Puppies – Crate training for the working household?
Posted on Aug 22, 2010 under training puppies | 12 CommentsMy husband and I are thinking of getting a golden retriever puppy. We both work 10 hour days, 4 days a week. I don’t want to leave her in the crate for that long, however I don’t want her to have "accidents" all over our brand new home. Our backyard isn’t landscaped yet, so it’s just dirt and it may not be a good idea to leave her out there.
We do have another dog, about 5 years old, who is of course completely trained.
Does anyone with experience have any suggestions for potty/crate training our puppy?
*Another reason she would not be able to be left outside is the fact that we live in Arizona, wayyy too hot. It’s supposed to be 114 degrees today!
***We can’t stop home on our lunch break, our commute is about half an hour.
I have crate trained both of my dogs (one is 3 years old, the other is 6 months old). The rule of thumb I use (I work at a vet hospital and discussed this with the vets) is that the puppy can hold its urine 1 hour for every month in age it is (ex: 3 months old, can hold for 3 hours). Obviously there are exceptions, but as a general rule I followed this. 10 hours, in my opinion, is far too long to be in a crate, even for adult dogs. The absolute maximum I will leave an adult dog crated is 8 hours. With my puppies I took them outside every 30-60 minutes and also right after they ate, drank or had a good play session.
If your puppy does have an accident in the house you can only correct them if you catch them in the act, not after! If s/he starts to urinate, firmly say "no" (no screaming and do not use their name and then "no"), pick them up, take them outside and quietly praise them during the act and after.
I hope this helps.
August 22nd, 2010 at 11:53 am
Crate training is a good idea, but 10 hours is too long to leave the puppy in the crate. You’d have to be home to take him out pretty often in the beginning. Most puppies can’t hold it more than 2-3 hours. Plus, goldens are known to be super hyper for the first few years. They are good dogs, but need a lot of exercise and playtime. You wouldn’t want to put the puppy outside, because they are susceptible to heat stroke, etc. A good solution would be to hire a dog walker, make sure at least one of you is home all the time, or maybe get a golden that is a couple of years old and already housetrained so it’s not an issue.
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August 22nd, 2010 at 12:04 pm
Well make your puppy pee/poop in a certain area that you want her too (on a newspaper ofcourse) direct her to that spot and whenever she pees/poops outside of that are put the puppy in her cage. after a while she’ll get the hang of it.
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August 22nd, 2010 at 12:47 pm
consider a dog walker or a pet sitting service
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August 22nd, 2010 at 1:19 pm
If you are working those hours then please don’t get a retreiver – they are unbelievably active and need tons of exercise or they get boistrous and destructive. There are special retreiver rescue places full of them as people don’t realise how active they are and can’t cope. If you really want another dog then I would go for something smaller that will become adult quicker and be easier to crate humanely. Maybe you could arrange for someone to call for an hou in the middle of the day? Or could you get an outdor run with shelter? Good luck whatever you decide.
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August 22nd, 2010 at 2:05 pm
First thing in the morning, either you or your husband need to walk the puppy. Let her play while you’re getting redy for work then put her back in her crate. The crate should be kept in a bathroom/laundry room so that she will be able to come in and out of it as she pleases. Place puppy wee pads on the floor but not all over the floor, just in one or two places and give her plenty of food and water. Put up a gate or close the door.
You can not leave a puppy in a crate for 10 hrs a day without letting her go potty.
Take her age and turn it into hours…if she is 4 months old then that would be 4 hrs…that is the length of time she will be able to hold her business until she goes where she wants to
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crate trained our dog
August 22nd, 2010 at 2:34 pm
I have crate trained both of my dogs (one is 3 years old, the other is 6 months old). The rule of thumb I use (I work at a vet hospital and discussed this with the vets) is that the puppy can hold its urine 1 hour for every month in age it is (ex: 3 months old, can hold for 3 hours). Obviously there are exceptions, but as a general rule I followed this. 10 hours, in my opinion, is far too long to be in a crate, even for adult dogs. The absolute maximum I will leave an adult dog crated is 8 hours. With my puppies I took them outside every 30-60 minutes and also right after they ate, drank or had a good play session.
If your puppy does have an accident in the house you can only correct them if you catch them in the act, not after! If s/he starts to urinate, firmly say "no" (no screaming and do not use their name and then "no"), pick them up, take them outside and quietly praise them during the act and after.
I hope this helps.
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August 22nd, 2010 at 2:45 pm
When I got my puppy I made sure it was at a time where I was able to take two weeks off of work and school so I could get him accustomed to my house and make sure he was comfortable in his crate. I usually leave him in his crate for about 6 hours a day with some water, a fan on him, and three kongs filled with yummy treats to keep him occupied. 10 hours is a long time and a puppy will not be able to hold their bladder that long and will have an accident and then not understand what the crate is designed for. Dogs don’t like to be near their mess but if your pup has an accident it won’t have much choice in his crate and will get used to be nearing his waste and think its OK. If I were you I would make sure I could stop home on my lunch break and take the puppy out for a nice work or even hire a dog walker to come once a day.
Good luck!
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August 22nd, 2010 at 2:55 pm
Here;s some links about crate training:
http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/housebreaking.htm
http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/cratetraining.htm
Some links about Goldens:
http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/goldenretriever.htm
http://us.eukanuba.com/eukanuba/en_US/jsp/Euk_Page.jsp?pageID=DBSLA&breedName=78
Hope you can get that adorable puppy you want!
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August 22nd, 2010 at 3:01 pm
I crate trained my 11 week pitbull,we first gotten him at 6 weeks of age. They have crates at walmart they come with seperaters. Giver her enough room to lay down and turn around comfortably, NO MORE. They will not go where they have to sleep. At first she may wake you up seems like every hour let her out of the cage long enough to go potty, and right back in the cage. I laid next to my puppy in the cage and rubbed his head till he went to sleep. I also put a shirt i just worn in the crate, has my smell on it. after a week she should be fine in the crate at night. I just now stopped crating him at night, hes doing fine! Also when your home leave the door to the crate open, let her in and out freely. also when my puppy would go in the crate i would praise him. He loves his crate.
Do you work close by to where you live to let her out on your lunch breaks. I wouldnt leave her just yet that long. After a she gets the hang of the crate i would start to leave her in there alone. Thats what i am doing im starting a job in the next 2 weeks and im starting to get him use to being left alone. I think after a lil while she will be fine.Before you leave give her a nice long walk and play with her tire her out. After a few weeks if you feel shes ready to be in a room then let her out of the crate. Everyones saying its mean but i know for a fact he can hold it in for 8 hours he does it at night. I hoped this helped GOOD LUCK!!
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11 week pitbull~Rozko~
August 22nd, 2010 at 3:38 pm
You might want to reconsider the age of the pup you want…I’d go with an older one or perhaps a young adult….
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August 22nd, 2010 at 4:20 pm
I know a lot of people think crates are cruel, but I think dogs are fine in them myself. I think they are great for potty training as well. I found that to also to be the easiest and fastest method to potty train my dogs. Since dogs don’t like to potty where they are going to sleep it is best to get a crate that is not too large for them, because if it is they will simply potty in one corner and lay in another. Since you have a golden retriever, and they grow large, if you don’t want to waste money on a small one they will outgrow, you can get a larger crate, just block off an area of it until she grows into it. When you get home from work, you will let her outside to potty, first thing, and leave her out there until she does her business. If she doesn’t and seems determined to come inside, let her back in but put her right back in her crate. Leave her in there for a short while and let her right back outside. Once she goes potty she can come in and play like she normally would. Soon enough she will learn that she is to go potty right when she goes outside and she will learn to just go to the door herself. Golden Retrievers are smart dogs and dogs in general are smart and want to please you. Just make sure to give lots of praise when she goes potty outside. Also, if you happen to see her go inside, bring her to it, tell her "NO" and put her outside. Don’t punish her in her crate if she potties inside, because then she looks at the crate as a bad place, and it’s not a bad place.
Hope that helps
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August 22nd, 2010 at 5:01 pm
Unfortunately, I don’t think getting a puppy is a good idea. They need a ton of attention and exercise. If you are both going to be gone that long you would need to have someone come home to walk the dog in the afternoon. Dogs won’t potty in their crate and a puppy can’t hold it for 10 hours.
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