17 week old puppy - house training advice please.

Sorbet

Hi All - Looking for some advice on house training our 17 week old Shih Tzu puppy please.

We have used puppy pads since bringing her home at week 9. Have combined that with trying to reward her and be really excited when she poos outside - which has been relatively successful and she does mostly during day time hours. Hasn't really worked so much with pees which she prefers to do inside on pads. She sleeps in a pen at night (we haven't used a crate) and has access to a puppy pad and sometimes will poo in the morning on pad before we wake up.

I've read various things on the web about how to move pads towards door and eventually outside. What I'm a bit confused about is that we haven't used a crate and imagine that if we simply remove pads from her pen at night she'll just go in a corner without a pad as she hasn't learned to hold it.

She sleeps brilliantly all night in the pen and would hate to disturb that but am wondering if we need to crate train her at this stage at night to teach her to hold it overnight.

Not 100% against using a crate for her at night if that's the best or only way but would appreciate any direction as am finding it hard to get advice from the web for this specific situation as most seem to assume everyone uses a crate.

Thanks

volchitsa

I didn't use puppy pads but I think the idea is that if she can't find a pad within reach she'll hold on (a bit) until she gets access to one. So unless she's being left so long at night that she just can't hold in, she'll just wait until she's let out of her pen.

Where you then place that pad, outside of her pen, is the next step.

tk123

I would ditch the pads as they’re sending mixed signals - ie it’s ok to go in the house sometimes but we expect you to go outside other times.

My pup will be 10 weeks on Sunday and is going to the door now when he needs to be taken out to the loo. He’ll also go when I say the magic words - (busybusybusy - I don’t know why we use that lol)… I take him out after sleeping/eating/playing and we’ve only had a handful of accidents where we missed his cue and didn’t take him out on time. When he goes he gets praise and treats and basically runs to us now when he’s done looking for his reward.

The pen is fine and no need to change to a crate (I’m using both).. but if she’s using a pad in the pen overnight you need to get up earlier and get her out. I didn’t wake my pup at night (I think this is a bit outdated now?) because I knew from experience he’d wake early and gradually sleep longer rather than needing to go out during the night. This also guarantees a full bladder and wee to reward in the morning and a poo if you’re lucky lol. I often wonder if trainers who recommend taking them out multiple times a night had ever had a pup lol