House/Crate Training in a High Rise Building
We're new to the site and I am still figuring out how to navigate and search the forum. So far I haven't found anything on this topic and if there is please point us to the right direction.
We plan to get a pup in September when he/she is about 11 weeks.
The breeder already begins crate & house training at 7 weeks, which is great.
I have read the Housetraining 101 Blog, a few books, and readings, and they all focus on -taking your pup out to the backyard and no tips any things about if you don't have a backyard.
We live in a high rise building on the 4th floor. We live in area where there is plenty of open space to exercise the dog but it will take us about 3-5 minutes to get the pup to the grass.
I have a flexible work schedule, so for the first few weeks after we bring the puppy home, we plan to take him out at least every hour and don't plan on leaving him in the crate longer than 1-2 hours. And work our way up. (I do plan on asking the breeder at that 11 week point, how long is he able to hold it.)
I was hoping to see if anyone else lives in a building or does not have easy access to outside and what your experience has been, any tips?
If we do have to leave him alone longer than 2-3 hours, should we go ahead and do a pen with puppy pads,...? But I know that will hinder the training.
Or get a dog-walker instead?
Silly question alert - in those first few days when he his home, and we see the cues for wanting to go pee, do we scoop him up and run downstairs... will he hold it for 3-4 minutes till we get him to the grass...?
Any advice is much appreciated.
Thanks in advance,
Cindy
We plan to get a pup in September when he/she is about 11 weeks.
The breeder already begins crate & house training at 7 weeks, which is great.
I have read the Housetraining 101 Blog, a few books, and readings, and they all focus on -taking your pup out to the backyard and no tips any things about if you don't have a backyard.
We live in a high rise building on the 4th floor. We live in area where there is plenty of open space to exercise the dog but it will take us about 3-5 minutes to get the pup to the grass.
I have a flexible work schedule, so for the first few weeks after we bring the puppy home, we plan to take him out at least every hour and don't plan on leaving him in the crate longer than 1-2 hours. And work our way up. (I do plan on asking the breeder at that 11 week point, how long is he able to hold it.)
I was hoping to see if anyone else lives in a building or does not have easy access to outside and what your experience has been, any tips?
If we do have to leave him alone longer than 2-3 hours, should we go ahead and do a pen with puppy pads,...? But I know that will hinder the training.
Or get a dog-walker instead?
Silly question alert - in those first few days when he his home, and we see the cues for wanting to go pee, do we scoop him up and run downstairs... will he hold it for 3-4 minutes till we get him to the grass...?
Any advice is much appreciated.
Thanks in advance,
Cindy
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Lexi on
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I can't really answer your first question as I fortunately live on the bottom floor of a two story house... For the pen and puppy pads - while most believe that pads hinder training (and we're still pretty early in the process), we've found that it's effective when we have to leave Kuma for more than 2 hours.
We kind of felt our way through the beginning stages of his housebreaking because we did not want to take Kuma to any public space (including unfenced front yard) but our backyard is mostly dirt & cement. For the first week until we saw the vet to get his third set of shots, we used potty pads and he got pretty good at it. After the vet's approval to take him in the backyard (though she cautioned that he may become conditioned to pee/poo only on dirt/cement), we started to housebreak him and took the potty pads away whenever we were home. When we're gone for four hours at a time during the week, we leave him in a tiled gated area with his crate, water, toys & potty pad. Interestingly, it seems like he tries to hold it until we get home - when we are gone for less than three hours, his pad has so far been dry and as soon as we take him out he relieves himself. When we can't get home sooner, there's usually a present for us on his potty pad by the fourth hour. So far it's working - but we're only at the end of week three so we're definitely still figuring things out.
When he looks like he needs to potty when we're home, we pick him up immediately to take him outside. He's held it pretty well after we've picked him up. If we don't pick him up as soon as it looks like he needs to go, he'll just go and by then it's too late. I've read some actually stop peeing once they get picked up... Kuma will keep peeing until he's done.
Good luck!
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Permalink Reply by Sam Tsang on
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Hi Cindy, welcome to the site and good on ya for using the search box :)
When we first got our pup 6 years ago, we used to live on the third floor. There really isn't a difference because we still leash the pup and take him to the bathroom. Going leashless will cause the pup to be distracted and not focusing on the poopy mission. You can train your dog to go poop or pee as the first thing to do before you go on walks. always bring him back to the same spot. If he had an accident, bring the urine or poop and smear it to the spot where you want him to go, give it a few times and he'll get it, corgis are super smart.
I do not belief in puppy pads, i think they prevent your pups from proper potty training.
the general rule for how long a pup can hold is adding a hour to it's age, up to 9-12 hours (not recommended) so for example, for a month old pup, it should be able to hold for 2 hours, 2 months old, 3 hours...etc. My advise for you to do it right is to watch him like a hawk, when you cannot watch him, put him back into the crate. no exceptions. Take your dog out when he wakes up, after he eats, after play, drinks...etc. the more you take him out, the faster he gets the idea of going out. you can also put a windchime at the front door, ring it before you take him out, so that he'll associate the sound to going potty, he will learn to use that eventually.
Be patient, you dog will master potty training in 9 months - 1 year, it is faster than your first human child. DO NOT trust and thinking that your pup master potty training in less that 9 months, relapse is guaranteed, rebellious stage is guaranteed. Be calm and remind yourself that it is not your pups fault and that you will watch him like a hawk next time.
Good luck! Your life is gonna change in september :)
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Permalink Reply by Arang&Mark on
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If it does take a couple of minutes... maybe it would be better to train him on pee pads...but from what i could tell, as long as they are moving, they arent really likely to pee,so you should have enough time to go potty. Also, i really recommend crate training. its not cruel as some may think because it is like their den. My dog actually likes sleeping in his kennel if he has been passed out on the floor for awhile and gets woken up. you really only need to scoop him up if you starts to urinate. picking up a dog will stop him from peeing. Also another nice thing about crate training is that they dont go to the bathroom where they sleep, so if you do have to leave him in for 2-3 hours, just remember to take him out ASAP as soon as you get home. and like sam says, watch them like a hawk, they are surprisingly sneaky little buggers.
and Congrats on your new puppy! they are pretty amazing!
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Permalink Reply by May on
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Dexter and I live in a condo, 4th floor with an elevator... no yard. Dexter was almost 11 weeks when I got him.
I am gone from 6:30am to 5:30pm... and decided to set up Dexter with a Pen and crate combo for during the day while I'm gone (just because I am gone so long... if you are home with him and are able to get to him every two hours you may not need the pen).
When they are little their bladders are smaller so you have to take him out more often.
This is how it started out when I first got Dexter... (and I hear consistency is good).
5:00am - carried him out to his "spot"
6:15am - Fed him and immediately took him to his "spot"
11:00am - Dog Walker came to walk him
5:30pm - took him out to his "spot"
6:30pm - fed him and immediately walked him
8:00pm - took him out to his "spot"
9:30pm - took him out to his "spot" before putting him in his crate for the evening
2:00am - took him out to his "spot" (but only because I was paranoid -- he NEVER had an accident in his crate)
Next day start over again... ( I stopped taking him out in the middle of the night probably 2 weeks after I got him because I was TIRED.)
Because I was away from the house so long Dexter had to be paper trained initially and he was good at that, almost immediately... To get him to go outside on concrete I would bring newspaper with me so that he would know to go on the paper (initially before he had his shots, I couldn't bring him out to where the big dogs go so he didn't see grass or dirt for almost 5 months... once he saw grass and dirt, he was a natural).
Before I knew it... (around the time he was neutered @ 5 months) I was taking him out only 4 times a day. He waits for the dog walker and he waits for me to get home... more or less.
I don't know if this is excessive or not, but this is my schedule for Dexter @ just 7 months:
5:40am - walk
11:am - Dog Walker
5:30pm - walk
9:pm - walk
He is a good boy and has his set areas where he will go potty... He did have a rebellious phase where he would pee right in front of me in the middle of the room or once in the corner @ 6 months where previously he would ALWAYS go to the papers... but not in the past few weeks.
He is not good at pee'ing though... he tries to lift his leg but he lifts it too much and ends up pee'ing on his front paws... and if he stands to pee he ends up standing in a puddle of pee... BUT THAT IS A DIFFERENT STORY.
Good luck with the potty training!... (by the way, when I've caught Dexter pee'ing on the floor and tried scooping him up... ahem, he didn't quite stop peeing while I was carrying him away... just a warning)
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