If one lingers on here long enough, viewing blogs from various litters, one could glean a basic understanding of what we do with our pups. However, I thought that I should, perhaps, compile an instructional post describing some our methods.
Dogs are instinctually clean animals. They don't like relieving themselves near their beds, food or water, so if given the opportunity, will choose to move away from those areas to eliminate.
We tap into those instincts when the pups are very young. As soon as the litter starts to indicate that they are trying to move away from where they nurse and sleep to pee, I place a calf sled immediately adjacent to the puppy nest with a urine scented towel placed under a skiff of wood pellets. This typically happens when pups are around 3.5 weeks of age.
As can be seen in the above picture, the pups moved away from the sleeping side of the nest to eliminate. This is the indicator I look for.
Below is an example of the calf sled tucked up beside the puppy nest. This provides easy access for young, clumsy puppies.
The nest and surrounding area is kept clean and dry so that the only urine scent attractant is the potty box. We are thankful for our laundry machines during this segment of puppy rearing!
As the pups get older, the nest is removed, and a larger potty area is established; we actually use the container which held the puppy nest.
As can be seen in the picture adjacent, the potty area is not only larger in circumference, but deeper. The pups have to clamber over the side to intentionally use it.
The higher sides help to contain the pellets and dust, and work to at least slow the pups down so they can't chase through there as easily, scattering contents throughout the pen as used to happen when we used shorter potty boxes.
We've also found that the clearly defined space makes it easier for pups to differentiate between potty and non-potty areas.
All non-potty areas are cleaned regularly so as to continue to encourage pups to maintain their instinctual cleanliness. (& of course, the potty box is scooped as needed). Pups raised in clean environments typically care more about maintaining them.
When we clean, we place pups in crates. Initially, all in one large crate, but then as they grow, we split them up into several crates.
As you can see, they have started to outgrow the crate to the right (and in fact, 4 of the pups from that litter were contained elsewhere as a result).
Thus begins their crate exposure.
As they mature, we also - weather permitting - make outdoor excursions to a variety of places on the property. Pups travel to those areas in crate(s).
Initially pups complain about being placed in crates, but as they are exposed on a daily basis to them, they begin to consider them as normal.
Then, they have at least one long excursion in crate - in a vehicle to the vet at 7 weeks of age. Round trip including errands is often 5-6 hours in length by the time all is said and done.
Here pups were snoozing after their vet visit. ^^
However, unless a pup stays on individually for longer than 8 weeks, they aren't typically fully crate trained - meaning, kept separate in crates and taken out every hour or two for individual potty training throughout the day. When I have a whole litter to look after, along with a farm, I do not have time to take pups out to potty one after another all day long. But, the exposure they do get gives the new owners a definite head start in crate & house training.
In addition to litter and crate training, we do our best to help with noise desensitization here at Sunnyside.
From the time pups are born until they leave, a radio is left on during the day. Loud and soft, different channels with music and talking. Action movies are played on occasion. Sound is turned off at night, as are the lights, so that the pups get accustomed to the difference between active and rest times, as well as learn to be comfortable both in noise and silence.
When cleaning the pen and potty area, I often use a vacuum cleaner. Crating during the experience allows for pups get exposed to a fair amount of noise in a safe manner. As they become accustomed to it, I start vacuuming very carefully amongst them while they're still in the puppy area, progressing to a little more freely.
Pups usually make several individual trips with me to the living area of our home for marker training as well, so hear laundry and dishwasher, along with other household sounds during that time.
The pups are also taken outside, again, weather permitting, to the barn yard, etc, so get to experience all the outdoor farm life noises & smells that accompany that.
And, in fall of 2020 I discovered a fabulous desensitization app called, 'Sound Proof Puppy Training'.
Now that our children have grown up, we no longer have the plethora of shrieks and pattering feet that pups used to be exposed to here.
I was able to use this app on all of the fall 2020 pups for the last few days of their stay here, but particularly with a male who stayed an extra month. He was going from our quiet, rural area to a large city with a household of 8+ kids. I believe the app helped greatly, as he adapted without any issues to the extra chaos and mayhem.
As a result, we will be using this app with our litters from now on.
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