Our Nero is 5 months old next week. When we are at home he always goes potty outside but while we are at work he is alone for around 3 hours at the most until we call home at lunchtime. During this time he always goes pee/poo in the kitchen where he is kept. Also he goes to pee/poo just before bedtime at 10.30 pm, then i awake for work around 6.30am but most of the time he has been potty in the kitchen overnight Is he still too young to hold it in for over 4 hours?
Re: How long should Nero be able to hold it in? Hi , they all vary so there really is no hard and fast rule . I do feel though, that 8 hours is a long time for a 5 month old to hang on overnight , looking back to when Sam was this age, he went out for his last toilet session at around 11.30 p.m. and then I would be up and letting him out at around 6ish , so maybe if you could let him out a little later ? The three hours in the day time should be achieveable , as long as he has had plenty of outside time before being left, loads of chance to do what he has to do
Re: How long should Nero be able to hold it in? I let Harley out at around 11-11.30pm for a last wee before bed. She gets up around 7am for breakfast and potty. During the day when I'm at work she is in her cage and we have never had an accident. I take her out 15 mins before I leave, if she doesn't go then we go back out 5 mins later with me saying 'go wee wee' 'go poo poo' and after a few weeks she was almost always doing it on demand. I have now got the hang of how often she has a poo a day and try and work around these times. Is Nero in a crate in the kitchen? Only reason I ask is that I left Harley for 1 morning in the kitchen and she had a wee in there, when we put her back in her crate, no accidents. I think she sees it as her 'safe place'.
Re: How long should Nero be able to hold it in? No Nero is not kept in a crate. There is nothing he can damage in the kitchen and we have a stone floor so he has the kitchen to himself when we are at work
Re: How long should Nero be able to hold it in? A crate can be very useful aid to housetraining because a puppy won't wee in his own bed unless left for too long. However, if you are leaving your puppy for quite long periods, a crate would not be appropriate.
Re: How long should Nero be able to hold it in? Dex arrived to us at 5 months and crate trained....if we were home he was taken out every hour ,during the day he was never left for longer than 2 hours ......and we had no accidents ....could he have gone longer at that age ?i don't know because we didn't give him the chance.he used to get his last toilet break at 10.30 pm and I was up by 5 ...so that was 6 1/2 hours ....again no accidents.As he got older and the reality of the consequences of my 5 am starts began to take effect ;D we started going to bed earlier so just gradually crept up to him going longer and longer x
Re: How long should Nero be able to hold it in? Oscar is brilliant, he uses the cat flap (during the day) when he needs to go (not for long as he's getting too big). He goes at about 23.00 potty wee wee and potty poo poo and holds it in till about 7am.
Re: How long should Nero be able to hold it in? At five months old most puppies should be able to hold on for three hours, and overnight. Penny could hold it overnight from 10pm to 6am at 16 weeks old. It took her longer to hold it longer during the day but she had urine infection problems so this set us back a bit. Could it be possible that he is suffering from a bit of seperate on anxiety, and this is what is causing him to toilet whilst left alone? I agree that crates can be invaluable house training tools, I don't think we would have coped without ours. Just because you crate train a dog doesn't mean you have to use it for life - you could use it to help with housetraining and the gradually phase it out once that issue is sorted.
Re: How long should Nero be able to hold it in? At 5 months old all my Labs have been able to hold overnight and for a few hours during the daytime, BUT before that time I've always been there to let them out, or they have been crated (for no more than 2 hours during the day), so they haven't been allowed to Fail. Unfortunately, when you're not around to make sure he always goes outside, then he'll see no reason not to go inside. after all, that's what he's been doing since birth. Some do eventually grasp they don't need to go indoors while the owners are out of the house, but only usually if they have had a good run before the owners have left them, other than that I've known dogs of 3 years old and older, who regularly toileted indoors while the owners were at work. The only way around it is to crate them really, but in my opinion, no dog should be crated for more than 4 hours a day (and then crated overnight also). It's just not fair on them and can lead to all manner of behavioural and psychological problems.
Re: How long should Nero be able to hold it in? At 5 months, Charlie was going 7.5 hours overnight without any problems - but would nip out pretty sharpish to the garden when I got up (unlike now, when I pretty much have to tip him out of bed ;D). I think we got to 8 hours at around 6 months old (he might have been ok before this, but I waited until he didn't seem so anxious to make it to the garden in the morning before I extended the nights by 15 mins each time). He was also fine for up to 3 hours during the day (but never left for more than that) although our target at 5 months was still for him to go out every 2 hours (I had a dog walker that would do pop ins if I was stuck). I didn't use a crate, I used a small room sized pen, which worked fine. So, I'd say maybe Nero should be crated overnight and when you are out, until he gets the idea that even when you are out or asleep, he doesn't get to go inside. I also agree with others though, if he is crated overnight (say 7 hours) and also crated while you are at work (say 2 x 3 hours) - that's 13 hours in 24 and quite a lot, but not terrible providing he is getting stacks of interaction, training, walks and play outside those times. There are some useful guidelines on this here: http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/virtual-pet-behaviorist/dog-behavior/weekend-crate-training
