[Dailydrool] Puppy Potty Training

[Cblatz]

Maybe I'm too lax or just too lazy but I don't really expect a 5 month old puppy to be completely housebroken.    

All my puppies (whether bought or bred) start out in their own little ex-pen area attached to their crate.   Crate for sleeping, and a papered area.  The paper area is gradually made smaller.  The door to the crate is only closed at night.  First thing in the morning they go out and after meals.   They leave their area (you can gate off the kitchen) after going potty and only when I can supervise what they are doing.   As they get older they pee and poo less and less and eventually they never go on the paper in their area.   At that point their bladders & bowels are mature enough to wait to go outside.
I do not keep my dogs (all 10 of them) in crates on a regular basis.  Most sleep in closed crates and some when I'm not home.
At one point we had 2 Basset puppies at the same time,  one was 4 months old and one was 5 months old when we got them.  Most of the dining room was theirs.  2 crates with expens attached.   It wasn't long before both were housebroken.
I use the pens because I don't think I could deal with taking a puppy out every 20 min. to pee.
And if you are only feeding twice a day your pup should only be pooing twice.
There may be food issues going on, too.
Right now I have a 5 month old Dachshund pup I bred.  She is completely paper trained and pretty much has the run of the house because I know she will always run back to her paper.  But she still pees more often then the adults.   By Spring she'll be down to peeing a couple times a day and the papers will disappear.

The Light Bulb will go off.  But you have to be consistent and your expectations must be realistic.   Praise Praise Praise for doing the right thing.   And if you don't see him doing the wrong thing just clean it up and ignore the bad behavior.

Cathy

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