@servintheking I got a dog walker who comes at lunchtime for an hour. My dog was abandoned at about 6 weeks old someone put him in a backpack and dumped him on a doorstep he needed a home stat so I didn't have much time to prepare I was lucky I was off work at the time so we had a week to sort the basics, we trained separation anxiety, crate/pen and toilet from day one. He has never done an accident in his pen or crate which is amazing, he just sleeps the whole time I'm at work. That hour out with playtime and lunch and toilet break is the key.
Those of you with full-time jobs out of the home - how do you do it?
- Thread starter servintheking
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- discussion puppy 101
@servintheking My husband and I work opposite schedules. It’s the only way we made it work. When we first brought home our pup, we were up every hour to potty. We also crate train. We genuinely were sleep deprived the first 4 months. We fought a lot. I think every day I screamed about taking her back or finding her a new home. We would never do that but it was super hard.
The biggest help was finding a doggy daycare (which I know not everyone can afford). We take her once a week to our local Dogtopia. It cost us $38. It’s well worth it for us. She gets to play and it wears her out. We will take her twice a week if it’s a heavy rain week or if I have to go to a facility pretty far from home.
The biggest help was finding a doggy daycare (which I know not everyone can afford). We take her once a week to our local Dogtopia. It cost us $38. It’s well worth it for us. She gets to play and it wears her out. We will take her twice a week if it’s a heavy rain week or if I have to go to a facility pretty far from home.
amrobbins22
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@amrobbins22 Nope! Not at all! We have a very well socialized little pup. They also separate the rowdy, big dogs, and the small dogs have their own area.
amrobbins22
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@amrobbins22 My puppy goes to doggy daycare daily, he is 6 months now. He started at 4 months old. He is more independent now, he listens better now. He can go upstairs and play by himself now. My puppy is VERY energetic and active. Although it cost $580 a month, it’s worth it.
servintheking
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Wow, you guys are my heroes. Sounds like a lot of work and a lot of driving back-and-forth during lunch breaks and stuff. I admire your commitment. You all seem very well organized and consistent.
bushidogrendel
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@servintheking I wake up extra early and play with her for an hour before work. My mom, grandma, mother in law, and sister take turns coming to the house on lunch break to let her out and play a little. We dedicate a lot of time after work to playing.
@servintheking I am out of the house 730-4/430. My spouse is usually out of the house from 5-3. My teenager does online high school so he takes the puppy out in the middle of the day to potty and eat lunch. If he has time he takes her out more, but she's fine with going in her crate at 730-11 then 12ish-3.
If my son wasn't home to take her out, we would pay for a dog walker to come everyday midday.
I had a week off when we first got her. She came from the breeder at 9 weeks essentially potty trained (has only had 2 accidents in the house and never in her crate). She is 14 weeks now and doing well with training! People have had dogs and jobs for ages. It's only recently that work from home became so common. They make do!
If my son wasn't home to take her out, we would pay for a dog walker to come everyday midday.
I had a week off when we first got her. She came from the breeder at 9 weeks essentially potty trained (has only had 2 accidents in the house and never in her crate). She is 14 weeks now and doing well with training! People have had dogs and jobs for ages. It's only recently that work from home became so common. They make do!
jcfamilylife
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@servintheking I work nights full-time since I have a 7 month old baby that I have during the day and his dad has him at night. I make sure to take her out and all that before I head out, crate her and then about halfway through my shift or so, my son's father will go let her out, feed her since she's only 8 weeks old and then let her out once more before he crates her back up and head out. I try to stay pretty on top of it so theres less of a chance she pees in her crate and since I've had her home in the last 4 days, she's only gone in her crate once or twice and usually opts to go on the floor right outside her crate if you don't get her out fast enough. I personally refuse to use puppy pads because it teaches them to go on an soft white surface (dress, sweaters, rugs, etc.) and makes the house training process longer ♡
EDIT: It CAN make it longer, it's not the same for every pup as each dog is different. Just a tip I got from some professional dog trainers!
EDIT: It CAN make it longer, it's not the same for every pup as each dog is different. Just a tip I got from some professional dog trainers!
@jcfamilylife
Offering a personal experience as a counter-perspective to that:
I bought a doggy toilet tray with a 'crated lid' to put the pad inside (ended using a washable one to save up), so what my puppy got used to wasn't a soft surface, but a crated one, which is not available anywhere else in my house. He used that until he was about 5.5 months old and started on his actual walks.
As for making house training longer... That's probably puppy dependent. My pup fully shifted to outdoors potty within a month or so of going outside, but I was pretty dilligent in marking and treating every pee and poop he made outside, as well as offering a bit of sniff time.
Nowadays at 9 mo, he's 'hybrid' trained, which means that he'll hold as much as he can until I'm back home, or to wait for his assigned potty outs, but if by some reason he can't go outside (rainstorm, or me getting late home), he relieves himself in the doggy toilet that still sits in a corner of my laundry room.
Offering a personal experience as a counter-perspective to that:
I bought a doggy toilet tray with a 'crated lid' to put the pad inside (ended using a washable one to save up), so what my puppy got used to wasn't a soft surface, but a crated one, which is not available anywhere else in my house. He used that until he was about 5.5 months old and started on his actual walks.
As for making house training longer... That's probably puppy dependent. My pup fully shifted to outdoors potty within a month or so of going outside, but I was pretty dilligent in marking and treating every pee and poop he made outside, as well as offering a bit of sniff time.
Nowadays at 9 mo, he's 'hybrid' trained, which means that he'll hold as much as he can until I'm back home, or to wait for his assigned potty outs, but if by some reason he can't go outside (rainstorm, or me getting late home), he relieves himself in the doggy toilet that still sits in a corner of my laundry room.
jcfamilylife
New member
where did you get this magical doggy toilet ? I might just need to look into that ! Maybe I can teach my 11 month pup to be hybrid trained as well lol@jcfamilylife Saw one at Petsmart today by the pee pads.
@jcfamilylife https://www.amazon.com.br/Sanitario...12&mcid=442774e1b1c43dcfb62e0a3b9b4ff2b2&th=1
This type of thing. Be mindful that some of them have this kind of cover that looks like a lid with holes in it, but the space between the holes accumulate pee really fast, so I opted for one that the lid actually resembles a crate. Also try to get the biggest you can.
Somebody advised me that training hybrid works best if you teach your puppy to pee on cue, because sometimes they actually forget how to do it indoors, which mine didn't yet.
This type of thing. Be mindful that some of them have this kind of cover that looks like a lid with holes in it, but the space between the holes accumulate pee really fast, so I opted for one that the lid actually resembles a crate. Also try to get the biggest you can.
Somebody advised me that training hybrid works best if you teach your puppy to pee on cue, because sometimes they actually forget how to do it indoors, which mine didn't yet.
@jcfamilylife I think they mean *grated. Like it holds a pad down and then has a plastic mesh over the top. You can get them on Amazon/Temu for sure.
It’s not a very common choice, I think probably because if you wanted to do it long term like the hybrid system above you would probably need quite a small dog (although it’s not like puppy pads are huge so I dunno) but I have litter box trained my dog. It works really well and I much prefer it because it’s cheaper and I don’t feel bad about all the plastic I’m sending to landfill. And other than a couple of accidents when he was a lot younger on door/bath mats at people’s houses, where we took him over and didn’t take him out often enough for what his bladder could hold (because I guess we didn’t really know), and he didn’t know where he was supposed to go, we’ve had no issues with inappropriate toileting on soft things. We actually barely had any accidents full stop and he basically transitioned himself to where now he’ll hold on for walks by choice if he can, but is very compliant about being asked to use it right before bed.
It’s not a very common choice, I think probably because if you wanted to do it long term like the hybrid system above you would probably need quite a small dog (although it’s not like puppy pads are huge so I dunno) but I have litter box trained my dog. It works really well and I much prefer it because it’s cheaper and I don’t feel bad about all the plastic I’m sending to landfill. And other than a couple of accidents when he was a lot younger on door/bath mats at people’s houses, where we took him over and didn’t take him out often enough for what his bladder could hold (because I guess we didn’t really know), and he didn’t know where he was supposed to go, we’ve had no issues with inappropriate toileting on soft things. We actually barely had any accidents full stop and he basically transitioned himself to where now he’ll hold on for walks by choice if he can, but is very compliant about being asked to use it right before bed.
@jcfamilylife All of my small dogs(< 10 lbs) have been exclusively trained on potty pads. They never peed on any soft white surface other than their potty pads. During their potty training, their accidents would just be on the carpet/floor as any other dog.
I think your premise that potty pads teach them to go on any soft white surface is off. I’ve also never heard this from anyone else who’s used potty pads.
I think your premise that potty pads teach them to go on any soft white surface is off. I’ve also never heard this from anyone else who’s used potty pads.
jcfamilylife
New member
@olenihc I got the tip directly from multiple dog trainers! I also have read multiple first hand accounts in which owners have admitted to regretting the puppy pads as it prolonged house training, so it's definitely not off. Obviously not all dogs will treat puppy pads the same way but just something to think about!
Also, neither of my puppies are small breeds (Dalmatian Lab Mix, 11mo, and German Shepherd Mix, 8wo) so it could very well be a tip just for large breeds but I can't say for certain!
Also, neither of my puppies are small breeds (Dalmatian Lab Mix, 11mo, and German Shepherd Mix, 8wo) so it could very well be a tip just for large breeds but I can't say for certain!
@jcfamilylife Oh I see. My dogs varied a lot in how long it took to house train, from 2 weeks to 4 months. All of my large dogs have been trained outside only because it’s just too much pee for a potty pad.
Though when I first got my German shepherd, she peed often on potty pads solely from watching my small dog do it. Not necessarily ideal, but the best place to have an accident.
Though when I first got my German shepherd, she peed often on potty pads solely from watching my small dog do it. Not necessarily ideal, but the best place to have an accident.
constantlyseeking
New member
@servintheking Setup a crate that opens to a playpen. Toys and water on one side and puppy pads on the other side. The puppy learns to use the pads until they are older and can hold it. Then I switch to a crate only when they are able to hold it for 8 hours.
Not hard but takes total commitment to care for the puppy early before work for a couple hours and dedicated time after work.
Not hard but takes total commitment to care for the puppy early before work for a couple hours and dedicated time after work.