Is my Puppy too young to leave outside during the day?

Question

Hello, I have Puppy that was born on Jan 1, 2007 and is 8 weeks old... He has already received his first set of shots and dewormings, but he is teething, and I am scared if I keep blocking the kitchen and leaving him there like we do now, he will bite on the cabinets and other things. I would also like him to be outside in order for him to get used to going to the bathroom outside. Is he too young to learn this? Seems now he goes where ever. Even though we have bought the WEE WEE PADS and the spray to make them go in a certain place. So if he gets used to going on grass and is entertained by this, he will be happier. Please help... Thanks... OH... Its a Golden Retriever... and his name is ODIN...

Answer 1

goldens are so easy to teach you have to just be persistant. i got my golden at 8 weeks old. they are very social so dont lock him away for long time with no one around. that can turn a dog aggressive. i work 8 hours a day so mine is left alone but i come home at lunch. now they are chewers when teething so put him in a crate. do you have one? if not get one!! get one big enough to lay down and stand up and not much more. you can get one with a divider so it can grow with your dog. when not home, lock the dog in the crate but remember never ever to use it for punishment, give treats for going in the crate and say kennel up. soon he will know that command and automaticially kennel up. if you cant get home at lunch to walk your pup hire a dog walker or a neighbor or someone you trust. 4 hours tops right now for holding it and thats pushing it. when you go outside say outside when he starts to go potty give praise and say go potty..this is what i did anyways to potty train mine and she was trained by 4 motnhs old. hang bells on the door and evertime you go outside hit his nose to it..not hard but soon he will learn hitting the bells means go outside. give treats and praise when he goes outside. when inside if you catch him in the act yell no and pick him up right away and bring outside then say go potty then when done give praise. if you dont catch him and hes already gone, oh well you cant do anything because he has already forgotten about it. i dont believe in leaving dogs outside for long times alone so if you can get him crate trained i say do that. if you have any questions please email me i just went through this my golden is 6 months old we just finished all this stuff

Answer 2

Ok. Get an indoor kennel therefore you solve the indoor distruction and potty problems. Give him a bed, toys on the bed and a pee pad by the door of it when you are gone. When you are home if he pees and you see him pick him up say bad dog and rush him to the grass and let him finish there when he uses the grass say good boy and give a treat and praise him. Continue that until he gets the idea that the grass is the right place. Eventually he will be able to hold his pee and won't go in the kennel but you willl have to come home to check on him. He is a little bit young to be outside on his own. Puppies catch diseases easily and even if they are vaccinated can still get another strand of it. Puppies can be left outside about a week or two after their rabies shot and are big enough to not get into little knicks in the fence and are properly trained. You will need to puppifiy your yard too. No small rocks, woods, bricks, sharp objects, tiny toys, or holes they can go into or get hurt by. We had a puppy who ate rocks, and everything else he could find and he had to have major surgeory that cost 700$ up front. That was an ouch and especially the medications afterwards to keep him happy. You can leave him outside when you are home for about 10-30 minute segments at a time. He doesn't need to get to cold or too hot. Depending on the temperature of course. Kennels work well and especially when they are older and need somewhere to be for like a time out or a break. Or even for getting used to traveling in the back of a truck. Kennel have always worked for me and I have yet to have a dog that didn't catch on from that way.

Answer 3

The first problem is the wee wee pads. You've got the poor thing confused. You're allowing him to pee in the house, but want him to pee outside. You can't do both.

8 wks is not too young to start housebreaking. However, YOU need to be available. Just about every time a puppy wakes up they have to pee, every time they eat and anytime they've played for a few minutes they have to pee. ONE OR THE OTHER!

No dog should just be left outside. What's the sense of owning a pet if it's just banished to the yard. As for an 8 wk old puppy, he shouldn't be left outside for any length of time period. There is way too many things a pup can get into unsupervised.

Consider getting a crate and housebreaking him. If you use it as a training tool and not a prison it is usually very successful.

Answer 4

Now you know you need a crate to keep him in! There are so many posts here concerning that. He's just a baby and I am 100% against leaving ANY DOG outside. He's teething...make sure he has lots of puppy teething toys. He's young enough now that he won't destroy the ones at the Dollar Stores. You also need to housebreak him - his accidents are not his fault - they are yours. Throw away the Wee Wee Pads (disgraceful!) and teach him to go outside. You can be successful in as little time as a few days if you do it right.

They also sell doggy door attachments for sliding glass doors. Made a world of difference in my house - I didn't even have to train my youngest!
Sounds like this may be your first puppy - please read up on the breed, crates and housebreaking - he deserves it!

Answer 5

A few pieces of advice:

A. Do not leave a dog outside all day, no matter what the age. Not only because of the elements [heat, sun, rain, cold, snow] but because dogs are pack animals. They are happiest with their family. You didn't say if it was on a chain or in a fenced yard, but if it's a chain, that's no good. Your dog will feel cornered and trapped and may grow up learning aggressive as a defense.

B. Pee pads won't work. That's just teaching your dog to go inside the house. He's a puppy. They're going to chew, they're going to have accidents. Puppies need to go out every few hours. Take him out after he plays, after he eats, after he sleeps. Take him out if he even looks like he's circling or standing near the door. Take him out just to take him out. He will learn. He's still young. Get him a spacious crate. When you can't watch him, put him in the crate with his amenities [food, water, toys, blankets]. Usually, dogs will not soil where they sleep. Just remember to take him out every few hours. One more thing. Do NOT discipline the dog for his accidents unless you catch him IN THE ACT. If you admonish him afterwards, he is not going to know what he did wrong and you'll only confuse him.

C. He's a puppy. Puppies chew. I'm sorry you're worried about your cabinets, but that's what comes along with a pup. Get him lots of toys and things, and play with him a lot so he won't be bored. When he bites something that's not his, correct the behavior. Do not hit, do not yell. Say no in a calm, firm, assertive tone and take the thing away or pull him away. Or, pinch his neck gently to simulate the nip of an alpha dog, so he knows he's doing wrong.

good luck.

Answer 6

WAY too young to leave outside. Invest in a crate. Crate training will protect both your pup and your stuff and aid in house training. It takes some dog up to a year to become fully housetrained. You need to be vigilant in teaching your dog to go outside. Simply placing wee pads down will not teach it to go outside. Get on a regular schedule. Take the pup out right after eating and every 20-30 mintues there after. Praise lke heck and immediately give a treat whenever the pup does go outside. Do NOT scold if it goes inside-simply redirect it outside and praise when it does good.An 8 week old pup cannot physically hold its potty needs for over an hour or two. Good luck to you and Odin

Answer 7

Odin can go outside to learn that outdoors is the place to potty but you are confusing him with also using WEE WEE pads. Use the pads or start training him to go outdoors. He is too young to leave outside by himself and also, someone could easily steal him at such a young age. I would wait till he is about 4 months to leave outside. In the meantime, when you are home, bring him outside every half an hour (except at night) and if he goes, praise him lavishly. He shouldn't have accidents if you do this. When you are not at home, buy a play pen (so he can't chew on furniture!) and put a crate in there with an open door and leave plenty of chew toys to occupy him. Hopefully, you don't have to leave him home alone too much. Yes, he will have accidents when you are gone. You can minimize them by not leaving food just water when you aren't home. At 8 weeks, they do go wherever, it is just too young to really expect much! When you start leaving him outside, make sure he has a fenced in area because retrievers love to wander and he could easily be run over or stolen. I would also put him in a crate but at night only. It helps them learn to control their bladder. Dogs don't like to go where they sleep. He will cry like crazy the first few nights, ignore it. You can get up once at night to take him out to see if has to go the first week. DO NOT LOCK HIM IN A CRATE DURING THE DAY! I hate this. It is so mean! It's like, why get a dog if he is going to be locked up in a box for 16-18 hrs. a day, right? And never hit your dog for accidents. A stern "no" is sufficient and try to catch him in the act and bring him outside. Good Luck!

Answer 8

Crate training your puppy would be a much better option than leaving it outside. A dog won't usually use the restroom in it's crate because the area is so compact and they don't like to sit in their own urine and feces this will allow for potty training too because as soon as you get home you can put they puppy outside to go to the restroom and praise it when it does and all that. Good luck

Answer 9

I don't think that you should leave a dog outside all day. If you are going out you should look into Crate training your puppy. They will get used to it really fast. Take your pup outside in the morning and after you come home from work take him for a walk and before bed let him do his job for the night and this willbecome a routine for him.

Answer 10

OK no it's not ok to leave a 8 week old pup outside all alone. Anything can happen to him outside. Another dog can come into the yard and attack him, he can chew on something and get it stuck in his throat and kill him. He can get sick from just being outside for too long a period of time.
Part of being a responsible owner is cleaning up after your pup. Have you thought of crate training your pup????

Also if you really clean up the spots where he has peed then he won't go to that spot and pee again.
He's a baby and needs to be treated like one. His tiny bladder can't hold it for more than 2 hours. You have to train him to go on the pads they don't do it automatically. Same for going outside You have to train him to go outside.
You need to read bbook on how to house train your pup. Or get one the internet and read.

Answer 11

no its a really bad idea to leave him outside, they could get into things really easily like digging or getting under the fence/running away. who knows what will happen. plus, there are a lot of scary noises for a puppy outside like trucks or other dogs, you don't want them to be alone when they're being introduced to these things. when you are home with him and catch him going to the bathroom say NO! and just bring him outside. i have a 3 month old puppy i got 3 weeks ago and she learned very quickly that way. she still has her accidents but what do you expect? wee wee pads aren't the most effective way to potty train a dog, they teach the dog to go on the wee wee pad not outside. crate training the dog works really well because they don't want to mess in their area. There's a spray called bitter apple that tastes really nasty you spray it on the cabinets and they don't bite them.