I just was curious what methods the breeders on here use to keep things clean and help with training while raising a litter of puppies. The three most popular options I have seen are:

1. Puppy Pens - the raised kind that look like a bird cage and allow pee/poo to fall onto trays under the pen.

2. Potty Pads - In a room, x-pen or other area

3. Shavings - in an x-pen or weaning pen

Anybody use one of these methods? Another method? What works, what dosent?

In the past I have used potty pads (worked great from about 3.5 weeks - 5 weeks... until the started to shred them). I have also used the raised puppy pens and x-pens but I have not found anything I am thrilled with yet. I am thinking of trying shavings this time around. Any thoughts?

I'm not a breeder, but I can tell you from experience that the problem with shavings is that they LOVE to eat the shavings, which obviously isn't great for a puppy's system. So if you use shavings look out for that.

Gotta admit my puppies were a lot smaller than yours would be (miniature Dachshunds) but I used a couple of large trays from wire crates and lined them with Astroturf. It not only got the puppies used to the feel of grass under their feet (makes house training easier), but it's easy to pick up the solid waste, then take them outside and hose them off to clean up the urine.

I breed Labs, and the solution for me is an outside run.
OK, I will grant you that our climate is temperate, but it still goes down to 0 and below 0 in winter!
I have attached a photo of the kennel run, and the inside of the kennel building.
I have space for 2 bitches with litters, and a grassed run for each. I wouldn't have more litters than that at any one time.
The kennel house is brick and tile, with an "L" shaped enclosure built inside for the mother and puppies from 2 weeks onwards. (they are inside in the whelping box until then).
I enclose the puppies within the "L" shaped section until they are ready to start exploring a little, then I move the barrier across to the doorway for about a week, then at 3 and a half weeks I remove that barrier as well, and they go outside at their own pace. I find that by 4 and a half weeks at the latest they are all going outside to do 1s and 2s.
There is usually a period of about a week to 10 days, between Mum stopping cleaning up after them and going out onto the grass, when they still do 1s and 2s inside the kennel house, which is tiled, and for that period I have to wash and mop up after them.
A lot of the breeders around here use shavings and shredded newspaper, I don't like either of them, I don't trust that they won't make the pups sick or constipated if they eat it. Mine get the same fleece blankets they were born onto, and they are washed every other day.
I wouldn't like to have to raise a litter indoors, I must admit!!!!

I use a 4 ft long pen we constructed from plywood for our chihuahuas. We use blankets up until about 2-3 weeks and then switch to shavings. I know other breeders that use shavings as well and it works great for us. Yes, the pups will try to eat the shavings, but I find they will spit them out when they realize they aren't edible.

[rayter]

We made an outdoor pen using 2" concrete bricks over pea pebble, but first we put in a french drain underneath it so that we could rinse the urine off the pen weekly. This makes everything clean. All we do is pick up the poop with a dust pan and spatula, put it in a plastic bag, and hose off the pen.