[Resident Jester]

I read the sticky " before you get a dog", and in the article it said two things that I am confused by.

1. Make a dog toilet for his long term area, Ok, I like this idea but I see most users seem to dislike puppy pads, if I make the toilet resemble grass outside will this work hand in hand with going outside or does it have the same negative effect of the dog thinking it is ok to go inside? If that is the case What can I do with a puppy for 7 hours while i'm at work?

2. Is the feeding by only using toys. Again, it seems like most users like having a strict feeding schedule where as this would be kinda like grazing all day...what are the pluses and negatives?


thank you

 

[Dee8112]

I am new at this also. I have a four month old Chiweenie. I got her when she was 8 weeks old. I have talked to my vet about potty and feeding. She told me its really up to the owner. The decision depends on what makes you comfortable.
I have read many post about not training your dog to go on pads. I disagree. I have a tiny dog and she goes on pads. I don't have a problem with it, plus it makes it easier for me when I am at work for 7-8 hours a day. I put her in the kitchen with her bed, food on one side and the pad on the other. I also have a gate up so she cant leave the kitchen. She is comfortable in the kitchen with her bed, food, toys and pad. She only goes on the pad. When I or a member of my family gets home we let her out and put the pad in the trash. Its that simple. Most of the time she doesn't do much on the pad.
I also have a pad in the living room and the master bathroom. One on each end of the house. I use those hard plastic pad holders so the pad doesn't slide all over the floor and she has no problem going on the pad. You do have to pay attention and make sure the pad isn't full. If it gets full the puppy wont go on it and then you have a accident on your hands.
I researched how I wanted to potty train my puppy before I got her and this is what my family decided on. We make sure we pick up the poo as soon as she is finished. Every one in my family agreed. Owning a animal is a big responsibility and my whole family does there part.
When it comes to feeding. I do a modify free feeding. I put two cups of food in her bowl before we go to work in the morning, enough for breakfast and lunch. Then at dinner time I put a small cup in for dinner and then she is done for the day with eating. The water is down until 7:30pm and then that is up for the night. I got that idea from a trainer because I have such a small dog and to make sure she doesn't have any issues with low blood sugar.
I have to say that this all works for me and my family but it may not work for you. You just have to figure out what will work for you. The trick is sticking to the plan, what ever that may be.

 

[Resident Jester]

Thanks for the response, I have decided to use a outdoor kennel with a doggy house during the day, This gives the puppy more room to play and also enforces that using the bathroom outside is the only answer. My yard is fences and she will be in a chain link fenced in area on top of that. we will see how that goes. I decided to stay with two structured meals each day and use the kong for her lunch supply. This way she does not eat her lunch in the A.M right when I leave. thanks for the response.

 

[DogsforMe]

I've always taken the pup outside to toilet on the grass. For the 1st week or 2 I put paper down at night for accidents. A puppy under 6 mths old should have 3 meals per day. I don't like free feeding because you can't time when the pup needs to go. It can also create other problems such as a fussy or overweight dog & bloat if they eat most of it at one time, which my dogs would do.
A friend of mine tried the indoor toilet of grass & the pup chewed it up & left it all over his pen.

 

[jesterjigger]

I use a pen for my puppy at night and during the day. She has a puppy pad (in a two piece holder so she doesn't rip it up) and that's what we've done since we got her (13 weeks or so now). In the beginning she would go on the pad when left in her pen for more than five hours, but now that she's 5.5 months old she makes it through most nights without using it and most days when we're gone. She definitely tries to hold it, and this way she has a place to go that's "ok" if she can't. She has puppy vaginitis so she always has water, all night even, so it's good for her to have that option.

During the day she never uses the puppy pad, and we took her outside on a schedule to get her housetrained, now she goes to the door to let us know she needs to go out.

We also fed our puppy on a schedule so that we knew when she needed to go out to poop, though she did get food throughout the day as we were working on training her to sit and lay down. She would get a kong filled with peanut butter and dog food, but she hardly ate at it as a puppy.