I am in the middle of an Australian Winter which can be very cold at night where we are. Too cold outside for tiny puppies. I was sucked into having a winter litter of a medium to large breed. The eight puppies are now four and a half weeks old, and live in a pen in the corner of our living area which has been pretty successful up til now. I have paper trained them in a purpose built box, and unless I am not quick enough they do most of their doings in there. Lots of newspaper and tissues needed! They are getting bigger and needing to expand their experience outside the pen. I am worried I am going to be overwhelmed by mess. Maybe a bigger toilet box, I am thinking?

Has anyone got some other clever ideas/experiences on how best to manage them? I do know it's not going to be easy.

what do you call cold? lol over here in the uk anything under 10c is usually classed as cold, could you not put the pups in a pen out side in the day then bring them in at night?

Cold here is around 0c at night. We live up in the hills and it can stay cold a lot of the day, sometimes only 6ish.

Do they have shelter when outside?  If so, I would start building up their time outside and put some bedding/straw into the kennel so if they are feeling the cold they can all snuggle up in there.  I had a litter during our winter/snowy time and I would be worrying about them and they would be playing in the snow, having a ball!  I wouldn't leave them out but I did give them playtime outside. 

Here's something I used to do.  In the morning, I would open the puppy box and run for the door reapeating 'pup',  All the pups would follow straight out where I would give them all a pat but they would all toilet before coming back in.  I would repeat this a few times per day after about 5 weeks.  The pups would actually wait to be let out rather than poo in their beds.  It was hard work but those pups left here practically house-trained.

I have found that beyond 4 1/2 weeks they will not be happy cooped up in an inside pen.

I do have a double coated breed and always prefer a winter litter (fewer neighbour issues and shows).  My Christmas 2008 litter were out in the snow at 5 1/2 weeks old.

As long as they are kept dry unless a very thin coated breed they will be absolutely fine.  You will have to change bedding more often to ensure it stays dry (if it is wet).

Just bring them in to sleep in the indoor pen, and let them enjoy the cool which is much more suited to canines comfort.  Much easier to keep pups warm than cool.

I believe your daytime weather is about 11'C?  Have been checking as one of my pups flies out to Sidney on 2nd of August so Will e going to cooler weather, which will give her time to acclimatise to the Australian climate over coming months.

Lol, that's exactly what we did cracar, upon waking, take them all outside... and the pups were so easy to housetrain the new owners could hardly believe it! I guess with all the things I could have done wrong with my first litter, that was one positive :)

Re the mess in the house, I too had a potty box, but pretty much every time I cleaned it out (it was a drawer with the front taken out lined with lino) they would all pile in there and wrestle... little critters!! Our litter spent a lot of their time outside as a summer litter, but indoors they were on a tiled floor off my kitchen. They pretty much used the whole room as they flatly refused to be shut in the whelping box at night. I would say a pen is fine when you want to restrict them say at night time, but a room with washable floor is essential so any soiling can be easily mopped up.

Thank you all for your wonderful suggestions. I did think about making a run for the door in the hope that they would all follow me, but they are not quite there yet. They would be frightened and insecure as they are just coming out of the whelping box area and getting used to that.

We're in country Gippsland, Victoria, not Sydney, but Sydney is in NSW and will be somewhat warmer than here.

They are not double coated, but are growing a curly coat, so that will help to keep them warm.

I will organise a warm box for our veranda pen and see how they manage in there.

We have had two wedge tailed eagles cruising around here the last couple of days so they must be supervised while outside. I couldn't save all eight puppies if they saw them.

What a worry! I love these little babies and they all have homes to go to..... so soon, but it seems a lifetime away in poops and piddles.

Re the predators you could net the pups run outside.

It's a temporary pen we have just knocked together. The wire is quite low, so we couldn't get under it if the top was netted. I'm just going to have to watch them. It is under the veranda, so that should slow any eagle spotting them. They will only be here for another 3 and a bit weeks, so I have just devoted my whole days to them keeping safe, fed and clean, and will just continue on........

Yep from 3 weeks onwards it is one endless round of feeding, pop and wee cleaning, more poop and wee cleaning, changing bedding, washing, feeding, and between that if your lucky puppy watching.

Then when they go to their new homes the worry really starts.

I agree about the new homes. My partner in the dam is selling the remaining puppies, and she's very careful and pedantic as to where and to whom they go, so that hasn't touched me yet. I only know the show homes.

Re: puppy watching, I have a low stool I sit on and play with them during their short waking times (and mop up the mess!). I pick them up randomly and cuddle and love each one. I'm gonna miss them..... It's my first litter for 25 years and it's been a busy time.

They are wonderful time-wasters, and the days fly by.

I have just the one bound to Australia still here, that will be so hard letting her go at 13 weeks as she has been the only, so much more attached to her by the time she goes.

It's great comparing what mischief she gets up to with her litter-mates owners.

I moved my litter outside yesterday. We have had the whelping box in the kitchen for the past 4 and a bit weeks... Now that the pups are getting bigger (there are 10 large breed gundogs) and needing more space it was time to move them. For the last week I have been placing them out in the garden for toilet and feeding which has worked well but they are getting heavy now and it is a lot of trips from the kitchen to the garden!! 

They now have the box in a cleared out garden shed with a run outside. We have lined the shed with old carpet. I was really worried about them last night and hardly slept myself but this morning went out and opened the shed and they were all fast asleep! They then had brekkie and a play and toilet outside!

At this rate they will be toilet trained by the time they leave me!!

A garden shed sounds good. I do have two lovely concreted weld mesh runs with kennels, but that brings me back to my original problem, it's too cold for them in our winter.

> it's too cold for them in our winter.

If they are dry and draft free they will be fine in even sub zero temperatures, certainly your winter temps are not that low.  LOL They have fur coats after all, and of course will cuddle up together, if really needed a heat lamp could be hung up in the kennel.

We imported a puppy at 9 weeks into UK quarantine n January, and had to insist they turn off the lamp as pup was avoiding it''s bed..

Aha! Sounds like I need to toughen up, not the puppies!