zoefortworth

I need any recommendations/suggestions on the use of Potty Park for my new standard poodle puppy. My breeder has used it to train the puppies, so she will be used to it. Should I continue to use it while trying to train her to potty outside? If so, do you have any suggestions for how to go about doing that. I want the Potty Park to be a once in a while thing - I can see how it might come in handy. Thanks for helping a new standard poodle owner!

sarahmurphy

We chose not to use anything we were not willing to carry on with. We have friends with piddle pads all over the place, and we are just not the people who could cope with that... If you want to maintain a potty park, go for it. Otherwise, skip straight to the "run the pup outside every 15 minutes for a few weeks" stage....

edited to add that they can "hold it" for about an hour per month of age, up to a point (obviously your 48 month old dog should not try to hold it for 48 hours...) anything going in moves something out - so you've got about 15 mins after food/water/training treats and you need to be OUT...

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Sarah and Spike, (Tintlet Celtic Warrior,TC, CGC)

Rusty

I've seen the Potty Park thing in stores but never used it. Our spoo puppy was used to pee pads at the breeder's, but when we brought him home we didn't use any sort of indoor potty aid, and just worked hard to get him outside quite often and kept a really close eye on him. It was feasible to use this approach because I took 2.5 weeks of vacation when he came home, and afterwards had family helping let him out during the workday for several weeks.

I think in Ian Dunbar's Dog Star Daily, an alternative he recommends is putting a chunk of actual sod in a plastic tupperware container and placing that close to the door or at the far end of puppy's pen area. The puppy then gets used to the feel/smell of grass for his potty area when you're not around to let him outside, like the Potty Park aims to do, but is probably cheaper if you're just looking for a short-term training aid.

schnauzerpoodle

We use a Potty Park but that's because I plan to use it as a daily routine. We live in a high-rise condo. I place it on the balcony where my mini does not have constant or free access to it. To me the balcony is like the yard and I was housebreaking my puppy as if I had a yard. Potty Park is very useful in that sense.

I think the PP is very useful if you want your dog to potty at one specific spot in your yard. But then you don't need the PP to achieve that purpose.

Decide what you want your dog to be doing when he's 3 years old. Then train him accordingly.

LegalEagle

Do you have a yard? If so, I'd definitely recommend carrying your puppy outside to eliminate. It is such a pain in the neck to make the indoor/outdoor shift. On the flip side, if you are in an urban area where there are a lot of (potentially unvaccinated) dogs, you ought to consider a temporary indoor solution until your pup's immunity is up. With Laszlo, we were worried because we don't have a yard and our neighborhood is crowded with dogs, some of which aren't well taken care of. As a result, we used pee pads. I don't regret doing it, but it was tough for Laszlo to shift over from getting a reward for peeing on a pad to being expected to NEVER EVER pee in the house. So be aware of that. Of course, if your indoor solution involves grass, a la Potty Park or Dog Star Daily's method, that problem may be alleviated. Hope it goes well!