November 09, 2020
My 10 week old puppy is having potty accidents in the ex pen, how do I prevent this?
Full Question:
Hi Cindy,I am watching the puppy video from 8 weeks to 12 months. I think the last time I watched it was almost 13 years ago and it was all about crate training which worked for our puppy then as we worked all day. Now we are retired and have a new puppy. The Ex - Pen is awesome and aside from a little whining our chihuahua-yorkie mix is doing great. My question is about potty training. She is supervised in the Ex-pen and we take her out frequently while she is awake or right after she wakes up. However, we occasionally have a miss and she goes potty on the pee pad in the pen. Is this OK up until a certain age? She is currently 10 weeks old. I looked for info on the website but couldn’t find the answer. How do wean her off going in the pen?
Cindy's Answer:
If you don't want her to potty in the expen then first of all take the potty pad out.
Second) If you can't watch her in the pen 100% of the time then I would not use it at those times. The more she goes potty in the pen, the harder it is to teach her to hold it. Some puppy owners choose to put ex pen training on hold for a couple weeks while the pup gains more bladder control between potty outings. Since she's a small breed pup, you may also want to reduce the size of the area inside the expen too, so she doesn't have so much space right now. For a tiny puppy it's like being out on a football field, they can pee in one area and still have lots of clean space to sleep and play. I fold it up a bit so the floor space is reduced while the pup is learning about my expectations.
I hope this makes sense!
Second) If you can't watch her in the pen 100% of the time then I would not use it at those times. The more she goes potty in the pen, the harder it is to teach her to hold it. Some puppy owners choose to put ex pen training on hold for a couple weeks while the pup gains more bladder control between potty outings. Since she's a small breed pup, you may also want to reduce the size of the area inside the expen too, so she doesn't have so much space right now. For a tiny puppy it's like being out on a football field, they can pee in one area and still have lots of clean space to sleep and play. I fold it up a bit so the floor space is reduced while the pup is learning about my expectations.
I hope this makes sense!
User Response:
Got it! Out with the potty pad, and we will put her in her crate if we can’t supervise. She is doing great in the crate, no whining, no accidents and we are up to 5 hours at night before we take her out for a break. Thank you!
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