# Housetraining - advice on potty pads



## Alacey (Oct 28, 2014)

Hello,

I will be getting my Vizsla in two days and plan to start house training immediately. My question is regarding whether or not I should use potty pads indoors or not.

I have class each day for 3 to 4 hours where I will have to leave him at home. I purchased both a crate and a larger playpen where I thought I could leave him during class so that he wasn't confined in the crate over such a long period.

This is my first dog so I need advice if leaving him in the playpen rather than his crate is a good idea or not? Should I put down potty pads inside the playpen in case he goes to the bathroom? I am just worried that he may become accustomed then to going to the bathroom inside his playpen. If I do put him in the playpen and don't use potty pads should I just expect to clean up any mess? My goal is to train him to only go to the bathroom outside. 



Thanks,

Adam


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## Rbka (Apr 21, 2014)

Hi, welcome to the forums and life with a v!

We asked out breeder re: potty pads/newspaper etc and they said definitely no because then the dog may not like going outside. They recommended a "sod box" because it has grass so they will associate it as the same stuff they're supposed to go on outside. I think you can actually get sod boxes from pet stores now too.

In the end we just did our best without. Nico had a couple accidents in his crate (mostly while sleeping I think) but it was easy to wash and put in fresh sheets and he never seemed upset about it. Just be sure to reinforce going outside with treats and praise and hopefully house training will go smoothly and quickly for you 

The rule of thumb according to some is that the # of hours a puppy can be alone is how old they are in months +1 (so 2 months +1 = 3 hours). Not sure how true that is though....

Good luck!


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## dextersmom (Oct 29, 2013)

I think you'd be fine to crate him for that amount of time. Little puppies sleep A LOT. Just make sure he's pottied and tired before you leave. I would save the pen for if you have to be gone longer (and I like the suggestion of a sod box) or if you're home but can't supervise him.


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## MeandMy3 (Feb 27, 2013)

Hi,

Welcome to the forum and your new red adventure! 

I have house trained 5 pups in 4 years. Yep - crazy dog lady here. Some were easy - others not so much, and only one vizsla. The most successful though have been when I have used crate training and taken them outside - skipped the sod box, papers, or wee pads. 

I think 3-4 hours in a crate should be fine. Like Dextersmom said, make sure that the pup has pottied before and is tired when you put him/her in the crate. It will make the crate time much more tolerable. 

Good luck!


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## Alacey (Oct 28, 2014)

Thanks for the advice everyone I will skip using the wee pads and make sure to take him out before crating him.


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## Chaos911 (Oct 30, 2013)

We used a small crate for times when away or at night and a larger pen during the day. When little ( under 3mos) we had wee pads in the pen at one end. But really tried to work on potty out side. It really does all come together


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