Need Suggestions for Potty Training

mekdessie\";p=\"84126 said:

Can anyone suggest the best way to potty train for working parents who can't leave to let them out in the middle of the day?

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how old is your dog?

Crate them.

Crating doesn't always work, unfortunately...

Beaux won't go potties in the house, but will pee/poo in his crate until kingdom come. He seems to have no issue deficating where he sleeps

(just forewarning you...)

I think I'm probably in the minority on this though.

We had that problem with Lucy initially but found that her crate was too big. We got her a smaller crate and she hasn't had an accident since.

Eh his crate was so small at one point (I have the divider) that he could barely turn around...

All that putting Beaux in a smaller crate does, is make him walk around in it and then paw at the cage. My dog is vindictive at times, and hates being in the crate.

he is 5-1/2 months old...i don't think its a good idea to crate him for 8hrs

mekdessie\";p=\"84145 said:

he is 5-1/2 months old...i don't think its a good idea to crate him for 8hrs

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that is still pretty young.  I dont know the exact time that a dog that age can hold their movements.  When Shaun and I were both working Jessie was crated for 12 hours sometimes.  But again its totally up to you if you dont want to crate but its not a bad idea by any means.

Hire a dog walker.  Put 'em in doggie daycare.  Find a family member/friend who can come by to let them out.  Short of that, give them free run of part of the house.  Got a garage?  A basement?  A big bathroom?  All of these are better options than being crated all day.  Hey I might be able to hold it for 8+ hours, but I wouldn't be very happy.

Lucy is crated sometimes for 8-9 hours and she does fine. Any longer than that, I have my pet sitter drop by and let them out.

We have to keep in mind that this is a 5.5 month old pup too.. they usually cannot hold their bladder or bowels for eight hours everyday.  If there is no way you can arrange for him to be let out during the day I would confine him to an area of the house (preferably with laminate or tile floors for easy clean up ).  Make it a small area with nothing that he can chew up or hurt himself on.  A gate in the kitchen or bathroom would be good.  there are also play pens you can buy, though I don't know how well that would hold a boxer pup.
In a few months he should be better able to hold it and then you can leave him crated.  I would still work on crate training if you aren't already though, you can use it for shorter absences like grocery shopping or going out.
Good luck!

Duke has been crated since we got him at 8 weeks old for about 8 hrs a day (during the week) he had a few accidents in his crate but he is about a year old now and he can hold it forever it seems like.  He won't got potty right when we get home so he ends up not going potty for about 9 to 10 hours.  It just takes them time.  If you can make it home at lunch that might help alot.  Otherwise you can do what some others said, hire someone or have a friend come home.  Or be prepared to clean up messes for a little while longer.  At 5 1/2 months it shouldn't be much longer and he will be able to hold it.  Duke has no problem going into his crate.  He likes it, maybe not for 8 hours but that is safest for him right now (he is a bit distructive when left out).

He does have free roam of the kitchen and living room...since he can jump the gate i bought to keep him confined to the kitchen...I lay paper down in the kitchen for him and he will l go on it but lately he's going on the living room floor by the front door as well...i don't want to lay paper down in the living room because lately he 's playing with the dirty paper and making a bigger mess.