Hi, I am Kev and I am new here. I have had a good look around and must say I look forward to becoming an active member. Some really good advice in abundance it would seem!
I am seeking both advice and reassurance (a little moral support too maybe?).
My partner and I recently took the plunge and brought home a West Highland Terrier pup having done considerable thinking and reading up. He is now 11 weeks old, KC registered here in the UK, and has just had his second vaccination. New Years Day will be his first adventure outside with us.
We have had him since he was 8 weeks old and have used a crate since day 1. Initially however we did not use it properly and allowed him access to too many places which led to toilet accidents. We soon saw the error of our ways and have since restricted his movements to a single room, wherever we may be. His crate acts as barrier between living and dining/kitchen areas and turning it to face into either area at the doorway changes his active 'zone'.
When we are not there to supervise Oscar is crated.
For some reason however if he is crated in the living or dining room and I leave the room he will cry, but if he is placed in the crate in the kitchen with the door closed he will go to sleep without a whimper. As such the kitchen is where he stays at night.
He is put to bed at 10.30pm following a visit to his outside pen area which we are using as a toilet. He is taken there after each meal, nap, and play session. Each time we take him there we say "toilet" several times in a gentle voice before putting him down. He seems to understand now that when in the pen he has to do his thing and soon gets down to it. My partner or I then get up at 02.30am and again at 06.00am to take him out for toilet breaks.
This all seems well and good but there is a problem. Our house layout means that to get to the pen area from the living room you must pass through the dining room, through patio style doors which lead into the conservatory and are closed to retain heat, through the conservatory and out of a second set of patio doors into the garden and pen area. With the dining room sealed off by the crate so that we can monitor him and restrict movements he has nowhere to really go to that would signal he needs the toilet. If we were to move the crate and open him up to the dining room on a full time basis he would be out of sight and would sit at the first set of patio doors.
3 weeks in it feels more like he has trained us to pick up on his pre-toilet behaviour which includes sniffing etc throughout the living room and taking him outside. He has not yet signalled to us that he needs to go, we have simply decided he looks like he needs to. Further, if we do not take him outside he will quite happily soil the living room floor wherever he sees fit.
I am not expecting miracles, I know being fully housebroken is a long way off but in the situation that I have described I just wonder if he will ever get there or do we need to make radical changes.
He has also now reached the stage where he has begun to challenge my partner for his position in the pack, often jumping at her face when on the sofa or nipping her arm. That however, is a post for another day.
Thanks for listening, any words of support or advice would be greatly appreciated.
Kev
I am seeking both advice and reassurance (a little moral support too maybe?).
My partner and I recently took the plunge and brought home a West Highland Terrier pup having done considerable thinking and reading up. He is now 11 weeks old, KC registered here in the UK, and has just had his second vaccination. New Years Day will be his first adventure outside with us.
We have had him since he was 8 weeks old and have used a crate since day 1. Initially however we did not use it properly and allowed him access to too many places which led to toilet accidents. We soon saw the error of our ways and have since restricted his movements to a single room, wherever we may be. His crate acts as barrier between living and dining/kitchen areas and turning it to face into either area at the doorway changes his active 'zone'.
When we are not there to supervise Oscar is crated.
For some reason however if he is crated in the living or dining room and I leave the room he will cry, but if he is placed in the crate in the kitchen with the door closed he will go to sleep without a whimper. As such the kitchen is where he stays at night.
He is put to bed at 10.30pm following a visit to his outside pen area which we are using as a toilet. He is taken there after each meal, nap, and play session. Each time we take him there we say "toilet" several times in a gentle voice before putting him down. He seems to understand now that when in the pen he has to do his thing and soon gets down to it. My partner or I then get up at 02.30am and again at 06.00am to take him out for toilet breaks.
This all seems well and good but there is a problem. Our house layout means that to get to the pen area from the living room you must pass through the dining room, through patio style doors which lead into the conservatory and are closed to retain heat, through the conservatory and out of a second set of patio doors into the garden and pen area. With the dining room sealed off by the crate so that we can monitor him and restrict movements he has nowhere to really go to that would signal he needs the toilet. If we were to move the crate and open him up to the dining room on a full time basis he would be out of sight and would sit at the first set of patio doors.
3 weeks in it feels more like he has trained us to pick up on his pre-toilet behaviour which includes sniffing etc throughout the living room and taking him outside. He has not yet signalled to us that he needs to go, we have simply decided he looks like he needs to. Further, if we do not take him outside he will quite happily soil the living room floor wherever he sees fit.
I am not expecting miracles, I know being fully housebroken is a long way off but in the situation that I have described I just wonder if he will ever get there or do we need to make radical changes.
He has also now reached the stage where he has begun to challenge my partner for his position in the pack, often jumping at her face when on the sofa or nipping her arm. That however, is a post for another day.
Thanks for listening, any words of support or advice would be greatly appreciated.
Kev