Keeping things clean!

[MaxandMe]

my breeder uses cedar and they pups seem to all go in that area and nowhere else
AND she bought a huge rubber matt from Sam's club thus clean up is much easier now

[Jac]

Nope, Cathy, I have never found anything that works...sorry. I, too, have little poopies that track through it and it gets everywhere!
They get the idea to go where they are "supposed to" but I have found that they usually decide that the potty area is the best place for them to run to me for attention...and when I reach over to clean it up (or climb over the x-pen, heaven forbid) the games begin! Which pup can get the paper towell before it hits the ground? Which one can grab it away from me once I get it full of poo...and there is nothing I can do to distract them! They KNOW! hahahaaa

I have tried a puppy condo where they have a potty area...using potty pads...forget that! They eat potty pads...I have tried the whiz dog and the frames for potty pads...they always figure out how to get to them...I have tried the litter box with "paper pellets"...they just sleep in it, and eat the pellets...I have tried shavings, ugh, they just play in it and track it all over...nope, I have just decided to put a blanket down with towells covering it (where they pull the towells all over the condo) and that is the best thing for me. The bad thing is that it teaches them to potty on absorbant surfaces. *sigh*

My next bright idea is to make my own, natural version of the potty box with grass. I think that I will get a large plastic box, put a false bottom inside (one with drain holes) and top it off with sod! The sod will be just under the top of the box so that they don't pull it out...I am sure that they will dig in it! hahaha But I think that I can pick up the poopies, let the liquids flow through and empty it...then when I need to replace the sod, I will put new sod down.

[anny51]

Just a thought, but would fake grass work...like a mat that you could hose off?

[Jac]

Well, Ann, you are right on target...this is where I got my idea! Only I want natural grass (sod) because I can use it around my yard when I retire it from the pups! I think I'll try to grow my own...but I want to get some from a sod farm first...cuz I am lazy!
http://www.cosmopolitancanine.com/products.htm

[MaxandMe]

ok how about a sandbox area or a sandy area

[Jac]

hahahaha, Annmarie, I think that you are thinking about outdoor dogs! LOL I know that your breeder has a great set up in her barn and I'd sure like to have the same...but most of us have the pups inside, in our homes...I just don't think a sandbox would be good! hahahaha....sand EVERYWHERE!!! Plus, the little stinkers would get sand in their eyes and noses because they are so darned curious.
I think that if you have dogs out doors, you can use things like straw but when you have them in your dining room, like I do, you just have to make do with blankets and towels...but I am still going to try sod!

[Jac]

Ha! Cathy, you are not alone!
Sometimes, when I see breeders with the perfect home and the perfectly clean (and adorably photographed) puppies...I think of the Stepford Wives! hahahaha
I will tell you that I have a solution...it is not a good solution, but it works for us. I want the pups to learn that their x-pen is not the place to potty (although I do put down towels where THEY decide to have a potty area...and I try to let them out every 2 hours...yes, I let them OUT...I don't have a safe outside area for them at this time (I hope to soon) and they need their exercise and they also need to potty out of their living area....and learn how to control their potty time...so when I let them out they run all over the living room, dining room, kitchen and hallway! (We don't have carpeting, thank goodness!)
I have pergo wood flooring and I follow them around with paper towels and clean up after them! I also put a couple of towels down where I want them to go and they usually run to the towel and potty!
What happens, when I do this, is that they actually do hold it (a few accidents) all night! When they cry to get out in the morning, as soon as I open the pen, they rush to the towel to potty. After the initial potty time and my doodoo run...they start to play and I can get clean bedding out and go into the pen and clean it up. I sweep and mop the floor and replace the bedding and put down fresh water. I don't feed them in the pen, they eat in the kitchen, so as soon as they eat, we have another potty run...then they play hard again and I put them back into their pen.
They konk right out, usually, or they have wild bark-a-thons and then go to sleep...but that is when I clean the floors in the rest of the house and dump the potty bag.
Of course, this is a never ending job! Between that and rotating my dogs in and out for playtime (I have the boys separated from the girls because of heat cycles! LOL) and do a little computer work, it is time to start all over again!
About 2 hour shifts...they sleep two hours, play for 45 minutes to an hour outside, then back for 2 hours.
What is amazing is that they actually do hold their potty time for the most part...unless I sleep in!
But this is why I would love grass...I think that they would learn to potty there, since they prefer to use the towel.
Still, they get a little routine and a sense of timing and a sense of keeping their area clean...
This is way too long, but I hope it helps to give you some ideas.
And I hope that other breeders will chime in here! Especially the Stepford Wives...how DO you do it????

[KingstonTodd]

Stepford, ahha. Our pictures are clean, but only because we take them right after cleaning. Hershey kept the whelpingbox spotless for the first 4-5 weeks. Bless her!!! . After that, we alternate the puppies between two area's, their whelpingbox lined with papers on one side and towels on the other, and an octagon x-pen, papers and towels. They learn to potty on the paper, but there are always accidents, so every two hour they switch places, and the other one gets cleaned, towels to the laundry and paper to the garbage. I put them through the tub when transfereing them to clean their feet off. They undoubtably walk through the potty side and get it on their feet so when changing areas I put them all in the tub and run soapy waterover their feet. The rest of them is usually pretty clean but if I see spots where they layed down in poo, they get a more complete wash. Putting 9 puppies into the tub from the den one by one and holding them so they dont whipe their pooey feet on your PJ's is quite the time consuing talk! Our pups go home liking to drink from the tub faucet because they get to do that multiple times a day. We may try some more fancy potty areas that I have seen on other sites/forums, but this system worked for us this time.

[anny51]

I'm reading all this and wondering how on earth you manage if you have several litters on the go at the same time!! Guess you all must be certifiable

[Jac]

Originally Posted by anny51

I'm reading all this and wondering how on earth you manage if you have several litters on the go at the same time!! Guess you all must be certifiable

Certifiable! You have that right! hahahaha

Everyone in our families (mine and Dave's) thinks we are totally nuts! (And we are!)

Todd, I love that you put them in the tub so much! hahahaha Good idea! I used to have two x-pens set up too...for switching and cleaning...but, like Cathy, I have changed over the years! I have used the x-pens to "fence off" areas where my big dogs can't go...and we have cut them up and tried them out for "murphy" type beds for the dogs! ha! We use them outside to bolster the fencing when the dogs learn to push it and escape!

So, our second and third x-pen areas (large at one time) are no longer! I need to buy more, and more crates too...but it just seems like those dear pups come along so quickly that you are caught off guard and make do.

I am here to tell you that x-pens, kennel panels and leashes make the very best tools for fixing just about anything that needs fixing!