[2ndhandgal]

In all honesty it sounds like Bella is very confused about what she should be doing where and puppy pads and leaving are both confusing to her. I am not quite sure where pet carer fits in? Is that she is left for 3 hours once a day with one visit in that time from pet carer or left for longer?

Unfortunately pups need to toilet and need people around to guide them to the right places and the more time she is unsupervised the longer the process is likely to take as she will be going in the wrong place

 

[2ndhandgal]

Unfortunately the hours she is left mean she has no choice but to toilet and she will find it hard to work out the rules are different when people are there.

Did you have some time off work to settle her in when you first got her? that could be why she made good strides initially and is now going backwards.

You are just going to have to persevere with lots of positive rewards when she gets it right at weekends and in the mornings and evenings and spending lots of time outside so she gets the opportunity to get it right as much as possible.

 

[2ndhandgal]

See this is why I am worrying because she is nearly 16 weeks now and she is going backwards with it all I am taking her out at all the right times and we seem to be getting better at weeing outside now which is good!

On a side note:
I've just come home from work to find the hallway in a right old state! Poo almost everywhere! Mainly on the pad though but the problem is she decided to drag and rip up the pad! So I have poo and puppy pad absolutely everywhere! What is that all about? When I came through the door though I just ignored what had happened, let her straight out in the garden where she had a wee followed by me singing and dancing like a lunatic (the neighbours must love me!). I then shut her in a different room so I could clean up the mess alone. I've now let her back in the hallway and have made no fuss or bother over what had happened. Is that the right thing to do? I don't understand how it can get better by ignoring it?

Unfortunately this is the problem of having a puppy and working full time. She is left for over 8 hours a day and will play with whatever is around so if that is a messy puppy pad there will be mess.

As far as ignoring goes it really is not her fault - if you come in and tell her of for a mess she will just associate the telling off with you being back and not the mess.

 

[2ndhandgal]

Yes ok that makes sense

She is currently getting a 15 min walk in the morning, then half an hour play and some mental stimulation via the pet carer playing and carrying on with our training. Then a 15 minute walk again at around 2 in the afternoon. Then another 15 minute walk in the evening along with us playing and training her later on. I am doing the 5 minute per month of age rule at the moment so will up it to 20 minutes soon. I am scared of overdoing it with the length of the walk as I've heard that they can get joint problems if worked too much at a young age?

OK - onto the practical of what you can do. You need her to be tired when left so she is less likely to get up to mischief so the mornings she needs far more than a 15 minute walk - not more walking but in addition to the walk she needs some play and probably some training or games to tire her brain out a bit. She needs to wee and poo before you leave her.

I would probably make the 30 minute pet carer visit up to an hour which will give time for a good while spent in the garden to try and get good toilet habits as well as more play and training.

Same again with the afternoon session. A walk, some training, some time just spent in the garden waiting for toilet to try and ensure she is tired and empty before being left.

 

[2ndhandgal]

How long a walk can I get away with before worrying about whether I am doing any lasting damage to her joints? I personally think any thing more than 20 mins will kill her, she always seems really glad to be home after the walk as she starts to pull real hard on her lead. To be honest I am already doing a lot of what everyone is saying which is why I am really struggling to understand why she is going backwards with it all...I guess with all puppies you have your good and your bad days. More good days would be nice though as at the moment the bad days are overtaking the good ones!

I did not say walk her for longer, I said longer in the garden and more time spent including brain games and training to try and tire her a bit before she is left.

I do not know why you are struggling to understand - she is being left for too long and this is why she is going backwards, she has nobody around to take her out for a large proportion of the day.

Just for the record - I live alone and work full time. I get up at 6 so I have time for Molly and her physio before leaving home to take the dogs for a walk and then drop them at a friends where they spend the day with her dogs before I pick them up in the evening after work, give them another walk on the way home before more exercises and whatever training or whatever else they might need. It is hard work and costs me well over an hour driving just driving each day, plus petrol costs and payment to my friend but worth it for having happy dogs.