I did pads inside and going outside at first. At that age they don’t have a lot of control, so pads are necessary. When they go on the pad it’s good, and act like it’s good. When they go outside it’s great! Really praise them and give them hugs and kisses to let them know going outside is a wonderful thing. When they go on the floor just pick them up midstream and put them on the pad. They’ll get the idea.

He might not be comfortable waiting all night yet. Sometimes they can do it, but my puppy slept in bed with me and when I got up to go in the middle of the night, I placed him on the pad first, and he usually went. I’m not saying you have to do this, but if your up anyway, giving him just a brief chance at the pad won’t hurt.

If he went potty in his crate, it might be too big for him now. Try to find something he can’t chew on to take up some of the space until he grows into it.

We picked Romeo up last night and started using his regular kibble as a treat because it was too late to go to the pet store to buy some.

He slept in the crate for about 5 hours, which I thought was remarkable for the first night. He then woke up and had a little accident in the crate when I tried putting him back in. But overall, he did well.

We live in an apartment in NYC and I have a few questions for anyone on this blog:

1. Does anyone know any good training classes (kind ones) in NYC and is a puppy too young for these?

2. Is it okay to train him on the wee wee pad and let him outside? Will this confuse him?

3. We want to train him not to go on the couch (as his previous owners allowed for the 3 weeks they had him). Any ideas?

I’m enjoying your blog so much being a new dachshund owner. But we’re a little nervous with the new puppy. Want to do it right.

Someone out there should have a list of good training centres who practice positive reenforcement and have good small class sizes. I’d happily recommend the place we took Shopsy for anyone in our area.