CrateTraining/Potty Training Puppy

by Carolyn
(Santa Clara, CA)

Hello,

My parents just got a new puppy, named Toby. Cutest little guy in the whole world. We love him very much :) Currently, the pup lives in a warm shelter outside and he seems to really like it. He sleeps in there a lot and when my parents come home, he's very excited to play.

However, I really do not want the puppy to become an outside pet and I really want it to be potty trained and become an inside pet. However my parents have odd working hours so it is hard to crate train.

My parents work from 11-2 every day and then from 5-11. The time period we are worried about is from 5-11, nobody is home to open the crate for him to go to the bathroom. With this schedule, is house breaking even possible? Any advice or tips will be very appreciated!

Thanks,
Carolyn







Hi Carolyn
Obviously it's much better for a puppy (or an adult dog) to live indoors with his family rather than stay outside alone... and to do this you need to potty train him.

Crate training is the best option, but young puppies do have limited bladder/bowel control so a lot depends on how old your puppy is, what breed he is and so on.

Medium to larger breeds can usually 'hold it' a little better than the tiny ones, and a pup of less than 8 weeks has almost no control over his elimination habits.

After 8 weeks they can generally stay clean and dry in their crate for 2 - 3 hours maximum during the day, and maybe a bit longer at night. But every puppy is different, some can go 5 or 6 hours, others barely 2. You'd need to use some trial-and-error here to find out what Toby's abilities are.

As he grows older his bladder/bowel control will get much better and for an adolescent or adult dog, being left for 6 hours in his crate would be okay... as long as he has plenty of one-on-one playtime and social interaction during the rest of the day.

I'd recommend that you read both my How To Potty Train A Puppy and Crate Training A Puppy pages as they have all the tips, advice and information that you need to housebreak Toby.

Perhaps you could even get a friend, neighbor or relative to go to your home during the hours that your parents work in the evening to let Toby out of his crate to relieve himself?

It does time time, effort and a lot of patience to potty train a puppy, but it's more than worth it. I wish lots of luck, enjoy your new pup.