Potty Training Complexity

[dskills]

Ok all - I've read all the posts on potty training, and had to add my own question.

We've got a 1 year old female that we've crate trained combined with wee-wee pads. Now, she never misses the pads - she's great. But I'm trying to get her to go outside now. Adding to the complexity...

1. We live in NYC and she doesn't like to go on the street - we have to take her 3 or 4 blocks to a spot that she likes. This is a real problem for getting her outside quickly - we're also trying to clearly separate the idea of a walk verses going outside to go to the bathroom.

2. She's a bit overweight and the vet has put her on diet dog food. The result: a lot more going to the bathroom! Makes it more difficult to monitor and manage.

My question is this: how can I get her to go outside and to prefer (like our other dog) to go outside? My nightmare is that I'll still be laying down pads at age 3 - and I want to avoid it. She's got a crate loves it - should we just put her in it during the day until she gets the idea?

Thoughts appreciated...

[Donna H]

You might try taking the pads out with you to the place you want her to go then gradually reduce the size of the pad. Once she is going out side without the pad remove the inside pad completely. However, until she is completely trustworthy it would be wise to crate her if you she is to be alone. Hope this helps, Donna

[Dawn]

This is why pads are a very, very bad idea. You'll notice that even after you have removed the pads, she'll still go in the spot that the pad was. What you'll want to do is slowly start moving the pad toward the door. This can take a long time. She'll probably still have accidents where the pad was originally. Once you get her to the door, start taking the pad outside. Eventually, eliminate the pad altogether. The purpose of taking the pad to the door is to get her to go to the door when she needs to go. Is there any grass outside of your apartment? If there is, just make her go there. Don't take her down the street. If you take her out and she doesn't go, put her in her crate. That way she doesn't have the option of just going in the house. If there's no grass, take her to the closest spot you can. Many dogs will not go on a concrete/asphalt surface.

[Dawn]

Also meant to say that the other succesful way to do it is to completely recrate train her. Only let her go outside instead of on the pad when you let her out. It really depends on the dog which will work better.

[dskills]

Thanks for the replies - we don't have grass in the area (we live in the middle of NYC), so that's not an option - particularly problematic with regard to winter coming...

But we are planning moving the pads right to the door. We'll deal with the old area by just putting a chair up and dealing with the "issues"...

Any other suggestions appreciated...re-crate training her sounds like a good idea as well.

/d/

[fullhouse9873]

We had a very hard time housebreaking my pup. We didn't use the pads - but he always preferred my carpet to the outdoors. So I started putting him in the crate. I'd let him out to go outside and go potty. If he didn't go potty - he went back into his crate - then we'd try again in a 1/2 hour. He finally got the hang of it - it just takes patience.

[Lou SA]

Does your apartment have a porch or verandah? If you you could buy some instant turf (lawn squares) and put them on a large tray and start by putting the puppy pads on the turf with lots of praise and reward when she suceeds. Ignore any "accidents".

Put one together for a behaviour client couple of weeks ago, an elderly lady who lives in a flat - sorry USA apartment (LOL) and the old lady couldnt make it to the lift before her little fluffy urinated. Worked like a dream. She just replaces the turf every week or so. It is freely available in South Africa and the UK where I origionally came from - wonder if you can buy it in the USA?

Good luck and we want feed back.
Lou SA

[fairlight]

This thread is close to 6 years old.