Cleaning up after my puppy

[jaydon]

I just recently rescued a German Sheppard puppy as a present for my husband’s birthday. And because she is still only 8 weeks old, she has not quite picked up on the whole potty-training idea. Unfortunately, she has accidents throughout the house that leaves spots and odors. I want to buy something that will alleviate the smells and stains so I do not have to worry about an unclean house. What are some good carpet stain removers for dog urine and other accidents? So far I have heard of Drillspot (http://www.drillspot.com) and an enzyme based cleaner like this pet odor remover (http://www.mistermax.com/). What suggestions do you all have? What’s the best solution?

“Intellectual growth should commence at birth and cease only at death.”- Albert Einstein

[mcdude]

Try Oxiclean (http://www.oxiclean.com/default2.asp) for the carpets...works great.
http://www.oxiclean.com/images/P151222A02.jpg

[Lakesrider]

First off the dog shouldn't be on your carpet...Period. The puppy should be confined to an area that is loaded with paper. Sounds cruel but you have to get it used to the paper. Play time should be outside or on the paper. Eating and drinking bowls should also be on the paper. If he eliminates on the carpet...DO NOT GET MAD at it. Blot up the spot with a towel or paper towels until no urine can be seen on them, Pour a glass of water on the spot. reblot, put the enzyme cleaner on. Soak well. You must get out all of the odor, as the dog will likely remark it's "Spot" if it still smells the urine, as this is now his bathroom. Hence the No puppy on the carpet thing. But remember it is not the poor things fault. It is yours! Do not try to rub the dogs nose in it. The dog will have no idea what your doing except yelling at it. Use a good enzyme based cleaner from Petco etc. Make sure you saturate the carpet and the underliner as well, as that is where the smell will come from in a few days. Another good rule of thumb is to always bring the dog outside about 15 minutes after it eats/drinks. A little sooner for a puppy. It is the average time that a dog will need to go after eating or drinking. After eating and the 15 minutes goes by get the leash out and make it seem like it is fun time with the leash. Do not let the dog chew on a leash. EVER! But like I said make it seem like it is a great thing that the leash is out and that the dog gets to go outside. The dog will eventually learn that pee/poop time is outside.
Hopefully you are alresdy doing the room full of paper, watch where it pees, remove the paper from where it doesn't, move the paper an inch a day toward the door, if the puppy still misses the paper your going to fast, thing. But you still have at least 4 more months of training. Little puppies don't have the control just yet. So patience is a virtue....Zee Germanz iz very schmaht!

Make sure to socialize the GS puppy quickly. Bring to a park where many people can pet it. Kids school, retirement home is graet if allowed. Actually that is where I love to bring my dogs. The folks love a visit. Especially with a puppy at around 6 months. Germans need socializing to keep from being aggressive and dominate. Also at around 6 months your dog will be 90-99% of its actuall mature size. So you'll know how big it is going to get, and how loud a barker it is going to be.
Have fun with your new puppy.....Patience, Patience, Patience!!!

BTW, you'll most likey want to get rid of your carpet anyway, and get wood floors installed if you have a pure bred GS. They shed like there is no tomorrow. Better get a good animal hair vacuum cleaner at the very least.
In the summer you'll be able to collect the hair have it spun and make a sweater out of it. :eek::D

Umm, one last thing though...If you bought the dog for your husband, why are YOU cleaning up the Pee? :laugh:

LR
Retired K9 Trainer.

[twoplustwo]

... and you can get it at any pet store, as well as Wal*Mart and Aubuchons.

I think we need to see some puppy pictures!:)

[Rose]

Better get a good animal hair vacuum cleaner at the very least.

If anybody finds one of these, please let me know. My sister-in-law had a Dyson which she claimed did a very good job...when it was working...which was, like, never.

[Argie's Wife]

Borax is the simplest and most cost-effective odor eliminator/stain remover I know - just follow the directions on the box. I swear by that stuff!

[jrc]

If you have a puppy and carpets you need one of these. Just buy it now or be ready to pull the carpets. We have the little green. You need something to kill the stain but you also need soemthing to pull the dirt out.

http://www.bissell.com/Products/c/PortableDeepCleaner/Category.aspx

[dpg]

Do you own a crate for the dog? Sounds cruel but dogs love them and in time think of them as "their" space to escape too. Also, when their young they can spend some time in them and they will not go while in there cause they will never "go" in their home. They might of course if he's never brought outside enough but that's only common sense. I have a five year old (dog :D) who has the run of the house and still returns to his crate on a regular basis to just chill out. Ask your vet about crate training, he/she will strongly agree I'm sure.

[jeffk]

We have had two Goldens from young puppies. We used crates and as soon as they were let out of their crate we brought them right outside to do their business. Then they came in to play. They both whined the first couple nights in their crates but settled right down after that, often going in by themselves to nap. They never messed their crates. After eating we took them out for a walk again. Sticking to this routine, even as young puppies, we had almost zero problems. You just need to be trained as to when their natural need to go is likely to be and make sure they are outside to do it. No playing outside until they have finished. We also used this time to walk our property line. By the time they were solidly potty trained they were also very aware of our property boundaries. After that I could let them out without a lead and they would go potty and then wander the property. It was rare for them to wander off.

As for cleaning I have found the first thing to do is soak up the mess as much as possible with paper towels. Then I use warm water on the area and then soak it up again using pressure to soak up the wet until the towels are coming up mostly dry. Sometime I put a brick over the towel to keep it in good contact to soak up the water. Finally I use the deodorant cleaner. I use Resolve carpet cleaner and that has worked OK for me. I have tried others but to be honest they all seemed to work about the same and I can find Resolve just about anywhere.

Another trick. We put a set of bells, jingle bells on a leather strap, hanging on the door. We trained the dogs to ring the bells when they want to go out. I started by pushing their muzzle into the bells and then praising them for ringing the bell and then let them out. They got the idea very quickly. They often go to the door to look out but when they want to go out they ring the bells.

[Rose]

Do you own a crate for the dog? Sounds cruel but dogs love them and in time think of them as "their" space to escape too. Also, when their young they can spend some time in them and they will not go while in there cause they will never "go" in their home. They might of course if he's never brought outside enough but that's only common sense. I have a five year old (dog :D) who has the run of the house and still returns to his crate on a regular basis to just chill out. Ask your vet about crate training, he/she will strongly agree I'm sure.

My dog hated his crate. The vet said that's because he is a party animal and wants to be where the action is. My sister's dog loves her crate...especially when I'm visiting with my dog, and my dog becomes amorous (even though he's been fixed).

When my dog was a puppy, he got a bad case of diarrhea (possibly giardia), so he obviously couldn't hold it in and messed in his crate. So make sure you get a crate which is easy to clean (if you don't already have one).

One unrelated comment that I'll make about puppies and it pertains to stairs. We didn't know that dogs aren't naturally good with stairs until our first puppy (about 12 weeks old) fell down a flight of stairs causing injuries to his lungs which were eventually fatal. Fast forward 12 years and we have one of his littermates who has arthritis and is not good on the stairs anymore. So needless to say we're very carefully with him and stairs.

[weim2]

Crates are the best for more reasons than I want to get into here. For safety and absolute ease of housebreaking please consider using a crate. My dogs love them well into adulthood. It is their quiet secure place away from the human world.

[Rose]

Crates are the best for more reasons than I want to get into here. For safety and absolute ease of housebreaking please consider using a crate. My dogs love them well into adulthood. It is their quiet secure place away from the human world.

Sorry, I didn't mean to discourage crate training...it's a great way to train the dog. I just wanted people who were unfamiliar with crate training that not ALL dogs end up loving their crates. Also, an eight-week old puppy is likely to cry for the first few nights when you put him/her in there for the night. This is not a discouragement...just further information. But crates are an excellent way to save objects when the puppy is going through the "chew-on-everything" stage and you have to leave the house.

[Waterbaby]

I just recently rescued a German Sheppard puppy as a present for my husband’s birthday. And because she is still only 8 weeks old, she has not quite picked up on the whole potty-training idea. Unfortunately, she has accidents throughout the house that leaves spots and odors. I want to buy something that will alleviate the smells and stains so I do not have to worry about an unclean house. What are some good carpet stain removers for dog urine and other accidents? So far I have heard of Drillspot (http://www.drillspot.com) and an enzyme based cleaner like this pet odor remover (http://www.mistermax.com/).

What suggestions do you all have? What’s the best solution?

Why on earth would someone buy a dog (puppy) without researching things first.................... i.e. housebreaking? etc.? Please don't take this as criticism, but that seems to be the responsible thing to me - owning a dog is a huge commitment, the dog is going to be a part of your family for many years to come and not just something to buy for someone as a "present", like a television or something!

[PennyPenny]

The pee stains/smell will never go away. I don't care if it id on carpet or wood floors. Your best chance is to let it pee in its cage and train it to go outside.

[ApS]

Better than a cage is a wire enclosure hooked to a "doggie door" leading outdoors.

A dog will not soil his sleeping quarters and will go outdoors when the urge occurs. Once indoors, though, you've got to keep an eagle-eye on his behavior—especially upon awakening—and even more vigilant when waking up after a meal. (The dog's meal, that is. :emb: )

If you have a wood floor with area rugs, I'd remove the rugs. An undiscovered "pee-accident" can permanently darken the wood underneath. :(

[dpg]

Another thing about crates, NEVER use it for discipline with your dog. A crate is their space most of them will eventually enjoy and go to for some escape and quiet time. Never put them in there as punishment or to just "get them out of the way" because you have company over. This will confuse your dog and they may begin not wanting to use something they other wise very much enjoyed.

[Argie's Wife]

There's lots of advice on stain removers, odor removers, and dog training but the best all-around GREAT advise can be found in this book: "Good Owners, Great Dogs" by Brian Kilcommons (http://www.amazon.com/Good-Owners-Great-Brian-Kilcommons/dp/0446516759)

(The link is to the hardcover edition; there's a less expensive softcover version.)

If there was a very practical, down-to-earth guide to training your puppy, this is it! I used these techniques for my dog with great success. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND this book.

This is "Turbo Tanker" my 2 year old Cardigan Welsh Corgi:

http://usera.ImageCave.com/calvinandginger/DSCF1859.JPG

[beagle]

I also agree with the crate training, but you have to make sure it is not too big so that the dog can go in it(pee) and have room enough not to lay in it! We had two crates for our beagle, and if you ask him "Do you want to go for a run or go in your box?" he runs to the box! He is very lazy!
Also, our vet said to take away the water dish around 6-7 pm, and by the time you go to bed, the dog should be able to make it thru the night at around 10 weeks. It worked!
My final bit of advice comes from raising boys and dogs both--give them the rules asap and be consistent.
Good Luck and have fun with your new pal!

[dpg]

I also agree with the crate training, but you have to make sure it is not too big so that the dog can go in it(pee) and have room enough not to lay in it! We had two crates for our beagle, and if you ask him "Do you want to go for a run or go in your box?" he runs to the box! He is very lazy!
Also, our vet said to take away the water dish around 6-7 pm, and by the time you go to bed, the dog should be able to make it thru the night at around 10 weeks. It worked!
My final bit of advice comes from raising boys and dogs both--give them the rules asap and be consistent.
Good Luck and have fun with your new pal!

Be sure when you buy a crate to get to get a divider with it. Most of them come with it, it's a temp. "wall" that be be moved to adjust the size crate you want.

[ApS]

Important times to direct your puppy outside are after a meal, after awakening, and after he's been "rough-housing".

You'll have to learn your puppy's behavior when he's moving towards a "suspect" part of the house. Try to catch him before the "act" and take him outdoors promptly.

Also, you might try this disposable product, called "Pish Pad". It is made into pre-sized pads or even in a long roll—cut to size.

The manufacturer says:
"...The top layer is a quick absorbing, non staining material.
Once the surface is made wet, the liquid is contained in one area and
quickly disappears as it gets pulled down into the second layer keeping
your dog dry. The middle layer is called the ‘soaker’ which collects the
liquid and holds it in and away from your dog. The bottom layer is a
plastic urethane barrier that protects the surface underneath the pad from
getting wet or stained. It securely adheres to almost any surface yet is
fully removable for your temporary needs without leaving any residue..."
http://chrismanpuppies.com/pishpad.html


But still, you have to watch your puppy.

At all costs, you want to avoid this look! :eek2:

[jaydon]

I love your post acres. The puppy is doing well and has finally been house broken. I did find that the pet stain removal (http://www.mistermax.com) I mentioned originally worked out great, but thanks for all the great advice. A lot of it has been really helpful.