Couple of questions ,thanks

i have just got our first dog (shih tzu) was wondering how long approx it takes to house train her,we have it was 8 weeks when we got her from the breeder,and weve had it a further two weeks.we have a training mat near the door,and have recently put a training mat at the back of room as it repeatedly started pooing at back of the room,sometimes it uses them and sometime not!should we only use one or is two ok?.any advice welcome,thanks,alo,for in the future,how long is it before they can have pups themselves a sive ive been told varying times fro 1 year to 3,thanks for any advice offered,les

Why do you want to have pups?

Does your puppy have a name, or it it called "it"

I think regards the breeding, you need to deal with one thing at a time, and for now the house training .

The answer to your question is, how long is a piece of string , regards the house training.

it will all depend on the amount of work you put into ensuring your pup understands what you want from her!

You need to get rid of the paper mats, and follow this routine, take her out every time she wakes, has eaten has played, and as many times in between as needed.

She will show signs..sniffing the ground, turning circles.. if you see this take her outside, only praise her, never shout at her.

P.S whoever told you you can breed from her at 1yr is not to be listened to.

Yes they can have a litter from their first season, but because they can does not mean they should.

We will leave the breeding inquiries for another time, !!

sorry my dogs name is bell,as for the questuion regarding pups,i meant for future reference!!!!

thanks for your advice jackbox,i thought the training mats were a neccasarry thing whilst training them ,speaking to people.obviously not,reaons why i ask these uestions as we have never had a dog before,sad i know after 48 years,lol,thanks again

From what I understand this breed can be harder work to house train than most, but if you are patient and consistant, you will get there eventually.

As Jackbox says take her out regularly, praise her when she goes outside. If she goes inside, unless you actually catch her in the act, do not tell her off - she will not understand. If you do catch her in the act, don't shout, just take her outside pdq.

As for the breeding, I'm afraid I doubt if you will find anyone on here that would encourage you to breed from your dog, for so very many reasons not least in that as your first dog, there is no way you can learn enough about dogs and breeding to do the best for your dog and pup.

I realise many people think that it is a good way to recover the cost of your dog in the first place, but sadly it rarely works out that way. Things can and do often go wrong with pregnancies and you could be looking at vets bills of thousands if for example she needed a caesarian and/or blood transfusion if it all went wrong, to say nothing of the risk of your own dog dying.

I hope you will stick around the forum and learn more about dogs so that you can understand why we wouldn't encourage you to breed her.

Hi le127 and welcome to the forum

I have just taken on a Border Collie pup called Sam, so I'm going through the same thing as you with the house training.

Apparently it can be up to 6 months before a puppy can control its bladder and bowels. So, just like a human baby, your pup won't be able to stop herself weeing and pooing for a while yet.

Your aim is to get her to understand that it is good to go to the toilet outside. That way, as she gets more bladder and bowel control, she will start to 'ask' to go outside and try to hold on until she is there.

The only way to get her to understand that it is good to go to the toilet outside is to make sure she is always outside when she needs to wee and poo!

This means taking her outside a LOT. She needs to go outside 10-15 minutes after drinking, eating or playing. She needs to go outside immediately after waking up from a nap. She also needs to go outside 1 hour after she last went to the toilet - even if she hasn't eaten, drunk, played or slept.

You might find you are taking her outside anything from 8-14 times a day!

At night, you have a choice. You can either set your alarm clock and take her outside every 2-3 hours to go to the toilet, or (if you are lazy like me!) allow her to use a training mat or a sheet of newspaper overnight. She will last longer and longer overnight as her bladder and bowel control increase, so she will gradually wee and poo less and eventually become dry overnight.

It is a lot of hard work to achieve house training, but worth it. I have friends whose dogs still go to the toilet in the house because they don't understand that they should go outside. If they had been taken outside on a regular schedule, as above, when they were a puppy, they would understand and my friends would have cleaner, nicer houses!

Good luck with your girl

just like to say thanks all for very usefull information