House training a puppy in winter

grannyro

My grandson and his partner have recently got a puppy and when we had an early Xmas get together they came along with not just puppy pads but also a "pram" for the puppy (plus a coat and snacks!) They might as well have had a baby ! He was very good with the pads but I don't believe he has been trained to go outside yet so I don't know how the transition will go. (Before everyone said "ugh", he did only wee on the mat, he does go outside for a no.2!)

They’re making problems for themselves if they go on to have children if they treat a puppy like a baby. When I had my first dog I’d read how spaniels can get jealous of a new baby and, much as I wanted to kiss and cuddle her she was treated very much as a dog from day one. When I did have a baby a couple of years later I then made a huge fuss of her. I was very aware at the time that she was a baby substitute and, even though at the time I didn’t think I could have children I didn’t want to risk it. Since then I’ve known of several instances where people have had to rehome a dog when they have children. Having said that, well done them for being so considerate. Puppy pads do work if done properly but I’m pretty sure my whippets would have just looked on them as something else to rip up. I wish I wasn’t too old to have another puppy; reading this thread has somehow made me want to forget what hard work puppies are and desperately want one, especially as my current dog is so sociable but has no doggie friends.

I agree with other posters, I wouldn't use puppy pads. The minute the pup starts to squat, pick it up and put it outside and it will get used to heading for the door each time it needs to go. I would also advise crate training your pup (some people say they don't like crates but it's no different to putting a baby in a cot!) and teach the pup 'down' time to relax (particularly after a walk ... when you get to that stage)

We have highly trained working dogs and that's the approach we have always taken.

My advice, with three mini daxies in our house, is do NOT use puppy pads, get he/she use to used weather types asap and get he/she used to being left just literally for 5 minutes at a time for the first few weeks/months very gradually building up to an hour.

Daxies are v friendly and clever BUT notoriously stubborn and you have to be very friend AND very firm with them.

Ours are 3 and the other two 2 years old and still not fully household and won’t go out in the rain because, like you, my daughter didn’t want them getting cold and wet! Invest in a few warm doggie coats and be brave! Good luck

I would have expected my dog not to mind the cold too when we were toilet training him in the middle of winter. Then one snowy night as I took him outside, he looked mournfully up at me, turned round and sat down on my foot.

My grandson and his partner have recently got a puppy and when we had an early Xmas get together they came along with not just puppy pads but also a "pram" for the puppy (plus a coat and snacks!) They might as well have had a baby ! He was very good with the pads but I don't believe he has been trained to go outside yet so I don't know how the transition will go. (Before everyone said "ugh", he did only wee on the mat, he does go outside for a no.2!)

Dachshunds aren’t all hard to train. I have a dachshund. Admittedly they don’t like going out in the rain. It just takes persistence and perseverance and spending a lot of time watching their every move. Stanley was crate trained and went through the night without peeing in his crate after the first week.

We got our Aussie Shepherd in November 7 years ago. She was quite easy to train, and we have very wet winters here. I kept an umbrella and clogs by the back door so I could go out with her, praise her when she went, then she would get a treat when she came back in.

Once she caught on, she treated it like a race to the finish, typical for the breed!

I wouldn’t get a puppy in winter, especially a dachshund with short legs and thin hair. Dachshunds are also well known to be hard to house train so expect it to take a long time.
My present dog won’t wee or poo in the garden so we have to go for a short walk before bed whatever the weather.

Like dalrymple I’d not crate trained but 15 years ago crate trained a 4 month old doodle, I was her 4th owner. I crate trained the next two puppies and an 8 month old doodle I fostered. She’d had a truly awful start in life and in her previous home destroyed two crates, eaten through skirting boards, chair legs etc. poor lass had been left crated for im hours. She had separation anxiety no surprise and wasn’t house trained . When she arrived, I had two happy, stable dogs who were great calm companions and role models. I put the crate up in the kitchen where the dogs were fed and slept. Fed her in the crate, door open all day but closed at bed time. She got lots of exercise and training. She cried the first night, I went down and reassured her twice. After that she went happily in her bed/crate overnight.

I’m a fan of crates properly used, never punishment or ‘time out’

Puppy pads give mixed messages and result in confusion. Unfortunately Mazzg there's no alternative to taking your puppy out at very regular intervals regardless of the weather, and following Iams excellent advice. Good luck.

Puppy pads ok to start with until puppy started tearing them to shreds, some with plastic lining so not good. I used waterproof sheet in case of accident but best to run outsideus

We have had several dogs over the years but haven’t used puppy pads. My current dog, a border terrier came to us in March and it was freezing cold & snowed during the first week but he was quite happy to go outside. I had an older dog at the time and I think the pup learnt a lot from him as he was house trained in no time.
I think it can also depend on the breed, my youngest DD has a Shih Tzus cross and she was very difficult to house train, we’ve heard it’s because they have small bladders.

Don’t use puppy pads. How confusing to be expected to understand it’s ok to toilet indoors but you’re supposed to go outside
My lab came in December at 8 weeks. He was out on the hour, after every meal/long drink/sleep/running about playing and instantly if s/he starts circling and sniffing .
At first don’t speak, your pup will toilet within about ten mins (usually) instant praise and straight back indoors
Within about a week introduce your trigger word but only as the pup toilets. The idea is the pup associates the action with the word. Several days later yiu can say the word once and wait till he does, then praise even a sliver of sausage to reinforce this is good behaviour
My last three pups clean by 12 weeks
It’s demanding but it works. Don’t introduce play in the garden or s/he may get engrossed in that so delaying the toilet connection. Within a few weeks your pup will be asking to go out and you can play
Keep your wellies and a jacket / hat by the door x

I always used to say to her ‘well, you’re not kissing me tonight’. I have several small terracotta flower pots outside and I cover the poo straight away so I can clear it up when it’s daytime. So I used to say ‘go potty’. However DH started saying to her in the evening ‘wee and a poo’ and she now goes out for him and does it. We have to be careful not to have poo conversations when there are people around eg if DH takes her for a walk on their return my first question is ‘ was it ok’ (she’s prone to having bad tums’.

I wouldn't use puppy pads either. My granddaughters dog is nearly two and used the pads. She is still unreliable in other people houses. Embassingly so!

I also saw Graham's programme last night. Wish I had known. (It was a pug, by the way). My darling (now deceased) Labradoodle used to eat his poo too. One could never be fast enough to pick it up. My Retrievers never have done. However, one of their more disgusting habits is to throw up, then eat it! They have all done this.

Have spent a fortune on puppy pads. Waste of money.
They just end up as an in-between-meal snack! Just threw copies of The Telegraph over the floor (a broadsheet). Breeders tend to use newspaper for training.

Yes, you have to be vigilant but it is not always practical. My newest dog (a Flatcoat) is the only one I have had to/been able to crate train. I never liked them but as he was a WMD, it had to be done. The decimation was expensive!! Bless his cotton chewing socks. But they never poo or pee in their beds. If you are working, a crate is a godsend.

We use the word "busy" and put puppies out on an hourly basis until they get the message, then praise afterwards when they have done something. "Poo and pee" words are too 'soft' in pronunciation. A more positive word is needed, like "bizzy" (sic).

All dog owners know that they have disgusting habits!! We love them, anyway.

My first two whippets arrived ready house trained. Not the third one. I was in despair for nine months and then, one day it just clicked and she’s been bomb proof ever since. I think puppies are like toddlers in that their bladder control varies. Thank goodness for Pets at Home Simple Solution Odour Destroyer.

Hard work and perseverance standing in wet soggy grass. I remember it well. I don’t think there’s any short cut. Stanley had a puppy pad for a couple of weeks but I found by taking him out regularly and making sure he did something avoided accidents.

This reminds me of my beloved Pip, we got her November 2010, we started lambing December and if you recall, 2010 was the next really cold winter we had after the previous year. Mum was also more mobile, 7wk old pup, put out front door, told, "wee wee & a poo", she'd shoot to the little area that was hers, then run around to back of house to come in through a different door. When the cold weather came, we tried to get her to go out the back (enclosed area) where the old dog went, refused! When that dog died the following March, Pip went out the back, no problem. Then, a couple of months later, we decided to get another pup, (Flo), mum said she could go out the back with Pip, HA! Pip was like me, likes her privacy! REFUSED to go out the back for years, insisted instead of going out the front again (we even had a light put up for her!) She started going out the back again last year, we think for "safety" if that makes sense as a few days later we found out that she was blind due to SARDS. ( She coped better than us.) She died suddenly in April this year and I still can't get over it, she was my best friend.

Anyhow, we got another pup in to keep the other company and the lady who we bought her off hinted she was housetrained! Wee & Poo in the house several times a day for weeks! When we asked the seller, "oh it doesn't matter!" She said. Bloody does ! Dog is NOW housetrained, no pads, pushed through flap to the area that was done 20 + years ago for dogs doodoo! Cleaned every time mutts go! But this pup still has accidents, but no longer does it out of spite (out, I would tell her, she'd squat in defiance! Been 12 + years since I've had pups and non have been as hardfaced as this little cretin!!) Saying that, she sleeps under the covers with me, first time she did it I thought there was a rat in the bed as it was crawling up my leg!

(I nickname her Little Black Rat, as she's a Chihuahua!)

Be glad you don't live where I do Mazgg our garden is not attached to the house so we have to cross a road and go through the barn to get into the garden.
No easy way of house training in my experience, just constant repetition of going outside whatever the weather. I've only used training pads for an older dog with bladder problems, seems pointless for a puppy teaching the same thing twice over.

MayBee70

Joseann

If you have a long training lead, you can stand in the kitchen, open the back door to go do business, then reel him back in. Like that you won't get cold or wet!

Can’t do that with Whippets. They are renowned poo eaters. And they don’t seem to grow out of it, either

Crunchy deep frozen lolly poo! 🤢

The joys of dog ownership. Never had it with my spaniels. It was a bit of a shock when I switched to Whippets which are, apart from that, the cleanest dogs ever: very little shedding, don’t walk in muddy puddles and have no body odour.

I used to have a pair of pointers (actually pointer sisters!) and one would eat poo, then be sick and the other would eat that. Revolting!!

Juliet27

Dogs Behaving Badly yesterday showed Graham getting a dog out of the habit of poo eating.

I bet it wasn’t a whippet! I will watch it, though. She might have stopped doing it now (she’s 5) but I still follow her around. She still spends most of her walks poo hunting, though. Her breeder said that Whippets are ‘self cleaning’.

Dogs Behaving Badly yesterday showed Graham getting a dog out of the habit of poo eating.