Coco has full run of the house and has a pee pee pad. So I don't take her out in the mornings. I change her pads when I wake up and when I get home from work. I take her outside when I get home but she doesn't use the bathroom its just to give her some air. She refuses to pee outside. I don't know why but she just does.......When she was a puppy, I bought one of those x-pens I would keep her in there with her bed, food and pee pee pads until I got home from work. This worked GREAT!! To me it was better than putting her in a bathroom or small crate because she had enough room to run around in the pen.

I noticed a lot of people talking about pee pads. Do you by them in bulk? Are these those blue pads they sell at Petco/Petsmart?? Is there a better place to buy them at?

And for those who have tried diapers ... do they get "addicted" to them? I'm afraid that if he learns he can go potty in the diaper, he will always go potty in the diaper ... and I don't want THAT to happen ;)

I buy my pee-pads at PetSmart. The BargainHound brand is the cheapest I've found. I would also suggest you get the pee-pad spray that they sell near the pads. It helps attract the dog to the pad at first when they are learning.

And as far as bulk I get the 56 pads for $20. That lasts us a while.

I buy 200 pads on E-Bay for around 25 bucks including shipping.

Thanks for letting me know about the spray.

And I'll try ebay for the pads. Any search engine tips? Or favorite sellers to look for?

Here goes....

-Do you walk your dog as soon as you get up or do you feed them first, then walk them?
i get up at 5am to workout and take max out to potty. then he plays and eats while i'm working out. i take him out again before i leave at 7:00 then he goes into the kitchen for the day. he stays in there from 7am until either 4:30 pm when my husband gets home or 5:45 pm when i get home. when i get home from i take him on a 15 mintue walk.

-How much extra time does it take in the morning to take care of the dog's needs before you go to work?
when he was a baby, it took about 15 - 20 extra minutes. now it seems like only about 5 - 10.

-How many hours does your dog sleep at the night?
he sleeps from about 9:30 am to 5:00 am

-If your dog sleeps in your bed, has he/she ever had an accident on the bed? If yes, do you have plastic on your bed?
he slept in our bed at first but now he can jump off, so we keep him in his kennel at night.

-Do you have a different routine on weekdays than on weekends? Like sleeping in on Saturday or Sunday morning.
we usually sleep in a little later on the weekends but we also stay up a little later too.

I work full-time but I’m lucky enough to be able to take her with me. The company I work for owns a lot of the surrounding property, so she’s able to stay in the kitchenette of the offices next door. (I set her up with some pee-pads to spare the tile, but I’m trying to get her to go primarily outside.)

We start our day around 5:30. I have to put her up in a tiled bathroom while I workout, for obvious reasons. I used to have a children’s play-pen set up for her, but by 3 months she was able to jump out. Everyone here talks about an x-pen, but I’m not familiar with them.
Anyways, then she gets groomed, fed, let out again, and then she’s off with me to take a shower. I keep her with me in my bathroom, with her toys, the entire time it takes me to get ready (with the exception of potty brakes) because I can’t trust her not to pee on the carpet or tear stuff up if I’m not watching her like a hawk. Then we’re off to work and I take her out for walks as much as possible during the day. After work and dinner, she has my full attention ‘til we hit the sack around 10:00.

She sleeps with me and has had about 3 accidents in the bed when she was younger, she’s four months now. I’ve never considered plastic on the bed….? Now she’ll wake me up when she needs to go. She sleeps for a good 8 hours during the night. :D

On the weekends I try to spend as much time with her as possible. Luckily my boyfriend is just as into her as I am, or I imagine that would start to get on his nerves. But he’s really cool and tries to make plans that can involve her. Like, this weekend he’s coming to her first puppy class with us!

So yeah, I was so lost when I first got her because I had no real dog experience either and wasn’t sure what to expect, but you’ll get the hang of it and before you know it you guys will have your own way of doing things.

Good luck and have fun! :)