Our German Shepherd gave birth to 5 puppies, 5 weeks ago. Up until this time we have kept the mom with the puppies most of the time. Now that they are eating puppy food more, our utility room is becoming soiled almost hourly! How do you raise/house puppies until it is time to sell them (about 7-8 weeks old)? The mom is an indoor dog. Thanks, and have a great day!

-- Maggie (ruby@isp360.net), April 11, 2002

Answers

My neighbor built a welping box and lined it with newspaper. Then training crates there after.

-- julie (jbritt@ceva.net), April 11, 2002.

Maggie, check out yard sales to find old playpens! Line the bottom with old newspapersPLace it so it goes up on the sides a few inches- put several inches of cedar shavings on top and scoop out the "soils" with a cat litter scoop.

-- Debbie T in N.C. (rdtyner@mindspring.com), April 11, 2002.

I used a playpen for my Cairn Terrier, and last for a Standard Poodle, but the poodle was really too big. After a couple of weeks, I made an enclosure from OSB. I kept it in our bathroom, on a (easily cleaned) linoleum floor.

The enclosure had 24-inch tall walls. It's handy to cut from one sheet of OSB or plywood. I made a drop down half-height door on one side, so with the door open, there was still a sill 14 inches or so high to keep the puppies from flopping out every time I opened it. Also, with the door down, Mom could get in and out. I would recommend a higher sill, though. Those darn puppies get quite agile in a big hurry! I put duct tape around the bottom edges for easily replaced protection against soiling.

For bedding, I went to the thrift store and bought a bunch of big sheets and towels. I would put the puppies in the tub while I cleaned the enclosure. First, a couple layers of terry cloth towels, for extra absorption. Then, a big sheet folded into fourths. Tuck the edges under the rather heavy OSB walls, and Voila, clean bed!

The sheets are smooth enough that you can pick up poops with toilet paper and still have a relatively clean surface. I changed all the bedding at least twice a day and popped it into the washer. Most of the poop easily shakes off the sheets so it doesn't foul up your washer. By my keeping the enclosure very clean, after a little while, the puppies got to dislike the messes and seemed to mostly soil one area and avoid the poopy spots. Then I could get away with putting the thick toweling only under that area. Less laundry!

The extra, added benefit of keeping puppies in a really clean place is that they are very easy to housebreak when the time comes.

-- Laura Jensen (lrjensen@nwlink.com), April 11, 2002.

Put them out side for the day if you can.Then bring them in at night.But feed them out side and let them do there poops first them bring them.

-- Steven (homestead@110.net), April 11, 2002.

They sell a neat little puppy litter box at Petsmart. With litter for puppies too. They really learn how to use it. They can and do walk in low end and do their business!

When mine get that age, if it's warm out, I put them outside in a little barn with a dog door to a little outdoor yard. They will go out the doggie door to potty even at 4 wks old. There's no way you can keep the newspapers clean at this stage. I have some 2 wk olds in my bathroom now.

-- Cindy in KY (solidrockranch@msn.com), April 12, 2002.

We use a whelping box.One side has blankets , the other has newspaper.Believe it or not they will paper train themselfs in a limited space.I would worry about the person who uses towel and sheetsforthe whole box, it the get to used to it it may become habit in there new homes.

-- Patty Gamble (fodfarms@hotmail.com), April 12, 2002.

We raise Great Dane puppies and initially they are in a whelping box which is about six foot square and has blankets, sheets and towels on it. The towels are on top for quick poop pickups and then twice a day (or more if needed) we take all of the towels and sheets out and put new ones down. Once the pups reach about five weeks, we get rid of the whelping box and set up an X pen. An X pen is basically a wire fence that folds up accordian style and has a long wire pin that slids through loops at the corner when you have the pen unfolded and set up in a square. It has a doggy door in it to let them out. In our case, we put two X pens together because our dogs are big and a big litter needs the space. We have a tarp under the Xpens and there are blankets at one end and newspaper at the other. Put the blankets at the end where the door is or the pups will be tramping through the poop when you let them out the door to go outside. When you are done and the pups are gone, you can store the X pens easily for future litters. These X pens are what you see outside people's motorhomes when you visit dog shows. They are used to keep the dogs penned in when they are on the road. They are really great to have if you travel a lot with your dog and have a need to pen them occassionally so you don't have to hold onto a leash all of the time. They would be particularly useful if you go camping with your dog.

-- Colleen (pyramidgreatdanes@erols.com), April 12, 2002.

Patty - About the towels and sheets, that's an interesting point. However, I've never had any problem with dogs using using towels and sheets or other fabrics, including carpets, outside their enclosure once they were housebroken. The puppies I've kept for over eight weeks were reliably housebroken within a very short period of time once training commenced (with proper attention paid to their physical capacities and capabilities, of course). The main thing is to keep them clean, clean, clean. That way, they learn to avoid the nasty stuff, don't want it anywhere near them, and will keep it far away (outside) whenever possible.

Do paper trained puppies find paper on the floor irresistible after they've been trained to go outside? This is an actual question, since I've never had a paper-trained puppy.

-- Laura Jensen (lrjensen@nwlink.com), April 12, 2002.

Laura good point.But then I would rather have a pup pee on the newspaper than my bed ! LOL .I truely have never had a problem with them peeing on papers afte house broken .Once all the puppys are gone and the only one left is my pick puppy I no longer use newspaper.I have had problems with kittens I have adopted when people used newspaper in there litter boxes.

-- Patty Gamble (fodfarms@hotmail.com), April 12, 2002.