# I need ideas!



## TB.TL (Oct 13, 2010)

So... my wife and I moved in to a new house with beautiful flooring throughout, some that is a wonderful plush carpet and some that is hardwood. Our puppies are still house training and I need some ideas on handling this.

This is what we WERE doing. The puppies had an appropriate sized crate that led in to a small play yard and we kept it right in their (hard-floor) room. They slept in the crate (together... separating them did not work) and they faithfully used the piddle pad in the play yard section. This worked really well, especially when it was an occasion when we had to leave them alone. When we were home and out and about in the house but unable to stick right next to our pups, we put them in a cornered section of the (hard-floor) kitchen... their dog house was in there, food, water, piddle pads, bed, toys... the whole deal. This way they were out with us but couldn't get in any trouble.  Again, it worked well. And then, of course, we would let them run around the house if they were right next to us and we could keep a constant eye on them... Unfortunately, when they have a more open space, they are definitely prone to trying to potty anywhere. :/

But now... The pups are getting bigger. The long side of their penned off kitchen area is not very tall... less than a foot? And now they can climb over it and get out, which is not good because I don't want them to have free reign of the house or have accidents on the floor. I also decided that since they are big enough to get out of their penned off area (and the fact that we are finally settled in our new house with the big yard), they are big enough to start going potty outside. So, I unhooked the play yard from the crate, hooked it into a larger circle and placed it in the yard, directly outside the back door. This works super well because they can run and wrestle and stuff without leashes but still be confined safely. BUT now I do not have a crate with a play yard. And I cannot pen them securely in the kitchen anymore. The layout of the house is pretty open and I don't have anything tall to corner a section off with. So I have no place to confine them without crating them and I hate doing that when I am home, plus if it's not sleeping time, they will whine and cry and bark. And lets be real, I can't be on top of them both every second and they are definitely not ready to be running around unsupervised.

So... I need ideas. I did try putting Tinker on a leash that was hooked to my belt and just letting her follow me around the house but doing that to both puppies at the same time is a bit extreme... my wife works during the day so it's just me and the girlies. Urgh. The only idea I have as far as a safe confinement area is the end of a hallway. The baby gate fits perfect there and I could put their house and goodies down there too. BUT the hallway has brand new carpet. I do have a piece of old carpet I could lay over it but if they had accidents on it, I'm assuming it would leak down... unless I layered it with a tarp or something. UGH! Ideas, anyone? I've never house trained a pup before so I am welcome to anything you might have. 

(Sorry this was so long.)


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## michellerobison (Dec 17, 2009)

My second Malts were wee pad trained so every piece of paper every area rug looked like a wee pad and they'd wee on it.... For me it was better to break them of wee pads,train them to wee outside. We keep ours in a tiled floor kitchen,most of the day,if I'm not out there w/ them.
When I let them on the carpet, I make them potty outside first,then let them in the living room w/ me. Usually thy want to hang out on my lap and lay on the couch to watch tv or we hang out in the computer room and I shut the door so I can watch them easier..

I've done this with all of them since they were pups,except my two adoptees,had to retrain them to not wee on pads...

No matter how well they're trained,accidents will hppen if I get too busy and not watch the time. Usually they will tell me,especially Sasha,she will yodel at me and scratch my leg and nag me,so will the others,Bitsy will shake and pant,so if I watch their cues,I will catch it..
If I'm not at home,they're in the kitchen w/ a short pet gate,about 18 inches tall,easy for me to walk over but too tall fo rthem to jump over...


I hope this helps,good luck.


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## sophie (Jul 9, 2006)

When I had the girls in the ex-pens on carpet, I did put down a piece of extra carpet over the installed carpet - I also put a vinyl table cloth underneath just in case. Then we graduated to those rubbery squares that you fit together like a puzzle also with the vinyl tablecloth underneath. It worked pretty well for both.


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## TB.TL (Oct 13, 2010)

OK, cool. I am thinking that will work the best for us. I do like the idea of gating off part of the kitchen but I only have two gates... tall and narrow or long and short. There's no where to use the tall one and the long one is way too short and they hop over it now. 

We want to also stop using piddle pads. They were never intended to be a forever thing. When we first got the pups, they were small and we lived in an upstairs apartment downtown in the city so taking them out wasn't very practical. But now, like I said, they are bigger and we have a yard so they are definitely going to start going outside. I just need a place to confine them while they are indoors and still house training.


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