Hello All,
My family and I have decided we will be getting GSD and will be bringing him home in March. We have previously owned one but rescued him later in life, he came trained and house broken, and has since passed away. My husband and I have never potty trained a puppy but understand it will require a lot of work. My husband works a typical 8am-6pm job, Monday-Friday and does not have the option of coming home for lunch. I work 3 days a week, Tuesday-Thursday from 9am-5pm without the option of coming home for lunch. I take our son to daycare before work so we both leave around 7:30am and return home around 6:30pm. I know that this is will be too long for a puppy to be able to hold going to the bathroom so I have been thinking about crating him in a large cageish crate with a separate area for a potty box with puppy pads and another area for him to move around and eat/drink in. I was thinking then at night and for the remained of our waking hours that I am not at work (the remaining 4 days) I could move the potty box out near the kitchen door close to our backyard to have him go there and eventually bring the box outside. I'm hoping that once he can hold it long enough, he will know to go outside and have the box as a just in case so we do not have to crate him. I live in Southern California and 1/4 mile from a lake with lots of hills to hike and am a runner so I do not expect regular exercise to be an issue. I would just prefer to not have to crate him every week while I am at work. Am I on the right track in how to do this? Can anyone give me any pointers?
My family and I have decided we will be getting GSD and will be bringing him home in March. We have previously owned one but rescued him later in life, he came trained and house broken, and has since passed away. My husband and I have never potty trained a puppy but understand it will require a lot of work. My husband works a typical 8am-6pm job, Monday-Friday and does not have the option of coming home for lunch. I work 3 days a week, Tuesday-Thursday from 9am-5pm without the option of coming home for lunch. I take our son to daycare before work so we both leave around 7:30am and return home around 6:30pm. I know that this is will be too long for a puppy to be able to hold going to the bathroom so I have been thinking about crating him in a large cageish crate with a separate area for a potty box with puppy pads and another area for him to move around and eat/drink in. I was thinking then at night and for the remained of our waking hours that I am not at work (the remaining 4 days) I could move the potty box out near the kitchen door close to our backyard to have him go there and eventually bring the box outside. I'm hoping that once he can hold it long enough, he will know to go outside and have the box as a just in case so we do not have to crate him. I live in Southern California and 1/4 mile from a lake with lots of hills to hike and am a runner so I do not expect regular exercise to be an issue. I would just prefer to not have to crate him every week while I am at work. Am I on the right track in how to do this? Can anyone give me any pointers?