As breeders, we have control over what choices are available to our puppies, because we control their environment.

We can design our puppy’s environment to funnel them towards choices that work in our favor... Or we can create an environment that encourages behaviors we do not want. Controlling our puppies behavior through the environment is called management. Not only is management very effective, it’s also easy for us as breeders to design our puppy’s environment to funnel their learning towards clean habits that make for efficient clean up now and easy house training later. Basically the environment dictates what behavioral choices and habits can develop. For example: Puppies congregate around the pen access points and traffic patterns. If we place our litter box along a traffic pattern we can expect our puppies will run back and forth in the toilet every time a caregiver walks by. After a few days of this, running through their poop becomes a habit, and they get used to the smell and feel of poop on their feet and body. We can expect these puppies to track more poop around the pen, to be more content to void in their sleeping/play areas, and to take these habits into their new home, making house/crate training much more difficult and longer. Our choice of putting the toilet near a door or traffic pattern dictates what our puppies learn, even though we never “trained” them on purpose.

If we provide the infrastructure (litter box) and design our weaning pen to facilitate it’s use, this creates the opportunity to build a desirable habit and our puppies are far more likely to continue practising clean behavior and strengthen the habit.

This habit, of “going away from here” to potty, can then be used to help puppies learn that being clean, and being away from their feces and urine, is their preference.

This learning, and the habits that develop, coupled with a preference for being clean mean your puppies should be easy to house train in the new home, further we know that clean dogs are more likely to stay in their home than dirty dogs. So we are giving a lifetime gift, just by creating an environment conducive to those choices on the part of the puppy.

As we move into the layout and design of our weaning pen, the litter’s primary living space for the next weeks, we will be keeping in mind how our design affects what behaviors our puppies are likely to do, and further, what habits they will develop.

Of course we also want our weaning pen design to meet several other goals and needs.

Easy to clean and keep clean for the breeder.
Right sized for our puppies developmental needs.
Right sized for our puppies exercise and space needs.
Fosters good potty training behavior, and habits.

📌 So it’s not enough to litter box train our puppies if that is done in such a way that the puppies are deprived of necessary space, or an enriched environment, or learn undesired habits (such as voiding near their crate or bed). Our plan allows you to balance important developmental and physical needs, with teaching desirable toileting skills.

As you move through the course material you will learn how to be a clever choice architect and to design an environment to funnel your puppies towards clean potty habits while still meeting their physical and developmental needs.

We are not trying to control our puppies directly, instead we are creating choice points for our puppies, funneling them towards desirable habits that last a lifetime.

The Core Design

You will find one core design theme throughout this protocol and it’s a huge part of our puppies success.

There are three zones we are working with.

Toilet Zone: This is where we want our puppies to void.
Resting Zone: This is where we want our puppies to rest. For those starting crate conditioning this is where you will install a row of small baby crates with beds inside, if you are not introducing crates a row of comfortable beds will be placed in the Resting Zone.
Play Zone: This is the area we design for puppy play and exercise.

We will not be depriving puppies of necessary resting or playing space in the name of toilet training.

All of these zones are important, and each one provides vital function for raising well adjusted and happy puppies.

Because we know that a puppies bladder and bowel control are tied to physical maturity it’s not possible to “rush” that physical maturation process, even if we deprive puppies of space. We also know that depriving puppies of space can have detrimental effects on their behavioral development, their physical condition, and trigger crowding stress.

😃 The good news is we don’t need to deprive our puppies of space, or enrichment, in order to build desirable toileting habits!

We also do not want to give our puppies too much space too fast. Puppies don’t know when they will need to void, nor do they have the ability to travel across large pens to get to the toilet. So starting small and gradually enlarging the pen means that we can increase litter box use, while still meeting our puppies developmental need for increasing space for exercise.

We will be funneling puppies towards the behavior we want, gradually, by setting them up for success, and then relying on those habits as we expand our pen each week.

Principles of Pen Design