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[Julie]

to the board Melanie and Sadie. I love the photo of her she is a real cutie.

The potty training can be a hard time when they are young. I was lucky with Chloe I would give the do pee pee command when outside and she would go straight away. With plenty of praise and treats they soon get the message. As you mentioned Sadie already knows basic commands so hopefully she will soon follow out a toilet command.

Good luck.

[Nicki]

Sadie is just beautiful Melanie, what a lovely photo.

With regard to the toilet training, the above advice is very good. Strangely the girls do seem to go through this phase where they are outside for ages, then come inside and wee. It usually passes quickly fortunately.

With Rupert, I took him outside every time he woke up, after meals, when he'd been playing and about every hour in between. He had very few accidents, and was actully trained within a couple of weeks. It does vary tremendously from dog to dog though.

Try not to interact with Sadie until after she has toiletted - go outside with her, but stay quiet and don't play with her. As she's going, use your chosen words for toilet and then really praise her - she should learn what those words mean very quickly.

Cavaliers are naturally very clean, they are also very eager to please and quick to learn, so she will catch on.

The general guide is that they haven't got 100% control until at least 1 year ...so don't despair.

[Maxxs_Mummy]

I read in one of my (many) Cavalier books last night that it can actually be 18mths for little girls to be clean and dry day and night - a bit like having a human toddler LOL

I know I was really lucky with Maxx. He felt sick on Sunday and so pawed madly at the door to get out the garden then threw up all over the patio Poor love.

[Max's Mom]

I'm encouraged that it can take a while for pups to catch on to training. Max is almost 10 months and he still has his days. He hasn't went wee on the floor in months but the other is so frustrating! He was doing great...maybe had an accident once or twice a week. However this past weekend he had a bit of loose stool and ever since it's like he can't wait for me to walk away so he can make a mess!!!! He seems to have normal stool now but for the life of me I can't figure out what to do to get stop the accidents! He isn't even going to the same "place" in the house...he just goes wherever we aren't. We don't typically freak out on him just reprimand him if we catch him in the act and then send him outside. I have heard that if you have pen of sorts you should put the pen around the poo with dog inside too. Apparently they hate being confined with their poo, same reason they don't go in their kennel, and this discourages them from going anywhere inside. Haven't tried it but I guess it might work. We have however put Max in place and very firmly insisted he sit ther and then put his poo next to him. We then take him and the poo outside, dump it and tell him to go poo. He seems to get it...at least for awhile...of course keep in mind I'm the one with a 9 month old who still poos in the house ! I think I'll just keep my advice to myself and read everyone else suggestions instead!

[Maxxs_Mummy]

Awwwwwwwww poor you and poor Max. I'm sure he doesn't mean to do it inside. Has something frightened him outside when he was doing poopy? There's almost always an explanation for it

Only a suggestion but have you tried standing in the garden with him and telling him to poopy and then rewarding him when he has? Does he have a regular poopy time?

I have a problem with a friends Cavalier that sometimes visits - she always goes straight behind my sofa and does a poo! My friend denied it was her baby doing it but Maxx was out the garden the last time so I knew it wasn't him, besides he loves having friends to play and never does anything when any others visit LOL

[Max's Mom]

Yes I have always gone out with Max and used the same "go potty" or "go poo" command. He actually does go poopy outside on a regular basis...he just likes to leave little presents inside too. We make sure he goes outside at all the right times...after waking, eating or being in the kennel. He was doing really well but this bout of loose stool seems to have set him back. I can be patient but I wish he'd bark or something when he needs out. He does go to the door and even scratches it...which has left a nice set of claw marks in the woodwork! The problem is we have a large home and if I'm not in the immediate area I may not hear him. I'm thinking of putting a bell on the door that he could bump with his nose. Some friends have said this has worked with their pups.

[Maxxs_Mummy]

That sounds like a good idea. I must admit that I don't always hear Maxx, especially if i'm not in the same area of the house as him. However, he's quite brilliant really and comes looking for me. Then he stands there and gives me this 'Oh THERE you are' look & huffs loudly LOL

I empathise with you over the scratched wooden doors - I think that only about two of the doors in this house haven't suffered the same fate
The large patio windows are also permanently covered in dirty paw prints too - I don't know why I ever bother cleaning them [/b]