# In need of a little advice . . .



## Butterfly (Jun 23, 2011)

Hey Maltese Lovers! Hope you are all doing well!

I have a 14 wk old maltese. Since bringing him home almost 6 weeks ago, I have kept him in my family room with a gate closing off the other areas of the house. Since the beginning he has always peed and pooped on the pee pad in the family room. There have been times where he would move the pee pad around, but even when moving it around, he still peed or pooped on the actual pad. Once, he moved the pad to where his toys were. On that occasion, he actually peed where the pee pad would normally be. I have since purchased a pee pad tray so that he can't move it around. It has worked marvelously! He never has any accidents in the family room. My question is the following:

When can I introduce him to other parts of the house, without having to worry about him peeing where he's not supposed to? 

I tried giving him access to the kitchen a couple weeks ago but he peed in the kitchen. Mind you, the kitchen is directly next to the family room. I actually have the gate closing off the kitchen from the family room. When I expanded his area, I put the gate on the other side of the kitchen giving him access to the family room and the kitchen. The added space was not a big amount at all. 

My bedroom door opens to the family room. Sometimes if I go into my room to get something he rushes in and starts running like crazy in there. I think its because the bedroom has carpet. He has peed twice in my bedroom within a matter of seconds. I don't allow him in my room unattended. When he's in there its usually a minute or two while I'm getting something.

I really want to remove the gates and let him free in my house, but I just don't want him peeing everywhere.

One more thing, the other day I took him to a relatives house and brought a pee pad with me. I put the pee pad on the floor. When I saw that he needed to pee, I picked him up and put him on the pad. He walked around a little bit but came to pee and poop on the actual pad.

Any suggestions?

Thanks!


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## Lindy (Mar 25, 2009)

Do that at home, too. To him, the pad in the family room is just the pad in the family room. You must make him realize the pad is the only place in the house that is acceptable. By watching for signs he is giving that be is ready to potty, take him to the pad and tell him to potty. Eventually, he'll get it, and will probably potty on command eventually, too. Just be vigilant. Blessings!


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## Butterfly (Jun 23, 2011)

Lindy said:


> Do that at home, too. To him, the pad in the family room is just the pad in the family room. You must make him realize the pad is the only place in the house that is acceptable. By watching for signs he is giving that be is ready to potty, take him to the pad and tell him to potty. Eventually, he'll get it, and will probably potty on command eventually, too. Just be vigilant. Blessings!


Thank you for your suggestion Lindy, however, the problem is that I work full time and am not home with him during the day to redirect him as I did at my relatives home.


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## Lindy (Mar 25, 2009)

Yeesh! I didn't think of that. Sorry. I know a lot of the members put pads in practically every room, so that may work for you too.


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## Cosy (Feb 9, 2006)

At that age he needs to be contained in a smaller area when you are not able to watch him. A small bathroom with food and water AND pee pad or a pen with the same. He's very young and won't handle other larger areas well yet. One puppy step at a time.


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## Lacie's Mom (Oct 11, 2006)

Cosy said:


> At that age he needs to be contained in a smaller area when you are not able to watch him. A small bathroom with food and water AND pee pad or a pen with the same. He's very young and won't handle other larger areas well yet. One puppy step at a time.


Brit has said it perfectly. When Lacie was a puppy, I had her in a small bathroom when I was at work. She had her crate/bed, her toys, her water and food and her potty pad. The potty pad was as far in the corner as I could put it, and she was diligent about using it. She didn't like being next to her own potties.  You have to start small, and realize how large the world is to a fluff the size of a Maltese.


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## Bailey&Me (Mar 8, 2010)

Sounds like he's doing really well with potty training at such a young age! I would definitely keep him confined to a small, safe area while you can't supervise him...this is for his own safety, not just for potty training. My Bailey is a year and a half old...and still, there is no way I could leave him unattended anywhere except for his x-pen. He is potty trained so that is not the issue - but he would get in to everything and could get hurt. While you may eventually work towards giving AlyKai access to more and more space, he is still really young and would do best being gated in a small area when he's not with you. Best of luck...sounds like you're doing a great job with him!


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## Butterfly (Jun 23, 2011)

Thank you all for your input. I will keep him in my family room which is a fairly large area for him. I just didn't want him to feel confined. I guess ive been lucky with the whole potty training.  thanks again!


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## Bonnie's Mommie (Mar 2, 2006)

Butterfly said:


> Thank you all for your input. I will keep him in my family room which is a fairly large area for him. I just didn't want him to feel confined. I guess ive been lucky with the whole potty training.  thanks again!


Not to sound harsh, or question your pup's intelligence, lol - but at 14 weeks he is nowhere near trained. Brit, Lynn and Nida gave you the best advice - keep him confined when you are not around. Most puppies aren't completely trained until at least 6 months and some take longer. The best thing you can do is buy an ex-pen, big enough for his bed, wee wee pad, food and water. If he is already peeing where he's not supposed to - even only once in awhile - he's not trained, and you need to go back to step 1.

Do a search on the site for potty training. There are some great threads about step by step training.


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## Butterfly (Jun 23, 2011)

Bonnie's Mommie said:


> Not to sound harsh, or question your pup's intelligence, lol - but at 14 weeks he is nowhere near trained. Brit, Lynn and Nida gave you the best advice - keep him confined when you are not around. Most puppies aren't completely trained until at least 6 months and some take longer. The best thing you can do is buy an ex-pen, big enough for his bed, wee wee pad, food and water. If he is already peeing where he's not supposed to - even only once in awhile - he's not trained, and you need to go back to step 1.
> 
> Do a search on the site for potty training. There are some great threads about step by step training.


Actually Bonnie, Alykai doesnt have accidents in the family room at all ever. His first day home he peed on the floor and I cleaned it up with a pee pad. From that moment on he's always used the pads, however, I did have a couple instances where he was pooping in a different spot the first week and it turned out to be because his food was next to the pee pad. I was given advice to move his bowls and voila, he's never pooped anywhere other than the pad.

My family room is not a small confined area. I have an L shaped sofa, a side table, an ottoman, and 3 barstools for the kitchen counter, an entertainment center holding a large tv as well as double sliding doors (just trying to give u an idea of the size). He does excellent in that large area. In my opinion, he's potty trained in that area. The fact that I could bring a pee pad to someone's house he's never been to and he goes to the bathroom on it reassures me he's pretty potty trained to me. He's home from 830am till 530pm alone mon-fri and I have never come home to any accidents besides the first week and the one time he moved his pad to his toy area and he peed in the spot the pad goes. As a matter of fact one day he actually didn't pee or poop all day because he moved his pad. When I got home that day and put the pad where it went he ran to it and peed and pooped immediately.

My concern is that since he's so young, he may not remember the peed pad if he's in a different part of the house. I dont want to risk having him pee everywhere. My question was at what point do you know if your dog is ready for more space. 

The family room is the only area he's been in daily and as one of the members here pointed out, he may be associating the pad or that area.

I know he's not 100% percent potty trained because if he was then there wouldn't have been an accident in the kitchen when I expanded the area (mind you, I only expanded his area that one day), but as far as in his area he is. I do feel i have been extremely lucky with potty training. I have heard stories of puppies peeing everywhere,ripping pads, etc. Up till now I haven't had any issues besides the ones I mentioned in this post. I'm lucky to be able to have him in a fairly large space since he was 9 weeks without having him peeing everywhere. He caught on to the pads quickly and I'm thankful for that.

Thank you for your time in replying to my post and giving me your advice.


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## zhinime (Sep 25, 2011)

I'm not sure any of us have tried that exactly.
There might be a room that is off limits at the most.
Your baby prob wants to follow you around.
Could you get gates for the kitchen?
They aren't all the baby gate looking kind.
They sell some nice ones, wood & wrought iron (if the bar spacing is okay)
or clear plastic might be tolerable, allthough not as nice looking.

Of course, you _could_ prob teach Fluffy to stay in the kitchen,
but not sure why you'd want to. They like to be close to us.
But maybe you're talking about housetraining.
When you're not home, it makes total sense though, for safety reasons.
But you'd need a barrier for then, as you are not there to enforce the space.

I just realized that I also have an open kitchen.
And Paris & Coco sleep in the kitchen.
But I put an Xpen in the middle of my kitchen.
Not a traditional way of decorating, but I am all about keeping them happy,
and in the central spot of the house for sleeping and mid day nap.
Tucker has a puppy playpen in living room.


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## The A Team (Dec 1, 2005)

He's just a baby and needs to be confined for quite a while yet....while unsupervised anyway. There are all kinds of dangers...err trouble he can get into if given too much freedom at his age. If he's doing well in the one room, keep him there where he's safe. Most puppies are kept in smaller area, so he's already ahead of the game :thumbsup:

If the gate bothers you, maybe you could invest in a large xpen.

Also as for a gate in the doorway they do have gates that open easily to walk through...just a thought.

Your pup sounds like a smart little guy!!! maybe some interactive toys or one of those treat balls would keep him busy during the day.


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## allheart (Oct 3, 2008)

Cosy said:


> At that age he needs to be contained in a smaller area when you are not able to watch him. A small bathroom with food and water AND pee pad or a pen with the same. He's very young and won't handle other larger areas well yet. One puppy step at a time.


 
Brit, so very true. An exercise pen is perfect for that. The babies bed in one spot, food and water in another, and then the pee pad. That only gives them one choice where to do potty, as they won't go where they eat and sleep. 

That's right one puppy step at a time :wub:


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