Puppy toilet training

hello all

I am in the process of toilet training my Maltese puppy Frynse.

It’s going ok and I take her outside as soon as I notice her circling or sniffing. But....

Sometimes we can be in the garden for an hour or more before she decides to do a wee wee. Then of course I give her lots of praise and a treat.

How do other people train and encourage their puppies?

Thanks xx

Sounds as if you're doing all the right things. And of course never make an issue of accidents. Clean up in silence with no eye contact. Every puppy has its own time scheme. I've had a puppy get it perfectly in less than 3 weeks and another take- ahem...six months! He even had an accident on his first birthday. (It was the excitement of a fish-dinner!) I think it depends on how quickly the muscles controlling bladder and the rest mature. If they can't hold it they can't! We have wood and tiled floors and a very relaxed attitude. That's my only advice.

I cant really help. Murphy came fully trained at 8 weeks.. amazing i know.... I have heard that smaller breeds can need/take longer.
Keep giving your pup lots of encouragement and time to complete her toilet even if it does take ages.. Good luck..

Toilet training happens when two things come together - the ABILITY to hold the toilet, along with the DESIRE to hold it in order to earn the reward for doing so.

Ideally you want her to not be in a position where she needs to toilet before you have her outdoors, so that every toilet is outside - as far as possible, there will be accidents! So set her up to succeed by taking her out even more than she needs; for example every 45 minutes to an hour and always after sleeping, eating, playing. The time between a puppy realising they need to toilet, and being unable to hold that toilet, is zero. So your aim is to have her outside before she can't help herself. When she toilets outdoors make a huge fuss (never mind the neighbours, act like outdoor toileting is the best thing you have ever seen) and reward her with a high value treat. Do that immediately, don't make her come to you for the treat so she is clear that it's for toileting and not for coming to you. The idea is that she wants to earn the treat enough to hold the toilet until she is outside - once she is physically able to control her toileting obviously. If she has an accident inside don't react at all. If you get annoyed she may learn to fear your reaction and avoid you if she needs to toilet - the opposite of what you want. Just clean the area with an enzymatic cleaner to remove any trace of smell that might attract her back to the spot. As she is actually performing the toilet you can introduce words she can associate with it (like 'do weewee' and 'busy busy') that later when she is reliably trained you can use these to tell her when you want her to toilet.

Indoors, you are already doing the right things - if you see her circling or scratching the floor, that can sometimes precede toileting so get her out fast.

Overnight she is unlikely to be able to control her toilet as her little bladder and bowel are underdeveloped and not strong enough to hold all night so set your alarm to take her out at least once if not twice during the night.

I don't know if you are using them but i really don't like puppy pads - they give mixed messages about whether it's ok to toilet indoors and confuse the puppy.