Moving Puppies from the whelping box to the weaning pen.

Puppies develop and mature at different rates, please use weekly guides as suggestions, and always consider your puppies developmental and behavioral markers as most relevant.

At what age puppies move out of the whelping box and into the weaning pen depends on a variety of factors. 1. Developmental: Are puppies now walking and both urinating and defecating without help from the dam? Are they walking well? 2. Behavioral: Are puppies beginning to interact with each other, and noticing there is a world outside of the whelping box?3. Practical: How many puppies are in the litter and is the whelping box starting to feel crowded?

We don’t have any “training” goals for this timeframe, because puppies of this age are not really ‘learning’ as much as they are forming a movement cycle, AKA a habit. It’s normal to have lots of pee spots both on and off of the toilet zone.

During Chapter 2 You will be moving your puppies from the whelping box to the weaning pen.

Example: First play zone

Here are some suggestions for the move.

Keep your toilet zone in the same spot as you expand the pen. I use the same Pooch Pad, plus a couple disposable pads with holders for the first day or so, because these are familiar to my puppies.
Make one small strip next to the toilet zone as your puppies first play zone. I make the first play zone about the same size as the toilet zone and resting zone. Avoid the urge to make the play zone too big. Remember puppies of this age (approx 3 to 4 weeks) don’t have much lead time before they void, if the play zone is too large they won’t be able to make it to the toilet zone. Puppies of this age are not developmentally that advanced either, so a large play zone isn’t needed yet. Just enough space for your first enrichment items for them to explore.
Opposite the toilet zone, and on the other side of the play zone, install your bed for the resting zone. I make the bed just large enough for the puppies to lay on, with the dam if needed, though she will also have room to lay in the play zone if needed to nurse.

Here is an example of an early weaning pen set up where I put the bed right up to the toilet zone because these puppies were still not walking great when their size and number warranted moving them to a larger space. They were in this smaller set up for a couple days when they were up on their legs better and I enlarged the area by moving the bed about 18 inches away from the toilet zone, creating a small play zone.

Once in the weaning pen we install a ”hop out” which is a low board that is tall enough the puppies can’t get out, but the dam can hop in and out freely. Sometimes the hop out leads to a cubical for the dam to rest in, sometimes out into the main house, depends on how she feels about giving the nannies access to her puppies. In most cases it’s safest for everyone if the hop out leads to a private area for the dam, so she can rest away from her puppies if she wants, but doesn’t worry about other dogs getting in with her puppies. Always be extremely careful with your dams and other dogs!

Hop Out Example: 24 inch wooden hop out to allow the dam to leave the weaning pen at will.

Tall hop out we use once the puppies can climb out of shorter ones. This is the tallest one I have.

First hop out in the whelping box. This is 2 inch PVC cut lengthwise and installed over the whelping box door. Since puppies cannot get purchase they can’t get out for a few more days.

Moving Out Of The Whelping Box