what do I do about house training my puppy when the weather is foul eg driving rain, bitterly cold?
06 Oct 2009
we are getting a 10 week old puppy. I have read lots of articles on house training and know all the signs to look for to see if she needs to go wee, know to take her out often and frequently, know the importance of praising puppy for eliminating in the right place (for us the right place is outside on a certain area of grass) .
but none of the articles has suggested what to do with puppy when the weather is too nasty for outdoor toileting .
we are thinking of putting a wee pad in the garage (which is attached to the house) and taking her there when she needs to go wee. But will this confuse her about where to go usually?
You put your thickest coat on and you get out there with your puppy and stay there until she poos/wees. The same applies to daily walks. Sorry but that’s life with a dog, and if you want a well-socialised, well-behaved pet, you just have to do it. That’s why none of the articles gives you comforting news about staying indoors with doggy when the weather’s nasty. You can’t!
7 Responses
2009 Oct 06
id continue taking her outdoors…and putting the pads down so when she cant make it outside..she’ll use the pads instead of the naked floors……
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2009 Oct 06
Anything you do to train the puppy now is what you are going to want her to do when she’s older. Most dogs don’t have a "special place" to pee when it’s raining out - they just go outside like always.
I know this sucks, but you’ll probably just have to suck it up and go out there with her. She’s going to want to go straight back inside (if she’s anything like my dog), but you have to persist that she relieves herself, otherwise she’ll do it indoors. Eventually, she’ll get immune to the rain and just go outdoors in it.
I live in an apartment, so if my dog wants to go out, I have to go with her. I’ve learned to watch the sky, and if I see a storm is coming, I try to get my pup to relieve herself BEFORE the storm hits. If not, well it looks like I’m gonna get wet too. Good luck!
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2009 Oct 06
I don’t know about the wee pad in the garage. I live in a climate which gets very cold, snowy, icy, windy in the winter and I thought I was being easier on my puppies training them to go on a pad inside during winter only. BIG MISTAKE. A dog only knows this: it’s okay to potty inside. They don’t understand it’s JUST on the pad or JUST at certain times. So count on your dog always using the garage as the bathroom whenever it wants, no matter the weather. It makes no difference to them whether the pad is there or not, because anything can be a "pad" to them including a rug or carpeting.
Take your dog out no matter what the weather and make it understand that it’ll not get back inside till it’s done its business. That’ll make it very quick. If you’ve had the dog kenneled while you were gone, it can go pretty darn quick once it learns that’s how to get inside to the warmth and treats! Do the usual training stuff you read about in books, telling it to "go potty" as a cue, giving it a treat if it is successful, taking out multiple times (more now because it’s younger) etc.
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2009 Oct 06
You put your thickest coat on and you get out there with your puppy and stay there until she poos/wees. The same applies to daily walks. Sorry but that’s life with a dog, and if you want a well-socialised, well-behaved pet, you just have to do it. That’s why none of the articles gives you comforting news about staying indoors with doggy when the weather’s nasty. You can’t!
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2009 Oct 06
Bear in mind you can only expect a puppy to "hold" it for as many hours as they are months old. We’ve been cage training our pup for about two months now and we’ve been told it can take 4-6 months to get them properly trained (breed and disposition can affect how long it will take).
I understand you on the rain/cold. I rent and my landlord does not know we have the puppy. (Yes, it’s in my lease to not have animals) so we have to smuggle her outside sometimes.
We’ve got papers in the kitchen for "emergency" purposes and all other times she goes outside. She hasn’t wee’d on the carpet or floor outside of her paper in the kitchen since we got the cage. And for an almost 5 month old Dalmatian mix, the vet says we’re doing great.
Our puppy is the first pup I’ve ever had to housebreak, and while it’s been trying, since we’ve gotten the cage it’s been much easier. Believe it or not; I think dogs know the difference between using the pad (or papers) for emergencies when they can’t go outside and just using the papers. Open the cage, say "outside" and our pup is running for the door. Once outside, she usually does her business promptly, then is ready for her treat (training treats work wonders) and playtime.
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2009 Oct 06
you bundle up and GO OUTSIDE….. if you put those stupid pads in the garage,, you are teaching the dog to go potty inside!! it could think that pottying inside ( anywhere ) is ok..
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2009 Oct 06
i have suggested a proven way to get your puppy to use the potty on the pad for indoors…very simple and very effective…put the pad where you want it, fill an empty 2 litre pop bottle with water and when the puppy pees, get some of the urine on the bottle, since animals rely so much on smell, the scent of their own urine helps draw them to previously used spots and the bottle in the center of the pad says, PEE HERE…lol…has worked for e1 that i know, but outside is always best.
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