Puppy Training Potty Apartment

[lkclark]

Several weeks ago I had looked into the PTPA, and decided that it might be a great thing to have around! I would like for the puppy to be able to 'go' in the middle of the night without incident, and to become familiar with the use of pads as an alternative potty location.

Today, I visited their website and added all of the necessary components to the cart. Grand total? $400.

There must be a cheaper alternative to what, let's face it, is really just a standard crate with a door-divider.
So I've been creating that very alternative on Amazon for the better part of an hour, and I think I've devised a great alternative!

I purchased the following items:

Midwest Life Stages Double-Door Folding Metal Dog Crate - 36 x 24
Midwest Ombre' Swirl Fur Pet Bed - 23 x 18
IRIS Puppy and Dog Training Pad Holder - 19 x 16
+ IRIS pads

Total? $98

I figured that my husband could create a type of 'door' section divider (he's crafty), and voila!



And then I figured that when he is old enough, large enough and potty trained, I'll simply remove the potty component, purchase the standard 36x24 bed and give him a nice comfy crate!

Any opinions or suggestions?
I'm feeling pretty much like Einstein right now, but if someone perceives any inherent flaws, please let me know. lol.

 

[Alice Kable]

Kudos to you, smart lady!!! If your sweet Bear turns out to be a bed chewer, PRIMO CRATE PADS with tie downs is the answer. They are wonderful!

 

[davidh]

OK, here is what we do. You can do either way, as we have done both ways. If you want to crate train them use the crate and the plastic play pin and use only 3 sections of it tie wrapped to the crate, we used 5 sections because we had the room. make it bigger if you want. We use the reusable cotton puppy pads outside the crate. PM me and I will give you the web site to order them. If you get the slightly stained ones, they are about $7.00 each. Then put their bed in the crate. Here is a pic of it, it's not that good of a pic, but you can see it in the back ground. We use a pond liner under it to protect the flooring.




Or you can do what we are doing with Henri and just use the play pin with his bed and potty pad and it works well for him. We will move him to a crate in a few months.

 

[lkclark]

OK, here is what we do. You can do either way, as we have done both ways. If you want to crate train them use the crate and the plastic play pin and use only 3 sections of it tie wrapped to the crate, we used 5 sections because we had the room. make it bigger if you want. We use the reusable cotton puppy pads outside the crate. PM me and I will give you the web site to order them. If you get the slightly stained ones, they are about $7.00 each. Then put their bed in the crate. Here is a pic of it, it's not that good of a pic, but you can see it in the back ground. We use a pond liner under it to protect the flooring.

View attachment 3126


Or you can do what we are doing with Henri and just use the play pin with his bed and potty pad and it works well for him. We will move him to a crate in a few months.

View attachment 3127

Great innovation! These are just the ideas I had in mind, only on a larger scale.

He actually will have a separate 4'x4' 'playpen' (with bed, potty pads, toys, etc.) but the crate I devised will only be for sleeping/short-term confinement.

Do you think that's alright?

- - - Updated - - -

Kudos to you, smart lady!!! If your sweet Bear turns out to be a bed chewer, PRIMO CRATE PADS with tie downs is the answer. They are wonderful!

Great! I've got them bookmarked now. Lol.

 

[davidh]

The crate for sleeping will work great. I would put his bed on one end and the potty pad on the other. That's what we do with Henri if we leave him far a little bit during the day.

 

[Calle Roo]

It's always great to see others ideas on crating, x-pen and potty areas within.

Since I've gotten Quella La Roux, she has been in her x-pen. It's usually 4x4, but sometimes throughout the day I'll make it 4x8 so she can run around. 4x4 works best for her because she seems to use the potty pad instead of the floor. And I've made it 2x4 with her potty pad, water dish and small bed to increase the floor space when company is over.

She has an x-pen in the upstairs loft/office and in the living room. Downstairs is tile, so I push the coffee table to the side and roll the rug up to allow her on the tile, which is easy peezey for clean up when she decides not to use the potty pad. Upstairs is carpeted, so at first I would cover the area with potty pads. Within a week she would only go potty in one area, so I removed all potty pads except one, which she continues to use 80% of the time (and it's in a pad holder). Now the other 20% of the time that she decides to 'go' wherever she wants, it was on the carpet, a canvas waterproof tarp I found from Home Depot, a tent tarp which was so loud when she played. I was annoyed and frustrated and finally found some upholstery vinyl at the fabric store. I bought a neutral colour and bought 3 yards and it's 4.5 wide. I keep it rolled up and when I add another x-pen to increase her space, I roll out the vinyl.

At the fabric store they recommended not using bleach, harsh chemicals etc. and most stain remover and disinfectant is not recommended for vinyl. Now, I wasn't really concerned about the vinyl changing colour, so I scrub scrub scrub every day to sanitize and have had no problems yet.

Now if I can get her to use the potty pads 100% of the time, as well as go potty outside, I'd be one happy mommy.

Again, thanks for so many ideas. They definitely make going through Quella's puppy stage easier.

 

[lkclark]

It's always great to see others ideas on crating, x-pen and potty areas within.

Since I've gotten Quella La Roux, she has been in her x-pen. It's usually 4x4, but sometimes throughout the day I'll make it 4x8 so she can run around. 4x4 works best for her because she seems to use the potty pad instead of the floor. And I've made it 2x4 with her potty pad, water dish and small bed to increase the floor space when company is over.

She has an x-pen in the upstairs loft/office and in the living room. Downstairs is tile, so I push the coffee table to the side and roll the rug up to allow her on the tile, which is easy peezey for clean up when she decides not to use the potty pad. Upstairs is carpeted, so at first I would cover the area with potty pads. Within a week she would only go potty in one area, so I removed all potty pads except one, which she continues to use 80% of the time (and it's in a pad holder). Now the other 20% of the time that she decides to 'go' wherever she wants, it was on the carpet, a canvas waterproof tarp I found from Home Depot, a tent tarp which was so loud when she played. I was annoyed and frustrated and finally found some upholstery vinyl at the fabric store. I bought a neutral colour and bought 3 yards and it's 4.5 wide. I keep it rolled up and when I add another x-pen to increase her space, I roll out the vinyl.

At the fabric store they recommended not using bleach, harsh chemicals etc. and most stain remover and disinfectant is not recommended for vinyl. Now, I wasn't really concerned about the vinyl changing colour, so I scrub scrub scrub every day to sanitize and have had no problems yet.

Now if I can get her to use the potty pads 100% of the time, as well as go potty outside, I'd be one happy mommy.

Again, thanks for so many ideas. They definitely make going through Quella's puppy stage easier.

View attachment 3198

Seems like a great set-up! Thanks for sharing!

 

[karla215]

It's always great to see others ideas on crating, x-pen and potty areas within.

Since I've gotten Quella La Roux, she has been in her x-pen. It's usually 4x4, but sometimes throughout the day I'll make it 4x8 so she can run around. 4x4 works best for her because she seems to use the potty pad instead of the floor. And I've made it 2x4 with her potty pad, water dish and small bed to increase the floor space when company is over.

She has an x-pen in the upstairs loft/office and in the living room. Downstairs is tile, so I push the coffee table to the side and roll the rug up to allow her on the tile, which is easy peezey for clean up when she decides not to use the potty pad. Upstairs is carpeted, so at first I would cover the area with potty pads. Within a week she would only go potty in one area, so I removed all potty pads except one, which she continues to use 80% of the time (and it's in a pad holder). Now the other 20% of the time that she decides to 'go' wherever she wants, it was on the carpet, a canvas waterproof tarp I found from Home Depot, a tent tarp which was so loud when she played. I was annoyed and frustrated and finally found some upholstery vinyl at the fabric store. I bought a neutral colour and bought 3 yards and it's 4.5 wide. I keep it rolled up and when I add another x-pen to increase her space, I roll out the vinyl.

At the fabric store they recommended not using bleach, harsh chemicals etc. and most stain remover and disinfectant is not recommended for vinyl. Now, I wasn't really concerned about the vinyl changing colour, so I scrub scrub scrub every day to sanitize and have had no problems yet.

Now if I can get her to use the potty pads 100% of the time, as well as go potty outside, I'd be one happy mommy.

Again, thanks for so many ideas. They definitely make going through Quella's puppy stage easier.

View attachment 3198

I love this idea of the vinyl! My puppy arrives in a week, and I also have an xpen to put her in, and it's on pergo wood flooring, so it's SEMI safe in a way. But I would MUCH rather have something down that prevents ANY liquid from hitting the floor that could potentially cause a problem! I'm also going with the "doggielawn" product, shipped twice a month, HOPING that by using that and her getting used to going on grass (as well I'll be taking her outside whenever I am home, but I'm in an 18th floor apt), it will be less of a transition - and also to avoid the problems I heard of dogs "interpretting" rugs or carpet as their potty pad - knowingly naughty or just confused! I haven't heard anyone else posting about these, so I'll report back on my experience! Thanks for the great idea with fabric store vinyl!

Karla

 

[lkclark]

My creation! Lol.
I think it's going to be perfect for bed-time, as well as short-term confinement.



(minus all of the crap around it. Lol.)

 

[TeresaW]

I love this idea of the vinyl! My puppy arrives in a week, and I also have an xpen to put her in, and it's on pergo wood flooring, so it's SEMI safe in a way. But I would MUCH rather have something down that prevents ANY liquid from hitting the floor that could potentially cause a problem! I'm also going with the "doggielawn" product, shipped twice a month, HOPING that by using that and her getting used to going on grass (as well I'll be taking her outside whenever I am home, but I'm in an 18th floor apt), it will be less of a transition - and also to avoid the problems I heard of dogs "interpretting" rugs or carpet as their potty pad - knowingly naughty or just confused! I haven't heard anyone else posting about these, so I'll report back on my experience! Thanks for the great idea with fabric store vinyl!

Karla

We have laminate flooring and the main thing you have to watch for with liquids is them staying on there for any length of time. If they get where the pieces connect, the very top layer of the laminate will bubble or swell up. Sometimes it can happen quickly, sometimes we only had a problem if our dachshund got lazy and decided to pee in the kitchen sometime during the night. Our dachshund is much more stubborn than Pierce is. She is ten and still has her moments, she definitely has the issue of thinking rugs are best! I think the vinyl would be a great backup for you!