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potty re-training
by Heidi
ORIGINAL MESSAGE:
Hi!I presently live in a condominium & I have my 1 year old pup, potty trained on wee-wee pads. We will be moving in a few months to a house with a back yard & we wanted to train him to go outside. What is the best method to re-train you dog once they are set in their ways?
DISCUSSION:
I would say you would have to bring your little one out on very regular intervals so that the message is "Outside". Also, a lot of praise helps. I would also suggest that you start weaning your baby away from the wee-wee pads now so it's not too stressful. The new surroundings are going to be stressful enough without adding to it. Good luck.
Kathy
Changing the potty place is one of the hardest things to do in training - I did it myself. Binky was paper-trained (sort of) when I got her, but I wanted her to go outside. It took weeks of scrubbing the carpet, but she's trained well now. A good suggestion I heard was to gradually move the wee-wee pad next to the door, and when the dog goes there with no problem, put the pad just outside the door, and then once they get the hang of asking to go out, take the pad away and praise the dog for going in the yard. Good luck!
Judy
My Maltese is"double-trained" and it has never been a problem.
You can have the best of both worlds. I would never give up wee-wee pads. After moving, wait awhile before training to go outside and stick as closely as you can to your baby's routine. To train to go out, just put a used pad in the place you want her to go, and use the words for "potty" that she is used to. Try first thing in the morning when she wakes up. Leave her indoor pad where it is, she may have a few accidents, and this is where you want her to have them. I always leave a pad down for Noah, but first thing in the morning, he likes to go outside. If I tell him, its raining, he'll go right to the pad.
April B
I agree with April. Maya was comfortable going inside or out. Which was very convenient in bad weather. Why set yourself up for HAVING to go out when you don't have to? They're intelligent enough to know potty on paper is good and potty al fresco is okay too.
Isabel
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