Tuesday Training Byte: House training a puppy in winter weather

I lived in Wyoming for 20 years and often had a puppy to house break when it was bitter cold and snowy outside. Dogs, much like cats, prefer to use a designated place away from the area where they play, sleep, and eat. Our current litter of Rottweilers are litter box trained. I buy bags of very fine pine shavings like what may be used in a horse stall. My puppies are in a large pen with carpet, and with the litter box at the back. The pups go 100% of the time in that box. I have purchased the plastic under bed storage bins that are about 4 inches deep and a large rectangular shape. I put some shavings outside near a tree or where ever I want my dogs to go. I also put shavings in the under bed bin and place it right outside of the back door. You could even keep it indoors if needed. No one likes to head out in the snow in the middle of the night with their pup to try to get their pup to go potty in the snow and freezing weather. I prefer the shavings over pee pads because leaving a small bit of pine shavings in the grass in your designated potty place is easy for the pup to understand, and the shavings will mulch down into the soil. If you train a dog to use the pee pad, they may never want to go in the grass outside. Using a very large "litter" area with shavings transfers well to outside potty. Pups that I have kept that were brought up this way have sometimes never had a single accident in the house. It makes house training much easier. If the breeder of your pup did not keep their pen clean and did not have a designated potty area, then your pup will take longer to housebreak.

Happy Training! Here is a you tube post, but they use pine pellets. I do not use the pellets as I start pups very young and do not want they to try to eat a pellet. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smi2toypYSE