need alot of help on this crate training.....?

Question

Need alot of input on this crate training...?
please feel free anyone to help me out here..I have a deposit down on a puppy, to be taken home on March 9th...The puppy will be 9 weeks...my work schedule is mon 7am-1 (sometimes could go to 2pm..with no time to come home inbetween.Tues..7-5 (1hr.I can come home for lunch break. Wednesday 12pm-8pm(break for 1hr 3:30-4:30) to come home, thurs...7-5 again with 1hr. break home & Frid.7-1 with no break...I don't think a 9 or 10 wk. old puppy can last on some of these spans (5 and 6 hr. length.) My husband leaves at 7:30 so we can extend the morning by 1/2hr. My daughter (18) may help sometimes, but not dependable...I was considering using 1/2paper, 1/2 bed for the pup in the crate...everyone discourages this but otherwise I think I'll just be coming home to poop and pee daily..when can the pup hold it to co-inside with my hrs..what should I do????

Answer 1

A two month old puppy CANNOT hold it for that amount of time; you are correct. Generally the rule of thumb is one hour for every month of age (or possibly their age in months plus an hour), so a two month old puppy can hold it for two to three hours. After that time, the dog must go potty. At night, his metabolism may slow down and he may be able to go longer, but he will still need to be let out in the middle of the night at least once, if not more.

So, due to your work schedule, you will need to come up with a solution that allows your puppy to be able to go potty when you are at work.

I would not recommend using a crate. Even the largest crate would still force the puppy to go potty to close to where he sleeps for him to be comfortable. Dogs are very clean and do not like to go potty where they sleep, especially as they get older. A mother dog will push even the youngest puppy away from the sleeping area to go potty, and they quickly learn to keep the two completely separate.

A better solution, if possible, is to set up a room like a large bathroom, kitchen, or laundry room as the puppy's day room. Block off the door with a baby gate, and put his crate in there, with the door open and blankets inside. Put his food and water dish nearby. Leave some chew toys for him to entertain himself as well.

On the other side of the room, lay down newspapers or puppy pads. Puppy pads are better in this case as they contain chemicals that draw the dog to that area to do his business. At least to start, you're going to need to cover a fairly large area of the room with puppy pads. Once he starts getting used to going on them, you can diminish the covered area until you just have one pad laid down. He may need extra incentive to go poop on the pads as some dogs will go pee there but not poop - if that's the case, put some of his poop on the pad, or a paper towel that you used to clean up one of his messes. It sounds gross, but you usually only need to do it once before he "gets" it.

This set up allows him to have distinct sleeping and potty areas, which will maintain his natural desire to stay clean and make it much easier for him to use the crate during the day without going potty in it when he's older. If you just use the crate with papers in it, he will likely learn that it's okay to go there, regardless of whether paper is laid down or not.