[ZouinaMama]

Hi everyone!

I'm new to the forum, as I'm getting my brand new papillon puppy tonight! I'm a first time puppy owner (have gotten older dogs before) and am mostly concerned with potty training a papillon. Every website, book, and article I've read says they're very difficult to train. I have three different size crates for her (I'm not sure how big she'll be, but I'm guessing the size "small" will be best so she won't go potty in there) as well as a playpen for when I'm gone longer.

I'll be home on vacation for a month, and then back to work, where I should be able to come home for lunch every day for about half an hour to an hour.

My concern is this: I'm picking her up tonight and intend to start crate training immediately. As in, bring her home, take her outside to potty, play, put her in the crate, take her outside to potty, play, put her in crate, go to sleep myself, take her out to potty, etc... The problem is I'd already bought tickets to a concert for tomorrow night. I need to leave my place around 6pm, the concert is at 8, and I'm guessing I'll be home around 12. That's a really long time! A friend had originally offered to watch the puppy, but now can't. My questions are: 1) Will the puppy be okay for those 6 hours? 2) Will that ruin my chances of housebreaking her (since I'll have to put puppy pads in the playpen with her).

Any other tips on housebreaking a papillon are much appreciated!
Thank you!

 

[Avery]

I don't think it would ruin the chances of you housebreaking her, but it's not ideal. Is there nobody who can watch her or at least stop by your place to check on her?

Make sure that her enclosure is 100% puppy-proof. Nothing that can be chewed up and ingested or otherwise injured with. It might be a good idea to see how she behaves with puppy pads first. If she decides that it's more fun to shred them than go on them, you might be better off leaving them out and just cleaning up the mess later.

Mumble was 11 months old when I got him, and he was about 60% potty trained. He was completely housebroken a week after that. I think some people might consider them harder to train because they're small, and thus have smaller bladders.

Congrats on your new puppy! Post lots of pictures!

 

[ZouinaMama]

Hi! Thanks for your response!
I haven't had time to observe her in the playpen to know how she would do in it but I was able to find someone to watch her tonight. They won't crate train her, but at least they'll be here to keep an eye on her.
The last pap I had I got as a rescue when she was 10 months old, and what a difference! I think she was so grateful to hae a loving home that she just wanted to please me, so she was housebroken super quickly, too. This puppy is so young, I'm finding it really challenging.
I tried to take some pictures today, but she moves too much! Haha How would I post them?
Thanks again!

I don't think it would ruin the chances of you housebreaking her, but it's not ideal. Is there nobody who can watch her or at least stop by your place to check on her?

Make sure that her enclosure is 100% puppy-proof. Nothing that can be chewed up and ingested or otherwise injured with. It might be a good idea to see how she behaves with puppy pads first. If she decides that it's more fun to shred them than go on them, you might be better off leaving them out and just cleaning up the mess later.

Mumble was 11 months old when I got him, and he was about 60% potty trained. He was completely housebroken a week after that. I think some people might consider them harder to train because they're small, and thus have smaller bladders.

Congrats on your new puppy! Post lots of pictures!

 

[Avery]

I'm glad you found someone to watch her. Here's a thread that explains how to post pictures:

http://www.dogforums.com/dog-pictures-forum/13113-having-trouble-posting-photos.html

You can make a thread in the pictures forum to introduce your pup.

 

[ZouinaMama]

Woo! Let's see if this works...

 

[Avery]

Oh my god! Look at that fluffy little butt! What a cutie. Be sure to keep us updated as she grows. Watching their coat grow in and their colors change is super fun.

 

[ZouinaMama]

It's super fun! In the pictures, you can't see the little black spot she has in the middle of her back right above her tail. It's adoooorable.

She's already changing colors a little! She's showing more of her tri--the tan's coming in on her cheeks and a little in her ears. I'll definitely be posting more pictures (not sure where to do that, though (?)).

She's also starting to go through the awkward puppy phase, I think. She looks a little lankier and awkward now haha!

Oh my god! Look at that fluffy little butt! What a cutie. Be sure to keep us updated as she grows. Watching their coat grow in and their colors change is super fun.

 

[Avery]

You can create a new thread in the pictures forum if you want:

http://www.dogforums.com/dog-pictures-forum/

There are a couple threads there where everyone is encouraged to add their pictures, such as the Random Pictures Thread:

http://www.dogforums.com/dog-pictures-forum/106530-random-pictures-thread.html

And there's also a Papillon-specific thread that the Pap owners here update periodically:

http://www.dogforums.com/dog-pictures-forum/53565-papillons.html

Can't wait to see more of her. Does she have a name?

 

[chubby]

Who said Papillons were hard to housebreak? I heard quite the opposite, and also the fact that they're extremely intelligent and learn quickly helps too

If you're away for longer than 3-4 hours, definitely put him in an ex-pen with some newspapers down. Then once he can hold it long enough to not need those papers, you can take them away. If you're cool with cleaning up messes when you come home, you can totally forgo the newspapers thing.