How old were your labs before fully potty trained? -- Crate Barking Question

[Papa Woodie]

I have an eight week old purebred Golden Lab. When we first purchased her at 8 weeks, she would wine at the door then to go outside to do her "business". Now, she barks, and wines when she has to do a #2, but when it comes to peeing, she walks to the door, squats right in front of the door without making a sound.

Is it still early for her to be fully potty trained....or are there any suggestions? I do let her out many many times a day...when EVERYTIME she goes out...she pees within two minutes of going out. her number two is sporatic with her feeding times. 530am and also around 3pm.

Also, at bedtime, around midnight or so, she goes into her crate, with the door closed. She will whine real loud, bark, and not settle down for a good half hour. after many "No!" and a few muzzle holds she settles down and goes to sleep. Before bed, she is let out to potty, but is brought in right afterwords so she don't have time to play and get all full of energy again.

What have you guys done to quite your dogs down at bedtime and also in the middle of the day when she is kenneled up when i am at work?

thanks in advance.

[Johnny_Namakan]

I went through what you're going through. In fact, all of us dog owners know exactly what you're talking about. My lab whined like crazy when it was time for bed and she had to go in the crate. I hate to say it, but it took some time and eventually she got used to it. Those little pups just hate to be alone. Just remember, their actions are trying to get a reaction out of you. If they wine and you respond then they have won. If you can, (it's not easy when you're trying to sleep) just ignore her. Do not give a "reaction" to her action. If you get up out of bed to quiet her down, then she's getting your attention. It's hard, but you have to try and ignore her. She'll learn soon enough that no matter how much she wines, you aren't coming to let her out until morning, (if you're dog is like mine was, she would start whining again around sun up and not let you sleep past 5:00 a.m.)

Regarding the peeing at the door. She's still on schedule. It'll come in the next few weeks. You'r doeing the right thing though. Take her out often so she doesn't have a chance to go inside. But if she does start to go inside, try and scare her during her "mid-stream". That should get her to stop long enough to get her outside. Good luck!

[Papa Woodie]

She gets a good scare during "mid stream". Only thing that bothers me about her whining at 5am...is yes, i do get up when she 1st barks, let her out to potty...bring her back in...and crate her back up till its time to get up. But...she has a terrible issue with peeing and [PoorWordUsage]ing at the same time outside. Weird. She will potty first...then want to come back in....five minutes later...barking at the door again...and she will go out and do a number 2.... Which bothers me in the morning because i don't know if she still has business to complete....or if she just wants attention.

Guess its a good way to get her to "hold it" when need be?

[Ely Lake Expert]

Quote:

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Also, at bedtime, around midnight or so, she goes into her crate, with the door closed. She will whine real loud, bark, and not settle down for a good half hour. after many "No!" and a few muzzle holds she settles down and goes to sleep.

thanks in advance.

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For bedtime do what I do, let her sleep on the floor right next to your bed.

[Dahitman44]

My pup has its good and bad points.

Bad we have talked about in earlier posts -- Good points is that he makes Zero whinning sounds and goes into the kennel/crate when I say kennel up.

Hang with her, my Copper has had fewer and fewer accidents -- I am still one of those barbarians that put his nose in it right when he does it and say no and then carry him out. PLUS throw a PARTY I mean a PARTY when she goes in the grass.

[Papa Woodie]

Time heals most i guess...so thats what i will give it.

No attention, and time.

her crate is at the base of my bed...in my bedroom. What really sucks is i have two room-mates...with another dog. 6 lb little ankle biter if i may...and when my dog hears the other out and about...is when she gets real rhiled up!

Can't wait to get some geese and ducks in her mouth...its going to be a blast!

[Johnny_Namakan]

Having the other dog in the house is defintely going to make her kennel time tougher. But if the other dog is well trained she may be a bit of a helper. She may help show your dog the ropes so to speak. I wish I had a simple answer for you, but there just isn't one. Time is important, as long as you're using that time wisely. As long as you continue with what your doing, and continue to work with her, repetition will pay off!

[DEADhead]

I got my yellow lab potty trained by 10 weeks, with no accidents over the past several weeks (knock on wood). For perspective, I got him at 7 weeks, and he is 13 weeks now. I took him out often every hour when he first came home, to get hime into a routine. I slowly increased the intervals to every two or so hours. Now he can hold it all night long, or half a day when the wife is at school. My vet told me that as a rule of thumb, your dog can hold its potty for as many hours as it is months old. That is fairly true up this point.

As far as going #1 and #2 on the same trip, just keep her outside and keep her mving for a little bit longer. My pup will go #1 right away, and I'll have him walk the fenceline of my property for a few minutes and he'll go #2. Just be patient. Not all of us can go #2 right after waking up either.

When the dog came home, he slept in his kennel from day 1. It is the dog's safe haven. Every time we put him to sleep, we gave him a treat. Now, he has no problem going to kennel at night. He hardly whines in it anymore, has NEVER had an accident in it, and sometimes goes in there to nap.

Good Luck!

[Dahitman44]

I agree with DEAD. When our little guy gets worn out he will enter his apartment (crate) and take a snooze with the door open.

[HeavyD]

One more suggestion: If this is a female pup, now is a great time to begin PPP training (Proper Potty Placement) to avoid the big burn spots in your grass from the female urine. I wish I would have done this years ago and trained my gal to go in the rocks like my bro's dog. Got them dang spots all over the place now.

[Dee.M.Zee]

Our Yellow Lab was potty trained by the time he was 9 weeks old. He's the easiest dog I've ever potty trained so I may have just lucked out with him??? We would let him out at bedtime then again at 0500,he definately lets us know if he has to go.When he was a pup he slept on his bed in our bedroom,always had his kennel and he would go into it when he got tired(door open),no barking. The chewing on the other hand took about 4 years to cure him of!!!???? Those labs and their chewing!! Lol!!

[stayman79]

I don't feel sorry for any of you guys. My wife loves to tell how "my" dog was so dumb that it took almost 4 months to get him potty trained and 2 more months to trust him! He would go outside, pee, come inside, pee! He also did the "stand at the door without a sound, then pee" thing. Good thing the downstairs carpet needed replacing anyhow!

At least he took to the crate better. But that first night we didn't get much sleep!