I have a 14 week old Border Collie X, and I work 10 hour shifts. For now, I have been crating him at night while I sleep (6.5-7 hours), play actively with him (or go for gentle, age appropriate walks, or work on training sessions for 5 minutes at a time, etc) until I leave for work at 2 pm. He gets half his breakfast (all kibble) in his dish to eat after he toilets outside, then I use the rest as positive reinforcement for any and all good behaviors I see during from when we wake up (930 am) to when I leave (2 pm). Training to this point includes Sit, Lay Down, Gimme Knuckles, Please (drop it), Rollover, Leave it, Touch my Hand, Potty, Kennel Up, Look at Me and Off. We are working on Heel position too, but that's not going as well.
I tried to keep him in an exercise pen in the kitchen on the waterproof flooring, but I felt the long hours and his inability to hold it were setting back the progress on potty training by it being a double standard, so I fenced off a 15' X 15' area in the front yard, added a large dog house and plenty of shade, as well as an auto-waterer. Before I leave for work, I mix up his afternoon meal (1/2 kibble, 1/2 wet food), stuff a Kong, and set out his chews (all natural animal chews, no stuffed toys or plastics, etc for when he isn't supervised). I leave him in the outdoor X pen and he seems to LOVE it! He never barks, whines or shows any separation anxiety. (In fact, he doesn't cry in the crate either, whether I am around or not!)
I come home at midnight and he is calm and happy to see me. He has had plenty of fresh air, lots of open space to laze in the grass, bugs to chase (his favorite thing ever!), a corner where he toilets, his food and fresh water.
Does this seem unreasonable? If the weather is awful, I have crated him, and come home on my lunch to let him out. There is virtually no risk of theft or anyone harassing him as I live in the country and my yard is several hundred yards off the road which is rarely traveled. He is too large for birds of prey to harass, etc. He is fully vetted too. This is not a permanent solution. As soon as he can be bed trained (sleep in bed with me without risk of pottying), I will no longer crate him at night. As soon as he is fully house trained, he will be allowed loose in a portion of the house to be determined later.
My questions are:
Is it bad to leave him outside in good weather? It seems to me that an indoor X pen would be more confining and less fresh air, etc. Any advice on transitioning to indoor days? How will I know he is ready?
How long until I can reasonably try to allow him sleeping in the bed? He is still not quite big/brave enough to jump out of the bed. How do I go about this change?
I tried to keep him in an exercise pen in the kitchen on the waterproof flooring, but I felt the long hours and his inability to hold it were setting back the progress on potty training by it being a double standard, so I fenced off a 15' X 15' area in the front yard, added a large dog house and plenty of shade, as well as an auto-waterer. Before I leave for work, I mix up his afternoon meal (1/2 kibble, 1/2 wet food), stuff a Kong, and set out his chews (all natural animal chews, no stuffed toys or plastics, etc for when he isn't supervised). I leave him in the outdoor X pen and he seems to LOVE it! He never barks, whines or shows any separation anxiety. (In fact, he doesn't cry in the crate either, whether I am around or not!)
I come home at midnight and he is calm and happy to see me. He has had plenty of fresh air, lots of open space to laze in the grass, bugs to chase (his favorite thing ever!), a corner where he toilets, his food and fresh water.
Does this seem unreasonable? If the weather is awful, I have crated him, and come home on my lunch to let him out. There is virtually no risk of theft or anyone harassing him as I live in the country and my yard is several hundred yards off the road which is rarely traveled. He is too large for birds of prey to harass, etc. He is fully vetted too. This is not a permanent solution. As soon as he can be bed trained (sleep in bed with me without risk of pottying), I will no longer crate him at night. As soon as he is fully house trained, he will be allowed loose in a portion of the house to be determined later.
My questions are:
Is it bad to leave him outside in good weather? It seems to me that an indoor X pen would be more confining and less fresh air, etc. Any advice on transitioning to indoor days? How will I know he is ready?
How long until I can reasonably try to allow him sleeping in the bed? He is still not quite big/brave enough to jump out of the bed. How do I go about this change?