A breeder’s secret to a clean Golden Doodle puppy nursery
Over the past couple years we’ve noticed an increase in clients asking how we keep our puppy nursery so neat and tidy. Even with Bella’s last litter of ten (10) goldendoodle puppies, the nursery was ready for stop-in visits at the drop of a hat.
What’s our secret?
Litter box training.
Yes, we realize we breed puppies, but contrary to popular belief litter boxes aren’t just a “cat” thing! In fact, litter boxes serve as a major milestone in successful house training.
Step 1 – Choose the “litter”
Let us save you some time (and mess)!! We use safe, non-toxic, paper-based pellets in our large litter boxes. They are super absorbent, tough on odors, and are easy to sweep up. Plus, our first puppies made it pretty obvious that newspaper was only good for shredding ... confetti party!!! ... and their beautiful red and apricot coats had so much black smut they could have passed as chimney sweeps!
Pellets are the way to go.
Step 2 – Surround the bedding
Soon after the puppies are born, we surround their bedding area with the litter boxes. As the puppies get their legs, they waddle (or fall) off their bedding pallet and the pellets offer a softer landing than the nursery floor. Plus, puppies piddle quite frequently. They prefer to piddle off their bedding, but don’t have enough stamina to make it across the floor.
Step 3 – Seek & Find
The next step is reducing the size of the area covered in pellets. The puppies have grown accustomed to the smell of the pellets and prefer doing their business in familiar territory. We reduce down to one litter box that is still close to the bedding pallet, but yet a few leaps away. This provides room for the rambunctious puppies to bound out of bed without tripping over their potty.
Step 4 – Privacy Corner
Right around six weeks the puppies are so accustomed to the litter box that they prefer it in the corner. The larger the playtime area the better! An added bonus is with the litter box smooshed in the corner, fewer pellets end up spilling on the floor.
The extra time, energy, and resources being invested in litter training our puppies are well worth it. Our goal has always been to breed healthy, happy goldendoodle puppies and help them transition well into their forever families.
By litter training our puppies, we help our clients minimize “accident” frustration and expedite the transition into outdoor potty training; the litter box provides a portable option to aid in those efforts.
Our clients boast about the ease of training their pups to use a natural area, or particular corner of the yard. We attribute that success to both the litter box training and our amazing clients who understand the importance of devoting time into properly training their goldendoodle pups.
If you have any additional questions about how we raise our puppies, feel free to post a comment below, give us a call, or reach out on our contact page!
