Help housebreaking puppy

Our Jug (Jack Russel/Pug mix) is about 4 months old and we are still having a ton of problems housebreaking him. What we are doing now is leaving him in our confined kitchen while we are away at work (about 6 hours a day) and when it is time for bed.

We originally started taking him outside when he did his usual sniffing around and that was working pretty decent. But recently the weather in Pennsylvania has been pretty horrible with lots of rain and some really cold mornings. So we figured we might want to start pad training in preperation for the cold winter months.

When we are gone and during the day and night he has been pretty good about urinating on his pad. But when we are home he will try to go about anywhere else in the house. We cannot really block of certain areas of the house since our entrances into rooms are pretty big and we cannot setup pet barriers to confine him. And when we are able to confine him to a carpeted area we are in, even if we have the pad in the room he will go anywhere but on the pad (I think he likes going on the carpet).

Am I supposed to put him in his confined area in the kitchen when I think he is supposed to go, or am I supposed to let him go outside? I don't like leaving him in the kitchen all day, but I can't stay in there all day with him since we have other things to do during the day. I guess what I want him to be able to do is when we are home be able to go to his pad from any part of the house. Is this possible or am I just hoping too much?

I have found no better training than crate training. It is very effective, It does not take long, and it saves you a lot of clean-up. if you are interested in how to do this, send me an email. I have written a guide in pdf format that I will send you (no charge). You will have to follow this training step-by-step, but it is very effective. let me know.
Joe

I agree that crate training really works well. I used to leave my Chihuahua in her crate when we were at home but could not really watch her, then after a little time passed, an hour or so, we would just take her to her "bathroom" and leave her until she went. We actually got her in February, a brutal month up in North Dakota, so we couldn't take her outside to potty train her. We set up a small pen that she couldn't jump or climb out of - I believe we got it at PetCo - and put newspaper all over the bottom of it. That became her area to stay in while we were at work/out of the house/asleep. We put her kennel in there with the door off so that she could go inside when she wanted to. She eventually started ripping up all the newspaper except for that in one particular area of the pen. We figured out that this was the area in which she had chosen to eliminate, so we began just papering that one area. If she ever went downstairs at all we would scold her and take her up to her "room." That way she knew where she was supposed to go. She does a great job now of holding it when she's anywhere but her pen. She's got quite the setup in there...a kennel, her water and food bowls on one side, so space for playing, and then a little spot on the end where she goes to the bathroom!

Actually, I got Hammie in Feb. and Addie at the end of Oct. I think it being cold (I am in PA also) helped....they didn't want to linger outside. Keep a consistent routine......REALLY stick to it when you're home. At 4 mos., your pup should start having a little control. When you get home........keep the routine of going outside every few hours. Stay there til he goes. Not always easy when it's cold...but this really works. Stick to it. If you then put him in a crate, he won't want to go in there. Praise to the hilt when he goes outside, you'd be amazed how quickly they catch on. I truly swear......I've never had an accident with owning 2 dogs. I would never attempt training both areas....pad and outdoors...tooooo confusing. If you want to train on a pad inside.....stick to that. It really is all about how dedicated to sticking to the routine you are.

Do you have a picture of Jug in the photo area? Would love to see him... have never seen a Jack Russell/Pug mix... and what a perfect name "Jug" for him Just my 2 cents on the potty training. I don't know anything about how hard Pugs are to train, but our JRT, Lucy (and heard many similar stories from the dog park from other JRT owners) was a such a bear to house train! She was a little over 1 year old before she never had accidents! She did fine as long as she was confined in her 6 x 6 foot room w/open crate, but when she was loose in the house (and we were busy and not paying attention) she would go anywhere in the house. She didn't like rain or cold weather, which was part of the problem, but I still believe a lot of it was just the typical "JRT" personality... I can and I WILL, LOL! I've never heard of a JRT that can't be house broken eventually... but they do sometimes take extra patience... so just wondering if this might be something to consider with Jug Love Pugs & JRT's... I just bet Jug is a real character!