I know all puppies have cute little personalities and are hilarious. As I’ve said, Oscar is a handful but we get so much joy from him.
After he had torn up his first bed, I grabbed one of the extra beds .. you know we have extra of most everything . . and put it down for him. Last night I looked over and he had it upside down. He loves doing that with his beds.
The only reasons I can think of, besides the fact that he’s a puppy and there doesn’t have to be a reason for anything are: (1) that puts it higher off the floor so maybe it’s softer (kinda like sleeping in a hammock) and (2) maybe he likes the feel of that nubby wrong side rather than the fleecy inside. Who knows!
The other funny thing . . that puppy pad holder. The puppy pads are supposed to be for emergency use. I want him to get to the point where he will let us know when he has to go outside. So far, if we take him out, he does his business outside. If we don’t, he doesn’t mind doing it in the house. (We mind!)
I try to take him out at least once an hour during the day. Speck would always go drink water, then go to the door to go outside so when I hear Oscar drinking, I for sure take him out. We’re doing ok . . not great. Some days we have no messes to clean up; some days we have several.
If I put a paper puppy pad in the holder, he shreds it within minutes. If I put a washable pad in the holder, it takes him a while but he manages to pull that out of the holder, then starts chewing on it.
The crazy thing is that he will use the puppy pad holder when there’s no pad on it. If there’s a pad, he won’t use it. For now, I’m not quite sure how to solve that problem but it’s much easier to clean and sanitize the puppy pad holder, even without a pad on it. I can take it outside, spray it with the water hose, spray it with Clorox/water, let it sit out in the sun or dry it off and that’s still easier than cleaning the grout in the tile floor, spraying it with Clorox/water and then wiping it down, all while trying to keep Oscar out of it.
We’ll eventually get this figured out. I’m so thankful we got him in February and not in September. Going outside 12+ times per day is much easier when it’s sunny and warm.
JustGail says
It seems like Oscar has decided the pads are for chewing, not peeing. I wonder what he’d do if you got a bitt of pee on one, let it dry (so it wouldn’t make a mess if he did rip it up) and then put it in the holder? Maybe if he starts smelling his own pee on them, he’d start using them as intended?
judy.blog@gmail.com says
We’ve tried that and it didn’t work. I thought maybe that would help him understand the concept but all he can think about is shredding the pads.
Joyce says
I wonder if you put his bed down with the bottom up, would he flip it over to be right side up?
JustGail says
I guess as long as he’ll use the holder instead of the floor…
Funny memory from when we had a puppy in training – I dared not let her in the bathroom when I had to go, as soon as she heard me go, she’d go right on the floor next to me. She never really got fully trained, she was fine once we learned what her intent silent stare was about. No dancing or whining at the door – that was reserved for squirrels. But if we missed her signal, she had no hesitation at all about going to the basement and peeing on the door mat down there.
judy.blog@gmail.com says
They can be funny little creatures.
Nelle Coursey says
Even with babies, we never used the pads or newspaper. I am not saying that I am a good trainer, we have just been lucky that all ours have wanted to go outside instead of inside. We did have a problem with Rose when she got old and sick but that was because she was sick. She was very embarrassed by not being able to wait.
Linda B says
Have you tried hanging a bell from the door handle? My little shih tzu caught onto that really fast. If I wasn’t paying attention to the first time she rang it, she would ring it louder.
judy.blog@gmail.com says
We did. He would ring the bell after he had peed on the floor because he wanted his treat. Nope! Then he got so crazy with the bell ringing, we took it down.