I am preparing to bring home an adorable 8 week old lab pup when I first bring him home, I have arranged to take a week off of work so that I can take time to help him adjust to my home and for lots of bonding time. I am planning on crate training my pup. At 8 weeks when I am home with him, I plan on starting this training by getting him familiar with the crate and associating it as a positive place to be (feeding him inside, leaving treats, etc). As I do work full time, I will be returning to work when he is 9 weeks old and have arranged for a dog sitter to check in on him 3x a day. At 9 weeks I understand that his bladder control will still be very poor and he will need frequent visits/supervision to get him outside in my backyard as the desired potty spot. My question is: When I return to work, would it be okay to begin crate training at 9 weeks? Keeping in mind that the dog sitter would come 3x a day so he wouldn't be crated for more than 2-2.5 hours at the most with the constant check ins to let him out to relieve himself in the backyard + some play time in the backyard to tire him out and leave him back in the crate with a kong/chew toy each visit. Or Is it too much to ask at this age and should I instead leave the crate door open and set up a play pen with puppy pads in the corner? The dog sitter would still come 3x a day to take him out back to potty, as I want him to know outside is the designated spot. I would like to avoid the puppy pads because I don't want him learning it's okay to go indoors. But I don't want to close crate him if 2-2.5hrs is too long to expect him to hold it and have him make a mistake in the crate and learn that's okay as well! I would appreciate any input and knowing how long your lab pups were able to hold it at this age when crate training!
It's great you are taking a week off to spend with your puppy. The first week was difficult with almost zero uninterrupted sleep. Very tiring, but it gets better. Well you really have to make a choice if you want to train him with puppy pads. We tried to no avail with Sparky, since he really preferred going on grass instead of puppy pads. I even bought the fake turf where u hide the pee pad under. He destroyed it very quickly. We were lucky that he took to the crate very quickly. Make sure you buy a large enough crate (we use a 42 inch crate, dunno what that is in cm) with a divider and initially make the space only as big as he is. Feed him inside the crate as much as you can so he can associate the crate as his den and should not be soiled. The smaller space also gives him no room to poo/pee where he sleeps, but if kept in there long enough he will pee/poo. We started locking him in the crate at night around midnight and had him out by 5 am and he was good with no accidents. During the day, it was a different story. We took him out 1. every 30 minutes when he is awake 2. as soon as he wakes up 3. immediately after 20-30 mins of play 4. when he starts going in circles sniffing the floor. As each week went bladder control gets longer and you set the interval you take him out longer by 5 mins or so. Also the time he can spend in the crate before needing to go out also gets longer. We slowly moved bedtime earlier and wake up time later. Last food and water was 2 hours before bedtime. I wanted to make sure he was completely empty (or as empty as he can get) so he can last thru the night. Always toilet him before you crate him and set a timer. We only had a sitter come once a day and Sparky was able to hold it for 4 hours crated until she came. I also didn't leave him an insane amount of water during the day. Sparky also over time would drink very little when we are not home. I suppose it's his own way of mitigating not peeing inside his crate. There were a couple of times that the sitter flaked on us leaving Sparky all alone for 8 hours and he was fine with no accidents. That's when I learned I can push it to that long if needed. I think you will you will be ok with 2-2.5 hours. Just gradually push the limit at bedtime crating so he can learn to hold it for longer. Keep a regular routine so you can learn when he does poo/pee and can predict the regular times he goes.
Hello and welcome to the forum. No, 2 hours is far too long to expect a 9-week old to hold their bladder during the day. Faaaaaar too long! At that age, my puppy was still needing to toilet every 20 minutes or so. It's true that a crate can be very useful for toilet training your puppy, but it's not appropriate to use it for extended periods before your puppy is physically mature enough to hold it, as it has the potential to cause great distress, since they usually have the instinct to keep their den clean. So you have three potential problems: 1. Causing your puppy physical and emotional distress; 2. By forcing your puppy into a situation where he needs to mess his crate, you'll quickly lose any instinct he has to keep it clean, making it worthless for toilet training when you are around; 3. A puppy being forced to hold its bladder for too long can cause all sorts of UTIs or bladder infections, which will require trips to the vet. So, if you have to leave him for that length of time, a pen is really your only option. Don't worry about him learning that it's OK to go inside; as he gets older and he physically matures, he'll start seeing larger spaces as his den, as long as you continue with good toilet training while you are with him. If he learns that he gets a treat and some fuss every time he "goes" outside, and nothing for going inside, he'll work out that outside is good. If you can, I'd seriously consider taking more than a week off work. I would say a week isn't long enough to get your puppy used to being alone for two hours or more. Some puppies would be fine with this, but many more would find it extremely distressing and it could create lasting issues with separation anxiety. If you have to go back to work after a week, do you have any neighbours, family or friends who could pop in more regularly to spend time with your puppy?
