house training

[Mike B]

I have the chance to buy a beautiful doodle from a wonderful breeder and have one big concern. I currently live in a condominium (until the spring of next year). The puppy is almost 5 months old but needs to be house trained. Does anyone know if this is difficult to do in a condominium? Is it in any way unfair to the dog. This unit does have a very large open terrace (300 sq. ft.) and I was thinking of using it for training purposes ... any thoughts.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

With no offense intended to anyone, it is somewhat surprising to me that a "wonderful breeder" would not have this 5 mo.old puppy well on the way to being house-trained by now. (Perhaps the puppy was returned to the breeder by another owner?)
I think a lot will depend on what kind of surface the puppy is used to "doing his business" on...what is the surface of the terrace made of? If he's used to grass, you may have a big problem getting him to accept the terrace surface as a toilet spot, especially without any trees, bushes, etc. around. Is there no grass or yard area near the building where you could take him? Lots of people have doodles in condos, but they take the dogs outdoors and walk them for potty training purposes. His size will also be a factor...standard doodles can produce a lot of "output"...a terrace is not a great surface absorbancy wise, and 300 ft is not as big as you imagine for other functions, if you get my drift...
I would suggest addressing these issues with the breeder. Good luck, hope this is of some help.

[Mike B]

Hello

Thank you for responding. I should clarify. Although I live in a condominium I do plan on walking the dog daily, signing him up for obedience classes, training him to be a therapy dog and eventually moving to my farm in the spring.

I was really curious if condominium living for the next few months would be unfair for the purpose of house training. I had thought of using the terrace ONLY for the first pee of the morning after he comes out of his crate. I didn't think trying to have him hold it until we got downstairs to a grassed area would be practical. He would then be taken for a walk almost immediately where he could have his bowel movements etc.

I was thinking of buying an absorbent mat for the terrace that also deodorizes which would allow me to "spot" train him to do his business.

What do you think.

Respectfully

Mike

ps: Excellent question on why such a wonderful dog is still around after 5 months. I've put the same question to the breeder ... thank you for that.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Hi Mike:
I think a lot of our great breeders have older puppies available...it doesn't mean there's something wrong with the dog. The economy is not great, and lots of people want to get puppies in the spring, when the weather is better for exactly what you're asking about here. It is just that the breeders I personally think of as "wonderful" start crate-training and potty-training their puppies from a very young age, and by 5 months, would have had the puppy pretty well trained. I hope i am not offending anyone by saying this.
I think you could probably devise some sort of "litter box" area for the terrace for that first a.m. pee...again, the breeders here on DK are the ones to ask about the best materials & methods for this. I know Kendra of Noble Vestal has some blog posts here about this topic, and probably a lot of the other breeders as well. Hopefully, one of them will respond to this.

[Mike B]

Litter box ... great idea. I'm going to look into it.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Hi Ann:
Please know that I meant absolutely no disrepect or criticism by my comments. As I posted above, there are many wonderful breeders with older puppies available, and it in no way means there is something wrong with the puppies. I did not want to give that impression by my comments.
I also did not mean to imply that the 5-mo-old puppy should be perfectly housetrained...just that potty training has begun and the dog has some idea that he is supposed to do it outside. I would be willing to bet that your 5-mo-old puppies are further along on that (and have fewer accidents) when they get to their new homes then a 10-wk-old would be. (My Jack is almost 4, and he doesn't tell me he has to go out. I wasn't the one who trained him, of course.)
To you and any of the other breeders I admire so much, please do not take my comments as criticism...it was not intended that way.

[Adina P]

You could buy a chunk of sod and toss it on one of those pans that you put under a washing machine (home depot has them) or in a large rubber maid shallow container. There are companies that are pricey that send you sod and the container.

There's also a product called "Whiz Dog" you can buy that you might google and find useful. But at 5 months puppy should be able to hold it long enough to go down a flight of stairs to get to ground level--wake up a little earlier the first week or so to be sure. Potty training in the city can be done...I would hate to do it as I have been spoiled with a yard...but it can be done and people do it.

[Mike B]

Thank you Amanda. It is the only issue that makes me uncertain of proceeding. Of course this puppy is soooooooooooo cute its hard to seperate ones heart from common sense.

[Noble Vestal Labradoodles]

The 5 month old puppy you are getting isn't potty trained? sounds odd? Your puppy will probably already have some very bad habits that will be hard to break.

If he has been raised in a kennel he will likely pee anywhere there is a hard surface or on concrete. If he was raised in a home I would suspect that he would be potty trained already.

[Adina P]

Rosco was not potty trained by 5 months and I worked my little behind off trying =)

[Joy Originator of GiantSchnoodles]

Hi Mike, I have a simple solution. Get a child's wading pool to put on the patio. Get Bark Nuggets, the large size from Home Depot $3.50 for 20 lbs. Use the pool for the morning pee or whenever your too tired to take the puppy outside. I have written a book on Automatic Potty Training. It includes instructions for Condo dogs. All my puppy parents get it with their puppies. email me if your interested. [e-mail] PUppy love from Joy & furry folk