Toilet training new puppy in apartment (Pics of puppy inside)

Hi all,

Have been reading the forums for a while but this is my first post as we are picking up our staff puppy, Molly, this Sunday.

We live in a 4th floor flat and I wanted to ask some advice on toilet training. I work from home so am planning to take the puppy downstairs as frequently as necessary until she is properly toilet trained. However, we also have quite a big balcony (probably 4 foot by 12 foot) and I have the option of putting a small section of astro-turf type grass on one side of the balcony. Although I don't want to use training pads as I don't want to confuse her and would like her to learn asap that downstairs/outside is the place to use the toilet, would there be much use to putting the astro-turf on the balcony in case of emergencies? As I ask that question I'm assuming probably not, but thought it worth asking anyway. Also any general advice on toilet-training puppies in 4th floor flats would be much appreciated!

I've tried to attached a pic of Molly, hopefully it works. We will become regular users on the forum and will be happy to update on her progress (with more pics as she grows of course)

Hi and welcome to the forum from Flo and me   

Do pop by here and introduce yourselves when you get a min.

https://staffy-bull-terrier.niceboard.com/f7-new-member-introductions

I don't see any problem with using the Astro turf as long as you can keep it clean. Good luck and have fun.

Hi and welcome, we live in a ground floor flat and have a garden so cannot really answer that bit, please have a read of the link below about toilet training:

http://staffy-bull-terrier.com/toilet_training_your_staffie

Hello, personally I haven't had a puppy so not much help I'm afraid but the pics are gorgeous   

Awwww so cute! I live in an apartment but am ground floor and Moo was older. I will say though, and you have probably thought it yourself make sure you carry the pup up/down stairs. I also see no reason not to use the balcony Xx

I got Ronnie at 10wks and we dont live on the 4th floor but Im sure the principals are the same for toilet training.

Ive found sticking to the same words so not to confuse him. When its day time its 'wanna go wee wee' and bedtime is 'wee wee bedtime' and we have stuck to that. So what Im trying to say is start how you mean to go on. Try and get a food/wee wee routine.

Im sure if you use the balcony while Molly is a baby she will still get the idea she has to go out to go wee wee. Ive never used training pads just cleaned up after accidents and just made sure he went out often.

I would also say use a crate - mine as been a godsend and saved the house from being chewed up.

As for toys dont get anything hard until her teeth are fully grown. Cheap teddies from charity shops or a tea towel with a knot in was Ronnie's favourite.

Keep us updated with pics and good luck with your new family -you will get days when you have wondered what the hell you have done but just come on here and vent we have all had those days and here to help

Thanks for the replies.

We'll post in the new members thread and will update this thread once we pick her up and have her settled in. We have bought a crate for her and a bed which fits inside but went for a canvas crate with mesh "windows" rather than a metal one. Hopefully she doesn't rip through it with too much ease...

The link Kathy provided is excellent. Best of luck and we are always here to help.

Hello! I live in a first floor flat and I toilet trained Axl by first of all putting paper down by the front door when he was very little, gradually I reduced the paper but kept an eye out for him sniffing around in that area, when he started sniffing I would take him downstairs and outside. I'd say to him "wee wee". It didn't take long for him to learn but for the first few months make sure you keep an eye out for your pup sniffing around where she usually goes to the toilet.

I personally wouldn't lay astro turf because of the danger of her thinking its okay to do her business on it rather than go outside.

Plenty of paper by the front door and keep an eye out for the sniffing and signs.

Also I did crate train Axl at night. After I took him down at night and he went in his crate he didn't go again until the morning.

Good luck!

Great advice above, although I don't see why the astro turf would be a problem. She would still get used to going to the toilet outside on the grassy texture.
Being young, she will need to be taken out very frequently, maybe every 30 minutes or more so that is a lot of up and down the stairs

Not every 30 minutes, at first its every hour or maybe even a bit longer. Fully grown Axl goes out every 4 hours.

Actually thinking about it. Every time you feed the pup give it 10 mins and take it out, usually every time they eat and every time they wake up they usually need to go to the toilet. As the pup gets older his/her bladder control will increase

hi peeps your puppy is a stunner! we are in the same predicament of living on the 4th floor but we dont have a balcony so what we do is we watch her carefully after she eats and especialy when she wakes up. when we take peppa out we make a point of saying "toilet time" so she associates walks with toilet time and tell her she is a good girl when she wees and poohs outside we also give her a treat. if she wees indoors we say no takeher out right away wait for her to go toilet again and treat her with many praises and she has really took to it. we stopped usig pads at 3 months old and this seems to be the best method for us and be consistent with it once your pup is a bit older she will hold it for longer but keep your eye on her sniffing in circles and shuddering as this means she wants poo . at your pups age now if you catch her toiletting put her out your front door or take her down if you miss just clean and dont make a big thing of it its just persaveerance and good luck molly will click on eventually as staffs are inteligent and do what they can to make you happy good luck with the training keep us posted

Just thought I'd give an update on Molly...

We had a 90 minute drive back from the breeder's house, she was great and slept most of the way although the journey ended up being a bit too long as she had to relieve herself on the car seat towards the end!



She has turned out to be extremely quick to learn so far and really well behaved. We were lucky that we were the first people to see the litter and so had the pick from all of them. At that time she was very calm (sitting patiently while the other puppies jumped up for attention) but also very confident and curious. Judging by how she has been so far with us, nothing has changed! We decided not to get the astro-turf and so far toilet training has not been too bad. The space just outside our building was very busy yesterday and so it seemed every time took her out for the toilet she was too uncomfortable to go. However, she has been outside successfully 5 times in the first 18 hours or so (probably 10 times inside but less frequently now) and now cries inside when she needs to go.

Thankfully as it was so busy downstairs yesterday she has already encountered so much; males/females of all ages and races, a mailman dragging a large mail trolley, people with suitcases, bikes, even ducks (although not close up)! She is curious about everything and has already learned (not 100% of course) to sit on command and drop her tug toy when you ask her mid-play. We did however let her sleep with us last night, but today I'm going to start crate-training and will leave her to sleep in the kitchen tonight.

Awww she sounds like a little angel! Well done Molly I'm glad she's settling in so well.

Remember the secret to crate training is that no matter how much she cries DO NOT give in, it's not nice hearing them howl and cry the first night but they soon settle down to it. I think it took Axl 3 nights to settle and the 4 night he was as quiet as a mouse

Debs01 wrote:Awww she sounds like a little angel!  Well done Molly  I'm glad she's settling in so well.

Remember the secret to crate training is that no matter how much she cries DO NOT give in, it's not nice hearing them howl and cry the first night but they soon settle down to it.  I think it took Axl 3 nights to settle and the 4 night he was as quiet as a mouse

Thanks Debs, she seems much more comfortable with her bed outside the crate (she still goes into the crate voluntarily a lot during the day but with the bed separate it seems that she really sees the bed as her little den) so we put her bed in our room last night and she slept on and off in there without too much trouble and eventually went to sleep fully at around 4am. We opted not to leave her in her crate in another room overnight as I had to go downstairs for 30 minutes yesterday and when I got back I could hear her howling from the lift in our building (I had run a successful trial by leaving her with her filled Kong in her bed an hour or so earlier and returned after 5 minutes but I guess 30 minutes was too long at this stage) . As we live in an apartment block we think we should ease her into sleeping in her own bed slowly (which seemed to work last night) as although we are fully prepared to put up with the howling at night, I don't think our neighbours would be too impressed. Once she is happy to sleep in her bed in our room then we will slowly ease her out to the hallway/kitchen.

She has her first trip to the vet today, will hopefully have a picture from there to post later!

She's so gorgeous Sounds like a little gem! Enjoy her

Perfect, you found something that works for you and she's happy too

Good luck at the vets! Axl love the vets he's so weird, I think he just sees it as ample opportunity to get lots of fuss and see some hoomans

Oh she is just scrumptious sounds like things are going great, good luck at the vet