Should I be Potty Training my 6 week old dog

[Jacquie]

Hi, I am not sure if i should be crate training my puppy until he has all of his vacinations....my older dog has all of hers and no other dogs are in my garden......right now i have been tryng paper training..........i just thought that if the pup might follow my older dog outdoors .......well suprivsed of course...any advice would be greatly appreciated..

jacquie and Tazer

[LuvMyPups]

If you do take him outside, just take him to the same spot and limit his time out there to just potty time. We have always taking the pugs outside right away, unless it is still really cold out. If it still cold up there puppy pads are a better way to go until he gets a little bigger.

[Pugdawg1]

I have always taken my pups out to potty, I've never bothered with papers or puppy pads. If you have a safe fenced yard to take yours, with no strange dogs wandering through.. then if I were you, I'd take the little tyke outside to do his business. Helps eliminate possible future potty training confusion. JMHO

[badrabbit]

Hi. Remember if you paper train your pup to use it on the paper in the house he/she want understand when you correct them for using it on the carpet or in a differant place in the home ** I try to incourage my new pet owners to take the pup outside to a place where you dont mine them releaving themselves ** A rule of thumb is * If you teach a dog a new trick he will forever think that trick is ok to do **

[GSD]

IMO all puppies should be crate trained. Its much easier to do as a puppy, just make sure the crate is a happy place (toys and treats and get fed in there), Its not a place to punish a puppy after its had an accident or something, I think you get the picture. There will always arise a time when older that a dog will have to be crated for some period of time and its nice when its already crate trained. As for the paper training, some people have had luck with it. I personally don't like it because you're training a puppy its OK to got potty in the house and then you have to retrain it again later. I've seen more than a few instances where towels on the floor, rugs, dirty clothes, etc on the floor become fair game to pee on. I would always start teaching outside only. After being crated for a time, after a play session, after eating would all be times i'd take my puppy out and praise like crazy when they go pee outside. They learn pretty quickly. That's another benefit of using a crate on a puppy is you can put them in there when they can't be directly supervised and cuts down on the accidents in the house. Then when you're watching the pup you will start to notice the signs that he's thinking of doing his duty and can get him outside to the right place.

[Crossfire Bulldogs]

Originally Posted by Jacquie

Hi, I am not sure if i should be crate training my puppy until he has all of his vacinations....my older dog has all of hers and no other dogs are in my garden......right now i have been tryng paper training..........i just thought that if the pup might follow my older dog outdoors .......well suprivsed of course...any advice would be greatly appreciated..

jacquie and Tazer

I agree with pretty much everything that has already been said and I too believe that a dog should be crate trained. You mention not knowing wether you should attempt it until all the vaccinations, your pups vaccinations have nothing to do with the over all training of your dog and training should begin as soon as possible.

[flyndog]

If you paper train first, you'll just have to go through house training twice. That's no fun for anybody. I'd stop that and start training for outside.
Also, the puppy will learn about eliminating outside from your older dog. Doggy see, doggy doo.
Kit

[Jacquie]

HI, all of you advice has touched me greatly.......thank all of the people who responded I have forever greatfully appreciated...and i will start training as of today.

jacquie

[Crossfire Bulldogs]

Good luck with your little one and just remember.....patience, time and lots of praise are the keys to potty training.

[calgal]

Since my Yorkie wont be over 4 pounds, I have her trained to the wee-wee pad AND outside. When it's pouring rain I don't have to put her out to get a soaking, or when I'm gone a bit longer than she can hold herself, or were a few stories up in a hotel and don't want to venture out late, then the pads sure are great! During the day when I'm home she goes to the door to be let out. She does fantastic!