House training?

[Ron Burgundy]

I got the English Cocker I mantioned in another post. I got her to come, sit and fetch, but what's the best way to keep her from going 1 or 2 in the house? We are gone for at least 8-9 hrs a day. Paper or litter box? We've got those diaper type papers but she wants to chew those. Some of my friends said they'll teach her it's ok to go in the house.

[jeffreyd]

I was always taught that the hours you can leave them is the same as the months old they are. So if you have a 2 month old dog a the limit is not more than 2 hrs. That is pushing it. My year old lab would go about 4 hrs max if we left him. Now he is able to wait most of the day however it is rare that we are gone more than 5 hrs. Might consider a doggy door that has a laser in it so if the pup tries to bring stuff in it wont open. Good luck it does get better

[Ralph Wiggum]

How old? I would not mess with papers or a litter box. Is the dog kenneled during the day? If not, it should be. Give it just enough room to stand and turn around, and it will not want to eliminate in there. If it's a young dog, there is no way it'll be able to hold it 8-9 hours, no matter what you do. If you can't make it home over lunch to let it out, I would look into having a neighbor come let it out mid-day.

As for teaching it not to go in the house, you really need to catch it in the act. Then, give it a firm NO command and put it outside to do it's thing. Frequent trips outside are a must, and pile on the praise when it does it's business outside. If the pup has an accident inside and you don't catch it right away, don't punish it because it won't connect the punishment with the crime.

[Ron Burgundy]

She made it fine when I only worked 1/2 day. Obviously it's impossible to ask 9 hrs of an 8 wk old pup. We catch her and run her outside after a loud firm no and a clap.

[jigging-matt]

Are you letting him out after feedings, drinks, naps, and playing. May seem like a lot. But that is usually when they go. If you take them out and then praise them for it. Training should go fairly quickly and easily.

[lenny7]

What we did with our pup last year is to use the crate as mentioned above. EVERY time you put her into it, first take her outside. EVERY time you take her out, go straight outside.

Before and after each meal, take her out.

If you can't watch her closely, even for a few minutes, put her in the crate. If you play with her, she'll get excited and be prone to accidents so try to play with her only after she's gone.

When she does do her thing outside, make a huge deal out of it and praise her up and down. If she goes inside, do not hit her or yell at her. I think a firm "NO" is ok though. Just take her immediately outside without saying a word. She'll get the message without you coming across as a mean ogre. It makes no more sense to punish a pup for crapping in the house as it does to punish a baby for crapping in their diaper.

What you're using by crating her often, is her natural aversion to going in her "den" and you balance that by giving her plenty of opportunity to go outside. By your positive response to successfully going outside, you're using her natural instinct to please her master.

Use that crate often. It's a new puppy owner's best friend.

[OutlawTorn]

RB, its probably not what you want to hear, but puppies NEED to get out at lunch. In fact, young pups need to get out more often for a couple months. Leaving work more than once a day is usually not an option, but coming home over lunch is an absolute necessity for a couple months - puppy pads are a waste and breed bad habits.

The previous poster is correct - that kennel is like the puppies den. The pup should be in there every moment you arent directly interacting with it to potty train and kennel train. The pup may eliminate in there from time to time when it is very young and you are only able to let it out once during your 8 hour day, but that builds the foundation that dirty kennels suck. That stage shouldnt last long either, it just makes for a fun lunch break...

As the pup matures, the idea is to teach the pup that you ARE coming back and when you do, it can go to the bathroom outside and be comfortable. Like the previous poster said, pup pees before and after going into the kennel - every time, right away.

You'll be able to slowly expand the den area as the pup gets older to include more and more rooms in your house. The pup will decide that it doesnt want to eliminate in any part of the house.

When the pup asks to go outside, praise him lavishly and let him out quickly. My pup started asking to go out on his own around 3-4 mths of age, but if you didnt acknowledge him quickly enough, he would just pee by the door. This got better around 6 mths of age.

Good luck!

[Ralph Wiggum]

If you've never heard of bell-training, it's worth trying. We got our pup at 11 weeks and he had the bell down pat within 3 weeks.

Basically, hang a bell by the door and ring it just before you take him out. After a week or so, I started taking his nose and ringing the bell with his snout. Soon, he'll pick up on it and ring it when he needs to go out.

[pikehunter]

Ralph,

I've done the same, but have run into a problem with my year-old Brit ringing the bell constantly when he wants to go out and play. Any ideas as to how to keep him from abusing the bell?

[CrazyLabs]

We bell trained our younger lab when he was about 12 weeks old. He caught on VERY fast and we quickly realized that he was taking advantage of our urgency to let him out and would then go and putz around outside. We paid attention every time we let him out. If he didn't #1 or #2 within a few minutes, he came back in. Occasionally, he would ring the bell again right away and I could sense he was scamming again, so I made him go and lay down. Within a couple of weeks he figured out what the bell is really for and only rings it for its intended purpose.

[Surface Tension]

I agree with a lot of whats been said.

Really this topic goes beyond house training and into extended periods of crating for a pup and my reply reflects both.

If the pup messes up your floor it is because you didn't get it out the door when you should have.

That would be every time it drinks water or after it eats.

It would also include every half hour to make sure an accident won't happen in the house. It comes down to getting the pup used to going outside with no accidents inside, it learns where to go.

You should bring the pup to the area when you want him to relive himself. You should also be killing two birds with one stone by giving the dog with a command to hi-on.

What is that? That is the command that the dog is to do as he pleases. Which is going to be "go hunt" or to send him off from you. If the dog is in the house then the dog should be under your control. If your thinking is the dog should do as he pleases in the house, enter any room at will, lay on the couch, or just in general have the run of your home then this command won't work and you should just teach the dog to sit on the toilet and flush. That won't work because after all it is a dog.

In this case the pup will be crated for 8+ hours.

That won't work. The pup needs water at all times and needs to be on feeding schedule that is,, feed available at all times.

Hmm, tearing down the crate to clean it when you get home from work is not fun, neither is giving the pup a bath every day after work. We're asking a pup to evolve to our modern day schedule. 8+ hours a day, everyday in a crate? Not if you expect the pup clean pup when you get home. Kennel is the answer. I wouldn't leave that as the total answer either.

Barking and howling could happen when your away, then it becomes a problem for the neighbors. If and when the pup accepts the kennel as "his" place he'll, well be comfortable being left there when your at work. If he a has a better spot on the couch guess where he'd rather be? He'll let the neighbors know that too. A kennel should have stimulus but it should not have visual and if possible audible access to other humans. Could go on and on there but it is an ingredient for an barker or aggressive dog. In a perfect world you dog won't have stimulus for humans without your there. Once the pup gets older it will surely be able to hold it till you get home and being dog will adapt to life in a crate but really a kennel is beter for the dog.

[Ralph Wiggum]

Ralph,

I've done the same, but have run into a problem with my year-old Brit ringing the bell constantly when he wants to go out and play. Any ideas as to how to keep him from abusing the bell?

Yeah, we ran into that issue, too. Also went through a stage when he'd ring it because he wanted food. He'll still ring it when he needs fresh water.

What we did was make a distinction between potty trips and play trips. When he rings the bell, we go out to do his business and then come right back in. We don't go out and play when he rings the bell.

He's old and big enough (15 months) now that he rarely even needs to ring it anymore.

[Ron Burgundy]

There's no way she can hold it until I get home. I don't know what I was thinking. I'm sure the messes will be fewer and further between as she grows up. There's just no getting around it. Patience. I may try the bell thing though.

[OutlawTorn]

There's no way she can hold it until I get home. I don't know what I was thinking. I'm sure the messes will be fewer and further between as she grows up. There's just no getting around it. Patience. I may try the bell thing though.

Most pups will grow out of it however, in addition to making a long and disgusting day for your pup, you run the risk of creating a "dirty puppy". These puppies have spent so much time stuck with their own urine and feces that it no longer bothers them. Housebreaking animals in this sad shape is very difficult.

[nofishfisherman]

We crate our pup during the day while we are gone but knew that he wasn't going to be able to hold it for 8-9 hours. We just figured out a schedule where either myself or my wife could come home on our lunch breaks to let him out. He's now 5 months old and has never eliminated in his crate. Crating also helped teach him when and where to go when we were house training him. He had it figured out within the first week. We got him at 8 weeks and by 9 weeks he stopped having accidents in the house.

If you are not letting him out in the middle of the day I would hesitate to crate him. You will essentially be teaching the dog that eliminating in the crate is ok. And once the dog is comfortable with it you'll likely have a very hard time getting him to stop. Also if the dog does try to hold its bladder all day it could end up with a bladder infection.

If you can't let him out then you'll need to figure out another option. Either not crating him or find someone who can let him out. If you have any trust worth kids in the neighborhood they might be a good option. They would likely like to play with the pup and they are usually around all day. By the end of the summer your pup may be able to last the whole day.

[lenny7]

Just for your reference, we bought our dog at 10 weeks and for 2 months we made sure someone would be able to let him out a lunch. We had no accidents in the crate at this time.

Finally, when school was back in session in early September, I spent a week coming home every day, taking my lunch hour later and later each day. By the second week he was holding it from approximately 8 hours. He was 4.5 months old at this point.

[Ralph Wiggum]

Just for your reference, we bought our dog at 10 weeks and for 2 months we made sure someone would be able to let him out a lunch. We had no accidents in the crate at this time.

Finally, when school was back in session in early September, I spent a week coming home every day, taking my lunch hour later and later each day. By the second week he was holding it from approximately 8 hours. He was 4.5 months old at this point.

That's about exactly what we did. Had a few accidents in the crate early on, but that was it.

[nofishfisherman]

Now that our pup is 5 months that was going to be our plan as well. But I just got laid off so now I'm home all day with him so its not much of an issue. Before I go back to work whenever I find a new job I'll build up his crate endurance to make sure he's good for 8-9 hours.

[Ron Burgundy]

She is confined to the kitchen with a baby gate, not in her crate all day. I don't want her to wallow in her own accidents either.