Quote:
Originally Posted by Danielle78  I am excited!!!! I finally found a puppy and I will be picking her up in about 2 weeks. I thought I was all prepared- i have some clothes, two beds, an ex-pen, a crate, and bowls. Now that I know she will be here soon I willl finish shopping. But, I thought I had decided on a potty method- I was going to use the little rascal. Then I came across the puppy apartment. Now I am confused. So I wanted some advice from some professionals!! I have heard some say indoor pottying is wrong but I work during the day so I need an indoor method I just dont know what is the best one. Also what are the advantages of the washable pee pads except for the fact that they are more economical than regular pee pads? Please help. All advice is greatly appreciated. |
I have always indoor potty-trained my yorkie. With work (and kids activities with my last yorkie), my schedule has always been too varied for anything else. Not to mention, I can't imagine leaving the house in the morning for work and not being allowed to go to the bathroom all day until I get home again...so why would I do that to my dog?
I've found the best method is to use an x-pen with potty pads on covering one side and a bed on the other. I praised like crazy and gave a treat whenever she went potty on the pad. And I only took her out to play after she went pee, so I knew I had a little time for her to run around before she'd need to go again. Also, I've always schedule fed my pups so that poop time was predictable.
Once she knew to go potty on her pads, I open one side of the xpen and closed off the entrance to the room the xpen was in, so her roaming area was still limited. She still took herself to her potty pads when she needed to go pee and again, I praised like crazy and gave a treat (usually a piece of cooked carrot or a piece of apple).
Gradually, I made her roaming area bigger and took down the xpen, but still left the potty pads exactly where they had always been. Then over the course of a couple of days, I moved the potty pads a few feet each day until they ended up in the hallway across from the bathroom where I wanted them
Best of luck with the potty training. Just be consistent and praise & reward all positive behaviour, and ignore the accidents while cleaning them thoroughly. These lil pups love to please, which really helps with training.