toilet training a puppy

[olliesalter1]

Hi, my friend has just got a labrador pup (absolutely adorable i might add!!) and has only ever owned a goldfish previous to this.  I visted the other day to find that he has been trained to go to the toilet on a towel in the corner of the room, now, she lives in a normal house with a garden so was quite surprised to see this happening.I 'gently' approached the subject as didnt want to jump in there saying 'do this, do that' but didnt get any response at all, except for 'well he does it now', I took him for a walk also and he pulled me back to the house to go to the toilet! what can i do??

[kaktus]

If she moves the towel (I would have chosen newpapers, but since he has learned to do it on a towel, then...) closer and closer to the door, when he has learne to go by the door, she needs to be quick, when he has to go, open the door and put him outside, he will soon get the hang of it!

I don't know how you should approach her with this, but maybe if you try to ask why he has been taught that way, you can start talking about other solutions.

[soulstice]

   Well, when my Golden Retriever was a puppy, she used to do the same thing. We bought puppy training pads and gradually moved them closer and closer to the garden door. Then, we began to open the door and put it outside near the door.

   This teaches them to go to the toilet outside as they associate the mat with the outdoors. After a week or two, the dog should be regularly going to the toilet outside.

[BondGirl]

As above really, but the puppy training pads are the best as they have a scent in them that encourages the puppy on to them.  However, puppies, like adult dogs and humans I guess, will need to do business as soon as they are awake, and as soon as they have eaten.  As soon as the pup has finished breakfast, lunch or dinner,  take them outside (stay with them though) and keep saying "do your wees" (or whatever phrase is best for you) - have patience and they WILL do something.  Lots of praise necessary once they have done what you want them to do and possibly a little treat (for a pup I would recommend a nugget of their food- anything else could upset them).  I fostered 30+ dogs/puppies in one year and ALL of my puppies were semi-housetrained by 8 wks (you can't expect them to go all night without a WeeWee pad down for them!!).  Happy training!!