New to the site, looking for some advice

[Natalie Evans]

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Hi.
I’m new to the forum. I am hoping for some advice on my West Highland Terrier puppy.
Many thanks

 

[JoanneF]

Welcome. What advice are you looking for?

 

[Natalie Evans]

I have a 9 week old Westie male puppy. He’s learning really quick bless him but he seems to be pooing and peeing on his pup pads through the night but during the day he’s having accidents constantly. Any ideas?

 

[JoanneF]

I personally hate puppy pads for house training. They have their place for dogs who can't go out due to illness etc but for puppies they just give mixed messages about whether indoor toileting is allowed or not and they slow house training.

Is there any reason why you can't take your puppy outside to toilet? Unless your garden is used by unvaccinated dogs or rats it should be safe.

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 him to not be in a position where he needs to toilet before you have him outdoors, so that every toilet is outside - as far as possible, there will be accidents! So set him up to succeed by taking him out even more than he 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 him outside before he can't help himself. When he toilets outdoors make a huge fuss (never mind the neighbours, act like outdoor toileting is the best thing you have ever seen) and reward him with a high value treat. Do that immediately, don't make him come to you for the treat so he is clear that it's for toileting and not for coming to you. The idea is that he eventually wants to earn the treat enough to hold the toilet until he is outside - once he is physically able to control his toileting obviously.

As he is actually performing the toilet you can introduce words he can associate with it (like 'do weewee' and 'busy busy') that later when he is reliably trained you can use these to tell him when you want him to toilet.

If you take him out and he doesn't toilet after five minutes, bring him in but don't take your eyes off him. Any hint of a toilet inside, scoop him up and get him out fast. If he doesn't try to toilet indoors (great!) take him out a second time and repeat until you do get outside toilets. You need the outside toilet to happen SO that you can reward SO that he learns.

If he has an accident inside don't react at all. If you get annoyed he may learn to fear your reaction and avoid you if he needs to toilet (by going off and toileting out of sight) - the opposite of what you want. Dogs cant make the distinction between you being annoyed at him TOILETING, as opposed to toileting INDOORS. Take a rolled up newspaper and hit yourself over the head for not having taken him outside in time. Not when he is there though in case you scare him. Then clean the area with an enzymatic cleaner to remove any trace of smell that might attract him back to the spot.

Indoors if you see him circling or scratching the floor, that can sometimes precede toileting so get him out fast.

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

 

[Natalie Evans]

This is a massive help. He hasn’t had his 2nd jabs yet (29th April) so I was worried about him going out in the garden due to us also having a cat (who is vaccinated) so going outside with him isn’t a problem?
I also agree that the puppy pads are confusing him. You’ve been a massive help, thank you so much x

 

[JoanneF]

Your garden will be fine.

It's also a good idea to start taking him out and about tucked into your jacket to let him start to see what is in the world outside. This would be the start of his socialisation. As long as his feet are not on the ground he will be perfectly safe.

It's actually quite a good time to socialise a puppy, not ideal but not too bad. This is because a lot of people over expose puppies and the dog can get quite overwhelmed. That is far less likely in the current environment.

Socialisation is not about everyone and every dog meeting him. Think quality, not quantity; exposure, not interaction. Letting all and sundry (people and dogs) near a puppy can be overwhelming and frightening - the opposite of what you want. Socialisation is not about plunging your puppy into every new experience, but rather allowing him to see, hear and get used to people and situations calmly and from a safe position.

There is quite a good checklist here - it wouldn't be practical, or necessary to get everything on the list but it's a good guideline and illustrates that socialisation is about more than just having a run around with other dogs. The Puppy Socialization Exposure Checklist - Whole Dog Journal