# New Puppy In Apartment - pad training until fully vaccinated?



## cwessner

Hello everyone! My husband and I are getting our first vizsla puppy in about 6 weeks. We are SO very excited and are trying to get all our ducks in a row before her arrival. One of our biggest concerns is potty training her. We live in a large pet-friendly apartment complex filled with many other dogs. Our breeder has warned us of many parvo virus outbreaks in the New England area, and urged us to absolutely keep her away from any of the other dogs in our complex until she gets her third set of shots. While we are happy to do that, we are very concerned to take her outside to the community doggie areas where all of the dogs in the building go. We are considering pad training her inside until she is fully vaccinated at 11 weeks old and then transitioning her outside at the point. We know this will make the potty training more difficult and potentially confusing for our little pup, but are more concerned with her health and well-being. The good news is that she will be able to make lots of friends once she is vaccinated (there is even another vizsla in the building!), so we will have great social time. Has anyone experienced this before, or have any tips for us? Any help would be very appreciated!


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## marathonman

Do you have a balcony? If so I would suggest a potty area out there. We found a company that makes a device called a porch potty. Basically fake grass the drains to a pan or a hose. That way you can have an area outside that you can use to for proper potty training. If you don't have a balcony, maybe some other members can chime in with their ideas.
Oh, and congrats!


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## cwessner

Thanks! Unfortunately, no balcony.


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## solefald

Do not take her to the doggy areas in your complex. Stick to places that are not frequented by a large number of other dogs. So odd lawn or a bush here and there are fine, dog parks are not. 

Also, she wont be fully vaccinated until 16 weeks of age.


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## mswhipple

My next-door-neighbors trained their dog, Coco, to go potty inside on those pee pee pads. Sometimes they are gone longer than they anticipated, and that way Coco doesn't have to hold it until they return. However... Coco is a tiny, little dog. She weighs only about six pounds, at two years of age. I guess if you wouldn't mind spending money on those pads, it could work for a Vizsla. You can buy them at the Dollar Store. Whatever you decide, I can tell you that you do not want your dog to get Parvo!! Transitioning your pup to only go outside might be a problem in the future. The situation isn't ideal, but if you are dedicated (and patient) it will all work out in the end. Good luck! 

_p.s. Welcome to the forums!_


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## cwessner

Thanks for the info, we appreciate it! Solefald, you are correct, she will be getting her third set of shots at 11 weeks, but not fully vaccinated at that time. Mswhipple, that is how we feel about it. We would rather her be safe & healthy and have a little more challenging training time when it comes time to transition her outside. While there are great outdoor areas and a fenced in dog run at our apartment, there are A LOT of dogs, so we feel like no outside areas at our apartment are safe enough for her until 11-12 weeks. We do have access to large private grounds a 10 minute car drive away that we can take her to for some safe outdoor play time  But as for potty training, I feel like we have no other choice but to pad train her initially. :-\


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## mswhipple

Meanwhile, you can still work on socialization with your puppy. You want puppy to be safe and healthy... but also, you want puppy to feel comfortable in the outside world. If you keep her too isolated, she could grow up to be afraid of many things. Try these things (many can be done while carrying pup) --

"Socialization Scavenger Hunt"

Go for 3 car rides
Have a bath (at home or groomer)
Meet 2 gray haired senior citizens
Meet a person with a cane or in a wheelchair
Visit a garden center or hardware store
Visit the vet without an appointment and just sit in the waiting room
Visit 2 friends at their homes
Do "sit" and "down" for a stranger
Go to a friend's house and leave puppy there for an hour without you
Take biscuits from 3 different children
Carry your pup to 3 different parks
Ride on public transit while being carried
Meet 3 friendly (vaccinated) dogs owned by friends
Ride in an elevator
Meet another domestic pet while on leash
Take a biscuit from a man with a beard and/or hat

Good Luck!!


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## CatK

Welcome!

Morris got so heavy so quickly even before he was fully immunised that we carried him around in a washing basket to meet people! We took him to friends houses with gardens and immunised dogs, we took him to the pub, to the shops...

We tried puppy pads when housebreaking but Morris weed on them then shredded them and finely coated the room with pee soaked fluff, I'm sure he ate half of it as well. So in the end we went with treating ourselves to new towels, and all the old ones became Morris towels. It did take longer to housebreak him, but he got there as soon as he could and he's a gem now.


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## mlg1900

I feel that any place that allows dogs should require immunization since dog illness is so prevalant! 

But I know that will never happen.


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## giandaliajr

solefald said:


> Do not take her to the doggy areas in your complex. Stick to places that are not frequented by a large number of other dogs. So odd lawn or a bush here and there are fine, dog parks are not.
> 
> Also, she wont be fully vaccinated until 16 weeks of age.


I agree. I would not keep your puppy inside for 16 weeks for two reasons. #1 you are going to go crazy and #2 they need socialization at an early age. It's a fine line between socialization and possibly infection from sick dogs but you really need to get as close to that line as you can. I think everyone can agree that the more socialization your pup has at a young age the better. But like Solefald said, no dog parks. They are a breading ground for everything. Our V is 15 months old and we probably took him to the park regularly from 4 months - 9 months and he seemed to be sick every other week so we stopped going and he has never been healthier.

I would make sure he at least gets to play with other known dogs in your building, or family and friends' dogs. Also, if you happen to approach a dog while on a small walk you can always tell the owner he isn't vaccinated yet, people are always understanding. 

Mswhipple's scavenger hunt is a great idea. Getting a socialization game plan together at this point is the smartest idea.

Congrats on your new puppy!


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## mswhipple

I really can't take credit for that "Socialization Scavenger Hunt". I pirated that from another member (kristen), who first posted it two or three years ago!


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## texasred

Also I would be nice to all of your neighbors, and ask your breeder if she can start crate training before you pick up the pup. Some new puppy owners get complains from neighbors when the pups start howling.


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## OttosMama

Great advice TexasRed! When we brought Otto home, he howled for Nights. We had him in the crate in our bedroom while we slept in the guest bedroom, with ear plugs and doors shut and we could still hear him! Luv2Laugh who brought home Otto's litter mate, Oso, asked our breeder to crate train Oso before he went home with her and her hubby. From what I remember, she said Oso did not make much noise at all!

Cwessner, living in an apartment, I agree that you should ask your breeder to get her started in a crate at night!


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## dextersmom

I second what TexasRed & Ottosmama said! Our boy had a terrible time crate training in the beginning. We made sure to check in with our neighbors to make sure he wasn't bothering them but it was super stressful for me. I actually met one of our neighbors while outside holding the puppy and crying on the phone with my husband because I was so upset that he had barked straight through another night. She ended up making ME feel better and now is one of our good friends. "Dexter" delivered lots of notes and little potted plants to our neighbors to thank them for being understanding when he forgot to be quiet for a few weeks  You'll also meet any and everyone nearby when you're out with that adorable puppy, so it's a good time to make new friends! We went from not knowing any of our neighbors to knowing everyone within a couple mile radius! I swore I'd never get another puppy that hadn't been started on crate training already. I also wish I had known about the "Snuggle Puppie" toy (stuffed animal that heats up, has a heartbeat, etc.) - we'll certainly be trying that out when #2 comes along!


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## cwessner

Wow, thank you all for the great tips!! This forum is really wonderful! I LOVE the idea of a Socialization Scavenger Hunt!  That will definitely be happening! There are some dogs in the building that we can socialize her with, also other friends with dogs too that we can visit. We have already planned on puppy visits with different people to meet her so she gets a lot of socialization. The breeder will start crate training her before we get her so we are hoping that will help a little. We will be visiting the puppies in mid-February (a couple weeks before we bring her home) and we thought about bringing a toy or towel that we can get her sibings' scent on to bring home. Has anyone done this? We have also looked into the "snuggle puppy" toy to comfort her the first couple weeks. We will definitely not be keeping her inside for 16 weeks, just in terms of the outside potty area and doggie areas at our place I think will be off limits initially. We are excited to take her out and show her the world  Thanks again to all! We are getting so excited to welcome home our little girl!


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## giandaliajr

Our breeder sent Berk home with a couple plush animals that they had all played with for a while. I think it was a big comforting thing. For the first 6 months he would always gravitate toward the bigger plush toy and suck on its nose. I would probably recommend getting a blanket and a couple toys for your visit if your breeder isn't planning on sending you home with a welcome basket. 

Since we have two cats, our breeder also mailed a used blanket to us so we could acclimate the cats to the dogs scent, it worked pretty well. No marking from anyone after we brought him home. At one point, they actually laid on the blanket. Too bad their friendship went down hill quickly after the first couple chase episodes.


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## CatK

Oh yes, just remembered that to butter up neighbours and help socialisation we put invites through the doors on our street inviting everyone to come and meet Morris and have a tea/biscuit with us! Much harder to complain once you've met a puppy plus it meant Morris met a good mixture of people before he got his shots finished.

Direct next door neighbours got chocolate brownies!


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