Dog Training, Dog Supplies, and Dog Care

This is a great question posted by one of my readers.  Now, keeping in mind that our dogs are teacups and tiny toys, what we use as a solution is not going to work on larger breeds. 

When our pups start to learn how to climb out of the whelping box on thier own, for what we call "floor swimming" because we have hard wood floors.  We bring in a big plastic kids pool for them, of course without water.  It takes up a lot of space, but it's benefits at our house is unmeasurable.

For example, because we have hardwood floors, having the pups in the pool helps them learn to walk better because they can get a better grip. We also immediately start the potty training there.  We put in a pee pad, and we move their heater in there and put a small dog bed ontop of the heater, and we add some toys.  This is also a great place for when they start learning how to eat because it is easy clean up.  Whenever we see one squating to eleminate itself off the pee pad, we immediately pick them up and move them to the pee pad.  They get the idea pretty quickly.  We will also leave a "nugget" on the pad so they keep the idea in their head as to where they are supposed to go to the bathroom. 

Another great place for large litters when they are learning to eat is in the tub, because clean up is a cinch.  Again, without water! (Do I really have to keep saying that?  You just never know anymore.) When they are done eating, you take the pups out, then you easily clean the tub and then rinse it out.  We usually have very small litters, but our Shih Tzu had 7 shih-poos, so the tub worked great for feeding times.

Another item that we use is a portable child's playpen.  We have a large house, but obviously if we have a couple of litters, we can't be laying big plastic pools everywhere!  Good Lord, could you imagine that?  You put the same items inside the playpen and whala, you have another safe place for your pups to play and start potty training, until they are a bit bigger and ready for the next step.  We just put the mother in with her babies when ever she wants, and take her out when she is ready.  At this stage, the mom doesn't want to be with her babies every waking moment anyways, and she will certainly let you know when she wants in or out.

So that is my answer to your question as to how we handle that issue with our small breeds. I hoped that helped!

Doggie Hugs and Kisses;

DivaB

http://www.divab-dogs.com