Puppy too distracted to pee outside

[Kirsten]

Hi there, I'm in desperate need of some help with the toilet training of our 12 week old cockapoo, Daisy.

We have had her for 2 weeks and she has been getting on okay with toilet training, but recently it has not been so great. Our garden is practically all stones. Daisy no longer tries to eat the stones, but she now is digging up the stones and ripping up the plastic sheet that separates the stones from the soil. She does this every single time we take her out to go to the toilet, and is often too distracted by digging to go to the toilet. When we take her inside to stop her from digging she often has accidents straight away in the house. She let's us know she needs the toilet by sitting at the door, but as soon as she is outside she forgets until the distraction of digging is taken away from her, and pees as soon as she's no longer distracted in our quiet living room!

We cannot leave her to dig as she is ripping up pieces of plastic and chewing them. However I'm concerned that us covering up where she digs, and taking the plastic out of her mouth has become a game to her.

Keeping her on lead in the garden won't really help as the entire garden is stones so she would be able to dig anywhere we took her on lead (and she bites her lead if she's not on a walk).

She's only been able to go on walks for 3 days now so she still hasn't peed on the public patch of grass by her house, does anyone have any tips on how to encourage puppies to pee in public?

We are going to get our garden re-done with slabs but as it's the middle of September, no companies have space until September. I know that trainers don't recommend using newspaper inside but I am considering it until the garden is done as then she is at least learning to go in one specific place rather than wherever in the living room. My only concern with this is that she'd be around 5/6 months by the time the garden is finished and that it might be impossible to train her to go outside again after that.

I really look forward to hearing any suggestions or words of encouragement, I have a serious case of the puppy blues just now.

 

[JudyN]

Some dogs have preferred surfaces to 'go' on and won't go on hard surfaces, so if she's this way inclined that may be part of the problem. Now she can go outside the house & garden, I would go back to basics, but taking her out the front to the patch of grass at least hourly, and particularly when she asks to go out. Then when she does toilet out there, and anywhere on walks, make it clear to her that it's the cleverest thing a dog has ever done and give her great rewards.

It'll be a pain for the time being not being able to just let her out in the garden, but it should make her more reliable in the long run. There's a danger with using newspaper or puppy pads that she will just learn that inside the house is the appropriate place to toilet.

You might want to consider adding a patch of grass to your garden in case she is never keen on toileting on hard surfaces (when we go to holiday cottages with our dog we have to look for ones with lawns or flowerbeds as he will not go in courtyard gardens). This could even be just a large tray filled with some turf. Artificial grass is also a possibility, but my dog won't toilet on that either, so you're probably better with the real stuff.

 

[Kirsten]

Some dogs have preferred surfaces to 'go' on and won't go on hard surfaces, so if she's this way inclined that may be part of the problem. Now she can go outside the house & garden, I would go back to basics, but taking her out the front to the patch of grass at least hourly, and particularly when she asks to go out. Then when she does toilet out there, and anywhere on walks, make it clear to her that it's the cleverest thing a dog has ever done and give her great rewards.

It'll be a pain for the time being not being able to just let her out in the garden, but it should make her more reliable in the long run. There's a danger with using newspaper or puppy pads that she will just learn that inside the house is the appropriate place to toilet.

You might want to consider adding a patch of grass to your garden in case she is never keen on toileting on hard surfaces (when we go to holiday cottages with our dog we have to look for ones with lawns or flowerbeds as he will not go in courtyard gardens). This could even be just a large tray filled with some turf. Artificial grass is also a possibility, but my dog won't toilet on that either, so you're probably better with the real stuff.

Thank you for your reply!

I don't think she minds going on hard surfaces as she doesn't mind going on our wooden floor in the living room!

I think I might try taking her to the grass on the lead. At the moment she is far too overwhelmed by the amazing sights and smells of somewhere other than our house to go to the toilet out there, but if I do it often enough hopefully it will lose it's novelty and she'll remember she actually needs the toilet.

We are planning on getting fake grass in our garden, real grass is a no go as we've tired twice and it just dies haha!

 

[leashedForLife]

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for the moment, I'd pick up a hunk of astro-turf at least 1.5-ft by 2.5-ft, & lay that down IN SHADE or even on the covered patio, as a toilet surface. // Bigger can only be better - if U can score a 3 x 5 area-rug of astro-turf, go for it! -- the larger area allows her to circle before squatting, a natural behavior, without going over the edge.

then play ping-pong to teach her the purpose of the mat:
Take her out, 5-minutes on the astro-turf, nothing is produced? - INTO HER CRATE so she cannot pee anywhere else, & her crate must be small-enuf to discourage voiding.

She spends 5 to 10-mins in the crate, to think about it... back out to the astro-turf for 5-mins.
No results? --- Then 15-mins in the crate, & 5-mins outside on the astro-turf.
Repeat ad infinitum, in / out, in / out, UNTIL SHE PEES, Yay! --- praise her warmly & quietly as she voids, AND as she rises from her squat, REWARD HER ON THE SPOT, with a pea-sized or half-pea sized, high-value, high-protein tidbit.
Don't be cheap - cubed lean beef, pouch tuna, freeze-dried beef liver or lab-lung, chicken-breast, etc.

Hopefully U have an airline-approved shipping crate - they're not only perfect for housetraining, they are virtually inescapable safe confinement for recovery [surgery, illness, trauma], AND they're the gold standard for transporting pets.
She won't use it only as a pup - she'll use her crate all her life, for travel & at home.
To determine the correct size, it should be the smallest size that she can enter & U-turn to exit - if she must BACK out, it's too small. If she can U-turn, it's just right.
[If she can pee or poop over --> there, & then lie-down over <--- here, it's TOO BIG.]

To save $$, try the floor-models on for size at a local pet-supply store, & buy a used crate via an on-line classifieds website - CraigsList, PreLoved, GumTree, etc. FREEcycle is items given away, so check there, too.
If the adult-size will be too large & allows toilet-space for the puppy, put clean empty cardboard boxes into the disassembled crate, to fill the excess space - then put the roof back on, & fasten the halves together again. If U must stack boxes, tape them together using shipping-tape, so they are a solid unit, they cannot fall & hurt or frighten the puppy.

Remove any wet, soiled, or chewed / ripped boxes with new ones - use boxes that did NOT previously contain stinky or toxic items; no fragrances, no garden chemicals, no PESTICIDE, fertilizer, etc. // Empty paper-ream boxes from a copy-store are perfect - cut them down, if they are too big, to make smaller boxes.

Ping-pong is perfect for establishing solid toilet habits - & the astro-turf covers the pebbles, so she cannot dig, grab them to mouth, or otherwise play around. The turf-rug is for one thing, & one thing only: TOILET promptly, & get praise during, & treats immediately after!

Keep the turf-rug clean with the hosepipe, & store it standing rolled in shade, to prevent it getting hot to touch. Roll it turf-side OUT, so that when unrolled, it will lie flat on the ground.
Use a bungee-cord or 2, to keep it rolled loosely so it drains & dries between uses. // Lying flat-out in the sun, the turf-rug can become too hot a surface, & we want to maximize her comfort, to maximize her co-operation.

- terry

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