indoor/outdoor training ????'s

[3RingCircus]

Hey there!!

I have two puppies. The first, Scout, is seven months old and he is trained to go indoors on washable pads. He does great and since he knows the "go potty" command, I can have him go anywhere I want, indoors or out.

Now that we have our second puppy, she's 13 weeks, having them both go on the washable pads is too smelly. I've moved the pads to the garage but have kept a paper pad in the house since my first pup IS used to going in that spot. I also want both of them to have the option of going inside when we're gone for longer than six hours at a time. Fortunately that's not often but as a family we do like to ski and go places for the day. My question is this: how do I let Sasha know that the garage pads are her main area and the indoor pads are an option when we can't take her out? Do I have her go on the pads in the garage every few hours 90% of the time and the other 10% have her go on the paper pads inside? Do I have her go on the pads in the garage 100% of the time and hope that eventually she'll learn from my older pup that she is allowed to go in the house on the paper pad if she has to? She's not fully trained yet and I don't want to confuse her. I think she's barely starting to understand the "go potty" command which is encouraging. What's not encouraging is that she'll still have an accident here and there, even if we're watching her closely. I guess I'm comparing her too much to my wonder puppy, Scout. Also, she refuses to go on a paper pad that has been used, even by her! So swapping out paper pads can get expensive which is why I love the idea of her using the washable pads in the garage. There's no smell in the house and for some reason, she'll go on those over and over. Hope this makes sense and thanks in advance for your advice!!

[Rebecca]

Hmmm... sounds like a fairly complex plan. Let me make sure I understand what you're trying to achieve here. Is the reason you're using disposable pads indoors just that the washable ones are getting too stinky, or is it because you're trying to familiarize them with disposable ones in case you need to travel and use those instead of the washable ones?

If you're not opposed to using the washable pads inside, that seems like it would be a better way to go, since Sasha will use them more than once. Sounds like you mostly want to get them using the garage pads, so maybe the stink factor won't be a big deal if the indoor pad isn't their primary spot. You may also want to try pre-treating your washable pads by spraying them with pet odor neutralizer before using them... just be sure to let the neutralizer dry before putting the pad down, since your pups might not want to walk on a soggy pad!

And a couple more questions before I help you figure this out... do the dogs have access to the garage pads at all times, or do you need to take them to the garage pads? And are you crating them when they're alone/unsupervised or do you have them in a confined area with their pads?

Let me know and we'll see what we can come up with!

[3RingCircus]

Thanks so much for your reply! So yes, the reason for moving the pads into the garage is because of the smell. There is no access to the garage but I work from home so letting her out is easy. When I can't watch her or we're gone for an extended period of time, she's confined to a bathroom with her stuff and three or four disposable pads. I'd like her to do what Scout does: I open the door to the garage and he runs down and goes on the pads. When we're gone for a while and he has to go, he knows to use the disposable pad in the house. And that was only after a few days of training him after he had originally been trained to go inside. He's brilliant!!! That's how I want her mind to work: primary area is outside but inside is an option when we're gone. He has the run of the house when we're gone and he does great! That's what I'd like for her eventually. Here's something new: in the past few days, after going #1 outside, she'll come in, trot right over to her disposable that was left in the bathroom, and go #2!! I'm hoping this means that something is clicking with the indoor pad. Sorry this is so confusing. It's confusing to ME and it's in my own head!!! Thanks a ton!!

[3RingCircus]

One more thing I want to clarify. Not sure if this will help or not. If their primary area is outside, then using disposable pads inside isn't an issue as far as cost and waste. Hopefully I would only have to change out a pad inside a few times a week since I'm not gone that often.

[Rebecca]

Okay, I think I've got it now! So, there's no way to assure that your pup will understand that she's primarily supposed to use the garage pads and that the indoor pad is only for emergency use when you're away. You might get lucky and have that happen, but even if you don't, you can still get the effect you're looking for by keeping her as empty as possible by taking her to the garage pads to empty out frequently... that way, even if she does want to just use the indoor pad whenever she needs to go, it won't be very frequent since you're having her potty in the garage often enough that she won't feel a lot of urgency to go when she's in the house. And even if the plan doesn't work exactly as you'd like, worst case scenario will be a few extra pees or poops on the indoor pad, which shouldn't be a big deal.

You'll likely get her to understand that the indoor pads are an option just by having her confined with them while you're away, but if you want to be on the safe side and make sure she knows she has that option, you can always do a small percentage of her potty trips on the indoor pad (90% garage, 10% indoor pad as you mentioned would probably work fine).

Of course, you'll also need to supervise her very carefully in between potty trips to prevent accidents.

When you have a dog like Scout who catches on easily to potty training, it's especially important to not expect your new pup to be equally brilliant at picking it up... every dog is different and the exceptional ones like Scout who figure it all out in a few days are unfortunately the exception, not the rule!

Good luck!!

[3RingCircus]

GREAT!!! This was the plan that I had in my head. I guess I just wasn't positive that it was the right one but now you've confirmed that. Thank you for the advice about not comparing her to Scout. At times I wonder what's wrong with her since at her age, Scout wasn't even having accidents anymore. Okay!! Time to train with confidence. Thanks again!!!