Although we do not have our puppy home yet I have been thinking about how I'm going to potty train him and need some advice. It's not so much that I don't know how, rather the best way to do it. I work 3 sometimes 4 nights a week, 12 hour shifts. Now, Iowa gets extremely cold in the winter time and my wife has said she is not going to go stand out in the dark in the early morning hours when the wind chill creates -20 to -30 degree temps so the puppy can go potty. I understand where she is coming from and I am not mad at her for taking that stance but it creates a bit of a unique situation for potty training, both when I am home and when at work. I want the puppy to learn to go outside to potty but I don't want to confuse him by creating two different places for a potty spot. I'm thinking of maybe making a spot out in the garage where the puppy can go potty. While it will still be cold, there is a light and my wife won't have to go outside and deal with the wind. However, I would also have to take the puppy to that spot during the day and on the nights that I'm home instead of taking him out to the yard with our other dog. If I do the garage idea, do you think I could do that just until he starts sleeping through the night until I get home? Or should I try something else?
Re: Advice for a unique potty training situation. Hmmm...tricky. I didn't get up in the night with Charlie. This was just what I'd been taught to do when my mum had pups. He had a crate and a bed, inside a large pen. I kept his nights very short - went to bed late and got up early. For a few nights, he had a pee at the end of his pen, as far away from his bed as he could get (I put newspaper down at night only). One night he had a poo. I ferried him outside throughout the day. We were sorted very quickly, and in no time he was dry and clean overnight. The crate/bed/pen arrangement is described in Ian Dunbar's before and after getting your puppy - he calls this "long term confinement" the place where puppy is when you can't ferry him outside every 20 or 30 minutes. That said, if we hadn't been sorted quickly, I would have started getting up in the night, which is probably best. But it's not the only way to do it.
Re: Advice for a unique potty training situation. Thank you Julie, I hadn't thought of that. I will definitely consider that option as well.
Re: Advice for a unique potty training situation. Pups vary, but by 9/10 weeks ours would go down at 9.30 then would go until 6.30 without needing a trip out. Sounds like a PITA to train it to pee through the shoot and build it as well. I'd suck it up for a couple of weeks then you'd be sorted.
Re: Advice for a unique potty training situation. My sister filled a big shallow square seed tray with turf and put it in her conservatory (sounds like your garage might work for this). It got her pup used to leaving the main house to pee/poo and used to seeking out an 'outside' type surface. Of course, you'd have to change the turf if you did it long term! If turf's a no-go where you are, maybe bark mulch might work?
Re: Advice for a unique potty training situation. Merla, I should be able to get a hold of some turf. That sounds like a great idea. Thank you!
Re: Advice for a unique potty training situation. Synthetic turf works too (and it won't need watering or sunlight). Personally, though, I'd see if I could try the crate option. Or bribing your wife
Re: Advice for a unique potty training situation. Scout is doing very well with his potty training! He can now go most of the night without needing to go out. I usually go to bed around 9:30/10:00 and get up around 6:30 and he usually starts whining around that time needing to go out. Hopefully when it gets warmer and he gets a little bigger (and can't slip through our backyard fence!) he can start going outside with Lucy. And while it's true that I didn't want to go out at 3 in the morning with cold sub zero temps...the biggest problem is I'm scared of being alone in the dark lol so when FNITGuy is at work and it's just me and our little girl it's kind of scary to go outside and wait for pup to do his business! The garage set-up was my compromise and it seems to be working out so far. Now if we could just get him to stop biting at my feet and pant legs!!!
Re: Advice for a unique potty training situation. That is great to hear Well done! Can totally understand not wanting to hang about alone in the dark. Glad your solution worked
