I remember Willow suggesting that i not give Maverick free roam of the house at his age (4 mo) and keep him tethered to me so that i can catch him when he has an accident. I have been doing this now for a few weeks and it has pretty much been going great, no accidents in the house as long as we take him out every few hours and when he comes out of his crate.
My question is, is it cruel to have him always confined in some way. He is either in his crate, when we are at school/work or sleep or tethered to us. He isnt allowed to just walk freely around the house. Is this fair? Am I doing things right? I feel like I am being too confining with him. He does go on walks and gets free play time which is off leash and supervised for about an hour a day and also he gets "together time" before bed for about 30 mins to an hour where he just lays in bed with us and chills out.
How do i make the transition from the tether to a little more free roam (supervised of course) time? We are now allowing him about 20 mins of free roaming time after each potty break to see how he does. I know he is not housebroken because he will not tell me when he needs to go pee (sometimes he gives a little bark) and if i do not take him out on time he will try and pee or poop in the house.
How will the housebreaking thing work? will i always have to time things or will there come a point where he will hold it till i let him out or give me notice himself that he needs to go pee?
So many questions. sorry about this.
Oh btw when he is tethered he has about 6 feet of lead to walk away from me and come back to me etc.
My question is, is it cruel to have him always confined in some way. He is either in his crate, when we are at school/work or sleep or tethered to us. He isnt allowed to just walk freely around the house. Is this fair? Am I doing things right? I feel like I am being too confining with him. He does go on walks and gets free play time which is off leash and supervised for about an hour a day and also he gets "together time" before bed for about 30 mins to an hour where he just lays in bed with us and chills out.
How do i make the transition from the tether to a little more free roam (supervised of course) time? We are now allowing him about 20 mins of free roaming time after each potty break to see how he does. I know he is not housebroken because he will not tell me when he needs to go pee (sometimes he gives a little bark) and if i do not take him out on time he will try and pee or poop in the house.
How will the housebreaking thing work? will i always have to time things or will there come a point where he will hold it till i let him out or give me notice himself that he needs to go pee?
So many questions. sorry about this.
Oh btw when he is tethered he has about 6 feet of lead to walk away from me and come back to me etc.