Potty Training Fyi

Hi,

I am planning on getting a puppy pretty soon. I have a question that I have been pondering over for some time. My question is this.

I understand that you need to crate train the puppy and housetrain him by getting him to go outside and do his business. You praise him and give him treats and slowly get rid of the treats. This I understand. But when I go to work I will need to feed him 2 hours before I leave which will give him time to relieve himself before I leave. I understand you need to leave him in his crate with enough room to just be able to turn around comfortably.

My question is this: If you are working on training him to go outside and you must leave the house for around 6-7 hours a day, won't the puppy have no other alternative but to do his business inside the crate? Will this confuse him then you are home and if you have him in the crate? Won't he just think its ok to go in the crate? Will he know that you want him to go outside when you are home and inside the crate when you are not home?

I also understand that dogs don't like to soil their own private area. Would this imply i should leave more room in the crate when im not home so that he can do his business in one area of the crate rather than lying in it all day.

Thanks for your support.

Derwin

Hi there. We have a 9 week out puppy. She is doing really well with potty training so far. When we are at work we have her in her "pen" basically it's our entry way that we've blocked off with a babygate. Her crate is inside the area, and we put down newspaper for her to go on. She is very finiky about going to the bathroom inside tho, she go pee on the paper, but will hold her poo until we get home (she alwasy goes in the morning after eating, and before we leave). My husband says it is beacuse her poo smells so bad, se doesn't wanna smell it all day :p She has gone in her crate only once, and that was the first night she had it, the second night we had her.
I forgot to mention, she holds it all night. I put her out for the last time around 9:30-10:30 pm and she will hold it til 6:30am with no problems.

HTH :)

My puppy never ever had an accident in his crate,i slowly would leave him alone 30, to an hour and so on....He was house broken by 3 months,but he was also a gsd,he cauhgt on to everything quick...

I think it would be really hard on a puppy that is only 7 or 8 weeks old to be left in a crate for 6 to 7 hours everyday. In all honesty, housetraining will very difficult under these circumstances. It can be hard enough already and this will likely be extra hard on both of you!!

An older pup may be better suited for your lifestyle. My puppy, who is now 11 months old, was able to consistently hold it for about 7 hours or so when she was around four or five months old. Each puppy is different and I so envy the 9 week old pup that is so well trained already!!

Buying a bigger crate is not exactly the answer, keep in mind that a young puppy does both about 6 to 7 times a day. I had no idea about that until I got a puppy myself and so I think it would be really hard on a young pup to be trapped in a crate with several piles of pee and poop. I think that the idea of the pen is a much better solution as already mentioned, that way you give the puppy space and they don't associate the crate with doing their business.

Good for you for being responsible and thinking ahead so that you are prepared for your new pup! You might also want to bookmark this site, it is a great source of information :)