Here at Forevr Paps
we litter box train all our young puppies.
We find that it is an
easy, clean method to help us in the raising of our
Papillon kids.
Our Pet companion
homes love it!
And there are so many
advantages to litter training.
Apartment dwellers
with no yard can use a litterbox, no need to
walk a dog when staying in a hotel, or bad weather
prevents you and your dog from being outside
for too long.
Please note, Litter training is not ment to train
your dog to never be able to go potty outside.
It is to be used to help assist young dogs while
being house trained. Puppies that are litter
boxed trained can successfully use a litter box and
also go outside.
This
is how we train our puppies...
At about 3 weeks of age we put a
cookie sheet with litter in the puppy pen. The
puppies will start quickly crawling over to the pan
to go...
Sometimes they have the front legs
in and the hind end hanging out of the pan, but hey!
the pups get an "A" for effort.
Around
5 weeks of age our little puppy furkids are starting
to grow, climb and play more.
At this time we graduate them to a
regular Dollar Store $2.00 plastic cat litter pan.
Which they keep permanently when we move them into
their own space later on later on in the puppy room.
Some people like to purchase a
covered cat pan to use in their home when male house
dog starts to lift their leg.
Our puppy room is located just
three steps from our living room. It is a room that
we built just for our puppies as they are growing
up. The puppy apartments were custom made for
Forevr Papillons. Each room of the puppy apartment
is large, safe, & easy to clean. In their
rooms the bottom is lined with white paper, on top
of the paper is clean bedding, toy, chewies
and the litter pan. Of course, their
rooms also have a hanging water bowl and free
feeding boxes with dry food for when they pups get
the munchies.
The litter pan that is in each
puppies room we clean a minimum of two times a day
and change the litter completely twice a week. If
the pan doesn't stay clean the puppies will tend to
poop "out of the box" or make mistakes.
Forevr puppies have
morning and evening playtimes for several hours. We
have
a
larger plastic storage box that we keep filled about
1 inch of litter. They almost line up to go in the
box.
It is not a perfect system I'd say
works 75% of the time when they are lose in the
kitchen and almost 95% in their own rooms. Our paper
changing has dramatically cut by over half of what
it was.
The pet owners
that receive our pups, love it!
The litter is
compressed wood pellets that is used for wood
burning stoves. It
wont hurt the puppies if they happen to consume some
and when they urinate on the litter it turns to
sawdust. But after a taste as lil pups will
occasionally do, mine don't try to eat the pellets.
The litter can be thrown away in the trash or poured
into flower beds. and CHEAP! About $2.80 for a 40 lb
bag.
We tried cat litter several years ago and that
wasn't for us! Much to much like gravel with the
dust and dirt. Please be aware the puppies can kick
around the sawdust and you will probably need to
vacuum the area daily. Which we do anyway.
This method is hard to
train for older puppies and if you purchase a puppy
that is not litter trained you must dedicate you and
your family to litter training a puppy. We tried
with 12 week olds that had not been litter trained
early and it was a no go. We are starting to use it
in the rooms of the older adult dogs and they are
starting to use the litter box if they can't hold it
between trips outside.
We are extremely pleased with the results and so are
the people who have a Forevr Puppy!
Meet
Joeleen Atkinson and her Pap Puppy Sophie.
Sophie and Joeleen,
pictured doing the Hi-five from the first moment they
met!
Below is their
litter box story.
Hello
Ruth Ann and Danny,
The reason I'm writing is that I have a little
story for you. I've done some research on
the web and as far as litter box training for
small dogs, we are the pioneers. So with that in
mind. I thought I'd share my experience and maybe
it will help others. If you agree that it
would be helpful, your more than
welcome to share with anyone. So here goes.
On
December 20th 2002 I received the most wonderful puppy.
She rode in the car for 4 hours and never went
potty. I brought her into the house and placed a
litter box filled with wood stove pellets in the
middle of the room. I set Sophie down showed her
the box. She walked away and sniffed around the
carpet. About 5 to 10 minutes went by and all of a
sudden Sophie runs to the litter box , jumps in
and pees. My jaw dropped, I knew that Ruth Ann
said she was litter trained, but this was a new environment
and that changes things, so I wasn't sure
what to expect. A few minutes after she wet in the
litter box , she goes back and poops. Again
my jaw dropped, what joy !!! A trained puppy.
Things are great...except for one thing. I also
have a kitten that's 6 months old. Sammy (
the cat ) uses clay clumping litter, while Sophie
uses the wood pellets. At least that's what I
hoped for . What started happening is that the cat
would use the dogs litter and Sophie would use the
cat's litter. What a mess, the pellets didn't work
well at all for cat waste. So I gradually started
changing to clumping clay mixing the pellets and
the clay. I figure if they want to share the
litter box who am I to argue. Several
weeks go by and things are going quite well. Then
all of a sudden Sophie has an "accident"
Well she is a puppy and that's to be expected,
right? Then she has more accidents. I read
all the housebreaking info I can get my hands on.
When she has an accident unless I catch her in the
act, I just clean it up and don't say anything. If
I catch her in the act I say no and place her in
the litter box. Things still keep going down hill .
Next I confine her to the crate at night to sleep,
and the large master bathroom with the crate open
while I'm at work. Still not much of an
improvement. Ok , I figure timing is everything so
when I come home at night and feed her. I keep her
on a leash with me until she goes. I'm sitting
right near the litter box and waiting, I glance at
the TV and she poops all right, on the carpet.
This is not going well. I'm at my wits end. What
happened, why are things falling apart?? I search
the net for advice, nothing there. According to
all the books and advice I can find I'm
doing it all right. I praise and reward every time
she does use the litter . Still things aren't
going well at all. I'm not giving up though. I
reduced the number of litter boxes, and I
researched a type of litter that's made of
recycled paper . It's supposed to be odor
absorbing not clumping and not clay. I thought
let's give it a try, what have I got to lose? I
empty the 2 boxes of Sophie's one in the bathroom
where she stays during the day and the only other
is in the family room where we spend the rest of
our time. I laid down one of the puppy pads in the
box and covered it with the new litter. It's
just like the wood pellets except smaller. She
jumps in and right away she relives herself. Happy
days are here again!!!! not one accident, 5 days
and counting. The moral of the story is don't mess
with the litter. Even though Sophie still goes in
the cat's box once in a while (with the clay
litter ). I believe that's a dominance issue. She
prefers the other litter. Took me long enough, but
I think I finally got it. I hope that some day
there will be more information available for small
dogs and litter training but for now, we are on
our own. It can be so successful but, you
must be persistent finding what works.
Joeleen
Testimonial
Hi,
My name is Jennifer and I live in Fresno, Ca. I
stumbled onto your website a week ago and was
interested in litter training puppies. I have been
looking for a small breed dog and wanted to litter
train. I thought that litter training would be
impossible. Your site made it look so easy! So I went
to my Home Depot store and I bought the wood pellets
just like you said.
Guess what last night I bought two peekapoos, and I
was ready to tackle this feat. After they were
through eating dinner I set the two pups in the box,
and to my great astonishment one went pee pee right
there in front of me. I couldn't believe it, just
like you said. I had no luck with the other one and
figured he just didn't have to go. I went to sleep
and the first night is always such a long one. The
morning count they had gone poopy 2 times and pee pee
2 times and only one pee pee outside the box. They
are doing spectacular.
I want to personally thank you for your wonderful
internet site of info, and also for the great pics (I
probably wouldn't have tried it if it weren' for the
pics). These pups are only 6 weeks, and by 8 weeks
they will probably be doing great. Thank you so much
for all your help.
Sincerely,
Jen
More about
Compressed Pellets.
Someone inquired about the
disclaimer on the Wood Stove Pellets. That stated
the following
"This product is not for
consumption by humans or animals."
In our opininon, Wood Stove Pellets
are not specifically sold for dog consumption which is
why they would have a disclaimer on the bag. Wood Stove
pellets are a compressed wood sawdust without bark that
is environmentally friendly. We have used brands
called Premium Pellets for wood burning stoves
and Woody Pellets used in horse stalls. We
have seen no ill side effects from the use of the
compressed wood pellets while raising our own litters of
Papillon Puppies. Of course you must use any
product under your own discretion and common
sense.
We feel sometimes pet consumers get charged for fancy
packaging when they can find the same product for less
with a different name in plain packaging.
In fact we did a quick Google search on wood pellet
litter below are some of the links. While searching, we
also happened to find several links for animal shelters
asking for wood pellets on their donation wish list.
Flint
River
Flint River Ranch produces an all
natural, environmentally safe, Cat & Kitten Litter
made from wood fiber. It is designed to reduce weekly
litter costs and protect cats from harmful clay
ingestion. Wood fiber litters have been around
for about 10 - 12 years in some form - pellets, sawdust
or shavings.
Smart
Cat Litter Products & Other Smart Pet Products
Smart Cat Wood Based Cat Litter is unique in being
made from Soft Wood
residues that are processed into Wood Flour before
being pelletised.
"http://www.spatrek.co.uk/"
Wood stove pellets are inexpensive,
non-toxic, odor-absorbing, and easy to find-unless
they're out of season. From early spring until fall,
they can be scarce. During the winter months, wood stove
pellets can be located in almost
all home supply warehouses (like Home Depot & Lowes),
and even in some Raley's supermarkets.
At the bottom of this page there is a
litter comparison that is written by the rabbit society.
Apparently there is a problem with using Cedar Chips,
causing the Rabbits to have a liver disease problem.
They have noted that compressed sawdust pellets is:
Low in dust, Good to Excellent in absorbency, health
hazards - none observed.
*Disclaimer - These are just our
opinions after compiling information from other
animal sites, products and organizations.
Forevr Papillons & Phalenes, Danny and Ruth Ann
Ford, does not consider themselves authorities on
compressed wood pellets and they are only sharing
their experience and litter training success with
the people who visit their page. After
visiting this page, Danny & Ruth Ann, Ford,
Forevr Papillons, Phalenes & Showdogs are not to
be held liable for any ill effects that might occure
from the use of any brand of compressed wood
pellets.
Email Advice:
If your looking
for advice on a Pap you own ... please remember it
is free advice from our donated time. We spend
numerous hours answering email and will answer when
we have the time to do so. Advice will be truthful
honest information and because it is free... it will
not be sugar coated for you to hear exactly what
your wanting to hear. AND we are not in
training to be the Dear Abby of Papillons!
This
is how we train our puppies...
a
larger plastic storage box that we keep filled about
1 inch of litter. They almost line up to go in the
box.
wont hurt the puppies if they happen to consume some
and when they urinate on the litter it turns to
sawdust. But after a taste as lil pups will
occasionally do, mine don't try to eat the pellets.
The litter can be thrown away in the trash or poured
into flower beds. and CHEAP! About $2.80 for a 40 lb
bag.