# Toilet Training



## Hezzie (Apr 25, 2017)

Hi All

Looking for some advice please - my new 11 week old cockapoo is adorable, however I'm trying to figure out the best way to toilet train him.

I have to work most days, so I'm leaving puppy pads down on the kitchen floor, which he is using mainly which is great; however, he sometimes decides to use the living room carpet as well when I'm home!

I've started to go outside with him often when I'm home and tell him "outside", leaving a used puppy pad outside as his scent and pointing him in that direction. I'm hoping this will work overtime!

Anyone got any tips to stop him from chewing the pads to bits and to stop him from going in the living room?!

I just started giving him small bits of cheese as treats for praising as well. I was initially told that I shouldn't be giving him puppy treats until he is 12-14 weeks.

Looking forward to chatting to you all!
Hezzie


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## Lexi&Beemer (May 5, 2013)

Sadly, puppy pads are going to make house breaking harder. It's a much easier cue for him to learn the difference between inside and outside. Also since you aren't there there to praise him when he uses the pad, he's not learning the difference between the pad and the carpet. Is there a way for his being alone be limited to 2-3 hours at a time? If you can do that, then it's easier to play with him, feed him, take out to toilet and then key him nap for a couple of hours in a crate and then have someone take him out for a bit to play and toilet outside before going back for his afternoon nap. 

Also, you should be giving him treats as part of his reward now. I'm not sure why they would tell you that. I found that they preferred the treat to their kibble and wouldn't eat their meals. Someone gave me the advice of using their kibble as treats and then accounting for that amount in their overall daily intake. 


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## Clemmy (May 31, 2016)

I've just replied to another thread on this subject (see below) 
However, I didn't know that you have to leave him... but I wonder if you could take a week off work and do the intensive "taking outside practically every five minutes" drill which worked really quickly on my two dogs? By the end of the first week they had pretty much got the idea - although it then needed another couple of weeks of less intensive training to keep reminding them, but perhaps you could get around that as Lexi&Beemer suggested? I know it's not easy taking time off, and it seems a waste of holiday days, but it could save you weeks or even months of clearing up accidents? 

My previous reply:
Hello and welcome! (puppy pics are also very, very welcome!)

I've never been a fan of puppy pads because I think it teaches them to go inside, whereas I prefer them to get into the habit that they only go outside. But others may not agree with that.

My first dog (now 11) never did the hang of peeing on command, but he did learn that outside was the only acceptable place very quickly.

Clemmy picked up the words "busy, busy" for a pee - and still does now which is very useful for the last late-night pee.

I said the words and praised her as soon as she peed and she got the idea very quickly.

(Neither dog ever learned to poo on command, but I thought that was a big ask anyway , but the same general rule applied, lots of praise for going outside, ignore accidents inside)


I found the trick to house training is to take them out A LOT in the early days. Much more than you'd think - it feels like every five minutes practically. That means as soon as they wake up from a nap, before play, after play, after food, after they drink, basically any time anything happens - postman comes, they see a bird in the garden, they find a toy under the sofa, etc etc; take them outside immediately, then lots and lots of praise whenever they go.

It's quite time-consuming, but the more you do in the first week or so the quicker they'll get the hang of it, and then they'll hopefully go to the door if they want to go. You still need to take them out a lot, especially after food and drink, but just not every five minutes, although certainly every hour at least, then after another couple of weeks they should have 'got' it and then it's a matter of being vigilant for the slightest sign. And always, always let them out if they bark by the door, so they know that you understand them (this has been a bit annoying, because Clemmy worked out that it was great fun to bark by the door just for a run-around in the garden, and because she usually gets a biscuit when she comes back in - she will squat if I say the words, but she doesn't actually pee  that's a clever cockapoo for you!)

As you can see, I'm not an expert, and the system has loopholes which no doubt your cockapoo will also work out in time too - but it did work quickly for both dogs for housetraining (I learned it from an excellent book called "The Perfect Puppy" by Gwen Bailey). And I didn't really mind letting her out even if she didn't need to go, because I found her craftiness so amusing!

Hope it goes well! Look forward to pics!


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## Hezzie (Apr 25, 2017)

Hi thanks for your feedback!
I have taken time off work and Marley is coming on leaps and bounds!
He hasn't been peeing on the carpet recently and we have reduced the number of puppy pads in the kitchen and he seems to be using them when indoors. When I take him in the garden, he is doing well there also and I'm praising him with treats. He's getting there bit by bit!
I've managed to reduce my hours at work so I'm there for him earlier in the day too; plus we get more time to play afterwards 
Its a learning curve for us both!
I'm just trying to figure out the signs (not many at the moment) that hes about to go!
Thanks for your advice!


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## Lexi&Beemer (May 5, 2013)

That's awesome that you were able to make adjustments to your schedule. 

As for signs, I found it really challenging to tell a sign until they grew and were a little higher off the ground. Frankly, the first couple of weeks I could tell they peed because of the pee left over as it looked the same as when they would play. 

I used poochie bells (really any kind of bell to ring) which I put on the door to the back yard. So every time we went out, I rang it with their noses and then went outside (I had two dogs so if I suspected it was time for a potty break, had to carry them out because they'd pee on the walk to the back door). It took a couple of weeks and then Lexi got it. And then shortly after Beemer got it. We still use it. They tell me when they want and need to go out. Beemer also rings it when he wants to tell me it's meal time. I recommend it. 


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## HenryPup27 (Sep 28, 2016)

I totally agree about picking them up and taking them outside we did this and it was a godsend - as soon as he shows the signs (sniffing slightly manically very low to the ground in circles) scoop him up and take him straight outside and put him down where you want him to pee/poop. It works because he's very unlikely to pee/poop when you're holding him, and also if it's a little bit to far to get out the back door and into the garden you'll find he does it on the way to the door which isn't ideal obviously. Also the motion of carrying him there does encourage the pee/poop to make its exit as soon as he's put down which is exactly what you want. And then give the command as he's doing it (we said 'go wees' in a high voice every single time he went for both pee/poop and now Henry does both on command to this day which is very very handy indeed. Sounds like you've turned a corner though. Henry was almost there in his first week when he was ten weeks old, was going to the door and making a little grumbling noise and pawing the door when he needed the toilet, however we undid all our hard work in the second week because we had the week off and spent most of it in the garden because the weather was amazing. So he then got out the habit of asking at the door because we were already outside. I had to pretty much go back to square one in week three and by the end of week four he had cracked it and we've never looked back. Top tip is not to let him out of your sight... you'll get used to reading the signs and then run like the wind, scoop him up, dash outside and pop him down, followed by saying the command over and over again...then once he's done it, praise him like he's just given you a winning lottery ticket! 


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## Lexi&Beemer (May 5, 2013)

I once picked Beemer up in mid pee. He ended up peeing on himself. He didn't like that much. It helped though. When he'd see me go to pick him up after that, he'd freeze and let me pick him up. Then went as soon as I set him down. 


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## Ree&Nimble (Jun 5, 2017)

Reading this it would seem that I need to be spending more time with Nimble in order for her to fully understand where she can go to the toilet. 
She originally was going on newspaper but then I brought puppy pads which set me back because she must have gotten confused... over a weekend while I was off I managed to get her to do her business in the garden and praised her for it but now she seems to go anywhere in the house and I'm not even getting any warning (she used to run about crazy back and forth and was around 3 mins after she had her dinner so I knew exactly when it was coming) now I am incorporating drymix into her wet food the there is no scheduled toilet times either they are so sporadic leaving me unprepared for it.


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## Lexi&Beemer (May 5, 2013)

Ree&Nimble said:


> Reading this it would seem that I need to be spending more time with Nimble in order for her to fully understand where she can go to the toilet.
> She originally was going on newspaper but then I brought puppy pads which set me back because she must have gotten confused... over a weekend while I was off I managed to get her to do her business in the garden and praised her for it but now she seems to go anywhere in the house and I'm not even getting any warning (she used to run about crazy back and forth and was around 3 mins after she had her dinner so I knew exactly when it was coming) now I am incorporating drymix into her wet food the there is no scheduled toilet times either they are so sporadic leaving me unprepared for it.




I highly recommend logging her schedule. After doing that for a few days I could predict the poops almost like clockwork based on feeding, treats, and play. The pees were more associated with sleep/wake time, play, and how long their bladder can hold it (my two were about 2 hrs when they were awake). But logging will help you see the pattern. 


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## Ree&Nimble (Jun 5, 2017)

Lexi&Beemer said:


> I highly recommend logging her schedule. After doing that for a few days I could predict the poops almost like clockwork based on feeding, treats, and play. The pees were more associated with sleep/wake time, play, and how long their bladder can hold it (my two were about 2 hrs when they were awake). But logging will help you see the pattern.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


I did buy a note pad for it and logged feeding and toilet times but now it seems to be that the wet food goes straight through whereas the dry food takes a while to make its way through I feed her 100g wet food and 50g dry mix a day (it says not to feed more than 130g a day but she does cry in hunger at anything less than 150g, she's a growing girl what can I say ) each week I try to add 10g more of the dry mix and 10g less of the wet I suppose until feeds are continuously the same I wont know her routine. She was a gem earlier today breakfast at 8am didn't business until 2pm AND it was outside I tried to praise her but she was too excited about being in the garden and ran off


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## Clare&molly (Jun 21, 2017)

*Question*

Hi I'm just about to get my new puppy
Can someone help me with this.. Do I have to get up throughout the night to let my puppy out?
Also do I keep my pup in the crate with a puppy pad? 
My little puppy is only 10 weeks old, should I wait a few weeks before I start training and lastly, what treats do you recommend. 
Thanks 
Clare


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## LuckyCockapoo (May 29, 2017)

I think I was lucky with the toilet training. The breeder had let the pups spend a lot of time on grass outside, so he was used to that texture for peeing. I just took him out every hour and for the first week a couple of times in the night. He only did a couple in the house at first, and did a couple more later as I got over confident with him and didn't keep to the routine. By 11 weeks he only had these accidents due to my fault. At 13 weeks he's been 2 weeks in the clear now and seems to be fine holding it from 10:30 to 6:00. 

I learned his behaviour too, he has a certain little jog with his nose down and tail stiffly up - you know then he will go soon. 

For number 2s, he had 2 indoors early on but he was also very regular - 20 mins after eating and a little play, he'd go. Totally regular 3 times a day like that. Once I realised this and got into that routine with him, Ive total confidence he wouldn't do it indoors.

Oh, and for all this the only treats I gave was praise and attention. When it was his time to go, I'd stand still and be v boring until he went.


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