Crate training question

[barebonephoto]

Hello,

We have only had Sophie for less than a week so I don't expect perfection when it comes to crate training.

She is 12 weeks old and was the "runt" of the litter.

She is great when I can spend 24/7 with her. She dosen't ever make a mess because I watch her like a hawk. But when she has to be alone in the crate for more than 2 hours she pees. Now I know she is little but am I expecting too much of her. Should I be letting her out every 2 hours even if she is sleeping?
When am I ever going to sleep again?

We have an area where she can be gated in that is larger than the crate but she will have accidents. And I don't know if it better for her to have accidents in her room or her crate.

I've read many a great post on here. but am still confused as to the best route.

How long is to long in the crate?(12 weeks old and 7.5 lbs)
And if we are going to be longer should I put her in her gated room? Even if there are accidents?

Thanks in advance,

barebonephoto

[imogene]

You sound like me back in December- I found the whole idea of house training very confusing. Once I realized that puppies are babies and need to be on a schedule everything fell into place. We have a 100% house trained 13 month old - brilliant Black Brindle, and in a moment of Frenchie induced craziness we decided to get another puppy - so we are starting all over againappicon

I got some great advice from the more experienced owners of this forum. The most important was setting up a schedule. From what I have learned the whole point of crate training is to teach them bladder control - so you want to place them in a situation where they have the most incentive to hold it - usually the easiest way to do that is with a crate. How big is your crate - She only needs enough space to sit, lie down and turn around. In the case of Sam - my 4 month old puppy he is only getting about a 14 x 14 inch area of his 32x22 crate. Oh and we had to remove all his bedding durring the day - as he will use bedding like pee pads. He gets a stuffed Kong and some hard toys, but no stuffies either. We started him with 2 hours shifts in his crate - making sure he had played and peed and was tired before putting him in. He got up to 2.5 to 3 hours and then learned that if he peed he got out! evilicon After that he wouldn't hold it for 10 minutes let alone 3 hours. It has took me weeks to get him back up to 3 hours. I have noticed that if something changes he reverts. Things were especially bad over the long weekend - when we got off schedule. He was actually doing fine at 4 hours, and I have had to bump him back to 3 for a bit - because he started peeing again. I am thinking I am expecting too much of him. I didn't have Belzie (our older Frenchie at 4 hours so young)

Belzie was 17 weeks when we got her and I started crating her for 3 hours in the morning and 3 hours in the afternoon - and did that for a full 5 weeks before going to 3.5 for a week, and then to 4 hours. I got her up to 7 hours and kept her at one 7.5 crate session durring the day for a few months. She had her last accident at 7.5 month and after that she just got it. By 9.5 months we knew she was 100%. We went on a road trip and she was perfect every new place we went to. After that we started giving her a bit more freedom and by her 1 year birthday we started trusting her alone in the house. I no longer crate her durring the day, but she still sleeps in it at night. - and most of the time when we leave her home she gets freedom.

I think we may have had a breakthrough with Sam too - This morning I saw him sniff and then sit at the door. So I took him out and he actually went. I was very happy, because he has been peeing whenever and where - ever the urge dictates:lol:

Best of Luck - and please remember to be patient and keep us updated:)

[barebonephoto]

We have put a routine into place and Sophie seems to be doing better.
We give her treats right after she pee's and has a BM and that seems to get rid of the accidents.

One other question I do have is:

How does your dog ask to go outside?

Sophie is really quiet. We were thinking of trying the bell thing. But what happens when you go to somone elses house?

Emma

[bulldoggin30]

When Dutchie was younger he would stop whatever he was doing and come stand in between my feet! :eek: That was very helpful, especially when we were at someone else's house. Now he just comes over and looks at me. We have the telepathy down. :lol:

[citygirl]

One other question I do have is:

How does your dog ask to go outside?



My dogs go stand by the door. If I don't notice them standing there, they get pretty insistent -- they'll scratch on it to let me know they need to go out.

[welshfrenchie]

Our frenchie is 15 weeks old and is 99% house trained

From 10 weeks to 12 weeks he would mess/pee anywhere in the kitchen whenever it took his fancy. Once he completed his shots at 12 weeks we immediatly started walking him and the first walk resulted in him messing outside. From that day he would only do his business outside. When the backdoor is open during the day he will go outside by himself when he needs to, or hold it in if the door is closed. On his afternon walk he will mess/pee, in the evenings putting him outside every couple of hours and tellling him to 'hurry up' results in him peeing/messing if he nees to. In the night he is crated around 11PM in the kitchen and stays there until 7AM. Only twice in the last 10 days has he messed or peed in the crate during the night.

First thing in the morning the back door is opened and he goes out in his own time to do his business. We've had him 5 weeks now and we are amazed he has got the hang of it so quickly.

I think we're lucky, the only time he is alone is the 8 hours a night he is in his crate, the other 16 hours he allways has had a human around him, (being self employed and working from home helps) and if he is crated during the day if we go out, he wont do anything in the crate at all.

The commands he has learnt allready is suprising us:

Come = will come to us when called, in house or outside when of the leash.
Hurry Up = go to toilet if he needs to
Fetch= He will go and grab a toy and bring it over even if it is in another room
Leave it = Will stop what he is trying to pick up (usually a slug or wild fungus/mushroom, sweet wrapper, shoe, eat the cat food etc)
Go to Bed= Will bound over to his crate and jump into his bed
Stop Now= Stops barking when the door knocks or people walk by the backyard

I thought we were in for a tough time with the housebreaking reading other peoples posts but i think we have been blessed, he seems to have just 'got it' so quickly

[barebonephoto]

Hello to you all!

Thanks for all your comments and ideas.

Sophie has finally got it down. I'm actually convinced that it was the food she was on ( too much salt, hence a huge water in take). We switched to Wellness and now she can hold her pee.

She is sleeping throught the night and my husband even has to wake her up in the morning.

She has started going to the door when she needs to go out.

How exciting she is only 15 weeks and seems to be getting it. I think the puppy classes are working!

Emma

[Boykins]

Glad to know your puppy is starting to get it! It feels like such an accomplishment when you make such progress with your pup.

Boykins took to standing at the top of the staircase that leads to the outside door. I'm convinced she wouldn't have learned to do this if we didn't always take her out through that door, so I will always say consistency is important!

We continue to watch her very closely, but I do think that in the last week or so it's like the proverbial switch has been turned on and she's really starting to get it. I no longer have to take her outside every 45 minutes after I return from work...She enjoys one long walk (weather permitting) when I get home, then seems to be able to hold it so she really only has to go out a couple of times before bed. We're so ecouraged by this, I can hardly express it in words! :lol:

--sarah and boykins