# Ripping Up the Pad Now



## Ant Nay (Mar 21, 2005)

Hello All

I am reaching out to the experts on this site to help me once again...Our little guy Oscar is 12 weeks old and he has been with us for 4 week now...we are training him to go on the pad inside. In the beginning he was pulling on the pad folding it over and we finally got a Pad bracket, it is great it looks like a frame and it holds the pad down in place. During the day Oscar’s “room” is our smaller bathroom he has his crate in the toys and water and some food and his pad and his Kong. He has been great in hitting the pad everyday (in larger rooms he has accidents) now his new thing is to rip up the pad tearing the white area up and making holes, when my wife came home yesterday his pad was full and he had ripped it up. 
I thought maybe he did it because he had filled the pad and thought by doing this it would make him room to “go make” well this morning while he was in there as we got ready for work, he was ripping up his fresh pad again. I am not sure if he is upset about being in the room, or this is a “puppy thing” but we would like to stop this behavior , any ides on how to get him to stop ripping it up. My wife just called and said he was ripping up the new pad I left and she replaced it and he is tearing at that one already.
Any help would REALLY be appreciated....thanks so much

A.


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## kodie (Aug 24, 2004)

This might be a stupid question but are you correcting this bad behavior or just changing the pad? 
Have you taught your pup the word "NO" yet?


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## Ant Nay (Mar 21, 2005)

Oh Yes !...he has heard the word no, I took him over to the pad and said this is a "NO" you "go make" here...don't want to use too many words...but yes every time he does something we say "oops" if he goes in the wrong place, or a word to make him stop chasing his trail or biting the molding...but this I showed him and said this is a "No" and he looked at us wagged his tail, and was a little scared...like he knew, we were not yelling...but he went back to do it once we walked away.....


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## kodie (Aug 24, 2004)

If he bites the pad when your home and see him doing it is the best time to let him know hes doing wrong. Kodie used to do this too. I kept reinforcing "NO biting" everytime he would go for the puppy pad. He learned really fast. Kodie will bite his pad now only if he gets mad... which is rarely.. but kodie is also 2yrs old now. From my experience I would just keep correcting him and by repeating that he will catch on.







Just make sure when you come home from work and he bit up the pad that you dont correct him and then praise him afterwards. I correct kodie and then dont pay attention to him for about 15 mins... so he sees him upset with him.


I guess I should add that teaching Kodie the "NO BITING" command is what helped.







You know when your pup is young and tries biting you... well I used the same command for the puppy pad. I hope that makes sense. So I taught Kodie "NO biting" me and "NO biting" the puppy pad.


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## Brinkley & Neyland's Mom (Jun 14, 2004)

Brink also only tears up wee pads out of frustration....usually this is when we come home from being gone several hours and have to turn around and leave again soon...








I have cured this by filling his treat toy with treats right before we leave, or giving him a chicken jerky...this distracts him enough I guess when we leave the second time...I am assuming he plays and/or eats his treats and then goes back to sleep. Works for us anyway.


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## Ant Nay (Mar 21, 2005)

Ok, sounds good we will do that we will come home and show him that is a "no" and leave him gated in his "room" for a while...we did that yesterday and he threw a FIT ...I guess he has been in there all day and now that we are home he is still locked in, he was not happy and he learned how to bark now...Joy
We will correct him when we see him doing it, but when we come home we will show him "no" and then praise him later...thanks for the help...


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## Ant Nay (Mar 21, 2005)

I think in a way he is upset that we are leaving him also, when he wakes up in the morning (from his crate in our room) we play with him but then put him in his "room" so he can go on the pad pee and right after he eats poo, so he gets a little upset. He just stared doing this a few days ago, so maybe it's his way of lashing out...when we come home we try to take him out but with us also if we need to run out then he gets nuts, or if we have to gate him in the kitchen and we are doing things around him he cries and cries and like I said he is starting to realize he can bark. We are not sure how to stop him from destroying the pad we have to leave for work....we do leave him a Kong when we go...not sure what to do besides the "NO" when we see him or to show him it is not goods when we get back home.....






> _Originally posted by tlunn_@Jun 8 2005, 08:45 AM
> *Brink also only tears up wee pads out of frustration....usually this is when we come home from being gone several hours and have to turn around and leave again soon...
> 
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## kodie (Aug 24, 2004)

Kodie would do it because he was mad at me too... but this behavior needs to be fixed before he gets older. It reminds me of a child that take a temper tantrum.


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## Ant Nay (Mar 21, 2005)

> _Originally posted by Kodie_@Jun 8 2005, 10:10 AM
> *Kodie would do it because he was mad at me too... but this behavior needs to be fixed before he gets older.  It reminds me of a child that take a temper tantrum.
> <div align="right">index.php?act=findpost&pid=70492*


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Yes exactly...I guess he is mad at us for putting him in or leaving him there...we work so we are not able to have him out of the room that much, we have another bathroom that is slightly larger that might fir him well and the pad is not right by his crate...but I guess the only way to stop it is to say "no" and show him it's wrong...he is not ready for a trainer or puppy school yet, he is not through getting his shots...so we must wait for now 
Any other suggestions bring them on, we are open to ides how to stop this...can’t have him throwing a “fit” every time he goes in there


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## kodie (Aug 24, 2004)

well i have Kodie in a pen I bought from petsmart. I always put the one side of the puppy pad underneath the pen to hold it in place. Just thought I'd throw that in.


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## Ant Nay (Mar 21, 2005)

> _Originally posted by Kodie_@Jun 8 2005, 10:41 AM
> *well i have Kodie in a pen I bought from petsmart.  I always put the one side of the puppy pad underneath the pen to hold it in place.  Just thought I'd throw that in.
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Thanks for the input, we have a pad holder and now that is why he is pulling the white center out he can't get to the rest of pad....I thinkhe is just throwing a tamtrum....


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## doctorcathy (May 17, 2004)

when i first got the girls, the wee wee pad wasnt available 24/7. i always played with them, ran around the house...and then when they would stop and smell----i would carry them to the enclosed area (enclosed by 1980's huge encyclopedias. lol)so that they HAD to go potty before they were let out. and i knew they needed to go. you know? but i wouldnt keep them in there for longer than like 3-5 mnutes. they learned that the wee wee pad is only for potty. and they didnt have the chance to rip it up. and sprite went through a phase of trying to drag the wee wee pad by the edge...so i taped it down to the carpet. 

anyway, after maybe a month i didnt enclose the wee wee pad...but i would watch them like a hawk. sprite was trained with in 3 months and ellie was trained within 2 months. 


good luck!


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## kodie (Aug 24, 2004)

I was looking at that web site... How do you search for open back dress and long train? I dont see any dress like that... anyone ever see a dress like that?


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## Ant Nay (Mar 21, 2005)

Pad Update

We are still having the daily issues with our little guy ripping at his pad, we try to say "NO" when we catch him in the act, but he does it more when he is alone, yesterday I came home to find half the pad ripped he peed and pooped on the floor (where the pad should be) and I said "no" and no bite, "go make" here and then after let him sit there in his crate and ignored him to let him know I am upset. After a few minutes I took him out of his area and praised him and he was good, until this morning, we put him in his area when he woke up to pee and poo. He actually peed on his pillow that he lays on and pooped on the pad (not too bad) ...
I also gave him his teething toy (thought he might be teething), and I went upstairs to get ready for work, and he started to rip the pad I caught him and said "No" that is a bad, he stopped but then my wife caught him doing it again before she left...any ideas as to why and what we can do to stop this. We do not want to crate him the entire time we are at work.....

Thanks Again
A.


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## kodie (Aug 24, 2004)

just curious but does your little one take his toy on the pad and play? Kodie sometimes does that and bites the pad as he plays.


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## kodie (Aug 24, 2004)

Maybe your pup is bored... do you let him run around in the morning and play before getting ready for work? He might be full of energy and ripping the pad because hes mad your leaving.

It also sounds like your pup isnt completely trainned on the puppy pads yet... so please have patience with it. Trust me Kodie used to bite his pad too but i really do believe you can correct this behavior.


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## Ant Nay (Mar 21, 2005)

> _Originally posted by Kodie_@Jun 10 2005, 07:43 AM
> *just curious but does your little one take his toy on the pad and play?  Kodie sometimes does that and bites the pad as he plays.
> <div align="right">index.php?act=findpost&pid=71255*


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We do see him sit on there at times playing with his toys and we try to not have him do that. We do not want him to feel that is a place he should lay and get comfortable (guess that didn't work) that is why we tried to put a pillow he likes in there but he peed on it this morning...not sure what to do at this point. I know he is at home chewing away at his pad...hahahah


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## kodie (Aug 24, 2004)

and he has toys in there to play with? you ever try a kong?

Kodie still plays with his toys on his puppy pad... but if i see him getting rough with it I say "no". The funny thing is... Kodie will take his food on his puppy pad too.. which can be gross if there is pee on it!! Kodie basically learned to love his puppy pad. He pees, poos, plays, sits on it at times, and eats on it.. haha..


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## Ant Nay (Mar 21, 2005)

> _Originally posted by Kodie_@Jun 10 2005, 08:01 AM
> *and he has toys in there to play with?  you ever try a kong?
> 
> Kodie still plays with his toys on his puppy pad... but if i see him getting rough with it I say "no".  The funny thing is... Kodie will take his food on his puppy pad too.. which can be gross if there is pee on it!!  Kodie basically learned to love his puppy pad.  He pees, poos, plays, sits on it at times, and eats on it.. haha..
> <div align="right">index.php?act=findpost&pid=71262*


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Yes, we have toys and my wife gives him his Kong as she is ready to walk out to work. Before that we make sure his normal toys are in there.
I like your theory of him maybe having some pent up energy, we try to put him in his area so he can go make, we are worried he will pee if we play with him early in the morning. When we bring him on the carpet in our family he pees, so maybe we need to wait until he does his business and then take him out and run him a little before we go to work, and maybe he will not have the desire to rip at his pad...thanks..


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## Brinkley & Neyland's Mom (Jun 14, 2004)

Maybe a kong isn't his "thing"....maybe you need to experiment around and see what he REALLY likes that will distract him from just about anything....
For Brink, this is the chicken jerky treats, or his crunch Charlie Bear LIver Treats in his Twist-n-Treat...


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## doctorcathy (May 17, 2004)

take him out for a long walk before you go to work. and dont make the wee wee pad available 24/7. watch your dog, play with him whenever youre home. 

especially since he's ripping up his wee wee pads---i wouldnt let him near one until he needs to potty. good luck


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## kodie (Aug 24, 2004)

I always left Kodie's pad out 24hr a day. He was in a pen while i was at work.. so I had to make the pad available while i wasnt home. I didnt make Kodie hold his pee or poo 8hrs when hes so young. I will admit correcting this behavior wasnt an over night thing at all... he was potty trainned on a pad faster than learning that he shouldnt bite it.









BTW.. how big is the area your pup is in? Maybe the area is too small and everything is crammed in there??


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## Ant Nay (Mar 21, 2005)

> _Originally posted by Kodie_@Jun 10 2005, 09:54 AM
> *I always left Kodie's pad out 24hr a day.  He was in a pen while i was at work.. so I had to make the pad available while i wasnt home.  I didnt make Kodie hold his pee or poo 8hrs when hes so young.  I will admit correcting this behavior wasnt an over night thing at all... he was potty trainned on a pad faster than learning that he shouldnt bite it.
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Yes, we do not take him for walks (waiting to get his shots and frontline completed) and also we are training him to go on the pad fulltime. The bathroom we have him in is larger than the guest bathroom which was his original home, we thought the same thing, the original bathroom he was in was too small, this one is larger but smaller area than the kitchen, he was missing in the kitchen...not making it to the pad...going about half way and pooping and peeing.
I know he is not 100% trained to the pad (like I said he peed on the pillow this morning and on a blanket we leave him during the day, so that is out for a while) so we think the room has enough space for him to play with toys and room to go and his crate is in there also. 
I will try a toy that releases treats maybe that and playing with him after his morning "business" will help calm him a bit...I think this might take a while. 
I just want to make sure we are responding to it correctly when we find that he did this when we came home...any ideas for a "time out" type of thing to show him what he did was wrong. I want to make sure he understands what he did wrong...thanks again for the help


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## doctorcathy (May 17, 2004)

are you showing him that he needs to potty on the wee wee pads? its not like inate for them to know that the wee wee pad is the potty area. 

i think for a dog this young---if he's having accidents, its your fault, not his. (i've written this long story about the person i bought the girls from....she gave me this looong speech....and i summed it up to that sentence. lol)

i had trouble with sprite because she was trained at the 'breeders' house (turned out to be a broker)....but when i got her....she didnt know where to go and stuff.

when anyone is home, keep him out of his playpen area and just give him lots of attention, and when he's about to potty---take him to the pads and praise. its hard...but trust me...when he learns that the pads are for pee and poo, i dont think he'll rip them up anymore when he's alone. i think it will take like 1 month...tops. if you're totally consistant.


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## Chelsey (Dec 17, 2004)

Chelsey is 10 monts an does not rip up her puppy pad anymore.
Chester is three years this june and he will still use it and then rips it up to tiny bits, Gross.


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## kodie (Aug 24, 2004)

well... what i do for a "time out" is... correct Kodie after i come home to a ripped up pad and like i said before i do not give him any praise or attention for alittle bit to show him i'm upset with him. (kinda like a time out i guess







)


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## Ant Nay (Mar 21, 2005)

> _Originally posted by doctorcathy_@Jun 10 2005, 11:34 AM
> *are you showing him that he needs to potty on the wee wee pads?  its not like inate for them to know that the wee wee pad is the potty area.
> 
> i think for a dog this young---if he's having accidents, its your fault, not his.  (i've written this long story about the person i bought the girls from....she gave me this looong speech....and i summed it up to that sentence.  lol)
> ...


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I am sure we are doing something wrong, but we are trying to figure out what, to be honest we are now trying to have him with us and when we think he has to go we bring him to the location of the pad (where we eventually want it to permanently be) and tell him to "go make" but he is "shy" in a way and does not go in front of us, but if you walk away and he has to go, he will go...
so I will continue trying to work with him and get him into a routine...not easy to figure out what is the right and wrong way to go about it. I guess trial and error...and from this board I can see others have had the same issue and are still having them ...thanks again


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## doctorcathy (May 17, 2004)

> _Originally posted by Ant Nay_@Jun 10 2005, 10:50 AM
> *I am sure we are doing something wrong, but we are trying to figure out what, to be honest we are now trying to have him with us and when we think he has to go we bring him to the location of the pad (where we eventually want it to permanently be) and tell him to "go make" but he is "shy" in a way and does not go in front of us, but if you walk away and he has to go, he will go...
> so I will continue trying to work with him and get him into a routine...not easy to figure out what is the right and wrong way to go about it. I guess trial and error...and from this board I can see others have had the same issue and are still having them ...thanks again
> <div align="right">index.php?act=findpost&pid=71401*


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isnt it such a pain in the butt??? LOL. 

i think that since he can go when you're not looking....then turn your back, he goes...and then praise like crazy. 

it might be easier to get him to pee in front of you if you go outside. not to train him to go outside---but to train him that he gets praise when he potties in front of you, do i make sense? lol. 

yeah, there are a bunch of people here that keep having problems. and that totally sucks. i feel bad forthem...and the dog. cuz i know that all of us were way happier when the dogs were all potty trained.









and now were able to play..and they'll stop on their own, go potty, and come back to continue playing. 

try looking for the slightest signal. and when you interrupt himwhen he's pottying in the bad area (like on the carpet)....try not to scare him. lol. we did that with gruffi a few times.







i felt soo bad. 

i think also, its all about consistancy. its soo hard, but i know that these maltese are smart (i sooo hate it when people say some breeds are dumb) so it should take a month or two to get your baby completely potty trained. then there will be no more headaches. lol....until the next problem. lol.


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## Sylphide and Shrek's Mom (Dec 4, 2004)

I think it's important to remember that you are dealing with a 12 week old puppy here. He's just a little baby. I could understand that this might be a serious behavioral problem if he were much older--but I think it's asking too much of a 12 week old puppy to understand that he can't shred a wee wee pad. Maltese are notorious for their instinctual attraction to shredding paper.

I've posted on this before, but must comment again. Shrek shredded wee wee pads at his breeders home, where he was often confined to a pen. He shredded the pad in the pen.

Shrek hasn't shredded the wee wee pads at home with us, perhaps because he has free run of the house and doesn't get bored. 

Confined, bored baby + available pad to shred = asking for trouble.

Personally, I find the idea of confining a little puppy alone for extended periods of time to be quite cruel. I understand the necessity of this if one is working, but to keep him confined as punishment, when you are home, because the little fellow shred a pad while he was confined to a small space, alone, for many hours, may not be the best approach. I agree with Cathy that giving him plenty of attention and exercise before you leave will tire him out and make him sleep while you are gone, and may be the best solution for your current situation.


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## kodie (Aug 24, 2004)

> _Originally posted by SylphidesMom_@Jun 11 2005, 01:42 PM
> *Personally, I find the idea of confining a little puppy alone for extended periods of time to be quite cruel.  I understand the necessity of this if one is working, but to keep him confined as punishment, when you are home, because the little fellow shred a pad while he was confined to a small space, alone, for many hours, may not be the best approach.  I agree with Cathy that giving him plenty of attention and exercise before you leave will tire him out and make him sleep while you are gone, and may be the best solution for your current situation.
> <div align="right">index.php?act=findpost&pid=71642*


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I dont know if your refering to me or not but I did not say to confine a puppy while being home as punishment... I simply was stating you shouldnt praise a puppy right after correcting. This situation hits close to home for me and not giving kodie attention right after correcting him for bad behavior like this has helped a lot. A maltese loves attention soo being bad doesnt equal tons of attention. Dont get me wrong.. I'm not talking to ignore your puppy for hrs! I'm just talking enough time that you see the pup notices what he has done wrong. Kodie will sit down or lay down waiting for me... after like 5 mins of that I always go back to him and show him attention. 

I have ALSO stated that the puppy may not have enough exercise before they leave for work... and they should let their pup run around a bit before leaving for work.


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## Sylphide and Shrek's Mom (Dec 4, 2004)

> _Originally posted by Kodie+Jun 11 2005, 05:14 PM-->
> 
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I dont know if your refering to me or not but I did not say to confine a puppy while being home as punishment... I simply was stating you shouldnt praise a puppy right after correcting. This situation hits close to home for me and not giving kodie attention right after correcting him for bad behavior like this has helped a lot. A maltese loves attention soo being bad doesnt equal tons of attention. Dont get me wrong.. I'm not talking to ignore your puppy for hrs! I'm just talking enough time that you see the pup notices what he has done wrong. Kodie will sit down or lay down waiting for me... after like 5 mins of that I always go back to him and show him attention. 

I have ALSO stated that the puppy may not have enough exercise before they leave for work... and they should let their pup run around a bit before leaving for work.
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Hi Kodie, 

I wasn't referring to your postings, perhaps I should have clarified by quoting when I posted. Sorry for the misunderstanding. You have indeed offered some good advice and strategies. I interpret your posting as suggesting to ignore the puppy as a punishment. I agree with the ignore strategy, but ignoring while puppy is around free and ignoring by keeping puppy confined are two different approaches. I was responding to the following comment by Ant Nay: 

"we will come home and show him that is a "no" and leave him gated in his "room" for a while...we did that yesterday and he threw a FIT ...I guess he has been in there all day and now that we are home he is still locked in, he was not happy and he learned how to bark now...Joy"

Also, I believe that for a puppy to understand what s/he has done wrong, s/he has to be caught in the act. A puppy simply isn't going to understand that shredding the pad is the reason s/he is being ignored or confined when mommy and daddy come home after the fact.


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## doctorcathy (May 17, 2004)

the only correction i would do to a puppy that's under 6 months old (i guess it also depends on how hard you work on the dog, and how far along the dog is in training...) but anyway..

if the dog is under 6 months, and you catch him in the act of doing something bad, just say "no, bad dog" take away the wee wee pad, and then offer a toy. 



i just wanted to say also, that my dogs NEVER chewed the wee wee pads....and they never had the pads available 24/7. they never went through a "phase" either. 

the only one to give us chewing problems was gruffi. and that stopped when we started exercising him more. 

and also, i just want to say, that you're going to build up the dogs tolerance---so if a 10 minute walk works now....in a few months he's going to want a 30 min walk. but thats good! means they're healthy.


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## mpd (Jun 2, 2005)

> _Originally posted by Ant Nay_@Jun 10 2005, 08:36 AM
> *Pad Update
> 
> We are still having the daily issues with our little guy ripping at his pad, we try to say "NO" when we catch him in the act, but he does it more when he is alone, yesterday I came home to find half the pad ripped he peed and pooped on the floor (where the pad should be) and I said "no" and no bite, "go make" here and then after let him sit there in his crate and ignored him to let him know I am upset. After a few minutes I took him out of his area and praised him and he was good, until this morning, we put him in his area when he woke up to pee and poo. He actually peed on his pillow that he lays on and pooped on the pad (not too bad) ...
> ...


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## mpd (Jun 2, 2005)

> _Originally posted by mpd+Jun 12 2005, 10:12 AM-->
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It sounds like your puppy is the same age as mine. I got a 36" crate for mine to keep him in. I raised half of the floor with some curtain rods that I placed across one half and then placed a wood board to make the elevated flooring for his bed (husband's idea, really!). The other half I used to line with the training pads, When he started chewing them or folding them in half, I started securing them to the edges with office supply paper fasteners. Then I started reading posts in this website and got interested in the Wizdog product. I would still love to hear more comments on it from users. I found an alternative which is a Group One Welcome Cat Mat. It sort of works on the same principle as the wizdog and now do place on large mat to cover the tray and place two welcome mats. One on the edge, the other one is half way under th elevated part next to the other mat. My puppy seems to hold it for the most part, but if he has to go then he does not sit in the wet pad. You can cut the wee pad to fit the cat welcome mat and hold the urine until he learns it is okay to go there. Now I put feline pine litter underneath to control the odor and clean it as needed.

I bought the little rawhide bones and give him a new one each morning before I go. I also take him for a walk/run in the morning before leaving for work so he is a bit tired and will sleep well while I am gone. I feed him canin puppy kibble and he seems to be real regular with bowl movements so he always does them outside.

Hope that helps you.

Michelle


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## Ant Nay (Mar 21, 2005)

Well we are back to ripping the pad..
Here is an update Oscar was ripping his pad and then moved onto scratching a HUGH hole in our bathroom (His Den) and we had to cover it with plexiglass, well he left that alone and we caught him on Saturday after he was out of his “den” for a long while , we put him in his area and I caught him trying to start a new hole, so we said “NO” bad bite and so on, and he lowered his ears and so on and for a little guy he can sure make a HUGH hole...so I Plexiglass the entire bathroom, well now when we come home we find the pad destroyed, and we know this is a separation anxiety type of issue, we signed him up for puppy classes, when we told the trainer what we were experiencing she said he sounds like he has separation anxiety. We start the classes in three weeks. 

Anyone have any other ideas why he cries as soon as we put him in the area and how we can stop this pad abuse others on this great board have warned me that we need to break him of that. So he is mad or sad we are leaving him, but we do not know what to do, we try to spend as much time with him as possible when we are home, and he is not old enough to roam the house during the day. He is not ready to go find his pad when he needs to go.....thanks for reading this and I am open to ideas or past methods that have proven successful


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## kodie (Aug 24, 2004)

Have you tried a PEN?


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