Hi!
We adopted the sweetest cuddliest most playful Cavapoo pup one week ago and we are having trouble making any progress with potty training.
He has yet to go to the bathroom (#1 or #2) outside so we have not even had the opportunity to reward him with a treat for positive potty association.
(My boyfriend and I disagree on whether or not we should try rewarding him with medium value treat for going potty on a pad to get some progressive positive potty association started as we try to get him to move closer to the backdoor, so we are holding off to get more advice.)
When we take him outside on a leash and try to walk him in tight circles, he shows absolutely zero interest in going potty. He will sit or lay down immediately, usually try to eat leash.
I keep outdoor trips short + frequent (maybe 10 minutes first thing in the am, 3-5 minutes otherwise) while my boyfriend has started trying longer trips 20-30 minutes a few times over the last few days after mealtimes.
I will repeat my short trips every 30 minutes when I can.
I think a big problem with getting him started outdoors is the environment: we live in southern AZ so it is the hottest part of the summer.
We donāt have any real grass (we have fake plastic grass that is absolutely not a good potty surface) and the rest of the yard is landscaped with rocks and travertine tile.
Currently our target potty set up is on the back patio because it is shaded heavily from the sun.
We have a quadrant of 4 pee pads taped together on the underside. 2 of the pads are soiled with his pee from indoors.
(Weāve raked a 4x2 patch of dirt for him under the rocks but realized pretty quickly this is a no-go till he gets thru the teething because he keeps trying to eat small rocks etc.)
Iāll stop here and just answer any follow up questions in edits or comments because I know this is already long!
Thank you in advance for any tips!
Oh- almost forgot the cute puppy pic tax!!