I recently moved from the city to the suburbs, from a 2BR condo to a house. Oliver was only familiar with the condo surroundings, and I'm sure it was a happy shock for him to have stairs to run up and down inside the house, and a lot more space.
When we lived in the city, we were able to get to the point where he had free reign of the condo. He was completely outside trained, but we kept an emergency puppy pad in the house, that he was somewhat "hit or miss" with. Then, one incident occurred when we came home to vomit and diarrhea everywhere, and we decided we had to keep him locked up with a doggie door in the kitchen.
Now that we live in a house, we tried the same strategy with the kitchen (since the tile would be less damaging than wood floors), but he would not make it through the day like he used to. I figured he was just getting used to his surroundings, and he was still stressed. However, after a few weeks, we were still having to clean up after him. Then our basement was finally finished, so for a change of scenery, we tried him in the basement (also tile), but he still wouldn't hold it all day. I then took a few steps back and decided to crate him all day...which seemed to work, but then when I would try to give him free reign of the basement again, and there was maybe only one day where he managed to hold it. I was starting to get really frustrated, so then I proposed the bathroom. A lot smaller space, but not as confining as the crate. And apparently that seemed to work!
I would ideally like to give my dog free reign of the house, but I am scared for the furniture/rugs.
Do you guys have any thoughts about how to re-house break a dog? I will have to move to another house in the next year again, so I anticipate experiencing this process all over again...
And where do your dogs stay when you're out of the house? Any thoughts on how to keep them comfy without causing havoc on your belongings?
Thanks!