House training a puppy in winter

I am just in the early days of training my whippet puppy. What have I learned from my mistakes? I used puppy pads all over the place … no! Have them down by the door to the outside only. I’m suicidal weeks in and she understands what I want her to do and does go outside…but inside also if I’m not alert. Alertness to her every move and her typical toilet pacing pre wee or poo is critical at this stage .. if she does it inside it’s my fault for not noticing! She still needs to go out at 4 am and 6 am but when she was 8 weeks old it was 2 am and 4 am then 6. Still they’re not like this for ever! If you can shut doors that enter rooms with carpets as a general rule you’ll save yourself the trouble .. hard floors are much easier to mop! Hope this helps. Ps she now takes great delight in shredding the puppy pads so I bought 2 x washable ones and put a towel under it and they are much better .. and cheaper!

Ten weeks in not suicidal .. typo!

There’s nothing wrong with puppy pads. They are impregnated with a scent that invites the dog to use them It’s a complete myth that the dog will think it can pee anywhere indoors. They are to train your dog to be clean!
It’s actually dangerous to take a very young puppy out in freezing weather They can’t regulate their own temperature at a young age. Risk of pneumonia or worse.
Use the puppy pads. It’s what they are designed for. To housetrain a puppy to be clean

Puppy pads are imo, a waste of money. Dogs don’t want to toilet where they live. Consistent, positive toilet training is easy, effective and quick.

I think puppy pads are fine. My son used them for his pups and then weaned them off them. It worked for him. We shouldn’t be hypocritical or smug if we didn’t use them.

Critical not hypocritical

The old training method that I remember from childhood, with our dogs, and neighbour's, was to spread thick layers of newspaper over the floor, and the puppy would obligingly wee on that when tiny. Gradually the amount of newpaper was reduced until there was one thick pile by the door, then the sheet was put outside. It always seemed to work - dogs aim to please.

Iam64

Puppy pads are imo, a waste of money. Dogs don’t want to toilet where they live. Consistent, positive toilet training is easy, effective and quick.

My whippet has a little bit of garden sectioned off for her use. I always know when she has a bad tummy ( she gets intermittent diahorrea) because she’ll go out into the garden and desperately try to get through into the other part of the garden and gets very distressed. Probably why some dogs won’t go in their own gardens at all and have to be walked.

Mazzg
Well I did use puppy pads I put one by the back door and one by the dining room doors then when she connected with them
We progress to moving it closer to the back door where it joined the other one it didn't take long for the penny to drop and jess does not pee in anyone's else's house and she was clean with in two weeks.
What you do need is perseverance and let her out in the garden a lot and of course praise and rewards. I've had 3 + the one we have now, BC all of them.

I wouldn't use puppy pads. In the good old days we used to used newspaper and gradually move it to the door. It would take ages to train a dog. Now I just take them outside regularly, watch them like hawks and it takes such a little time by comparison. With our latest dog we also hung bells on the door which we jingled every time we took her outside. She soon learned to ring them to let us know that she wanted to go outside. Job done!

Exactly icanhandthemback. My daughters clever doodle learned to ring a bell to go out. It isn’t smug to post toilet trainibg tips that work without the need for paper or pads. It’s trying to help

I bought my daughter a bell for he Miniature Schnauzer puppy but they gave it back to me because she just asked to go out all the time and got stroppy when they ignored her. So she gave it back to me and, lo and behold Winnie started using it. Ok sometimes it's because she wants a Bonio but most of the time it's because she does need to go out. They're useful if, eg you're away from home in a strange house or hotel and your dog has a change of routine and can't tell you that they need to go out. I love the way she rings it and then looks at us!

We have the same thing, MayBee70. Sometimes she is letting me know she wants water or a treat but the point is that she lets me know she wants something. If I walk to the back door to let her out, she soon lets me know that is isn't what she needs but that little bit of communication is amazing and made life really easy. .

twiglet77

Why on earth are you getting a dog if you don’t want to take it out in the rain? Poor puppy. Dachshunds are hounds, not lap dogs, and will be noisy and destructive if not adequately exercised and trained. Get a coat and wellies and get on with it, or stick to a cuddly toy.

"Dachshunds are hounds, not lap dogs." Afraid I disagree twiglet77. Yes, they are hound dogs officially lol but my four love a warm lap or two, 24/7. They should be renamed lapdogs.

icanhandthemback

We have the same thing, MayBee70. Sometimes she is letting me know she wants water or a treat but the point is that she lets me know she wants something. If I walk to the back door to let her out, she soon lets me know that is isn't what she needs but that little bit of communication is amazing and made life really easy. .

I think that, more than anything that’s happened to me since I had dogs, it made me realise how intelligent they are and how much they want to communicate with us. Another thing was when I read that a dog is the only other creature that understands pointing: something that I just took for granted when eg we play go find and she looks at me to say ‘can’t find this one, where is it’. I would assume that apes can, though. They never cease to amaze me. I just wish there was a way that I could communicate with her when I do her claws though; she can’t understand why, if I love her, I am so downright cruel to her.

MayBee70 - one of the things I’m working with my young lab on is Left or Right, we are focussed on left now. Gun dogs, sheep dogs etc are taught which way to go. I never thought I’d achieve this but my lab is beginning to understand where to find something if I point and say ‘left’
It’s amazing how doing this kind of thing build and strengthens the bond. My boy is huge and giddy - he’s my 12th dog and is teaching me a lot , as they do 🐕💙💖

It’s one reason why I’d be loathe to get a rescue dog. How would we understand each other. And worry terribly that, if anything happened to me my current dog would end up with someone that didn’t understand her. I was always too busy with work and kids to put so much effort into my dogs: they were much loved but just part of the family. I’ve learned so much from what had been the naughtiest puppy I’ve ever had.

MayBee70, a rescue dog is just as trainable as any other dog. You just have to know what their trigger is. For some it is toys and others food. There will be something and dogs just want to please so they are eager to learn. They just need time and dedication.

Dogs are amazingly intelligent and know quite a big vocabulary. With my latest dog, I have used the clicker and a lot of visual cues. She is only 16 months but she is amazing.

I’ve never used a clicker. I have got one but never worked out how to use it. We have to spell out certain words eg banana, sausage.etc and if I say ‘feet’ she skulks away and pretends to be asleep. When I’m at my partners I’ll say ‘ the cows are here’ and she’ll run to the window to watch them.

My rescues have been easier than two of my pedigree pups were. We rescued one mixed breed who had been starved and beaten, then thrown out of a moving car, outside the shelter on Christmas week. He was still skin and bone and had awful gastric problems when we brought him home 6 weeks later. He stole and guarded food, was head shy and refused to go into the garden with my husband at bed time, he’d run and hide but would go with me. We shared our lives with him for 15 years, he was about 12 months when he came to us. He was a special boy. He soon worked out he was safe, would be fed, if he soiled indoors nothing bad would happen and, he’d get walks. Within 6 months, his gastric problems were gone and he was a happy boy. He never did lose a shock reaction if his head was touched without him seeing or hearing the person.

Our previous dogs were trained on newspaper, but we’d stopped getting newspapers by the time the latest arrived.
We used puppy pads early on. We took her to the mat after a snooze or a meal. Our cocker learnt that ‘on the mat’ meant go and perform. We didn’t use them for long because she began to view them as a super sized tissue for shredding. I don’t remember The being a problem with her transferring to outdoors, but in this cold, wet, icy snowy weather she won’t go on the grass but does the necessary on the patio.
Now she pats us on the knee and looks hopeful, when she wants to go out.
Good luck.

Jillypops

I am just in the early days of training my whippet puppy. What have I learned from my mistakes? I used puppy pads all over the place … no! Have them down by the door to the outside only. I’m suicidal weeks in and she understands what I want her to do and does go outside…but inside also if I’m not alert. Alertness to her every move and her typical toilet pacing pre wee or poo is critical at this stage .. if she does it inside it’s my fault for not noticing! She still needs to go out at 4 am and 6 am but when she was 8 weeks old it was 2 am and 4 am then 6. Still they’re not like this for ever! If you can shut doors that enter rooms with carpets as a general rule you’ll save yourself the trouble .. hard floors are much easier to mop! Hope this helps. Ps she now takes great delight in shredding the puppy pads so I bought 2 x washable ones and put a towel under it and they are much better .. and cheaper!

My previous whippet puppies were a dream to house train. Current one took nine months. She dug up the garden, stole everything ( her main obsession was my Marigolds…she’d take great delight in stealing them and running round the house with them) the more dangerous the item the better. She destroyed two pairs of my reading glasses. I was a wreck and constantly in tears. They’re like self destructive whirlwinds! But so worth it. I’d love to have those puppy days again.

There isn’t a right way or wrong way to house train. I just think once you’ve done it without pads, you wouldn’t go back to them.

A few of you have mentioned " dogs behaving badly". Where do you access that and is it any good?

Lizbethann55, the trainer, Graham Hall has no qualifications. I read he hadn’t even had a dog till he was in his 40’s. Sone posters like his approach. Some of us feel he selects owners with little idea of consistency/training. The shows are edited to make it look as though he’s resolved long standing problems in a day.
Steve Mann is imo an excellent trainer. He did a bbc programme, Let the Greatest be yiur teacher. He has a book on puppies, easy peasy puppy squeezy - £4 on Amazon. Easy peasy doggy squeezy
I like Pippa Mattinson’s happy Puppy Handbook, the labrador handbook and Perfect Recall. My experience is these type of books, by qualified and experienced trainers actually help, rather than just entertain.