lindee
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Posted: 9/21/2008 11:33:38 AM
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I breed Shih Tzu and I have been crate training my litters. This is my first post so excuse me if I'm not doing this correctly. I am a medium sized hobby breeder.
I start training my dogs at 3 weeks. I use a crate tray that is the same height as the whelping box, with the whelping crate inside a pen.It has 2 doors, 1 for the litter pan and one for mama to come and go. At 3 weeks the puppies has no where to go but their box or the litter box, the waddle right into the litter box, do their business and go back into a nice clean whelping crate. I clean the box with a scoop several times a day. I use fireplace pellets for litter. Very inexpensive and safe as I have seen several breeders use them for years. Prior to that I was using a product called "Good Mews" for cats that looks just like Fireplace pellets. In about 10 days, I move the box away from the door and into an area where the puppies will have to leave the whelping crate and navigate to the litter box. YES, they find it and they use it. By 8 weeks they are little pros. It works like a charm. No messy, poop to clean up, no yellow stains on light colored pups. I use the pellets for about 5 days scooping it several times a day, then empty it, steralize the pan and add new litter. It has saved me so much time and I'm sure it is more healthy than puppies lying in their own poop and pee. My customers love it.
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