Housebreaking

[Tom and Tab]

Hey all. Just joined the site yesterday and this group was suggested to me.

We just got an ALD 2 weeks ago. He will be 10 weeks tomorrow and so far so good. The breeder said to go with box training him because he is so small and to not have to go out in the cold every hour or so, We live in northeastern MA.

My question is does box training stunt his housebreaking?

We were on a tear this past weekend. Only 1-2 accidents and mainly my fault for being off on the timing. Outside, going, coming in, no issues. He stayed away from the box area and seemed to be on the road to greatness. Since we are a working family, yesterday my father in law and my mom took shifts on coming by and taking him out of his crate and going outside. He went out fine for both but then my mom, not knowing, let him use the box. He went #1 outside but came in and dropped a deuce.

Now that is where he goes to take care of business, without being prompted so I should be thankful. However I feel what we worked on this past weekend is gone.

Are we confusing him by letting him use the box? I admit I used it at 4 this morning to let him pee because it was -10 out.

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

It is slowing things down a bit and you will have to transition from the box.  However, -10 sounds pretty cold to me so I might just train to the box and when it warms up put the box outside.  Do you have grass in the box?

[Tom and Tab]

No it's a litter. It's the same box and litter the breeder used. I pulled it up this morning because he went right to it. I am going to just bite the bullet and take him out. He at least held it a little while we didn't use the box. This morning he went to it about a half hour after we came in.

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

I would do what works best for you. I live in So. California so really cold and outdoor access isn't a problem for me, but if I was house breaking a puppy and it was freezing winter, I might resort to a puppy pad, litter box, or square of sod. In the old days people used newspaper for puppies at first and then moved  to outdoors - the dogs learned. It  just was a two-step process.