For those of you that have to work full time: How do you keep your puppies clean? They eat standing in the food, they sleep in the litter box, they walk thru poop and pee when you are trying to pick it up before they walk in it! How do you keep them clean? My little guys will be going home in 2 weeks, they smell like pee! I keep baby wipes handy but they only go so far and of course everyone has to help you wipe their littermates down.

What are you using for bedding and litter? Are they in your home or in a kennel?
I work full time and I use shredded paper. The pups have a very large litter box area that is stripped once a day in addition to minor picking up throughout.
I don't use blankets or towels or beds as I find that there's always some pups who think those things make a great litter box in addtion to the one provided. They have a bare floor and trained properly to use the litter area, they do.
They don't smell a bit.
I am always amazed when breeders tell me they are bathing their pups so they can go to new homes. I have never had the need to do that.

I use the Equine pellets and have no smell at all. I'd say 95% of their business is done in the box.

Of my 6 week olds, I have one potty box layer, and she ALWAYS smells like pee. I do have blankets and what not, and still no one else smells like pee.

Are they getting enough water?

I agree with you. My pups never smell. At 4 weeks of age, I make a large potty out of the 5'x4' whelping box. Outside the box, I have a large area ex-penned off, with bare floor and bedding and toys and water, etc. I have always used pine shavings with great success,but I am going to try the horse pellets for the first time with my next litter. Within 24 hours, ALL the pups are using the potty area 100% of the time. None of them ever smell like pee. I am amazed when I see breeders still using newspapers. The pups have no choice but to wade through it. And what a stink when you walk in in the morning! PEW!

complete cleaning before work, after pups eat breakfast they are moved to smaller play area while I sweep, vaccum, mop, change equine pellets, old towels and toys go in washer, wash water container.

Do this all again when I come home around dinner time, then I can pick up until bed time.

Also from my web cam, they tend to sleep most the afternoon, the litter box is barely used until they wake up around 1 PM

My guys never smell when they go home.

Janet, you have always done such a great job raising your babies :)

I use the pine shavings from Tractor Supply and they have been great, the bags are only 4.99.
I might try the pellets since I'm hearing more about how well they work.

Puppies do not want to potty where they sleep and play. If you have the right set up and offer them a place to potty away from their sleeping area your puppies will stay clean and dry.

Doing this is only fair to the puppy and the new families who are purchasing your babies.
If a breeder does not keep their puppy area clean, it will create dirty habits which will make potty training very difficult for the new owners. It's nice when a new owner says their new pup hasn't had any accidents in the house.

I am doing all of the above. I am using pine shavings. I think my problem is the litterbox is too small. I will see what I can come up with tonight or over the weekend. They are very good at using the litterbox and it does fill up fast!!

It was funny last night, I cleaned everything up, put them to bed and every one of the puppies started playing in the litter box. Body slamming the sides and tearing around in circles. They are so cute at 6 weeks!!

Debi, the pics on your website of the litter are adorable! Your comment about smelling like pee reminded me of our boy who's just over 3 months and his problem.....he stood UNDER the big dogs when they were peeing sometimes! Thankfully he's a quick learner.

A larger area should do the trick. My sister shows Goldens and recently had a large litter of 13 pups. You can imagine the mess that could become. She has taken large rubber horse stall mats and put 2 or 3 large x-pens around them, then poured two large bags of pine shavings inside. I went to help evaluate the pups when they were 6 weeks old, there was no smell and the puppies were clean and dry. Good luck with your litter.

we used the equine fresh pellets in a 30x30 rabbit pan from TSC. It was perfect for slipping into a 30+ gallon trash bag to empty when necessary. In between the complete clean ups I found a cat pooper scooper with wider slots to pull the solid waste out and leave the pellets behind.

thanks Kathy :O))

I use the rabbit tray from Tractor supply as well, with bigger litters I will put two in there.
to stop them from using it as a race track, I will set the Xpen up so the boxes are in an enclosure, they walk in and out the same way.
If you just set them in the corner of a pen they will run, play and drag every toy into them.

by Precision.

For what ever it is worth, we don't have a problem keeping our puppies clean mainly due to our set up. Once they get 3 1/2 to 4 weeks of age they get moved from the whelping box to our "puppy box" made from 3 pieces of 10' shelving board (1" X 12"), one of those pieces cut in half set on linoleum. The board pieces are screwed together forming a 5' X 10' containment area. We separate out the area with a 1" X 4" board, laid flat and screwed into the bottom. On one side we use wood pellets, the other side is normally where they sleep and play. We start off with a few pieces of newspaper on top of the pellets, once they figure it out, we stop using the paper. In one corner we have an eye bolt to hook a small water bucket for them. We also have a platform which helps the mom get in and out.
Having a linoleum bottom, it makes it very easy to clean.

What do you do once 12" is not high enough to contain them? Also, don't they slip on the linoleum?

Puppy Playpens are an option, not the best option, but they do keep them clean.

Once they get about 6-6 1/2 weeks old or when ever the 1st one gets out, we use 1" X 10"'s done just like the bottom to go on top so it is two levels of boards, again it is all screwed together. On one end I only use a half a board so the mom can get in easier without dragging. It can be taken completely apart in about 20 minutes. I have used the same boards now for almost 10 years.
As far as them slipping, some is slicker than others, our pups have never really had a problem with it.

I made a 4' x8' x 24" pen out of vinyl lattice (small squares) and PVC pipe. Most of it is put together with plastic ties. I use self tapping screws on the corners to make it easy to take it apart for storage. There is a 2 piece guilitine gate in one end for mom. When she is done with them (her choice), I put the top half of the gate in. It's easy to keep clean and looks nice. I put a board up at one end for their potty area.

I use shredded paper on top of about 4 layers of paper. Just roll it up and mop.

I also use a Kuranda bed instead of blankets. The pups love it, and I don't have to worry about the pups dragging their blankets into the litter box.

This past winter we had combined 2 litters of 3 week old pups in one large expanded expen area. The floor is cement but I didn't want to just pour down the usual pineshavings for potty so I used a 5 foot wide kiddy pool for the shavings. It's large enough for a huge litter even if they all scramble to use it. some of them were peeing and pooping around the edges so I decided to buy a big remnant of linoleum to lay down in the entire area and I used ductape to hold down the perimeter of the linoleum . It didn't take the 6 week old pups long to chew off the duct tape and start their beaver chewing on the linoleoum. I finally took the linoleum away.

What I don't like about the pine shavings is the dust that goes everywhere in the house and in the puppie's eyes. I buy the low dust bags but there is still plenty of dust. I want to always use my kiddy pool for their potty area but I want to use something less dusty. When the pups are 3 weeks old I lay down a few of those piddle pads on the floor that lead into the swimming pool area. This gets them headed in the right direction for potty then I stop using the piddle pads after a few days.

I also started using a couple of those dog cots this winter instead of dog bedding. Of course at 3 weeks old, they are not ablet to quite climb up on the big cots so I use old towels and blankets along the edges of their ex pen area.

Some of the families who adopt my pups will take a bag of pine shavings from our pool home with them. They spread the old pineshavings in an area of their yard where they train their new puppy to go potty. It works pretty good so they tell me.