Any suggestions on best way to take care of 18 black lab puppies (2 litters). My husband built whelping boxes and put them in the house---kitchen and dining room! Needless to say, it is time to move them to the garage but not sure what best set up should be. We are getting an air conditioner but dealing with cleaning up the messes all the time is a full time job in itself! Ugh!

We use Equine Fresh pellets. TSC carries it. They also have plastic litter pans, made for under rabbit hutches, which is what we put it in.

The puppies learn pretty quickly to use the litter boxes.

Mike

We use Equine Fresh pellets. TSC carries it. They also have plastic litter pans, made for under rabbit hutches, which is what we put it in.

The puppies learn pretty quickly to use the litter boxes.

Mike

You will need a pen to put them in every day so you can use Peroxide (Not toxic like bleach) on the regular pen until they use the litter box. I use a shop vacume to clean the urine and poo and then the Peroxide. I use a mop too. Another thing is to steam clean the area every week to keep germs at bay.
I haven't tried the litter box because we have doggie doors for them to go outside on pine shavings. That usually starts at 6 weeks though a little longer for some boys.
A lot of people use newpaper without the color print on the floor.
I use mattress pads cut and sewn in squares with a waterproof backing and change those about three times a day. Just throw them in the washer for a good soak with soap and a double rinse.

Same here, we went with this system 3 years ago, wish we had done it sooner. I have done it with 2 litters at a time, also.

I put the litter pans with pellets on one side of 2 attached xpens (so for 2 litters need 4 total xpens) then I put water and a large washable rubber backed rug on the other side. I keep a spray bottle with Lysol cleaner hanging on outside of pen and a plastic milk carton with top cut off and handle still on full of extra pellets.

Initially I am in the pens frequently putting pups in the litter pans and wiping any messes. They seem to learn to poop in pellets first and eventually pee in there too. I am especially vigiliant when they are eating. Put each pup in pellets as soon as they stop eating. It's a bit of work for about a week but then they get it.

I change the litter every morning and night and sprinkle fresh pellets on the litter pan throughout the day. I change the rubber backed rugs every morning if needed. The pellets swell as they soak up the urine, so I just barely cover the bottom of the tray with pellets. I make the pens small in the morning and just sweep the whole area and mop with Lysol.

The used pellets are great for the garden or around evergreens, they can be covered with shredded bark when pups go home.

We've also attached above set up to a large crate and put the rubberbacked mat in the crate. It gets them use to sleeping in a crate.

Also, make sure you still take a pup or two in the house to play and socialize. I once just put chairs in the garage for us to sit on while holding/socializing pups but when I did bring pups into the house, they were hesitant on the linoleum and carpet.

where do you get your rubber backed mats from?

Bath mats - Walmart or wherever

Lots of good ideas so far. I've only had 2 litters at the same time once..It was only 13 puppies. I was more worried about how I was going to tell them apart when I first started planning the litters. I decided to do an all yellow litter and an all black litter, problem solved. If you have the room on your floor, I would suggest buying heavy duty plastic, not tarp. I use duct tape to secure the outer edges from moving around. I place expens around the kiddy pool with cut down sides so puppies can easily toddle over to learn potty habits. As the pups are more dependable in using their pool, I expand their expen by adding more panels so they have a huge play area with their toys, little washable dog beds. I dangle human baby toys on the xpen and add a baby mobile that hangs over their beds. I just started using the mobile that plays music and has interactive movements. The puppies just love it !! They can't reach it of course. I buy alot of their toys at good will, including stuffed animals . I pop these stuffed animals in the wash. With the plastic on the floor, even if the pups miss their piddle pool, it's no big deal and doesn't reach our floor. It's easy to keep sanitized. You can use the thick plastic on any floor surface, carpet, hardwood, cement .
I don't know what color your 2 litters are and if you can easily keep from getting them mixed up but it is fun to watch 2 litters grow up together, playing, learning. We had these 2 litters in January so they 2 litters were introduced to snow at 5 weeks of age but they always come back in the house to sleep in their safe expen area. There are so many different set ups a breeder can try but this is what has worked for me over the years. I like my puppies close to where the action is so being raise in the house has been ideal.

We feed, then go directly outside all the while saying "Outside". The exercise is great for them and cuts down on the indoor mess. I basically only have the overnight mess to worry about. Another note- ammonia and steam are only methods of killing coccidia, so steam cleaning was a good idea, as posted earlier. The fresh air and interaction, socialization, actually learning to come, it's all great. I love it. The best four weeks of having pups. I've done this for the past few litters and recently read this:
http://www.nvh.no/en/Home/News/News-stories/A-number-of-environmental-factors-can-affect-the-incidence-of-hip-dysplasia-in-dogs/

The commercial puppy litter pans are way too small for a litter. I use a small plastic pool (PetSmart sells them) and put the puppy litter (recycled newspaper pellets) in there. Also, I usually end up buying the cat version of the pellets because the dog version is more expensive per pound and is the same thing. I use the recycled hospital bed pads and if I see a puddle I can just toss one of those on top of it and it absorbs it.

Thank you so much to everyone! All of you have given me great ideas that I am going to try!