Hello. My shih tzu is about 2 1/2 months old. I originally purchased a crate for my puppy but the person whom I got the puppy from suggested a play pen instead. She suggested for us to keep the puppy's bed on one side and the wee wee pad on the opposite end. The puppy has been peeing on the wee wee pad with no issue. He's only pooped on it successfully a handful of times (which I praised him for like no other). I've noticed that he holds his poop and as soon as we take him out of the play pen to play, he poops in the house. I have heard that 2 1/2 month old puppies can hold their bladder/bowels up to 2 hours so I tried to keep him in the play pen for up to 2 hours after eating.
Hello and welcome to Breedia. May I ask two things. Do you feed your puppy in the playpen, and does he goes outside to pee and poo or is he only kept in the house when he is not in the playpen? I am also not sure why your breeder suggested a playpen and not a crate for such a small young puppy, but that is nothing to do with me. I do not know if my 18 month old pup, who only sleeps in her crate at night, is the norm, but as soon as she has had her food she wants straight out to poo. I had never used a crate before but she was so young and needed a secure sleeping area at night. She also had to be in my bedroom so I could hear her eep when she needed a bottle. When she was very young and could not go out, I kept puppy pee pads in the salon, one each side of her little day bed and one in front of it. Now she has one pad in the salon for the times that the door is not open and she needs to pee or poo before I can get to it. But I still line her night crate, which is in my bedroom, with a puppy pad and a folded blankie at the end she decided was her sleep area. Mind you, in the morning I wake up to find that she has scrabbled everything up to make a bed how she likes it! All I can suggest, whether it works or not, is to let your puppy out to pee and/or poo as soon as he has eaten, because the mere fact of eating sets the GI tract into action, which affects the physical instinct to poo. And young puppies need to poo when the sensation tells them to.
Leaving a pup in a playpen/crate most of the time is not ideal - playpens/crates are designs for night time & very short times during day when you go out - by giving your dog more freedom will help you with toilet training him - as dogs including puppies will let you know they need to go to poo/wee.
Since we all work, we needed a secure area for the puppy and we wouldn't be able to take it out multiple times a day. I placed his bowl in the playpen and as soon as he is done (or it's been more than 30minutes) I take his bowl away. When we take him out of the playpen, I keep him confined to an area so we can watch him; most of the time (3/5) he pees on the wee wee pad but he never poops on it. The only time he pooped on the wee wee pad is when we kept him in the playpen.
I realise most people have to work, but leaving a puppy on its own in a crate for long periods of time is not ideal and not what they were meant to be used for. Do you have any friends or neighbours who could come in and spend some with him? General rule for puppies is to take them ‘outside’ strait after sleep, play, feeding, through the night every couple of hours. I am of the age when crates were not used , now they seem all the rage, I have never used one myself as I just don’t see the logic in teaching that it’s ok to mess indoors, and then few weeks later expect them to go outside, talk about confusing it. Generally dogs don’t like messing in there beds but young puppies cant control when they need to go, so it is up to the owner to put in the time and trouble and not depend on crates.
