I don’t want to use puppy pads, but I feel I’m left with no choice…

[pandaman]

We welcomed a beautiful 8 week old Bernese Mountain Dog into our lives a week on Sunday and it’s been tough, as expected.

I took the week off and have been doing my best with toilet training and when I watch her like a hawk, we do well. When I don’t… not so well.

She goes to the toilet between 15-19 times a day and considering she sleeps for most of the time, that is just a crazy amount. With that, we’ve had between 3-6 accidents because I can’t be everywhere at once (I’ve two young kids too).

I have the luxury of working for myself, from home but without me watching every single move of hers, accidents happen - and I really need to get back to work, without interruptions… for at least an hour or two.

This is why I’m considering puppy pads, just to help give me a bit of a break and allow myself to actually do something instead of watching her every move.

What’s your thoughts?

 

[imagebeastmarkbeast]

@pandaman Hey! I used pads for about a week before I realized they were doing more harm than good. I would stick to the plan if you can. Are you crate training? With a proper size crate she should be able to hold it in there for an hour or two while she naps. Also, accidents happen especially when they are that young so don’t stress too much about that

 

[pandaman]

@imagebeastmarkbeast Yeah we have a crate and she sleeps in it perfectly. She’ll cry once she wakes to let her out. I’ll take her straight out and she goes instantly.

It’s all the parts in between that catches me out. Usually after eating and drinking (10 minutes after) I’ll take her out and on the hour. It’s like 15 times a day I take her out but still miss some accidents. - thing is, I don’t have the time to do this as I have to work… so what am I supposed to do?

(To be clear, she’ll be with me at all times while I work, I just catch watch her for the signs every second of the day as I’ll need to do a bit of work at least)

 

[imagebeastmarkbeast]

@pandaman Sounds like you are doing everything fine! Especially when they are that tiny it’s going to be hard to catch every accident. I would just stick to your plan. We all have lives and responsibilities. Remember a lot of this will come with time. Try to be as proactive as possible and it will come together! My puppy just turned 6 months and it wasn’t until about a month ago we were finally accident free for a couple of weeks. But again, I wouldn’t use pads as it’s going to make them think it’s okay to pee in the house

 

[pandaman]

@imagebeastmarkbeast Trust the process, right? ok thank you! Might need to work out some sort of schedule with the missus so we can work coherently with puppycare, side by side! Oh the challenge!!

 

[howru]

@pandaman If it helps, my bernese was returned to the breeder at 9wo because she was an accident BEAST. Dumb reason but I’m grateful because I’m obsessed with her. We brought her home at 12 weeks and potty training was a pain for around 2 weeks before it lightened up DRAMATICALLY. She began sleeping through the night (I’m talking 10-12 hours) without needing to potty within the month.

It gets so much better, I promise!! Try to push through

 

[peaceloving]

@pandaman Why not crate her while you work? Taking a quick pee break once an hour. She shouldn’t want to soil the crate and you should be able to get some work done. That’s our plan

 

[pandaman]

@peaceloving If she’s not ready to sleep, she just howls and cries until I let her out.

She’s absolutely golden when sleepy, but if not, she just wants out, even if it is to just lie at my feet

 

[peaceloving]

@pandaman Are you giving her something to do in there like a kong with some peanut butter?

 

[pandaman]

@peaceloving And there probably lies my problem. I’m not leaving anything - beyond the heart beat teddy she sleeps with.

I’ll get something ordered up and see if that changes things

 

[saintofgod]

@pandaman highly recommend Kong with peanut butter or canned pumpkin, not pie filling, put it in the freezer and it takes them even longer, also the cold when they start teething helps a ton too.

 

[tulsajet6]

@pandaman What we did was make a pen. We made a floor for the pen by getting a 4’x4’ piece of plywood and covering it with stick-on vinyl tiles for easy cleaning; then getting a vertical, metal slat room divider meant for babyproofing and wrapping it around the plywood. (The vertical slats are important because puppies can easily figure out how to climb or push over the typical wire fencing sold at pet stores.) We put the pen in the middle of our living space so the puppy was still with us … just not able to go wherever he wanted and pee / poo / chew at will.

This gave our dog enough space to move around but not enough to get trouble. We kept it out for about a year! Any accidents we cleaned asap with enzymatic cleaner — easy to do on a vinyl tile surface.

Example baby fence to use as the edges of a pen: https://www.amazon.com/Regalo-192-Inch-Super-Adjustable-Mounts/dp/B003VNKLIY/

 

[alexm961]

@pandaman It is recommended to use a house line, that way the dog is tethered/near you/able to be redirected at all times. If you can't watch her, she should be crated, ideally.

Puppy pads are... not great. It just doesn't teach your pup the proper skills needed.

If you can't watch the pup and you feel like she still needs time/space to play, I'd get a big play pen/x-pen and put in one of those grass patches. That way, she's still learning grass = potty. You can buy the sprays that encourage pottying on the grass versus anywhere else in the pen. Keep the pen near you, so that when she chooses to go there, you can reward!

The grass patches are great too because when you remove it, it's not like there's other grass inside. But there's grass outside. Mind absolutely blown.

 

[gdriggs]

@alexm961 They are so smart like that!! Mine literally will not go anywhere except grass now. Patch or otherwise.

 

[ancientof]

@pandaman You could also try a grass patch.

 

[pandaman]

@ancientof I didn’t even know this was a thing. In my head this makes more sense and will be more relatable to the puppy actually. Thanks for the recommendation!

 

[tropicalbaby]

@pandaman Personally I think puppy pads for a large dog just delay potty training (I know some people use them all the time for small ones) and teach them it’s ok to go in the house. A real grass pad is the only thing I would use in your situation, and I would really try to use it sparingly.

But have you thought about training him to follow you everywhere? I basically attached a leash to my puppies and had them follow me so I could keep an eye on them easier. I’m on my 3rd puppy in 3 years (yes I’m crazy, not I’m not getting anymore lol) and this has worked really well with mine. Also, in just a few weeks he will be able to hold it much longer, so keep that in mind. He’s super young, I got one of mine at 9 weeks and it was like having a newborn compared to my other two (12 and 13 weeks when I got them). All of mine were fully potty trained within a few weeks (well, 9 week old took about 4/5 weeks I guess). Side note- this means when you have 3 large dogs you kind of have an entourage the rest of your life lmao.

 

[pandaman]

@tropicalbaby lol, I’m all for sticking with my guns and seeing out the training (we are renovating soon, so the mess isn’t too much of a concern). My concern is finding time to work and providing a suitable place for them to potty BUT it sounds as though since isn’t as easy as I thought and the only solution to this is indeed time.

I kinda know everything I’m doing is 90% right for potty training, I just need to see it through and work when puppy is sleeping it sounds lol.

I’d also LOVE for her to follow me everywhere. That’s literally the end goal

 

[tropicalbaby]

@pandaman Honestly just stick to it, once the association between outside is where they go potty clicks in their heads it changes everything and makes it so much easier. (Then the next step is for them to learn to tell you). My newest pup was potty trained by the breeder to go on pads, and he was the toughest one so far. He ended up having accidents on anything that resembled a pad…..like a blanket corner on the ground, a pillow fallen on the floor, pads in crates, etc. It just reinforced my never using a pee pad belief lol!

Good luck with your little one, I promise it gets so much easier. Oh and just wait, the entourage thing is hilarious. I get out of the shower, open the door and I have three dogs sitting in a row just waiting for me to get out lol

 

[pandaman]

@tropicalbaby Thank you!! Appreciate it. Its only a matter of time