# Vaccination & Potty Training Etiquette for Apartment



## luv2laugh (Oct 4, 2011)

Hello all!

This is my first post, though I've been enjoying reading all the information posted here (sooo helpful!)

My little Vizsla puppy comes home to us on 10/28/11 at 9 weeks. We are going to be doing crate training with him. We purposefully are getting him Friday morning and I have Friday off, sooo Friday, Saturday and Sunday we'll be taking him out every hour to potty (via Ian Dunbar's instructions).

These are my questions/concerns:

SAFETY ABOUT PEEING OUTSIDE
Where is he allowed to go pre his 2nd, 3rd & 4th set of shots? 

We have no protected yard, but a protected courtyard outside of our apartments. We only have one other dog in the complex and I'm pretty sure he's vaccinated, plus he doesn't poo there. HOWEVER, at night, coyotes may go through our courtyard. I'm not sure how often that happens, but i know there are coyotes in the area and have seen them down the street at dusk. 

Is it ok to set him down outside?

Ian Dunbar talked about people washing their hands and taking off there shoes at puppy parties as to not track in stuff that would get the dog sick, is it really that easy for those germs to spread? Anyone have a link for me?  

I know some people lay sod down inside for the puppy to go on. We don't want the puppy peeing inside if we can help it (on sod or not), could we lay this down outside? How big would this area have to be? 

**Also, right in our courtyard it would be really rude for our puppy to be pottying, even if we picked it up right away, it wouldn't be appreciated. Do you think I would have time to run with the puppy over to a perimeter spot? Has your puppy ever gone on you while taking him to the potty spot?

Thanks in advance for any information you have. My mom had a dog who got parvo. She was walking him at the park, but still - scary!


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## Charis (Jul 12, 2009)

I will start by saying I am no expert on when pups can go out with/without shots, etc. Mine dogs have all been 6 months or older so it did not matter near as much. 
I can speak to apt. living though. Do you have a patio of any kind? You may be able to place a piece of sod there for now so it is protected from parvo infection while still being technically outside. 
I have never had a dog go on me while getting it to it's potty spot. You are going to have to walk the fine line of offending people (by the dog going in the courtyard) and getting it out to go potty. You will want to adhere to whatever the apt rules are concerning the dog as they will have final say about the dog (if you break the rules and they are part of your lease they may be able to force you to get rid of the dog or leave the complex). It is difficult to prevent parvo in a pup in an apt. I would clean everything, leave shoes that go outside away from the pup and not track them through the house, I don't know if disposable booties on the pup for going out would help at all (just a though) and then cleaning the dogs feet, face when you get back inside (again just a thought). 
It will be a fine line of potty training the dog and preventing parvo. It is possible but not easy.


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## luv2laugh (Oct 4, 2011)

Thanks Charis for responding!!

We have a pretty small apartment complex, only 16 units and we know the people in personally in more than half of them. I spoke with our apartment manager and there is no clear policy about dogs. Only one other person in the complex has dogs (although there used to be more). Either way, I do NOT want to offend anyone. I think if I run my doggy to the perimeter of the courtyard, it will be ok. 

I'm still undecided. I'm looking into putting sod outside somewhere like in this blog

http://kushithejapanesechin.blogspot.com/2007/10/using-grass-sod-for-potty-training-for.html

Then covering it up at night??? i'm not sure if that would work, I'd think it would die so quickly. Also, I'm going to call the humane society and vet and see if there have been any recent outbreaks in the area. If there have, he may have to do potty training inside until he's all vaccinated. If not, I liked your idea of wiping off his feet and face afterwards.


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## Charis (Jul 12, 2009)

I have no idea if this will work (and I have been working all night as well) what about if you put a bit of sod in a large litter box (just the bottom of the litter box) and used that?


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## Cracker (May 25, 2009)

Honestly, I wouldn't worry terribly about a potty spot outside as long as it's not in a dog BUSY area with feces laying around. What is your area like for parvo incidences? The difference here is that an undersocialized and underexposed puppy (to the outsideworld, other people, noises and puppy friendly vaccinated dogs) is at risk for behaviour issues their entire life. Viszlak are very sensitive dogs and I have met MANY fearful ones, so socialization is so much more important long term than the possibly very small risk of illness. It is a decision only you can make, assess the risks for your area and then get your pup outside safely as much as possible. 

I also wouldn't go with sod on your balcony, the smell of urine can cause issues with the neighbours. Carry puppy outside as much as possible (to prevent accidents in the common hallwayas/elevator etc), reward heavily for going and make a schedule so you can anticipate your pup's need to go. When in doubt take him out. It's a lot of work in an apt building, but is so worth it.

And be sure to post pics!


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## Kyllobernese (Feb 5, 2008)

I am just curious what you are going to do with the puppy when you go back to work on Monday? Taking him outside every hour over the weekend is great but he is not going to be housetrained for quite some time. Maybe you have a plan worked out for during the week.


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## luv2laugh (Oct 4, 2011)

Thanks Cracker, I am starting to feel like that too about the chance of disease. I will consider the litter box though, Charis if there is recent outbreaks in our area (I still haven't checked with the humane society). Since outside dogs typically don't come into the courtyard (except as I said possibly the occasional coyote at night), I think it is pretty safe from disease.

Kyllobernese, my husband and I have unique work schedules, so it is really only a few hours that he'll be crated alone. I think it is going to be 4 hours on some days though. I have been thinking about that too and was considering paying a neighbor boy to take him out when we're not here. I'm not sure if I trust him though, we used to have some sweet girls in our complex that would have been perfect, but they moved out. 

Also, I'm considering just limiting his water intake the hour or two before I go to work. Is that unethical? And then my other thought was to use a litter box with sod in it for that time only when we are away, block him off to a tiled area, like the bathroom or part of the kitchen with his crate, water, heavy duty chew toys and the sod (furthest away from his crate). 

I would prefer to pay someone to take him out though. At 2 months, they say they can hold it about 3 hrs. We would only need the boy to take him out once to break up that period. One of my cats don't like him though and that makes me uneasy. He seems like a really sweet, kid, but when we asked him to watch our cats when we went on vacation, our usually friendliest kitty growled at him and tried to attack him. It would be added socialization and generalization though.

How realistic do those ideas sound?


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## Dakota Spirit (Jul 31, 2007)

luv2laugh said:


> Also, I'm considering just limiting his water intake the hour or two before I go to work. Is that unethical?


No, just as long as he _does_ get enough water. It's often suggested that water intake be limited before bed (for example) so that the pup has a higher chance of sleeping through the night. This is basically the same kind of senario.

I think that you are in a good set up for a pup, most people are away at work for a _lot_ longer then 4 hours. If I was limiting water and making sure he went right before crate time, I honestly probably wouldn't even worry too much about letting him go that whole period without another break. He would need to go out immediately after you get home, though.


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## Bordermom (Apr 28, 2010)

Another option, not sod but might work better, is an under the bed storage container as a litterbox, with wood pellets in it. We get the eagle valley pellets and they are cheap - less than $5 for a 35 pound bag. You could use this for now till he's a bit older and it might save your sanity with a young puppy and nowhere to potty him nearby. 

As for disease, I avoid common poop areas, but am using the front lawn with the pup we're caring for. She's also been to the green space behind the house but it's not overly poop filled (cat poop in the park but that's different). I know we have coyotes that likey travel through and the odd loose dog. With Ticket we lived in the country, had me working in a public, busy place, bf at the time was a mailman, the guys upstairs both worked in busy public places and we had coyotes and such coming through the property. I didn't stress too much and he did just fine. Parvo is the big concern here anyway and it's transmitted in poop, etc. I suppose they do get exposed to it a bit in small amounts, Storee has never been vaccinated but titer tested high for everything twice when we tested her and she's the healthiest dog I've owned.

We were out last night and didn't potty her at the off leash park, but drove to a commercial area and used the grass in front of one of the buildings. 

Lana


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