any mini schnauzer owners?

so i have been thinking about getting another mini schnauzer. i used to have on on the farm once upon a time and she was a great dog. she loved riding on the 3 wheeler with me and was a joy to yake hunting squirrle and flushing birds. how ever i now live in des moines and am not sure how they would do in an apartment setting. through the summer my family and i do alot of camping, hiking and things of that nature. starting fall how ever, i will be going back to school all day. Has anyone had any luck training them to use a pee pad? i have a family member that says they will dog set for me through the day, but just incase that were to go south i would like to have a back up plan in place before getting a dog.

Not a schnauzer owner, just a dog owner here. I own a german shorthair for hunting/mans best friend purposes.
One of my friends attempted to use the pads, and although the dog took to it, he would pee on t-shirts, towels, etc. that he might have assumed would be his usual pad.
Do what you can to train them to go outside, no matter the breed, and I think you will be thankful in the long run.

I would avoid the pee pads like the plague. I realize that potty-training a small dog can be a lot tougher than a big dog, but I don’t think pee pads are the answer. If anything, I would train it to go in a litter box.

Truth be told, until a dog is really, really reliable, I believe it should be crated unless supervised. It’s not cruel at all, and dogs do not like to pee where they sleep. We crated our great dane (and that’s a biiiig crate) until he was two. He’ll still go lay in his crate when he wants some alone time.

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thanks for the feed back guys. when im home i would definatly take the dog outside. i was just thinking about when im at school and work. i wouldnt want to leave him in a crate for 8 hours. my cousin says she would keep him until i get home but we all know how those stories usualy turn out. my back up plan was to put a baby gate on the kitchen door and shut him in there with the pee pads or newspaper. its a lanolium floor so if he had an accident it wouldnt be a big deal. ive always had a dog but i lived in the country where the dogs had a dog door going in an out of a barn when i wasnt home. an apartment setting is completely diffrent.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with a crate for 8-10 hours. My dad thinks of it as a prison for dogs and believes it is cruel, that is just not the case. My boy is not a good dog and will be kenneled everytime I leave the house forever. When it is time to put him in there I give him a treat and he almost knocks out the back of the kennel because he runs in there at full speed with a smile on his face . Just don’t use it as a place for punishment.

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There is absolutely nothing wrong with a crate for 8-10 hours. My dad thinks of it as a prison for dogs and believes it is cruel, that is just not the case. My boy is not a good dog and will be kenneled everytime I leave the house forever. When it is time to put him in there I give him a treat and he almost knocks out the back of the kennel because he runs in there at full speed with a smile on his face . Just don’t use it as a place for punishment.

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x2!

The only stipulation there is that is too long for a pup. Up until 6 or 8 months, I would plan on either getting home for 45-60 minutes mid-day or having someones else let the pup out to do it’s business and play a bit.

Never, ever use the crate as punishment. Make it a good place. It becomes their den–they love it. The dog is going to sleep most of the time you’re gone anyways, so it might as well be safe in a crate.

X3 my dogs crate is her second favorite place in the world #1 is on the couch next to me. Crate training works PERIOD.

I agree on the crate issue. We never used a crate and thought it was incredibly terrible to keep the dog in the crate.

We are now on our fourth dog that is kept in a crate when we are not home. It is common for the dogs to be locked up for 8-10 hours. It keeps them and our house safe.

In fact we leave the doors open when we are home so they can get a break from the kids.