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Hmmm....that is very strange behavior. Have you tried looking up breed specific tips?
Young puppies pee and poop constantly (and your is still young). We actually thought our last one was 'broken' and went to see the vet about it because he went SO OFTEN. The vet just laughed. He will grow out of it, promise! 4 hours is just too long for a puppy to go without going potty. Is there any way you can hire a pet sitter to come into your house once or twice while at work to let him out? You won't need to do it for very long. You can talk to your vet about it, but I doubt there's any problem with his health. I remember that we felt CONSTANTLY FRUSTRATED trying to housebreak the pup entirely, because it's damn hard! But it was over soon enough and now we have a wonderful adult dog. That doesn't mean I'd ever get a puppy again, haha.
I agree with veganglam. He's just too young to hold it for 4 hours. When my puppy was 12 weeks the longest he could go was 2.5-3 hours. Is there any way you can decrease the amount of time he is crated? It won't be for very long because your puppy will soon be able to hold it longer. You can gradually increase the time week by week.
4 months is pretty young still and they don't have that great of control yet. Can you guys stagger your work schedules temporarily so he's left alone a little less? It won't be that long and giving him more opportunities to go to the bathroom outside will only benefit you.
Also does he poop before you leave for work? Getting him to do that would be a big help, I'm sure!
Honestly, he probably just doesn't have enough control of his bladder right now to be able to hold it. I'm sure if you give it some time he'll get better about it.
Also maybe feeding him earlier so he has time to completely process his breakfast might help.
As everyone before me said, your puppy is just too young to hold it for that long. Have you thought about taking your puppy to a daycare. At daycare (if you find a good one) they will teach your puppy basic manners and socialization. If that isn't an option for you, what about hiring a dog walker/sitter to come to your house every couple of hours to let your puppy out.
he's still pretty young. it's just a matter of 4 hours still being too long a period of time. i definitely went through this with buddy our second pup... it only took a month for him to get trained, but during that month when i had to leave for a few hours at a time, there would most certaintly be an accident.
like some of the other bees said you can time his eating/drinking, but all you can do is wait 'til he get a lil bit older and make sure you continue to crate-train him.
I agree with pps. I think the general rule is that puppies can hold their bladders one hour for every month they are old. So a 3 month puppy can't be expected to go more than 3 hours without a potty break. In another month or two, Leroy will probably be fine being in a crate for 4 hours. Until then, can you have a neighbor or friend come over and walk him while you're gone? It would just be for the next couple months, so even if you had to pay someone, it would probably be worth it.
Agree with the other posters. 3 months is too young to crate train for 4 hours at a time and also because you are not in the house.
http://www.inch.com/~dogs/cratetraining.html
Note that you may have problems crate training your puppy moving forward, because he has already gotten used to eliminating in a confined space (his crate) and lying down in it. So the logic behind the crate training (not eliminating in his own den) may no longer apply to your dog anymore because he is already used to a soiled den.
When we got my dog last year, we were out of the house up to 5 hours at a time and instead of crate training, we confined him to his room (tiled floors 6 ft x 6 ft) with his bed in one corner and a puppy pad in the opposite corner. The puppy pad attracted him to pee there and he never once soild his bed. As he got older and could hold his pee longer, we noticed there were fewer and fewer spots on the puppy pads when we got home, and then we just stopped using them. Maybe you can try that, so that your dog isn't lying in his own mess.
It takes a while to house break a dog. So don't give up!
Thank you all for your feedback! It seems that 4 hours might be too long, but if that's true, then how come he holds it for 7-8 hours at night?? Ugh.
I will look into having someone come by to let him out though. FI's parents might be willing!
@Ottawa--he probably isn't awake at night, right? And also, he might get antsy/scared/lonely when you guys leave for the day and put him in his crate while he's still awake, which makes it harder for him to hold it in. In any event, good luck, and I'm sure you'll be able to get him fully trained in no time with some effort.
Maybe he is lonely? It didn't even occur to me that four hours would be too long (as is clear from my first response), but I am sure everyone is right. When my dog was a puppy I had someone come by once a day to let him out and my roommates let him out as well. Try it and see if that helps!
@veganglam - That's true! I guess I just figured he probably slept most of the day, but maybe not. Thanks for the kind words! Sorry if I sound abrasive, I'm just frustrated with all of the poop clean up... he must be sick of baths by now! Lol.
Unfortunately there is some truth to strawberry's comment. When my girl was a puppy I tried to crate train her... I would leave her alone for short amounts of time and she would always, without fail, pee all over herself, even though there was newspaper at one end. After a little while she learned that the crate was THE place to go potty. So... we don't do the crate anymore. I recommend the same thing everyone else is saying- have someone come over and let her out if at all possible. Good luck, and remember that as annoying as housebreaking is, it's only temporary. It's like magic, one day they wake up and they can hold it, it's great!
Some puppies also just don't understand the don't pee where you sleep thing either. We had a pup who we didn't crate train but still liked to pee (but not poop) where he slept. Weird pup, never seen another who did that, but some of them are just different.
I agree with what PPs have said and have one thing to add. I would make sure your pup poops in the morning before you go to work. I've gotten my dog on a morning/evening poop schedule. That way you may have to clean up some pee if you can't get home earlier than 4 hours, but your pup probably won't poop twice in 4 hours. It'll take some longer walks in the morning until this is routine, but he should get the hang of it!
Agreed -- she needs to poop in the morning. Also agreed that she can't hold it that long. Puppies are really high maintenance when they are very young, much like a human child. If it continues, talk to your vet. You may also start researching separation anxiety -- dogs can totally freak out if they are upset that you leave during the day. But I think that's putting the cart before the horse. Master the training before you look into separation anxiety.
Also, I am not sure how big he is, but he should have a walk with you before you go to work, not just a romp in the backyard. Gets his energy and his business out, and he bonds with you, which is important during this period. This difference between the backyard and the walk is similar to the difference between exercising in prison (walks around the yard or whatever) and going for a run on the beach. Or something like that. Hopefully you get the idea.
I do need to try to get him to poop in the morning, I will try the longer walks and giving him lots of time! I guess I will start getting up earlier :)
Thanks everyone for the support!
Yeah, 4 hours is too long to crate your 3 month old puppy. If he keeps soiling the crate then he has probably already gotten used to it and crate training might no longer be effective. However if you can get him to pee and poop in the morning before crating him then you might be able to save yourself a mess when you get home.
http://www.squidoo.com/how-to-start-your-dog-crate-training
You really need to be home with him if your going to keep him in the crate for that amount of time. Also, if possible, you might wanna take a break from the crate since he has gotten used to soiling it at least until you can get him used to using the bathroom outside. If you have a laundry room maybe you can set it up for him while you are away but you will still want to try and get him to pee and poop in the morning before you put him in it. You might have to spend a little more time outside but it could save you some cleaning up when you get home.
You might want to try a smaller crate. We had a really small one for when our dog was a pup and then we changed over to a bigger one when he grew. You have to be really careful about crate size because dogs will soil their crate if it's too big.
Def use puppy pads. We've used that with all our dogs and we also work during the day. We only use the crate at night and most dogs will not want to mess where they sleep, unlikes yours, so our little guys would always wine when they had to go so we would let them out. I would keep him in a room with the door closed, the crate door open so he can go in and out and put a pad in the the room for him. When you see him about to have an accident, make sure you pick him up and put him on the pad so he gets used to going on it.
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Hi hive! I'm hoping somebody might be able to offer advice I haven't found elsewhere. Or, venting might make me feel better.
We have had our puppy Leroy for about 4 weeks now. He's 12 weeks old. We are using the crate training method, and have been careful not to give him too much room to use the bathroom in one end and sleep in the other. THIS IS NOT WORKING. Instead what's happening is he pees AND poops in his crate, while I am at work and it's only for 4 hours because I come home at lunch to let him out. This is getting really gross because he lays in it and then I have to clean both him and the crate on my lunch hour.
We take him out all of the time when we're home. He mostly goes outside. He hasn't started telling us he needs to go out, we just have been reading some signs.
We take him out a lot before we leave for work and he usually has a couple of big pees before we leave. Also, we are limiting his water intake so we know when he's had a drink and when he's relieved himself.
I am just getting very frustrated. Cleaning up after him every day like this is really hard. My hands are dry from all the cleaner.
Help!