# Transition from paper training to outdoor potty



## lilyloo (Jun 20, 2012)

Hello!

We will be picking up our puppy the first week of July. She will be 8 weeks old. 

We visited her yesterday, and I was pleasantly surprised that the breeder has newspaper potty trained them. She has a designated area in the puppy living space that has newspaper laid down. All the puppies go over to the paper to pee and poo. She told me that they've been doing this since 5 weeks old and rarely have accidents in other areas of the puppy pin.

So, I am wondering how to use this to our advantage once we get her home. Can we lay newspaper over the grass and then eventually take it away? Or maybe put newspaper by the back door where she will ask to go out to potty?

Also, we have all wood/tile in the downstairs of our house where we plan to keep our girl. Upstairs is carpet, so we plan to put a gate on the stairs until she is further potty trained. I have a (very) white rug in our living room downstairs. Do you think I should roll it up and put it in storage until our little one is potty trained?

Thanks in advance!


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## adrino (Mar 31, 2012)

My breeder did the same and we did use paper for a short time when I realised she might just associate any paper on the floor with peeing. So we got rid of it and used puppy pads. We live in a flat so I had to use something. They do say it's good to put it next to the door where you take your pup out for potty, but in our case it was just close where her crate was and she barely ever went anywhere else. She learnt it fast where we wanted her to go and even when she was playing she would just run out and do her business there. I think the best thing you can do is take her out as often as you can and praise her a lot when she does her thing! : 
You could also say something when she pees or poopoos and later when she hears the same command she would do it. It works for us now. Good luck! 
Post loads of pictures! We all love them! ;D


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## hotmischief (Mar 11, 2012)

Our puppy came paper trained and I have to say it was very useful, especially as it was February and we couldn't leave a door open - far too cold  . At 8 - 10 weeks they seem to pee rather frequently and we were not always quick enought to get to the door and he didn't seem to know how to tell us he needed to go out. We put the paper by the back door and he was really good and went on it when we were too slow. We also put paper down at night as I am not too keen on crate training. I let him have access to paper at night until his bladder was large enough to go through the night. We found pads much more absorbent so changed to them. 

Once he was getting the idea of going outside we stopped putting paper down during the day and he would run between the back door and the patio doors to let us know he needed out. Of course we had one or two accidents but that is puppies for you. The down side of paper training is that when I put dust sheets down on our living room floor when it was being decorated he thought that was one large sheet of paper - he did that twice, but I think they were the only accidents we had.


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## harrigab (Aug 21, 2011)

we trained ours ourselves, tiled floor (that's my profession luckily). We started with newspaper over most of her area and then gradually reduced the amount to just near the door,,,took a few weeks but we got there in the end


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## Ozkar (Jul 4, 2011)

If you live in a house with a yard i would encourage you to get rid of the paper. Just take pup out to the designated area you want to use after playing, drinking, eating, sleeping or about every half hour to an hour depending on age.

Here are two toilet training tips I found useful.

When you take pup out to make it go, take a piece of paper towel wet down with warm water and wipe pups bits with it. It stimulates them to go. If you watch a good V mum, she licks their bits to make them go and then consumes it as it comes out in order to keep the whelping box clean.

The other tip i found really helpful and which really works and works fast, is when pup has an accident inside, do not admonish it. Just wipe up the mess with a paper towel, pick up pup and the soiled paper towel, take both out to the designated area, pop down the paper towel, pop down pup, the split second pup sniffs it, praise/reward pup.


Now, as for keeping pup to just downstairs.......................good luck with that  I hope pup gets you trained out of that quicksmart!!!!


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## jld640 (Sep 29, 2010)

Pick up anything that an accident would ruin, especially your very white rug. Even if she is a potty-training little genius, you will still have other puppy messes until she trains you how to help her stay out of trouble.


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## lilyloo (Jun 20, 2012)

Thanks, everyone. I especially like the tip about bringing the pup and the soiled paper towel outside. I will definitely try that out.


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## Ozkar (Jul 4, 2011)

FWIW it took one day to toilet train Ozkar. He never did number two's inside and only weed a couple of times due to us being asleep or not listening to him

It even works on adults. I had Zsa Zsa toilet trained in a few days and she was 12 months old when i got her and had never been inside a house.

I learnt most of this from an old Australian bushman. Very tuned into nature my pop was.


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## Linescreamer (Sep 28, 2010)

Paper training is for people who are lazy.  Especially with a dog that is as smart as a V. Forget about it, and read some of my posts or others on crate training. Focus on putting the pup on one spot outside in the grass from the second he/she comes home until they got the concept locked in. Good luck it's easier then you think.


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## Katscawn (Jun 24, 2012)

I would not use paper, it does just encourage messing on any paper in the house!
Keep a close eye, and you'll start to know when pup is about to "go" and be able to quickly take it outside, and don't forget loads of praise for going outside, but no shouting or scolding for accidents inside! 
I also use a cue word, I tend to say "quickly" or "hurry up" to get Reuben to go, this is especially useful last thing at night when he has his final time in the garden and when I want to go to bed! 
Using those methods I had Reuben house trained by about 12 weeks! 
Good luck!


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