Quote:
Originally Posted by mrssabes  One step at a time. I know many people work full-time and manage to have happy, healthy dogs, so it's an attainable goal. It's just so darned exhausting and scary right now. |
Hang in there. I work from home and my first pup, Max, still made me cry during his first 8 months. I was exhausted and scared that he would harm himself.
The first year is the hardest.
A cozy bed in the pen is enough of a den. That is what Max had.
You might consider using washable piddle pads. It's a pain to wash them, and there is a chance your pup will not distinguish between pads and throw rugs, but I would be willing to deal with it for safety.
Your other option is a pad holder that prevents chewing the pad. Sometimes pups will think hitting the tray holder is sufficient, rather than getting fully on the pad. Some people have used tape on the floor. I put the pad sort of under the corner of the pen so that at least 2 sides were held down.
Thankfully Max gave up playing with the pad pretty quickly.