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Whelping/Puppy Raising Area
Below is a little description about where are puppies are raised! We pride ourselves on raising our puppies in a clean and positive environment! It is no secret that puppies get messy and stinky really fast, so having a good, easy to clean setup is really important!
All puppies are whelped in our house in one of two bedrooms located right next to our own Master Bedroom. We utilize Dura-Whelp boxes and PVC garden boxes that are really easy to clean and break down for easy storage when not in use. There is a bed for me to sleep on during labor and after as needed and a dresser for storage.
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They spend the first 3-4 weeks there so that I can check in on them often, hear them at night, and for easy access to do ENS work with them.
Once Puppies hit about 3 weeks old, they will be introduced to mush and at this point mama stops eating their pee/poo so litter box training begins.
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They will still be in the spare bedroom, in their whelping box with litter boxes added to start getting used to.
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It is amazing how fast they catch on to the litter box and begin distinguishing the difference between their potty area and their bed area.
Around 4 weeks of age, they start to get much more mobile and they are pottying in the litter boxes more frequently.
At this point they move into one of two rooms we call the "Puppy Rooms", which are two separate rooms my husband build specifically for the puppies that have more space as the puppies become more active. They have epoxy flooring & metal trim along the wall for easier cleaning, and a doggy door to go out into their own large grassy puppy yards when they get old enough.
From about 5 weeks on, the puppies are much more active so their layout changes and gets bigger to accommodate that. At this point the whelping boxes are opened up so they have run of the entire room and they will be introduced to the doggy door and spend time outside during the day to play and explore.
Weather permitting, once they are around 6 weeks old and on, they will be using the doggy door to go outside on their own to potty, play, and explore during the day.
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Introducing the doggy door and and allowing them to go out on their own time makes a world of difference for potty training in my opinion and experience. When they go home at 8 weeks of age, they have already been making the decision on their own for a couple weeks to go outside to potty rather than inside and I will tell you that they definitely prefer to go outside!
