# 8 week old pups and house training. Can they go in your garden?



## Patches (16 December 2009)

Another dumb question, sorry. 
	
	
		
		
	


	





I had planned, when we picked Harvey up, to not bother with puppy training pads and newspaper etc. My plan of action was to just scoop him up and take him outside every time he stooped, or went to have a wee. I'd rather not teach him it's ok to go in the house, if I can help it, even if it is on paper/pads. 

I realise in the short term this means we're bound to have more accidents, but long term I'm hoping it stands us in good stead. 

Is this a stupid plan? I am fully prepared to be carting a puppy outside that's already mid flow. 

Anyway, a woman told me today that I HAVE to train him onto paper or puppy pads because he absolutely cannot cross the threshold to outside until he's had his second jab. Is this true? I certainly didn't keep Bess off the floor outside in our yard and garden until then, she just didn't mix with other dogs. 

It will scupper my plan if this is correct, but obviously I will do what's best for Harvey.


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## katie_southwest (16 December 2009)

When we got our pup we let her in the garden before she had her second jab...
no other dogs had been in our garden so we presumed it was ok...


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## spaniel (16 December 2009)

To be honest I dont think you will get to him quickly enough to be able to get him to the garden. Ive paper trained in the conservatory which has a tiled floor so cleaning up isnt a problem.

I wouldnt have a pup out in the garden until at least the first injection and you also need to consider that its absolutely freezing cold so trying to train in that environment could well be counterproductive.  The last thing you want is a dog who doesnt want to leave the house.

I dont think you can rush this first stage and you will need to expect accidents on a daily basis.  They are inevitable as a puppies muscle systenm is nowhere near truly developed in the bladder department until at least 6 months old.


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## dingle12 (16 December 2009)

With Gizmo we picked him up from the breeder and as soon as i got him home i put him in the garden and said toilet and waited until he did it. He hated been outside and kept sitting by my feet so i walked round he went for a wee and i said good boy and took him in. We had paper by the back door but when ever i say him go on it i opened the door and put him out and said toilet and he went. Other times if i wasnt about he did it on the paper. My two dogs have there vacc and no other dogs have been in our garden so thats why i let him in ours. I got Gizmo at 6 weeks for various reasons and he was house trained by 7 weeks 
	
	
		
		
	


	




 he does ask to go out alot too i just wish it was summer so i could keep the back door open


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## Patches (16 December 2009)

Oh absolutely. I am fully well aware that we're going to have lots of accidents. 

I'm just wary of the fact that Jasper was paper trained and getting him to go from the paper in the house to the paper outside just didn't work. He was still having accidents regularly until he was 3 years old! Eeeeep! 

Maybe I will do the paper training then. He will have had his first jab before we get him. 
	
	
		
		
	


	





It's going to get colder too......he'll need to start going out at some point.


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## GinaB (16 December 2009)

If there are no other dogs inthe garden, I can't see it being an issue. Although I used to feel terrible dumping my poor little schnauzer pup out on the cold concrete. Even though I got her during summer 
	
	
		
		
	


	




 Apparently I am just a big softie at heart 
	
	
		
		
	


	





I have never used paper or training pads


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## Cyrus (16 December 2009)

Have never bothered with paper training with any of our three breeders have always said theres no point in confusing the dog by teaching it one minute that its fine to pee in the house (on paper) and then the next minute its not we have always had ours out in the garden after every feed, drink, playtime,sleep and used the command go toilet and heaped praise/brought them inside as soon as they`ve done it.
Another trick we used is we took them to the same spot in the garden and gave the command its especially useful if you dont want your garden wrecked with pee scalds etc


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## MurphysMinder (16 December 2009)

I have always had my pups in the garden from the day I bring home, and with the ones I have bred from the day they can run around.  My other dogs go in there but they do not mix with others.  I am rural and so can be sure no stray dogs go in the garden, I'm pretty sure you are the same aren't you Patches?  I usually have paper down overnight or when I am not about but other than that I always pick up and take outside.   You will soon spot the signs, when he starts sniffing the ground, circling etc, and of course take him out after every meal, when he wakes up and so on.  If you are consistent you will find he will hopefully learn quite quickly.  Not long to go now


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## TGM (16 December 2009)

Gercha went straight out into the garden to do her business from 7 weeks old.  We were just warned not to let her socialise with other dogs or go where other dogs had been.  Didn't use paper at all, but did use a crate so if she woke up wanting to wee she was inclined to hold it until I noticed she was awake and was ready to rush her outside.  Only had two accidents in the house and she was totally house-trained in 2-3 weeks.


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## FinnishLapphund (16 December 2009)

According to my vets, if Harvey's mother is properly vaccinated and she has fed her puppies well, then Harvey will have gotten some of her protection through the milk. Add the jab he gets before you get him and though not enough for you to allow him to meet strange dogs, it should be enough for him to go out in a fenced in garden. 



Personally I've always used both papers and taking them out. Taking them outside is always my first option but if I'm asleep and they need to go in the middle of the night or if I've already been out four/five/etc times and all they've wanted to do was play and it never fails, the time when I give up and say "We've just been out, I'm not taking you out to play again for a while!", that is the time that they really need to go, anyhow when/if an accident happens, I simply prefer if they do it on a paper and not just anywhere in the house. 

I see it as a help to teach them that there is certain places where you pee and poo. The difference I suppose could be if you train them to use the papers or if it is what they should use when their owner is to "stupid"/asleep to let them out in time.


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## kirstyhen (16 December 2009)

The problem isn't so much from other dogs, but foxes, badgers, birds, etc etc so being rural doesn't help you much. However I can't imagine not letting puppy out until it's had all it's vaccinations and then teaching it that going in the house is not allowed!

Otto went outside for the second he got home (although he was older, so a wee bit tougher!) and we didn't have a fenced in garden at that point.
I didn't bother with Paper training him either, mainly because we don't get any newspapers and I wasn't about to start buying them just so he could pee on them! And those puppy pads are so expensive!! But I do think it confuses the issue when you let them go in the house first.


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## RobinHood (16 December 2009)

Ours have always gone in the garden from day 1 as I find they learn by following the older dogs out the dog flap and joining in with the communal weeing  
	
	
		
		
	


	




. This works really well and none of them have had more than 2 or 3 accidents in the house.

They also go up to feed the horses, come with us to events etc before they've had the second jab, I just avoid places frequently visited by other dogs. My vet said he deals with a lot more dogs that have problems resulting from a lack of socialisation than puppies that have picked things up before their 2nd jab.


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## spaniel (16 December 2009)

Totally agree about the socialisation,  start as soon as you can.  Quiet gentle and pleasent experiences at the start stand you in good stead later on.  Ruby has been thrown in at the deep end at home with all the building work thats been going on and she isnt phased at all and she welcomes any old strange bloke into the house....not sure she will be good as a guard dog but the collie makes up for it!


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## Patches (16 December 2009)

[ QUOTE ]
Totally agree about the socialisation,  start as soon as you can.  Quiet gentle and pleasent experiences at the start stand you in good stead later on.  Ruby has been thrown in at the deep end at home with all the building work thats been going on and she isnt phased at all and she welcomes any old strange bloke into the house....not sure she will be good as a guard dog but the collie makes up for it! 

[/ QUOTE ]

Not sure any Spaniel makes a good guard dog........although the incessant bark for attention could be confused as aggression by an intruder. 
	
	
		
		
	


	









One of the many reasons I like Cocker Spaniels is because they have a big bark for their size, don't they? Behind a solid door I think most people would expect the dog to be bigger and less friendly looking.  
	
	
		
		
	


	





I might not let him in the garden, as of course we will have foxes and badgers about....plus I have Guinea Fowl that regularly fly the hen enclosure. 

However, I do have a small blue dust brick yard that is gated to stop access to the farmyard itself and the garden. I can happily disinfect that yard daily to prevent as many germs as is possible ahead of the second jab and wait for the quarantine after the second jab before letting him have free range of the garden. 

I've never seen foxes or badgers come that close to our house though, largely because the garden is very secure with small green plastic coated stock style fencing between the posts/rails as well as willow screening on the back of it to stop me having a birds eye view of the septic tank and weedy wilderness around it.


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## galaxy (16 December 2009)

My pup is now 11 weeks old.  We never did any paper or training pads .  He caught on REALLY fast and after a couple of days hardly had any accidents.  Never did any numbers 2s inside from day one!  We were told the garden was fine, as was the stable up the yard.  He basically can't go anywhere an unvaccinated dog/animal may have been.

The advice I got was that to paper train them, then to make them go on grass confuses them so you're best off going straight to grass!  

3 weeks on, we have days of no accidents at all, then the occasional one, but that's more my fault than mine.  He was pretty good within a week.


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## Beatrice5 (16 December 2009)

My puppies go outside while still with Mum as a part of their education. My bitches are all vaccinated and up to date do therefore the puppies get some immunity from her milk. The vet agrees with this too. I think it is very confusing for a puppy to have paper put down for it and then be told not to pee / poo in the house at a later date. Dogs like to be clean and a young puppy will need to go out every hour in the day to get the hang of house training and we crate our puppies at night and even young puppies can do 11 til 5 / 6 am very quickly. My little ones go to their new homes already having a good idea of what is expected as they just copy Mum and I give them the comand trickles so they know what I mean after a few sucessful trips to the garden.

Talk to your vet if your are worried also reading books like the perfect puppy by Gwen Bailey or the book of the bitch are very comprehensive .

Good luck and enjoy your little one


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## galaxy (16 December 2009)

Yes, the Perfect Puppy is an excellent book!


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## MARIA51 (16 December 2009)




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