Hey! I’m delving into reading all of the sources here. We brought our nine week old puppy home yesterday. We had a dog for 18 years who passed away in April. I was overconfident that we knew what to do forgetting that we got my other dog when she was 6 months old and no longer teething and that we didn’t have kids then haha.
I was wondering if I could get some info on these questions:
I wanted to bring the puppy out to my fenced backyard for potty breaks, skipping pee pads, which seem confusing to me. But the breeder said to use pee pads for training bc the backyard could be dangerous for a puppy so young (I was going to be out there with the pup, not just let him loose). Was it confusing for your dog to transition from pee pads to outside?
Any advice specifically for poop training? His poop is pretty soft, he is in a mix of soft and hard food.
Is it ok to bring the crate up and downstairs so he sleeps with us then has it downstairs during the day? Or should it always be in the same place?
He will need to be alone for an hour on Thursday. I’m getting nervous about this. Anything I need to consider for the first time alone?
How old is the puppy? Does he have shots? If not, yes, outside is dangerous. Parvo and distemper can live on the ground for 6 months and is super dangerous for him. It won't be confusing for them, but if you're worried, put the pads near the doors they learn to go to the door to potty, then it's an easy transition outside when they're old enough.
Train the puppy to use the pee pad for poop, easier clean up.
If you can have two, that's probably better, but you can train the puppy to be ok with both locations.
Get down on the ground and look for anything the puppy can get it's mouth on and remove it. Setup a safe place for them with their crate, pee pads, and something to sleep on, but he will be fine. An hour isn't that long.
I’m assuming the breeder is saying this in reference to the the possibility of the puppy getting parvo. Definitely ask your local vet how much of a concern parvo is in your area. You may be fine since it’s your backyard, but some wildlife can also carry parvo. Your vet would be the best person to let you know about the local risk.
As far as other backyard risks the breeder may be referencing, puppies put everything and anything in their mouth, which can lead to rocks, wood chips, etc. being swallowed. But as long as you’re keeping an eye on your pup this shouldn’t be a reason to avoid potty training in the yard.
You can try adding a teaspoon of pumpkin purée (just pumpkin, no other ingredients in the purée) to their food. Puppies are understandably nervous after such a big change, and for some that can lead to runny stool. The pumpkin provides some extra fiber to help with poop consistency. If that doesn’t work your vet can help you start narrowing down other medical causes.
Your puppy is young and in a whole new environment than what they’ve known for their whole life, so it probably won’t react well to being alone yet. I’m assuming you don’t have any other option of having someone watch the pup for the hour, so if that’s the case then over the next couple of days you should try to gradually test out alone time. Start off very small, stepping out of the room for a second. If pup is okay with that then try building up the time in very small increments. A couple of days is almost definitely not going to be enough to get them comfortable with anywhere near an hour, but you can at least start the process to help with future occasions.
the danger of illness in your yard is probably very low, unless you have unknown dogs in there. We never used pee pads with ours and potty training was a breeze. Pee pads can definitely confuse puppies and it is easier to teach toilet training once rather than twice.
Poop training should be the easiest - puppies tend to give very clear signals when they need to go so you can make sure he is outside when he starts to sniff and walk in circles.
The crate can move - although you might find it easier to have two crates.
Puppies are normally on a 1 hour awake, two hour nap schedule anyway. See if you can time when you are away with one of those naps. In the meantime, try stepping out the room whilst he is in the crate. Start with a few seconds and build up slowly. He should be fine if he is used to his crate!
