Potty training-2nd floor Apartment with large covered balcony

[Claire Scruggs]

Would love to hear some advice on my house training dilemma

I'm preparing to bring home my 8 week old puppy in 10 days and the big question I  have is how to do initial house training. I am fortunate to live in a large 2 bedroom apartment with a large covered patio with a concrete floor (no grass or dirt and entirely covered). Unfortunately, it is about a 60 second walk down to the sidewalk where there is grass in front of the apartment complex. The question I have is regarding the frequent potty breaks he needs those first few weeks. I I think it's too far to expect a puppy with a small bladder to walk, not to mention he doesn't have all his shots yet. I've read conflicting opinions on whether I should carry him down to the potty spot or should walk him, and of course there is the question of if he can even touch the ground where other dogs may have been.

I have read the excellent Dr. Ian Dunbar Before and After You Bring Your Puppy Home books but I am still not certain what to do. I have a roughly 6ft x 6ft pen area (on a linoleum sheet to protect the carpet where he will be when we are home-as advised by the book. I also have a crate for him and will be crate training as well.

The alternative is to use a wee pad (or a pet loo but those are pricier), but I would prefer that be done on our patio because of the smell and I want him to get used to going outside and not in the house. Also, I don't need the cat acting out what the dog is doing and going in the house too. The Dr. Dunbar book says you should just put a "puppy potty (wee pads or a homemade one-i still don't understand how that would work) INSIDE the play pen but away from the food and water. Wouldn't it be better to just get him acclimated right away to going outside and not leave an option to potty indoors?

I am a first-time dog owner so advice is greatly appreciated. I have read several books to get a variety of opinions: The Art of Raising a Puppy (Monks of New Skete), Puppy's First Steps (Tufts University), Puppies for Dummies, and the previously mentioned Dr. Ian Dunbar books. Any other recommendations would be welcome. I'm not a fan of the Caesar Milan books because I don't care for the style of the writing, I just can't get through one.

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

60 second walk - no problem.  Carry him.  When we got our doodle puppy, if we were upstairs, we carried him down to potty until we were sure he could wait that long.  If you want to use your patio for potty, there are people here who have done that.  I seem to remember something about them buying/making a small grass-in-a-box  area.  But truly if it is only 60 seconds down stairs to a grassy area, that should be quite easy.

[GBK]

The problem comes in when they start to squat and you are too slow :)  Buddy was a breeze, but darn little Kona, I could never tell when she was just going to sit or squat to pee!

[Claire Scruggs]

Oh good, I was thinking that might be too far the way these books have said hurry, hurry, hurry to the potty. What about the whole "keep them indoors until they've had all their shots" business.

We are lucky that I work outside of the home only a few days a week  and at that it's a short stretch. I'm a freelancer and my husband is unemployed at the moment.

There will likely be times when we may need to leave him with pads in his playpen area-hard to go anywhere when you need to be home to walk the dog every hour. 

The grass in the box thing is like $150 or something and I'd rather spend that on other doggie things like vet visits and pet insurance.

[Nicky, Riley & Boris]

I potty trained a puppy and we were in an apartment on the third floor successfully and it was in the middle of a freezing winter!  Carry your puppy down to the grass and do it very very often.  I used to sleep in a track suit and leave slip on boots by the door so if I had to go out in the night I was pretty much decent.  If you do want to use the patio I would invest in a grass in a box  which I believe are available.

[Claire Scruggs]

Oh good! I'll just carry him down then! I love your track suit idea! It is HOT here in Los Angeles now so flip flops and a t-dress will probably be ok ;)  What about the vaccination issue?

[Julie and Charlie]

Another vote for carrying your puppy to where ever it is that you want him to go! if he walks or runs at first, you turn your back for half a second to put on your shoes by the door, and then you notice a puddle on the floor... and by that time it's too late!

In other news, I had to pick Charlie up tonight (he's somewhere north of 30 lbs) and it took two hands, and most of my upper body strength. I remember when I could carry him with one arm, and then had to remind a very sleepy puppy why we were outside. He would lazily plop down in his spot outside, I would pick him up and re-set him, and he would do it again. Oh, puppyhood! Some parts I miss, others not!

[GBK]

I think the suggestion for inside potty pads away from food and water is for people like me that worked, and housed the puppies in the kitchen area until someone got home.  They did use the pads, but understood fast that once outside that area they needed to go outside.  They both came home at holiday times, so we had weeks to work with them when they were really young.

If it were me, I would make a little fake grass or real grass box (like Nancy suggested)  for the puppy to learn on right outside your patio door.

 

[Suzanne Newman]

We invested in two large "tinkle turfs."  They are big pans with artificial grass in them.  Whidbey has learned that if she is upstairs, she can go to our slider outside of our master bedroom where there is a deck and go in one of those, or if she is downstairs, she goes potty outside.  

We never had an issue with her making a choice, and it did not hinder her potty training at all.  At 17 weeks now she is fully potty trained and there are no more accidents whatsoever in our house.  It's also wonderful in the morning not to have to haul her downstairs to pee, but instead let her go outside of our bedroom.

[Claire Scruggs]

Suzanne,

Oh great! That is one of the things I was concerned about- confusing the puppy. Sounds like it was no problem at all. How do you like the "tinkle turf"? I see one on Overstock. Doesn't it get smelly?

[Suzanne Newman]

The tinkle turf works great, Claire!  The good news for us- and also bad too when it rains, is that rain washes away a lot of the pee.  My suggestion is to rinse it out with a couple gallons of water every week or so.. and it should be fine.  

It also is on the outside, so seriously- it isn't an issue. 

There is absolutely no confusion at all with going outside of our door on the deck on the tinkle turf or the yard.  The only thing is, if she poos, she sometimes goes on the deck itself.. which really I don't think is a big deal, as I scoop it up with TP and toss it into the toilet right away anyway. 

We got ours I think on Amazon or Overstock.  They come pretty quickly and they are wonderful!  We got two of them thinking that she might want one upstairs and one downstairs for consistency.. but then she used to just walk past the one downstairs and go straight to the yard.. so we now have both of them upstairs.  

[Rachel and Ollie]

I got Ollie at 10 weeks and am in a 3rd floor apartment. I went with the bell method. I would ring the bell and say "potty" and then kind of run his paw or nose into the bell (it's a soft bell). After a while he let me know he needed to go by ringing the bell. It took a lot of patience and a lot of nature's miracle potty cleaner on my carpet. It was hard on the third floor, but doable. It may have taken a little longer than if I had a house or were on the first floor. I ended up having him hang out with me in my kitchen which helped me to catch him if he would start to sniff for a potty place. (I sat on my kitchen floor for what seemed like months). 

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

What we haven't addressed to you yet is that until they have at least two sets of their shots you should limit their exposure to other dogs that you don't know.  You do the best you can.  Ned had his first set of shots before we got him, then the second right after we got him.  We took him in our RV and worked on housebreaking while camping.  We just did the best we could to limit his exposure. Ned was 3 1/2 months when we got him so he was a bit older than your pup will be.