Doberman Pinschers

I have two 6 week old pups. Yes, I know they are too young to be seperated from the mom but I had one before that I got 4 weeks old and she was the best baby I ever had. I am experienced in teaching them what they need to know most of the time. Just been awhile so don't wanna do it wrong.

My question is they are being crate trained right now and of course they piddle...potty in their crate. If I don't get it cleaned right up ... don't want them to see me do it... they lay in it. I am trying not to bathe them too often but if I don't they get this icky oily stinky feel to them. I took em out today and gave them a cool bath no soap just a wash down and rubbed it with my hands where I felt it at and hopefully they will be a little cleaner for a little while. But, I want to know how often I can bathe them while they are going thru this period ... with puppy soap. Also, can ya buy the stuff that is like a bath that ya put on them but don't wet them down anywhere and if so what is the name of it.

Thanks,
Konnie

MaMa to:
Nut N Honey's Deztiny Choze Me ... Nut N
LiL Bit of EveryThang ... LiL Bit

Well, my thoughts are that as you mentioned, 6 weeks is too young to be away from mom and litter mates. But that's the situation and I've been faced with a rescue that was pulled from his mom at 4 weeks and now he's 11 years old, so I know it's not impossible!

So first of all, personally I don't know that 6 weeks is old enough to start crate training yet. I usually let mine start learning paper at that age and by 8-10 weeks I will start crate training. But even then, they cannot hold it for very long. 2 hours is really pushing their small bladders. Then at 12 weeks (3 months), you can really start seeing their abilities a bit better. A 3 month old dog can possibly hold their potty for 3 hours, 4 month old for 4 hours, etc. I am not sure if this helps you or not but I hope it does!

As far as bathing, I don't suppose their is really a limit to the baths you can give. However, too much bathing will dry their skin, especially in the heat and humidity. So, I would limit it as much as possible and I recommend warm baths instead of the cool water. But, one thing I did for Rocky when he was a baby was use the regular baby wipes. I got the unscented, hyopallergneic, all that good stuff...and when he would make a mess, I would just use one of those to clean him off until his next bath time.

I hope this helps and others may come along to offer more and better advice. Good luck with your new babies and glad you are taking such good care of them!

Actually, I'm surprised you could even buy a 6 week old puppy. Where I live, it's illegal to sell pups that young.

As far as crate training, that depends on the individual puppy. With my dogs-Maggie was crate trained by the time she was 9 weeks old (an incredibly smart puppy) Emma-I didn't think she would EVER learn! She had more accidents her first week with us than Maggie had in 2 years!!!

I hope you have them crated separately?