Paper Training Maltese

Help! I've had my Jazz baby (6 month male) for two weeks now. I use puppy wee pads, and from day one he's been 99% cooperative in going on the pad. I've used lots of lavish praise and small treats to reinforce, and been very successful for 2 weeks. For the past 2 days he has yet to use the wee pad one single time! He's closely supervised, so I "catch him in the act" nearly every time, scold him, and put him on the wee pad. I will see him go to the pad, go in circles sniffing it, then run about a foot away from it and squat on the floor. Any ideas?
Marsha O

• Try this. Put down an additional wee pad in the exact spot where jazz baby is doing his business. If he starts going on that one only then in a few days, pick up the older one. It worked for me. Good luck and let us know how you make out as I would be curious.
  Claudia V.

• I really appreciation your reponse, Claudia. It sounds like maybe your pup was going in the same place off the pad each time. Jazz is going in different places, just always within about a foot radius of the wee pad. I just can't figure out why all of a sudden he's doing this, and what I can do about it. If you have any ideas, I would be very happy to hear them.
  Marsha O.

• Please, the situation is deteriorating. Jazz has now gone 7 days without resuming his paper training. The only way I've been able to get him to go on the pad again is to confine him in a puppy ex-pen, with some panels removed, making it about 4 square feet. If I add any more panels, he quits going on the pad again. I've been taking him to work with me every day, and keeping him in my 10' X 12' office. He was also paper-trained there, but now won't go on the paper. I've had to start keeping him in his crate at the office. HELP. I don't know what else to do!
  Marsha O.

• Marsha, relax... it took a good 8 months before each of my Maltese were paper trained to the point that I let them have the run of the house. Start over. Keep your pup confined in a small area of pen and don't increase the size until he has mastered that area. I didn't do much scolding at this early stage but I did lots and lots of praise when they got it right. Also, if you can stand it, try leaving the soiled wee wee pad in place until it is used several times. The smell helps the pup find his way back to the right place. I change my dogs' wee wee pad once a day. Also, after your pup has mastered the wee wee pad, you might try using the unscented human ones. They are a LOT less expensive and work great for my dogs. Good Luck!
  DLS

• Whenever you start paper training a puppy, restrict the dog's area to about the size of a smallish kitchen. There should be enough room for sleeping, separate from eating, separate from the paper. Use the treated puppy pads or hospital underpads with drops that will attract the dog to the area. Do not allow your puppy to roam around a large area too soon. Also, when you are ready to allow your dog out into the rest of the home, keep the place of his paper consistent. You wouldn't like to have someone move your bathroom around, would you? Puppies also have a tendency to play a lot and then suddenly realize that they have to go. If they run to the spot they last remember their paper, and it isn't there, there isn't time for the puppy to look for his paper -- and then you've got a mistake.

  I've got six of my own Maltese, and I am a breeder. Usually the puppies I sell are 95% paper trained. What does that mean? It just means that dogs will have accidents occassionally.
  Aimee

• This is going to sound strange, and your house will look a little strange for awhile, but I have a male that I thought I would never paper train. On pretty days he used the dog door and never used the bathroom inside, but when the door was closed, he had 4 spots he liked to go, none of which was on the paper. I asked a trainer and she told me to place a small bowl of dry dog food, just a little of it everywhere that he went to the bathroom. She said the dog would not go by where he ate. Well I had 6 bowls of food around the house, but he quit and used the paper. He is now 9 months old and perfectly trained.
  Marsha Ardoin