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<DIV><FONT face=Baltimore color=#800000>Maybe I'm too lax or just too lazy but I
don't really expect a 5 month old puppy to be completely
housebroken. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Baltimore color=#800000></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Baltimore color=#800000>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.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Baltimore color=#800000>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.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Baltimore color=#800000>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.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Baltimore color=#800000>I use the pens because I don't think I
could deal with taking a puppy out every 20 min. to pee.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Baltimore color=#800000>And if you are only feeding twice a day
your pup should only be pooing twice.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Baltimore color=#800000>There may be food issues going on,
too.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Baltimore color=#800000>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.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Baltimore color=#800000></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Baltimore color=#800000>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.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Baltimore color=#800000></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Baltimore color=#800000>Cathy</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Baltimore color=#800000></FONT> </DIV>
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