Switching from Pen to Crate Training for House Breaking

[UbetchaJackson]

Jackson is 3 months old. I've had him since he was 8 weeks old. I have him in a crate at night and he now sleeps through the night with no accidents. During the day I have him enclosed in a small area of my laundry room with Pee Pee pads.

I work but have a dog walker coming in twice a day to take him out when I am at work. Jackson has a spot outside where he goes when I take him out. I also have some poochie bells which he will ring occasionally and then go out and do #2. He still doesn't seem to understand that he should not go #1 where ever he pleases.

So here is my question. He uses the Pee Pee pads within a few minutes of being put in his pen almost all the time. I felt like it was too much time to crate him while I was at work and crate him at night too, but I'm beginning to rethink that for the short term. I'm thinking that if I begin crating him while I'm at work he may get the idea that he needs to hold it. I don't want to crate him this way for long, but I'm not sure I see any other end to the pee Pee pads. Does anyone have any advice on transitioning from Pee Pee pads? Should I give it more time or switch to the crate?

Thanks for your advice.

[Shade]

If there's only a 3-4 hour max gap between breaks that could work, especially if during the potty breaks he gets a good run in.

[MichaelE]

He will develop holding power, and it will also help teach him not to go indoors.

At least it worked with Lisl. That crate is the easiest housebreaking tool I've ever used. It works.

[Linck]

Originally Posted by UbetchaJackson

Jackson is 3 months old. I've had him since he was 8 weeks old. I have him in a crate at night and he now sleeps through the night with no accidents. During the day I have him enclosed in a small area of my laundry room with Pee Pee pads.

I work but have a dog walker coming in twice a day to take him out when I am at work. Jackson has a spot outside where he goes when I take him out. I also have some poochie bells which he will ring occasionally and then go out and do #2. He still doesn't seem to understand that he should not go #1 where ever he pleases.

So here is my question. He uses the Pee Pee pads within a few minutes of being put in his pen almost all the time. I felt like it was too much time to crate him while I was at work and crate him at night too, but I'm beginning to rethink that for the short term. I'm thinking that if I begin crating him while I'm at work he may get the idea that he needs to hold it. I don't want to crate him this way for long, but I'm not sure I see any other end to the pee Pee pads. Does anyone have any advice on transitioning from Pee Pee pads? Should I give it more time or switch to the crate?

Thanks for your advice.

While I'm reading your post I have this "me too!" going off in my head many many times lol My boy is a little over 3 months old. We used to crate him at night and put him in the pen with pee pee pad during the day. AND we have poochie bells! lol

Pee pee pad never work with mine though. He tears it up as soon as he get a hold of it. I didn't think it was a good idea to "let" him pee in the house anyway.

When Lincoln was about 10 weeks, he would always "go" while he is in the pen, but never in the crate. Since I work from home, I stop putting him in the pen. Since then he has been using the bell to go out for both numbers. I realize that when he was in the pen, he would whine to get out. But I wouldn't let him because I thought he just wanna come out and play.

Now, if I have to go to the office, I crate him. Crate is only way to get him to hold it. I crate him up to 4 hours one time. He was OK with it. We just do a lot of fetch session and walk him when we are home from work to make up for a whole day in the crate.

Lincoln has been doing so good now.We give more and more freedom the longer he goes accident free. He has a doggie door now. But even that, I still crate him when i'm not home. I used to feel bad about it. My friend who has a lab and never crate train him give me greive all the time. But I know it is the right thing to do for my schedule. He is a puppy. Putting him in the crate will keep him straight on schedule, catch up on nap time, and get used to his "den".

[UbetchaJackson]

Thanks for the feedback. I'm going to give it a try. I've actually moved the crate to a different location from the pen, thinking that a new location will help to make this a "new" experience. I'm going to try the crate today with the walker coming twice. The trainers at puppy class recommended this also. Thanks for the feedback.