In all honesty who can really blame our little ones when they don’t fancy braving the wet and cold when they need the loo?
They need to go but leaving the warmth of the living room is a big challenge and one they choose not to take and just pee or poop on your warm fluffy carpet.
This is however unacceptable and so we need to put in place a plan.
Even if you had your puppy toilet trained pre cold or wet spell you may now need to start again.
You may never have had to use puppy pee pads before but I suggest you go and get some now, having them ready to hand during a spell of bad weather will save you a lot of bother when your fur baby chooses not to go outside.
I suggest placing your pad next to the back door, if possible, on an easy to clean floor.
Puppy pads have an attractant so they will appeal to your puppy. Introduce your pup to the pad and let them have a good smell, then give them the toilet cue, for example, go wee wee. You’ll need to keep this going until your fur baby does something, even a little wee. Celebrate and treat your puppy for using the pad.
By now you have probably worked out your puppy’s signals, going in a circle when they need a poop, suddenly getting fidgety when they need a wee, watch them like a hawk and as soon as you see the sign or if they are in mid pee rush them over to the pad and wait whilst repeating your wee wee cue (if pup is in mid poop please be careful not to scare them into stopping, unfortunately I recommend waiting for them to finish and then taking them to the pad and waiting for a pee, this will stop them from getting any issues with poop, holding it or hiding it).
Once you have got a reliable wee and poop on the pad, when pup goes over to the pad open the door a little so that pup still associates peeing and pooping with the outside, this will help you to re introduce the outside when there is better weather.
If you decide that pads option isn’t for you then you’ll need to get your puppy some warm and water proof clothing. Start every 20 minutes taking your pup outside all dressed up and wait for a toilet to happen, as the liquid is coming out use your cue e.g. "wee wee's" say it gently while they are peeing and then repeat happily when they have finished, celebrate, treat if you choose, and come back in. After a day of doing 20 minutes you can increase the time to 40 minutes every time dressing pup in their winter warmers.
After two days you can increase the time to every hour if you are getting success, if not you could always go back to every 20 or 40 minutes. Within two weeks or so you should find pup is letting you know when they want to go out.
Remember the hot times for going toilet are straight after waking from a sleep, playing, after eating or drinking or even after chewing for a long time. Dress your puppy up, place the lead on and take them to your designated toilet spot and wait.
This isn’t a quick fix, this is the long game, but it’s worth it. Put the time in and you’ll get there.
Good luck training!
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