Training puppies is a 24/7/365 day adventure.  It doesn’t let up if you’re sick.  It doesn’t let up if you want to get away for a few hours.  It doesn’t let up if you want to get away for a day.  Forget about taking vacations!  It doesn’t let up if you need to cook a Thanksgiving dinner, or go Christmas shopping.  It doesn’t let up if company needs to sleep in the office/puppy room.  And most importantly, it doesn’t let up for the weather.

When the sky fills with clouds it means one of two things…RAIN or SNOW!!  And these two things make potty training puppies very difficult.

But I had a dream and I knew a solution was possible when we got our new house.  I knew the office would double as a puppy training room, and I knew there was a nice little back porch with a sliding glass door.  I knew we could install a doggie door into the sliding glass door, and I knew we could use the back porch for the potty boxes.  And I HOPED we would be able to figure out some sort of covering to shield this most important space from the weather!

And so the dream began…with corrugated hard plastic roofing, that allows the sunshine to still spill through, but blocks the moisture and snow from falling on the training grounds!

Lucky me, who has The Woodman for a husband, who can build and fix just about anything.  I knew this little project would be no problem for him, if he’d take the time to do it!  It’s well known that “the cobbler’s children never have shoes”, right?  I begged and pleaded and coerced and manipulated.

Ok, I only begged and pleaded.  I think he saw the need and I’m so glad he was willing to do the job!

It was a wet and miserable day, but he faithfully built the puppy shelter.

It was scarcely done before it was tested with great results!

It’s a little lean-to shelter, with just enough space for all the necessary tools…

To properly maintain the space, we need…

-4 litter boxes that will service up to 8 puppies
-an electric water dish to withstand our freezing weather (and a normal one in the summer)
-a metal trash can that holds puppy kibble
-a dark brown plastic container that holds the pine pellets
-a nice broom for quick sweeping (the pellets can be a bit dusty)
-and not shown in this photo, but in the following photos, a large round trash can for all the doggie waste (and there is a LOT)!!

And of course, a wonderful, tall, Iris pen to contain the puppies while they’re out on the porch doing their business, and playing!

We will paint the railings and framing white this coming spring.

It’s such a nice, compact space, with EVERYTHING necessary for successful litter box/potty training.  Redford is loving the space and uses the litter boxes like a regular champ!

I am so excited about this space.  Now it doesn’t matter how bad the weather is outside, we will still have all the puppies going through their training.

We just brought Sadie’s litter into this space this week.  It took them less than 24 hours to figure out the doggie door!  Redford is showing them the ropes.  They are having a ball playing inside and outside, and though it is dry right now, let the rain and the snow come!  This year, we are READY!!