Paper training

Question
I have new maltipoo puppy (born April 26). We've had her since she was 8 weeks old (about a month now) and are paper training her with wee wee pads. We keep her in a small pen (in the kitchen)and she reliably uses the pads. When we let her out into the kitchen for more exercide and playtime, we put another pad near the pen. She more often than not poops anywhere outside the pen, although she will sometimes use the pad for urination. How can we help her more reliably to learn that she should go to the pad outside the pen also? It's hard to know when she will poop and we don't usually see it happening. We will ultimately want to teach her to make outside the house also, but for now are focused on paper training inside.

Also: she takes a long time to eat her meals (we feed her 3x a day with Purina Puppy Chow, which the breeder used and the vet said was fine. So we wind up leaving the food in the pen for more than an hour each meal. I read that some experts think that food should be limited to maybe 15 minutes each meal, but she is so small (less than 3 pounds now) that we want her to eat each meal and don't like removing it. Any opinion on that would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Answer
Hi Dave!

It may help to put a piece or two of your puppy's poop on the pad where you want her to go - that will help her to know what it is for.  Also, be sure to follow instructions on properly cleaning anywhere she has gone potty in the house (see cleaning link below).  Also, it is typically best to limit a puppy's freedom, and gradually allow access to other areas of the house so that any potty accidents can be caught right away.  If you are not supervising puppy, she should not have freedom outside of her pen.  It may also help when you do have her out of the pen to take her to the pad every 30 to 45 minutes.  Put her on the pad and try to keep her there for at least 10 minutes to see if she will go.  If she does, give lots of praise and perhaps even a treat.  If not, try again in 30 minutes.

Cleaning - http://blog.gizmo2wizmo.com/2009/05/12/5-essential-steps-to-cleaning-dog-pee.asp...

With regard to feeding, has your vet checked to make sure there is not a medical reason she takes so long to eat?  Also, are you feeding her the recommended portion on the bag of food for her size/age?  Most dogs will eat there meal entirely all at once, so I would be inclined to remove the food bowl when she walks away from it so she will learn to eat all she wants before she walks away.  In doing so, you want to be sure she is getting enough food though.  I'm not sure what else to tell you on this other than talk to your vet.

Good luck!