In Need of some serious Puppy Boot Camp

[LovieandHalo 0]

Ok, I'm over the cute little fur ball that I named Halo! The fun in the sun is over offically as of today! After work today, I will be at home cleaning up what I call an apartment but Lovie and Halo call a bathroom and we will begin Puppy Bootcamp! Some changes that I am going to make from what we've been doing are the following:

Was letting Lovie and Halo have free roam of the entire apartment if it's hardwoods. The bedroom was gated off however Halo can fit through the slats so did no good. Every day there is poop and pee on everything, puppy pads, carpet, dog bed, hardwoods, etc. I know it's not Lovie b/c she is trained but I can't confine Halo and not Lovie it seems so they are both going to have to be confined I guess until Halo is trained. I live in an apartment so screaming and crying is not an option hense why I haven't implemented the crate but I do have it.

Should I force the crate or just gate off into the kitchen area with a puppy pad? I don't have anyone to come let him out of the crate 1/2 way through the day so I know he can't hold it for that long so I think the kitchen is going to be the best idea. No more million puppy pads all over the house, I'm going to widdle down to 1 or 2 and that's it.

peeing on the bed is an everyday ritual right now so I guess we aren't allowed to sleep in the bed anymore. Problem is once again Lovie will have free roam and Halo won't so I think Halo is not going to like that much.

I need some advice otherwise Halo is going to end up with his napsak out on the highway! LOL. Just kidding!

[2 better than 1 1]

I think it is a good idea to have Halo confined to the kitchen. We have an exercise pen in our kitchen for Lyric. She has a puppy pad in it and she ALWAYS goes on it. She can still see Pippin because he is almost always in the living room on the couch when we are not at home. She barks when we leave, but I am pretty sure it doesn't last long. She is almost always sleeping when we return home.

I always felt bad leaving Pippin in his crate when he was a puppy, so that's why we got the exercise pen after about a week. Their little puppy bladders just can't last longer than about an hour and a half before they have to go again.

Puppies need boundaries... though I know it's hard to do when they have such cute faces. We are also guilty of letting Lyric in our bed for a bit before we got to bed and then after she wakes up around 5:30 or 6:00 in the morning she gets to lay in bed with us until it's time for us to start getting ready.... she's never had an accident in our bed though.

Good luck! I think that putting Halo in the kitchen will help a lot!

Edited July 1, 2010 by 2 better than 1

[Carolina Girl 2]

I am also using an excercise pen with Mowgli. I spread 2 pads out, put his small crate in there (with the door open), put in a few toys and a bowl of water. He does fine with this. He always goes on the pads. And he never uses it in his crate. Mowgli does not come out of the pen unless we can supervise him 100%.

[Ming Ming and Suki's Momma 0]

Natalie,

You remind me of myself when I first bring Ming Ming home. She wouldn't stay in the crate to save her life. So I just let her have the house, but I did enforce the puppy pads alot. I had them in the areas where we spend most of the time and it worked. But now with Suki, I vowed that I was going to crate trained her, and I did. Surprisingly, she holds her poos and pee for awhile with no accidents in the crate. As soon as she is out of the crate its outside we go and then I would allow her to roam the house.

I have had some good advise from this site and from others personally that help me raise and train Ming Ming and it works. What really works is to monitor the eating and drinking. This was a hard lesson for me to learn because I felt that I wasn't feeding her enough, but its helps with the training and less accidents in the house. Also, I was advised, no soft pillows or blankets for awhile for the little one because they like to use those as puppy pads, lol. And Kongs are a lifesaver too, to entertain and a little snack while your gone.

I know I might be the last one to advise anyone, but I have learn alot from these group of people and a lot of patience.

Good Luck!

[FairyTail Josette 14]

Confinement is key in potty training. There are 3 C's in potty training...consistency, confinement, and clean up. Confinement is important, even when you're home. Confine in the same room with you, after a successful potty. I would gate off the kitchen, since, Halo is not old enough to hold it all day, and nobody can let Halo out periodically throughout the day. Clean up is crucial...clean up with a enzymatic odor neutralizer. Follow the instructions to a t on the bottle. Otherwise, Halo will want to go back to that particular spot and resoil or urinate again when you're home. Dogs learn from routine, so, being consistent helps them learn what you are wanting them to do. Good luck! :puppy:

[Seastar 44]

Ditto that.

[Smile 0]

Ditto +1.

In my case while I'm at work I keep Murphy confined (with a baby gate across the door) to a small downstairs bathroom with a very easy to clean vinyl floor. When I first started putting her in there I covered the entire floor in newspaper. After a while I noticed that she would relieve herself in a particular spot so I slowly stopped putting papers in the areas she didn't use. I thought about using puppy pads, but my parents used newspaper for all of their dogs and they did just fine. Plus I have access to an abundant supply of newspapers, so I didn't see the point of spending money on puppy pads. Any road, so far she's doing great with keeping her business on the newspaper.

When I'm with Murphy at home I don't keep her confined to any one part of the house, however, I take her out on regular potty breaks and keep a close eye on her at all times. Not that the latter is all that difficult considering she is quite the velcro puppy and usually keeps a close eye on me.

At night she sleeps in a crate/cage. It's a little big for her (not by much though) so I line it with newspaper and give her an old towel to sleep on. The first couple of weeks I got up twice a night then once a night to take her out for a potty break. Now she'll sleep through the night without any problems at all. Also if I leave the house for only a couple of hours I'll put her in her crate with a couple of her toys.

At first she fussed quite a bit with both the crate and being confined in the bathroom, but now that Murphy has learned that they are a part of her daily routine she's perfectly fine with them.

[LovieandHalo 0]

I have priced Play pen's and they are too expensive for me right now, all over $100..... Can't do that right now. Not to mention the entire play pen would be my apartment from the looks of it. I have a 1 bedroom, LOL

So I'm going to try the kitchen or bathroom gated off and see how it goes. I took the day off tomorrow so I'm going to work on setting the place up and making this work. I just don't know if I should put Lovie in the gated area with Halo or not. She is not doing anything to warrent confinement but I just can't afford for Halo to scream when I'm not here since I live in an apartment. Not fair to my neighbors. When I got Lovie I had a house so it didn't matter and Lovie could cry non stop and I didn't have to worry about neighbors, now I do.

I am also 3 flights up so going out every hour is probably impossible and definately in the middle of the night, unless I want to get kidnapped or mugged, hense why I am trying to implement the puppy pads. For safety as well.

[Smile 0]

Yikes no! I wouldn't want to have to do three flights of stairs for frequent potty breaks either.

I should think once Lovie got used to the routine, she wouldn't mind being confined to one room in the apartment. And even if you decide to put Halo in the room by herself she's likely to be noisy for just a few days until she gets used to the new arrangements. In that time you could introduce yourself to your neighbors (if they don't know you already) by a note on their door or in person and tell them about your situation. People can be very understanding when you give them a friendly heads up.

Edited July 1, 2010 by Smile

[Carolina Girl 2]

I found my pen at Wal-Mart for $40. It is a smaller one. It is only 3ft by 3 ft. They have them online. I'm not planning on using it forever, so I decided to go with the cheaper/smaller one. It is pretty nice. It is plastic and even has a little door for them to go in and out.

[LovieandHalo 0]

Oh and I forgot to mention, at Halo's 10 week check this week, his belly got our doctors attention when the tech carried him back to weigh... He has gained 2lbs 6oz in 3 weeks..... Too much per Dr... so we are basically on puppy diet at 4.6lbs..... Lovie could use a decrease in food anyways so we are at 1/4 cup of dry with 2 spoonfuls of wet on top. Halo hasn't had a solid forming poop as well so we need to get that taken care of. Love being a mommy... They are on great food. Candidea wet and Fromm dry.

I took all the puppy pads out of the bedroom, now the bedroom is a luxary for the pups so only get to be in here with me, which is making it relaxing. Halo didn't have any accidents on the bed last night but that's b/c I woke up 2 times to take him to potty on the pad in the den.

Going to leave for a few hours today and will set him up in the kitchen and see how he does with Lovie in eyesight. Wish us "Quiet" luck......