It has taken a long time but Tikva is 99.9% house-trained. I have two puppy pads in my salon because as soon as she eeps to be let out of her night crate she shoots straight into the salon, pees on one and poos on the other. If it is early I then leave her in the salon where she zonks off in the nest on the couch she has made from what was, was, a velvety throw, and I go back to bed. When I finally surface she is clipped onto her tether and the door is left open, giving me time to get washed and dressed. I do put two puppy pads in her crate, as well as a thick, soft sleeping mat at one end, and she does sometimes need a pee in the middle of the night but knows not to wake me at stupid o'clock. She will, if necessary, use a pad during the day if I have to close the door so she cannot get out. It does not bother me - far better than her peeing on the carpet. The problem is that the puppy pads I get here are 17" square and her crate is 17" x 14" which is plenty big enough for a small Tikva. And I have to fold the sides of the pads in to fit the crate, which means if she does pee during the night both pads get soaked as the turned in sides do not keep any pee in. So I found some on eBay - 17 x 14" - and although they were not expensive the shipping was [they were from the US and had to be sent by courier as 7kg was too heavy to be sent by mail. Having worked out the cost per pad I ordered them. Arrived very quickly - perfect size, but oh so thin. So I emailed the company, and eBay, saying what I thought of the product - politely but stating that they were definitely not fit for use as described. And within a day I received an email from eBay saying that the seller had refunded my money in full - the cost of the pads and the shipping charge. Ahem. Cough cough, splutter splutter. Why the heck did I order 600 puppy pads? Mind you, as they ended up as freebies I should not complain, but six hundred? To be honest I thought I was buying a pack of 200 - but I got a bit confuddled when trying to gauge prices and stuff. and Tikva is not complaining as she prefers to have the plastic tray base of her crate covered, even if the pads are rather thin. And guess what - she has not pee'd in her crate since these arrived!
Oh, I forgot to say that the seller said not to bother sending them back, hence them ending up as freebies. But six hundred?
600 puppy pads Mind you I do get confused also specially when it comes to MM & meters, as it was FEET, CM & INCHES when I was at school. That's why my new fish tank ended up lot bigger then I thought. 2 meters long by 1 meter wide by 1 & half meters high. Me thought it was going to be 2 foot long by 1 foot wide by 1 & half foot high, but at least my 4 goldfish are happy with their tank
OK so Tikva likes the plastic tray in her crate covered. I do not think I would like to sleep on bare plastic either. I had tried towels - I have tons of old ones that I had kept "in case of emergencies" when I eventually replaced them with lovely thick new towels, but Tiktock did not like them folded for her sleeping end or anywhere in her crate, and deliberately soaked them every night. Well, I am sure it was deliberate. I honestly cannot wash towels every day, hence the puppy pads. But six bdooly hundred? Yeah well, never look a gift horse in the mouth. Or six hundred puppy pads either!
Tikva could be to hot laying on towels - I have lined my dogs baskets with cushion flooring(thick lino) which was spare flooring left over from having the bathrooms refloored (again I mixed up meters with feet so ended up with 5 meters of cushion flooring extra) so each basket now as cushion floor lining plus their blankets in winter & thin sheets in summer.
I think Tikva just did not like the feel of towels, especially as they are very old and no doubt quite rough - remember she is skinny and very short-coated. She does not want a sheet or blanket in her crate but I did buy what is described as a padded sleep mat for the end of the crate where she sleeps. One side velvety and one side - I have no idea how to describe it. Sort of fluffy? Ideal for winter as her crate is in my bedroom and my bedroom is ccccoooold in the winter. The air-con will be on all night shortly as it is diabolically hot. Anyhow, ideal fit and she curled up on it, so I ordered a few more. Different types as some have a fluffy side, some do not. And at £1.85 - £2.15 [free shipping] she will always have a clean soft bed. She likes them, I like the price, and with no postage to pay I am not arguing. I had originally thought of buying vetbed for her crate... until I saw the price
I did have a baby's cot mattress in bedroom for K9 to lie on but he prefer my bed instead, so now Zuri one of my foster dogs sleeps on it.
I am sure that Tikva would be only too happy to sleep on my bed but she is not going to! Actually she is happy in her crate - mind you she knows that she will get a little bikkie when she goes in it, and as soon as she has scoffed it she goes to the end of the crate, curls up and goes to sleep.
