I have been having to rethink the boxes I use for the puppies' bed, play area, and potty area. Also rethinking disposable potty pads, which have been SO GREAT (though I think I've been single-handedly destroying the environment!) I could keep the puppies clean and dry by changing the puppy pads super often. So nice!
Let's talk boxes first:
I started with one box when they were first born, which makes sense because one was enough - they just slept and peed where they were.
Then their eyes opened, so I started using a second box - one for my bedroom for them to sleep at night and one in the dining room for them to play in during the day.
Then they started walking and then running and needed more room, so I created a third box for just playing in with toys. The third box was a lot longer, so it became the play box and the second box didn't get much use.
Then, they learned to get over the side of the play box, so I brought back in the sleeping box that had 2 "doorways" so that Maggie could go in, but the babies didn't really leave the box even though they could. The second box became the transition box for Maggie and a potty station for the babies - I (mostly) trained them to not pee in the toybox.
Then the sleeping box became to small, so the second box became the transition box and I cut down the wall a little so that Maggie could still get in and out and the original door was turned toward the toybox door.
Enter another problem: The disposable pee pads. The puppies started tearing up just for fun. Then they started chewing on the torn up pee pads, and I worry that they were swallowing some of the torn up pee pads, too.
So disposable pee pads are now out (I'm in mourning), and washable pee pads are needed - but amazon is taking THREE DAYS to ship them! (the world of instant food and overnight shipping has really spoiled me!) I do have 4 pee pads, but 4 is simply not enough, so in the meanwhile I'm using the washable pee pads that I do have along with towels.
I'm thinking of getting rubber backed rugs to put the washable pee pads on in the play box, the sleeping box, and the transitional box / potty box so that the wet doesn't soak through onto the carpeted floors. (Update, I bought some rubber backed rugs and they are on the bottom of all 3 boxes with some "scatter rugs" and washable pee pads & towels on top. I'll let you know how it goes.)
I was taking to Steve about all of this and I said, "I wish I could have worked backwards so that I knew what I'd really need and save money by not buying things we won't use. But, you can't know what you don't know. I'm going to post a blog post to help along the next person" (hopefully the next person will not somehow be me again!)
"Nah," he said, "just write, 'You can't know what you don't know', it'll be unhelpful and yet make you seem wise.'"
Here are the boxes:
Box #1 - the babies' bed when they were first born:
Hopefully the rubber backed rugs will work to keep any wetness from leaking and that I can keep up with the washable pee pad laundry AND that the puppies potty train easily and soon!
Box #2 - the box used in the dining room so that the babies could be close by us during the day:
Box #3 - the toybox with one of other boxes butted up door opening to door opening:
Here is what the set up looks like now until I get more washable potty pads -
Their bed in my bedroom - the 2nd door has been raised up so they can't get out and the box that you'll see in the next photo sits at the end of this box too, so Maggie can get in and out as she pleases:
The boxes in the dining room for play during the day - The toy box is the furthest away, that middle box is the transition box. For now, I put down a disposable potty pad after their naps so that they can potty right away, then I remove it so that they don't consume it. No accidents yet, but this is a new set up. The closed up box is just for Maggie to use to jump into the box with the puppies.
♥ Melody
