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I have a 12 weeks old puppy which needs potty training. I also have a 15 months old toddler who i cannot leave in the house on his own to take the dog out every hour. Puppy would do her needs everywhere BUT outside. She has a spot in the conservatory where she is supposed to do it when she is in but won’t use it all the time. Any ideas please?

Can’t be done.
You WON’T succeed in toilet-training a pooch unless you can predict that it WANTS to go and can recognise its signal (commonly an anxious nose-down circling) and IMMEDIATELY take it to the spot, wait till it obliges, then praise & reward it. And you can’t predict unless you can concentrate & observe well enough to learn Pup’s signal & timing.

You need to organise your baby-focussed activities for when your pup is outside in its security run, and for when your husband is home to look after either the baby or the pup. And you need a "prison" you can hurriedly put Baby into when you HAVE to stop Puppy messing in the wrong place.
Fortunately a baby grows & learns (and MOVES!) MUCH more slowly than does a puppy!

You don’t state the breed. An 8 weeks old GSD can be toilet-trained in one afternoon - but during that afternoon it MUST have 100% of your attention. And it needs revision for the next few days, so that it becomes a permanent habit to go to that place.
A 12 weeks pup should be able to hold on for close to 3 hours, not need to go out "every hour".

◙ To ask about Pup’s breed, join some of the YahooGroups dedicated to various aspects of living with them. Each group’s Home page tells you which aspects they like to discuss, and how active they are. Unlike YA, they are set up so that you can have an ongoing discussion with follow-up questions for clarification. Most allow you to include photos in your messages.
Les P, owner of GSD_Friendly: http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/GSD_Friendly
"In GSDs" as of 1967

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Filed under: Puppy Training

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