Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Beth on October 16, 2009 at 12:45pm

Hi there. He is only physically capable of holding it while awake for approximately the same number of hours as his age in month, plus one. A 4 month puppy can only be expected to hold it for 5 hours on a good day with appropriate confinement.

The ideal solution would be a dog-sitter to stop in halfway through the day, but I understand this is not possible for everyone.

With Jack I was able to come home at lunch, but was still gone too long. So here's what I did:

He was crated at night.

In the day he was in a round pen about 5 feet or so across. I started out papering the entire inside of the pen. Newspapers are better than puppy pads because they are cheaper and also relatively harmless if shredded.

As I determined where he was pottying, I restricted the papers to that part of the pen, til I got it down to about 1/3 of the pen papered.

I neither praised nor scolded him for using papers, and in the evening when I would clean them up I would not put them back down, so that he was more likely to not potty there when I was home and actively housebreaking.

I then housebroke as normal, praising for going outside. It did not delay his housebreaking and he kept himself pretty clean.

He WILL potty if you are gone that long til he is close to a year old, so you need to provide him with enough space so he can potty in one area and then get away from it. In my case I would come home at lunch and change the papers then too so he wasn't stuck with it for more than an hour or so. So the goal is not to try to stop him pottying while you are home, but to give him a safe place to do so.

However, without someone coming home at lunch, he might have trouble getting the idea that he is not to go while you are away. So again, if you can arrange for a friend or relative to come by at lunch, it will greatly increase the liklihood of successful housebreaking.

Good luck!

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Alice on October 16, 2009 at 1:05pm

We tried a method much like Beth's. Finn was crated at night (no accidents) then when we went to work he was in a papered pen in the kitchen. I'd come home at lunch and the papers were always soaked and sometimes torn up and he was usually wet too. I'd clean him and the floor before putting him back and when we'd come home from work it would be the same thing. This went on for months and there were times it seemed like he was progressing but it was always short lived. He was still peeing inside and sometimes would just walk into the kitchen and pee when there were no papers or pen set up. Very frustrated, I finally decided that since he holds it while he's in his crate all night, he should be able to hold it in his crate during the day. We switched to the crate and I kept coming home at lunch time and he did great. Never had an accident in there and soon started having fewer and fewer accidents in the house. This worked better for him. I liked the idea of the pen because it gave him more room to move around but it just wasn't helping with housebreaking. You may want to try it with your pup and see how it works and if you need to, switch to the crate. The biggest issue is you or someone else being able to come halfway through the day to take the puppy out. If this is not possible, you will have to provide a place for him to go potty. Maybe a doggy litter box?

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Beth on October 16, 2009 at 1:25pm

Alice, that's good you shared your experience because it shows every dog is different. Jack was very clean and tried to avoid his own messes. He almost never pooped on the papers. He would shred clean papers, but not the ones he peed on. And as he approached 4 months old, I could tell he was trying to hold it til I got home because instead of several little puddles where he just kept going, there would be one big one where he waited and waited til he could not wait anymore. After we had no wet papers for about 2 weeks, I took them up altogether and would only put them down if there was a chance I might not be able to make it home for some reason.

Some puppies are perfectly happy to pee and play in the same spot and need closer confinement, others avoid their own puddles like the plague and can still be easily housebroken when left in a larger area, and I think it's just the personality and not much to do with management.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Alice on October 16, 2009 at 1:51pm

I agree that it depends on the individual dog. Finnigan never pooped in the pen or in the house at all for that matter, but peeing was a big issue. He has ruined the carpet in our apartment because as much as we tried to keep up on it and clean right away, he would often just leave little dribbles or pee while he was walking so it wasn't saturated enough to be visible. I've stepped in a lot of pee and I'm so glad he finally got over that, though he will still pee in other people's houses for some reason.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Stephanie on October 16, 2009 at 2:44pm

When we brought Bear home, the first day we made a pen in the kitchen with his crate and a potty pad included. When we got home 7 hours later, there was one spot of pee that was still warm - he had just done it. The next day we just crated him and he's never had an accident in his crate.

Maybe while you're transitioning you could have a neighbor come over and let him out once during the day? I have a neighbor that has a dog and if he beats me home he'll let Bear out, and there's a young guy next door that works as a waiter at night, so he's available to help out too. I usually just make them a pot of chili every now and then and take some over or slip an envelope in their door with $10 and a thank you card. I don't "pay" them everytime, but after they help out two or three times, I try to do something.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Sunni A. on October 16, 2009 at 5:54pm

Definately he's going to go everywhere, just like an infant would, until he develops into a real big-boy dog. At 15 weeks-5 months, Eddy would hold it at night, then let it go during the day whenever he felt the urge, like most people on here have already said, and we corrected him with regular housebreaking. Once Eddy's personality, interests, dominance, etc., started to develop, after 6 months old, his interest in going outside only GREW magnificently, and he would hold it hold it hold it all day and let out a big puddle at last resort, like Beth said. He taught himself to bark at the door to go out, because he just suddenly became a big-boy and wanted to smell and mark outdoors, nothing smelt good inside. At 15 weeks, they never even think about marking and scent really, which is the driving force, and awesome natural training tool, for the big boys. Eddy is now 8 months, the last time he peed on the carpet was just about 6 weeks ago. So good luck and merry patience!

• ▶ Reply