Logistics of training a puppy if you're in a first floor flat

[TiesThatBindMe]

How do you do it? Just train them to go to the door and then bring them down? Do you get peed on, on the way down?
Just wondering as I'm considering getting a dog.

I should have said this is in relation to toilet training, just in case that's not obvious.

My first dog I had in a first floor flat. Housetraining was difficult I found. This was many years ago, and I had to paper train her as the logistics of getting her outside in time when she was small were impossible. I know that paper(now pad) training is frowned on, but it is better than having pee and poo everywhere. As she got older and her bladder and bowel control improved, the gaps between visits outside grew, so it was easier to time it to coincide with her needs. I always left paper down for her though, just in case. We used to be out a lot though, at stables and the like, so she never had a problem associating outside with loo time. Hope this helps.

Thank you. I actually hadn't thought of preemptively bringing the dog out!
It's the one thing that's bothering me really about getting a dog. I just can't envisage how I'd manage it. I know millions of people have dogs in flats/apartments, so it must be do-able.

I shall think on it further! Thank you for your advice.

Typically you take the puppy out after every meal, every drink, after play, when they wake up etc. I guess you can still do that in a flat but it will be much harder and I suspect you will have many more accidents than when you can simply open the door quickly to the garden.

Paper/pad training will be the only way i think as you won't be able to take the puppy out until vaccinated. A puppy could possibly be trained to go on a balcony. I've got 2 adult dogs in a FFF every few hours I take them down to our shared garden for 5-10 minutes and they get 2 proper walks a day. It can be a pita with 2 housetrained dogs to be honest, first thing in the morning and last thing at night I have to chuck some clothes on and stand outside freezing for 5 minutes, regardless of weather, how ill I feel etc!

It might be worth finding an American site to ask on, as it's far more common place to have dogs in apartments in cities there, also parts of us are too cold in the depths of winter so they must have some way of dog toileting cleanly indoors.

Initially it would definitely be too far to take pup outside whenever they needed to go, even if you were trying to preempt (for example in the early days, I had under a minute between him finishing eating and needing to toilet - it was a struggle to get him outside fast enough in small a house).

Also yy re the garden - if it's communal pup couldn't go out there until vaccinated

Your dog will be fine even unvaccinated.

I don't know how people think dogs managed before humans came along and decided they couldn't possibly leave the house before we over vaccinated them

If unvaccinated dogs are out there then no a vulnerable unvaccinated pup shouldn't be out there.
I wouldn't want a puppy in a flat. They can need taking out about every 20 minutes. Fancy running up and down every twenty minutes? And if you use pads you teach them it is ok to pee in the house. You then have to retrain.

We've got a puppy in a flat but we luckily have a balcony as well which we've used for training. We got to know his schedule and took him out at set times. He's 18 weeks old and very rarely has an accident indoors (maybe once since he was 14 weeks?).

Silly to say "I don't know how people think dogs managed before humans came along and decided they couldn't possibly leave the house before we over vaccinated them". The answer to that is that lots of them died very young of preventable diseases, just like humans. Don't risk it.

I don't know how people think dogs managed before humans came along and decided they couldn't possibly leave the house before we over vaccinated them

I'd laugh if that wasn't so tragic and horrible. Before vaccinations young puppies routinely died of horrible diseases. As we don't have wild unvaccinated dogs in this country it's hard to put a number on it. However I know that most wild rabbits do not live past 2yrs (huge numbers die within first couple of months, whereas, well kept, vaccinated pet rabbits have a life expectancy of 8-12 years.

Op please bare in mind that sparkling is well know here as 100% anti-vaccine and anti-medication. Her views do not tally with proper veterinarians, their society or welfare organisations. A puppy should always be vaccinated before being put down, on the ground, anywhere other unvaccinated dogs may have been.

A hundred years ago, almost every dog contracted distemper. A quarter of them died from it, and many of the feat suffered long term consequences. That's how we managed before vaccination was available.

Rest.

I wouldn't want a puppy in a flat. They can need taking out about every 20 minutes. Fancy running up and down every twenty minutes?

It's only for a few months. I house trained in a FFF, no puppy pads, straight to out doors. It was hell for about three weeks, then it gradually got better. Crate training is essential though. My year old boy gets two 90 minute walks a day and taken out first thing in the morning and last thing at night. He's stubborn though and often holds it in the morning until he gets his first 90 minutes. I am convinced he knows it will speed me up to getting out for that first walk 😊

I think toilet training would be really hard in a flat, it's hard with a garden nevermind adding stairs. The basic principle involves taking them out before they need to go, usually every hour or so until they do and then lots of praise. So I would think it would involve lots of up and down and false alarms!

I never use puppy pads or newspaper, why train them to go inside to them train them to go outside. I just skip to outside from day one.

I would also risk them outside unvaccinated if it was somewhere with limited contact with other dogs, say a private garden or similar.

I housetrained my Chihuahua in a second floor flat, it was a bloody nightmare , but so worth it once it finally clicked in his wee head.

The key was preempting him needing to go, so we were outside every hour through the night for the first few weeks, as soon as he woke up from a nap, straight after every little burst of puppy energy, and 10-15 minutes after he ate or had a drink.

We didn't even have a communal garden so he was on a lead every time. He was born in rescue and his foster mum held on to him until he was 13 weeks so he was fully vaccinated before I got him. I got peed on so many times carrying him down the stairs, but the key was definitely carrying him rather than letting him walk down.

It was a lot more difficult than training a pup when you can just open the door and hoof them out into a garden, but he's so worth it

Olliver. Incidentally it's a chihuahua I'm thinking of getting. I had read that they're not the easiest to toilet train (what do you call it for dogs???) so that prompted my post. I've trained a jack russell without problems before but I was living in a house at the time. Would probably need to look at timing it just coming into Summer for a start. Maybe I need to re-think this one!

I brought my Shih Tzu puppy home in June at 8 weeks and live in a FFF.

We have a small balcony so until she was vaccinated she went on a puppy pad out there. As soon as she was vaccinated I started taking her down into our front yard.

It is definitely harder. I started carrying her all the way, but now I've progressed to letting her follow me as her bladder control gets better. She's been mainly restricted to kitchen with puppy Gate, but I'm gradually extending her time on carpeted areas as she gets bigger. She's still observed at all times though. She's also crated when we leave her to avoid accidents as much as possible. We've had very few accidents in last few weeks, but tbh I think that's more down to my vigilance I'm taking her out than her learning it's bad to go in the house! I'm hoping it will click into place sometime soon.

It also helps that she's amazingly lazy and will just snooze on the couch for hours I imagine it would be much harder with a high energy puppy.