# Puppy house trained downstairs not upstairs



## clpalmer (Jun 19, 2011)

Hi everyone.

I have 2 and half month coton de tulear puppy she very easy to train and very well behaved. She picked up weeing and pooing on her mat so fast! and she can sit and lay however whenever I let her free roam upstairs she wees or poos on carpet (downstairs has no carpet) she also wees in other peoples houses. 

Upstairs she also cannot get down stairs as they too steep (old house). 

Do you think I should put a puppy pad upstairs on the landing? to train her not to poo upstairs. obviously i watch her by the stairs

any suggestions greatly appeciated. its my first puppy

thanks


----------



## Laura Carter (Jun 19, 2011)

This is very common when house training. You have taught your puppy to keep downstairs clean, yet she hasnt learnt to generalise this to the whole house yet (or other peoples houses).

You will need to retrain her in the same way you did for downstairs, that upstairs now also needs to be kept clean.

When at friends houses you need to put her outside in the garden often. If it is the first time she has been there she wont know how to ask to go out.


----------



## Sled dog hotel (Aug 11, 2010)

clpalmer said:


> Hi everyone.
> 
> I have 2 and half month coton de tulear puppy she very easy to train and very well behaved. She picked up weeing and pooing on her mat so fast! and she can sit and lay however whenever I let her free roam upstairs she wees or poos on carpet (downstairs has no carpet) she also wees in other peoples houses.
> 
> ...


It could possibly be that the carpet has a similar texture to the pads, that is why she is doing it, also at 9/10 weeks she is likely to need to go frequently too.
Have you not thought of taking her in the garden to toilet? using puppy pads you are likely to have a long battle to get her to go outside as it is. Puppy pads and paper just give the message that its ok to go in the house.

Personally if she was mine I would be taking her outside immediately, her toilet training outside should really have been well under way by now. If you are not sure how to go about it just repost, or search the forum there is plenty of threads on toilet training pups.


----------



## leashedForLife (Nov 1, 2009)

Laura Carter said:


> This is very common when house training. You have taught your puppy to keep downstairs clean, yet she hasnt learnt to generalise this to the whole house yet (or other peoples houses).


from Laura Carter's cited website - 


> *bold added - *
> 
> _ House training is one of the most common problems that comes up with new puppy owners.
> It takes *lots of patience, time & cleaning products* but you will get there in the end.
> ...


 the last 3 pups i housetrained for myself had *error-free house-training... * IOW, zero 'cleaning products' 
were used: no paper-towels for anything but dropped food or muddy paws, no Planet Urine, none. 
Time? yes; Patience? oh, yeah. Cleaning? zilch.

with good supervision, a shipping crate & good scheduling [of *input* & *out-go* both], 
there is no reason to assume loads of cleaning-products will be used to clean up loads of messes. 
*prevention is better than cure - * manage, don't leave the pup to her or his own devices.

until a pup is 12-WO they have no functioning sphincter muscles; they can choose *where,* not *when.* 
so scheduling is essential, & that means meals are scheduled, too - PLUS the pup goes out on every trigger: 
full stomach, wake from a nap/sleep, after active play, after any excitement - those are *triggers*.


----------



## leashedForLife (Nov 1, 2009)

clpalmer said:


> ...10-WO Coton de Tulear puppy... easy to train and very well behaved.
> She picked up weeing and pooing on her mat so fast! and she can sit and lay
> 
> however *whenever I let her free roam upstairs* she wees or poos on carpet
> ...


10-WO puppy does not go with free-roam in the house.

* don't have her upstairs unless she HAS JUST VOIDED outside. [no more than 20-mins max] 
* upstairs at night she is crated in a shipping crate; no leaks, no spills. 
* banish the puppy-pads; as others already said, they confuse by encouraging indoor voiding. 
* umbilical-cord her whenever she is upstairs - she is CONNECTED TO U hands-free with a 6-ft leash, 
or she is crated - period.


----------



## clpalmer (Jun 19, 2011)

Thanks everyone for your help.! its my first puppy so its all learning for me. I reading books etc but its great to have advice from other dog owners. 

We have not been able to let her outside yet as my husband has been bulding new stairs to outside (old ones werent puppy safe) so unfortantely we had to use pads . Which was annoying as she was pretty much trained when we got her. i hope I dont confuse her too much when i move the pad. I have carried her out couple of times but she not sure about it yet she just sits there and looks at me. 

The strange thing is she can hold her wee! i think she has the muscles already lol. she does not go all night! I take her down stairs 6.ooam and she wees sometimes and sometimes she doesnt till 10.00am she just goes back to sleep and I wait and she wont go. She never wees or poos in her cage. Sometimes I worry she not drinking enough water but I do have to refil her bowl and i often see her lapping it up. she has big wees.


----------



## LolaBoo (May 31, 2011)

Were having to use puppy pads on our puppy not ideal but with being in a flat we only have communal gardens, which she cant go into till after her jabs im just hoping her transition from pad wont be to difficult but im prepared for any senerio


----------



## jonaszook27 (Jun 21, 2011)

its common for every puppy it will automatically adjust in future


----------



## auntiekatie (Aug 12, 2011)

clpalmer said:


> Thanks everyone for your help.! its my first puppy so its all learning for me. I reading books etc but its great to have advice from other dog owners.
> 
> We have not been able to let her outside yet as my husband has been bulding new stairs to outside (old ones werent puppy safe) so unfortantely we had to use pads . Which was annoying as she was pretty much trained when we got her. i hope I dont confuse her too much when i move the pad. I have carried her out couple of times but she not sure about it yet she just sits there and looks at me.
> 
> The strange thing is she can hold her wee! i think she has the muscles already lol. she does not go all night! I take her down stairs 6.ooam and she wees sometimes and sometimes she doesnt till 10.00am she just goes back to sleep and I wait and she wont go. She never wees or poos in her cage. Sometimes I worry she not drinking enough water but I do have to refil her bowl and i often see her lapping it up. she has big wees.


Apologies for digressing but I will soon be blessed with a 13 week old Coton pup and was wondering what you feed to yours?


----------



## leashedForLife (Nov 1, 2009)

auntiekatie said:


> Apologies for digressing but I will soon be blessed with a 13 week old Coton pup
> and was wondering what you feed to yours?


try the *health & nutrition* forum.


----------



## newfiesmum (Apr 21, 2010)

Laura Carter said:


> This is very common when house training. You have taught your puppy to keep downstairs clean, yet she hasnt learnt to generalise this to the whole house yet (or other peoples houses).
> 
> You will need to retrain her in the same way you did for downstairs, that upstairs now also needs to be kept clean.
> 
> When at friends houses you need to put her outside in the garden often. If it is the first time she has been there she wont know how to ask to go out.


I don't think this puppy has been taught to keep downstairs clean at all. She has been taught to use puppy pads and if none are available then obviously she is going to go wherever she can.

She does not know the difference between upstairs and downstairs, and as SDH has said, the carpet texture is completely different. If you did not have pads downstairs, she would probably go there as well.

I hope you are carrying her upstairs and using a stairgate at the top. A pup this young should not be climbing them on her own.

If you don't have a garden to start training her to go outside, then you had best make sure that she stays downstairs and that you take some puppy pads to other people's houses.

She is not housetrained; she just knows she goes on pads.


----------

