Hey all,
One of my friends just got a puppy, and I'm trying to help her figure out the best way to toilet train her puppy.
The situation: Sometimes, both her and her boyfriend are scheduled to work at the same time and thus can't be home to let the puppy outside, so it stays in its crate for eight hours at a time, which means it has to hold it for eight hours or soil itself.
I, for one, don't think that's healthy. They live in an apartment, so they can't put a dog door to the outside.
This is what I'm suggesting she do: Set up one of those fenced enclosures (the metal ones or whatever) out of the way and put the puppy's crate in that. Then, teach the puppy to use a puppy pad outside its crate so it doesn't have to hold it for ever; only put down the pad when they'll be gone for extended periods of time so that it knows when they're there, it has to go OUTSIDE.
1) Is this a plausible idea?
and
2) How do you train a twelve week old puppy to use the pad? Same way as outside, with praise when they go on it and negative response when you catch them in the act on the carpet?
Thanks! She's a first time dog owner and I'm trying to help her best I can. ^_^;
One of my friends just got a puppy, and I'm trying to help her figure out the best way to toilet train her puppy.
The situation: Sometimes, both her and her boyfriend are scheduled to work at the same time and thus can't be home to let the puppy outside, so it stays in its crate for eight hours at a time, which means it has to hold it for eight hours or soil itself.
I, for one, don't think that's healthy. They live in an apartment, so they can't put a dog door to the outside.
This is what I'm suggesting she do: Set up one of those fenced enclosures (the metal ones or whatever) out of the way and put the puppy's crate in that. Then, teach the puppy to use a puppy pad outside its crate so it doesn't have to hold it for ever; only put down the pad when they'll be gone for extended periods of time so that it knows when they're there, it has to go OUTSIDE.
1) Is this a plausible idea?
and
2) How do you train a twelve week old puppy to use the pad? Same way as outside, with praise when they go on it and negative response when you catch them in the act on the carpet?
Thanks! She's a first time dog owner and I'm trying to help her best I can. ^_^;