At it’s heart, the weaning pen is a practical tool for the breeder. It allows us to safely contain our puppies, provide opportunities for natural puppy behavior to be expressed, and for age appropriate learning and exploration to occur.

It’s also our opportunity to foster clean habits such as a preference to move away from their resting and play area to relieve themselves.

General Supplies - Some of these are unique to litter box training, others are regular puppy raising supplies.

Weaning Pen: Choose a pen that will allow you freedom to expand your pen weekly, either by drop pin, or by folding excess panels back until they are needed. The pen will start small and be expanded every week for roughly 3 to 4 expansions depending on the size of your litter and the available space. If you are using a permanent kennel, you can accomplish this by using an interior panel you can move each week. Whatever you use, make sure it’s so tall your puppies cannot learn to climb out!
I use Bolt snaps, zip ties, and carabiners to fold back extra panels I know I will need later when I expand my pen.
Litter Box Tray(s)
Litter box substrate of choice.
Toilet Cleaning Supplies: Paper towels, disposable gloves, sealed trash container for feces (a Diaper Genie also works well), disinfectant, etc.
Treats and a small container to place them in.
Absorbent and waterproof grippy pads for traction in the weaning pen (I use EZ whelp pads, but any grippy and absorbent pad is fine).
Crates (if you will be crate conditioning)
Beds (such as fleece crate mats) for the “resting” side of the pen.

Due to the differences in puppy size and litters number among students we can’t give you exact dimensions for your weaning pen.

ADKAR Change Management Model Infographic Graph - 2

ADKAR Change Management Model Infographic Graph - 1

We can offer the following tips!

Start small and increase the size of your weaning pen each week. Factor expand-ability into your design and what pen you decide to purchase.
As your puppies get larger, provide them with the most space possible based on the number of puppies in your litter. Crowded puppies are more stressed, likely to bicker, and spread illnesses between them. So use all of the available space that is necessary to keep puppies clean while allowing them enough room to exercise and stay out of each other’s way.

❗️Do NOT move your litter box around, puppies are first going to learn to go to a PLACE to void, every time you move the litter box from one place to another, your puppies will have to form a new habit.

❗️Do NOT make your toilet area too small, puppies don’t “wait in line” to void so your toilet needs to be able to accommodate multiple puppies at one time. Further, consider the size your puppies will be during the week before they leave your care when planning your toilet area, not their size at 4 weeks. Bigger puppies urinate and defecate more, if they get something like coccidia and have loose and frequent stool they will need an even larger toilet. An undersized toilet can lead to puppies choosing to void outside the box.

Plan ahead! Some of the biggest time sucks I have had as a breeder involved not planning before setting up. But don’t worry, we’ll show you how to plan!

Decision Making - Puppies really won’t wait in line to void! If the box is too small and crowded accidents are more likely.

For your litter box, plan for at least 3 puppies (age 6 - 9 weeks) to be able to use the toilet at one time.

Each Individual litter box should be able to comfortably hold 1 puppy of roughly send home size. For me, this is a 24 inch square litter pan.

The number of boxes is based on how many puppies are in the litter.

We plan for 1 litter box for every 2 or 3 puppies of send home age (9 weeks).

This means I can easily handle a litter of 3 puppies using 1 tray, 6 puppies using 2 trays, and 9 or more puppies by using 3 trays. For you, this may change based on the size of the box you choose, the size of your puppies at send home age, and your available space. But remember, a bigger litter box is always better!

Practical Pen Design