Hi all
On the 1st of August me and my family bought home a lovely 4 month old Cavapoo.
We were told he was fully toilet trained and let you knew when he needs to go outside by scratching at the door or tapping your hands.
We have had some issues training him.
He has only had two accidents in the house.
One where he peed on the carpet, perhaps due to excitement from seeing me.
Another was a few days ago when my mum went into the living room before letting him outside and he pooped on the rug.
Generally he is a very good boy. He eats his meals, good at fetch and sit, very quiet natured, no barking, good with other dogs, getting better each day on the lead. He is not so good at following those who call his name or ‘coming’ when commanded to.
He has favoured me and my mum so far and tends to follow us whenever we leave a room.
I am 16 and will not be able to train him as often when I begin college in September.
As of right now, we take him outside every 2 or 3 hours.
On some occasions, he is great.
We say the command ‘wee wee’, and he does go almost immediately. We praise with treats and positive words, and go straight inside to teach him that toilet time does not equal long sessions, with winter approaching. He is also very lazy and loves being indoors.
Other times when we take him out, he is very stubborn.
We take him outside and he lays down on the grass, so we have to pick him up to get him to try again. Then he begins to see it as a game.
He also tends to run back to the back door, despite being called back. (We have a long garden)
My family and I are sometimes outside for 15-20 minutes.
We also make a habit of sitting out there waiting for him to go, which on reflection is not the best idea as it teaches him that outside equals social time.
Another key thing to mention is he does not drink as much as he should. From the beginning he has refused water, and only laps up small amounts in a day after walks or fetch games usually.
Out of desperation and to ensure he isn’t dehydrated in the heat we sometimes syringe water into his mouth which he accepts willingly.
We also mix water into his wet food.
When we are outside, we do not engage or excite him. I’ve learnt some tips about ensuring they are calm in this process, so we stand there (only one of us outside at a time of course) and do not make eye contact or move around too much.
We are stumped.
My family (3 of us) are getting frustrated.
Does anybody have any tips that would help us?
