something like this -- it makes things a lot easier and you can keep referring to it when you have questions.

There are also links in the Library section on house and crate training.

Right now, you are going o end up with a dog tha has no idea that any other area of the house is off limits for toiletting.

i was tryin to let her loose in the kitchen for the children. She is trained as regards the wee etc but only in her own room??? does this make sense?

PS Give up on leaving papers down. This is the worst way to housetrain -- you are just going to have to housetrain TWICE -- first to papers, then to outside. The reason she goes on the floor in the kitchen is you aren't actively housetraining her in the kitchen -- thus she is having the opportunity to pee on the floor. If you are housetraining, then she won;t be left wandering around the kitchen -- you will have her in that room but in arm's reach, in your lap, tethered to you so she is reachable, or in a crate in the room. You will take her out at proper intervals and always get her out if she looks like she is about to go on the floor. Expect some mistakes but your goal is to set her up for success at all times which means the pOWNER is totally in charge of TEACHING her where to go and avoiding a situation where she slips up (eg just letting her run around and not having her in reach). Y

Getting Kalstone's book will really help you with the whole chore!

ok just got karlins message. sorry about all the questions. i'll go and buy the book! i'm obviously not doing it right at all.

OK: first, she shouldn't be running around loose amongst children. Interactions all need to be controlled: kids sitting down on the floor and you supervising any handling of her. This is extremely important. I have lots of info in the library on keeping interactions between kids and puppies/dogs SAFE for kids and SAFE for puppies. Having the puppy run round while kids also run around is dangerous to both.

Please see: http://board.cavaliertalk.com/showthread.php?t=9729

This gives lots of good links. I cannot emphasise enough how important the parent's supervisory role is. Children are the most common recipients of dog bites, most often by a dog they know, most often *to the face*. On the flip side, many dogs, especially small breeds, end up with lifelong fear aggression towards children -- growling and snapping and worse, even biting -- because kids on their own are not good or safe judges of gentle and smart interactions with dogs. A lot of my rescues come into rescue because they have snapped at a child and thus I have to find them an adult home. I then test these dogs and it is pretty obvious they can only have snapped because some child was allowed to interact with the dog in a way that aggravated the dog. But it is very sad when families have to rehome when this all could and should have been prevented by parental supervision of any children under 10 when with a dog, especially a puppy.

Also: just because the kids are there doesn't mean housetraining ceases. If the kids are sitting on the floor for all interactions and interactions are controlled by the parent, as they always should be, then it is simple to observe that she needs to go and to take her out, or to take her from the children when it is her alloted time to need to go out.

Ps questions are welcome! But having a good book makes things a lot easier and can serve as a point of reference. I read my copy of that book over and over while housetraining Jaspar. There are also many previous threads on this topic too -- using the search function can give you plenty of helpful info from the past.