Puppy Potty Question

[heyheidi]

Aubrey is 9 weeks old, has been to the vet for her first set of shots, next appointment is on Jan 23. My question is this...Currently she is going potty on puppy pads. Can we take her outside into our backyard even though she is not fully vaccinated? I'm totally against puppy pads, I feel we will then need to potty train her twice.

[heyheidi]

So, even though no one responded to my very first post we decided to get Aubrey started on pottying outside anyway. Her very first time outside was during our first major snowfall, and she absolutely LOVED it. That was 7 days ago. Since then, she has been pottying outside very well, and yesterday was her best day, with only 1 accident in the house. She is a very smart little girl, and we're so proud!

This morning, she didn't even have any accidents in her pen when we woke her up to potty! NOW, we just need to get her to TELL us when she's ready to go out, and we'll be all set. Aubrey will be 11 weeks on Sunday.

[Karlin]

Oh sorry! Sometimes things are not seen right away.

I would have said YES -- go outside (not on walks though til 2 weeks after all puppy shots are done) and I'd advise totally avoiding puppy pads - which are a waste -- they mean you have to housetrain twice.

Just be aware -- you have had a great start -- yay! -- but housetraining takes months before a dog is reliable and she will need constant supervision and management. Puppies in particular can seem to be doing great and people give them too much freedom too quickly -- only to find weeks/months later the pup has been doing dfast little pees all over the house and the owners have to start remedial housetraining from square one.

Be sure to download the free book After You Get Your Puppy by Ian Dunbar for great guidance on your new puppy!

www.dogstardaily.com/free-downloads

[murphy's mum]

Aww, so glad she's doing well. I'd second the Ian Dunbar book, it's got some great tips in there

Good luck with getting her to tell you went she needs to go, our Murphy sits in front of us as stares, and if he gets ignored, he paws us. Misty, however gives no sign of needing out, ever, but seems happy to go when Murphy does.

[CSutherland]

Oh, my! Ask me about the ups & downs of potty training! Bentley was a year old in Nov and we got him last Jan at 10 weeks. He has tricked me into thinking he had the potty thing nailed down dozens of times--he'd go 2-3 weeks without an accident, then go several times in a row inside. In Dec he had been doing so well for several weeks and I bragged to my friends so he promptly decided to pee AND poop on the carpet 4 or 5 times. I'm thinking he might have sensed the sorrow and stress in the house due to our daughter's death on Dec 22. He has now been accident-free since that time and is such a joy and source of comfort to us; in fact my husband believes that God provided Bentley a year ago, since He is all-knowing and fully aware that we would have this loss. Our daughter is the one who located him for us, ventured out in deep snow to pick him up and bring him to us. He, too, loved peeing in that snow but we have had very little so far this winter.

[heyheidi]

An update on Aubrey's potty progress:
So, we bought her a crate/kennel, more her size, instead of the pen that she was still peeing in because she had so much room in it to do so. So far, no accidents in the crate, and we've had it for almost a week. HOWEVER, we haven't gotten her to be able to 'tell' us when she has to go outside, so there's been a few accidents still. I'm thinking I'll use the bell suggestion posted by BeBe and see if she can catch on to that. Last night she peed on the bedspread and I was upset, but really it's our fault, not Aubrey's, for not taking her out right when we let her out of her crate. We know better. With her being almost 13 weeks old, I still think we've made good progress, and I still think she's a very smart little girl!

[Alana]

Some people suggested I try using hanging bells at the door and teaching Bella to ring them. It makes it interesting for them I guess, the main thing is that it stops us missing the cue. There has been a few times that Bella goes to the door and I don't realise and I find a poo or wee near the door.

[dandelos]

Skippy and his litter box are a match made in heaven. I don't think we could have it any other way.

[heyheidi]

Last night I caught Aubrey squating by the door, caught her and took her right out.

As far as a litter box goes, I'm pretty sure our cats Teddy and Ruby would have issues sharing 'their' boxes with Aubrey

[BeBe]

Just some encouragement, my girl is about 16 weeks and I still have to watch her like a hawk. She let's me know when she needs to go outside but NOT consistently. A few things we are doing to help 1) setting the timer on the stove for 2 hours, that way we take her out and do not lose track of time 2) got a poochiebell to hang on the door, working to teach her to "ring the bell" to go outside and 3) continue to go crazy with praise every time she goes potty outside. BB is doing well but from what I have read it takes about a year before they are going to be consistently good!