When to start taking pup outside?
I just acquired a 7 week old cocker pup. She’s soooo tiny. I live in the Chicago area and don’t know if it’s too cold to start taking her “out” to go “potty”. Temp today is around 35 degrees. Would appreciate feedback.
lindajo
————-
Start taking her out immediately. Just don’t make her stay out in the cold any longer than it takes her to do her business, unless, of course, she wants to stay out longer.
The general rule of thumb is that a puppy should be taken outside to eliminate *at least* as often as the puppy is old in months. That means you should be taking your 7 week old puppy out *at least* every 1 3/4 hrs. Puppies should also be taken out immediately after they eat, drink, wake up from a nap, come out of their crate (if you’re using a crate), and/or play vigorously.
I adopted the Moondog as a tiny puppy about the same age as yours many years ago. It was early Dec. in northern MN - COLD! The poor little Moonpuppy thought she was being punished every time I took her outside, and as often as not she’d hold it until she came back in, then immediately let loose on the floor. She didn’t housebreak until all the snow melted and the temps started to warm up in the spring. Even so, I felt it was very important to keep taking her out that first winter so she understood that she got praised when she eliminated outside.
Personally, I think paper training is a very bad idea unless you intend to have your dog eliminating inside your house for the rest of her life. It’s just too confusing for the puppy to teach her that it’s OK to pee and poop on paper in your house when she’s little, then convince her it’s no longer OK when she’s older. It’s better to get her into the habit of doing her business outdoors right from the start.
Don’t worry if she has accidents in the house for the first few months, and don’t make a fuss over it if she does. Just quietly clean it up and make a commitment to take her out more often to try to avoid repeat accidents. As her bladder and bowels mature, she’ll be able to more successfully control her eliminations. In the meantime, stock up on paper towels.
Happy puppyhood,
Tempest
————–
GREAT ADVICE!!!!
karenc64
—————-
am sorry to disagree but I always recommend paper training until the puppies have had all their vaccines and, at 7 weeks of age, she has not had all the boosters. It’s not good to let them interact with other dogs or to be exposed to surfaces where sick dogs could have touched (like putting them down in Petsmart or the vet’s office or any other place where there have been dogs) Distemper, for example, is one disease that dogs can catch from contact with infected surfaces for years and years after the sick dog touched them -and, I just read two weeks ago that vets have begun to notice outbreaks of distemper that have gone misdiagnosed as other problems -even dogs that have been vaccinated can get distemper although it’s usually not fatal -and, it’s a terrible, terrible disease which has no cure and makes them suffer something terrible.
As to the paper training, it depends on the dog and how consistent and intensive the training is to switch them over from paper to street. I use it for very young dogs and small breeds and I have never had a problem with the switching.
Good luck!
Bibi