Schedule Advice

[HersheysMom]

My puppy is 9wks old today (Happy Birthday to him) and he's doing very well on his schedule, his leash and his potty time. He's still sleeping a lot, too so it makes it a little easier. However I have debated whether or not to incorporate my early morning schedule with his.

Five days a week I get up at 230 for work. Then on weekends I sleep till about 630 or 7 am. Right now the schedule works well because I get home around 12:30/1:00 pm. My husband wakes up around 7 and takes the puppy out, feeds him and then puts him back in his crate, so Hershey's really on his crate overnight and about five hours during the day.

Lately, I've been letting him out of his crate while I get ready in the morning. Usually I have to in order to clean his crate for accidents. I will take him outside as well and then finish getting ready. But I don't do it on the weekends when I can sleep in, (sorry, 230 am schedule sucks and does get to you...work in radio and you'll understand.) so he stays in from about midnight to seven (and he does extremely well for his age, despite his accidents!).

So here's my question:

Should I try to whean him off the early morning schedule when he finally is housebroken or should I allow him to continue when he gets older? I'm leaning towards continue, but I don't want him to expect it on Saturday's and Sunday's while I'm getting rest. That's why I'm thinking, maybe after he's housebroken, gradually changing his routine to stay in the crate while I'm getting ready for work. My only concern there is will he begin to think it's punishment for some off-the-wall-I'm-a-dog-with-an-imagination reason?

I have two other dogs but this isn't a concern as we keep them outside in the big backyard where they can play all the time. Hershey isn't going back there with the cockers.

Your thoughts are welcomed!

[mulroony]

My schedule is almost as speratic, 4 am weekdays and around 10 on weekends. Shelby does just fine, with me letting her out first thing during the week then hanging out with me while I get ready, then going back to bed until I get home. On the weekends we both sleep in, and I have never had a problem. She is a little bit older, and every dog is different, so I think you would have to give it a try to find out. A set schedule is good with a puppy (for the potty training issue), but when it gets older I would try to vary it up a little so the dog is used to going to sleep when you do and waking when you do, not by a set schedule, JMO.

My cousin's doxin was is used to waking up w/ my uncle every day at 5, even the weekends. So if my uncle is not there she will wake someone else up, and then expect them to stay awake with her. It drives them all crazy.

[chazzysmybaby]

My schedule's always crazy. I COULD keep a steady schedule, if my family helped me, but they won't. So the puppy is my sole responsiblity.

[HersheysMom]

Yeah, my husband gave me the pup for Fourth of July...well really because it was a year on the fourth that he proposed so he said he had to surprise me again! Wonder what I'll get next year!

But still, he says pup is mine, and I have sole responsibility for pup. If I'm not in bed yet, I'm always with the pup and if I'm in bed, it's the only time my husband will help me out a bit! It's not bad but it was kind of rough when Hurricane Dennis came through and I had to spend the night at work. I finally got home (26 hours later!) and couldn't get sleep b/c Hershey wouldn't let me! I didn't have much patience for working on the crate that day either....

I'm hoping that he'll get adjusted to me sleeping in some days now and maybe it will help him in the crate some, too. He's not bad about the crate at all, he just really hates it when he wants to play and knows I'm here. We're still building up some crate hours here!

[flyndog]

In addition to your schedule, can you tell us your puppy schedule? For instance: food and water times, time in crate, out of crate, in crate for good for bedtime, out of crate after waking up. Your puppy shouldn't be consistently having accidents in his crate. Not having to clean up his crate in the morning before work will save some time - and aggravation.

[HersheysMom]

OK typical Hershey day:

230/3 wakes up while I'm getting ready, I take him outside ASAP but find a mess. I should add that I live in a small house --sometimes he hears my alarm or me just walking around-- either one, he wakes up.
330 back in crate
7/730 my husband takes him outside then feeds him and crates him while he gets a shower. I don't think my husband is taking him outside again after he eats but I'm not here and can't make it happen.
1230/1 I get home and immediately take him outside. He eats and I take him back outside.
2/outside-play-sleep
3/outside-play-sleep-work in crate some
4/outside-play-sleep-play some more
5/outside-watch us eat (working on no begging)
6/outside-eats by 630
7/I go to bed
I don't know his schedule after I go to bed. I just know my husband usually keeps a close eye on him and takes him outside when he thinks he needs to go. From what I understand, he's back in the crate between 1030-1130.

As for the accidents, he's 9wks old. I don't think he can hold it yet!

[Kade]

Originally Posted by HersheysMom

As for the accidents, he's 9wks old. I don't think he can hold it yet!

How big is his crate? It shouldn't be big enough for him to move around in (go potty on one side and sleep on the other). If you bought a bigger crate so you didn't have to purchase multiples, you should buy a crate divider and keep him confined. You want him to wake up, have to potty, not want to potty where he sleeps, and cry for you to come get him. Is there a chance he's crying and you're sleeping through it?

Winston (11 weeks) still has accidents in the house from time to time, but he has never had an accident at night (since I've had him -- got him at 8 weeks) and he's typically in his crate from 11 pm - 6 am. So it's not unrealistic at that age (during the day his record is about 4 hours).

Is he only messing in the crate at night? You may need to set an alarm and catch him before he goes, as hard as that may be on you.

I know your husband doesn't want to be responsible for him, but five minutes spent in the backyard now could save you years of unreliable potty habits! He should really go in the morning after he eats.

[HersheysMom]

You know, for some reason I wasn't thinking crate size. I bet your right! I have noticed that he pees all over it and then only poops on one side (and tries to sneak a poo by the kitchen table all the time!) even after I get all the smell up for him so he will go back in. i.e. this morning, he peed everywhere, pooped in a corner and then I let him out and am holding his collar while I grab his leash and I'm tryiing to walk him to the door and attach at the same time and it doesn't make it to the door before peeing. Then while I'm cleaning that up, he pees again, then while I'm cleaning that up he poops in the kitchen! Never even had a chance to take him outside for all of his messes. My fault, I should have just taken him outside but I was already late for work...this could be a big problem for me! Thanks for the crate divider advice, you shall get puppy points !

I have some cardboard I can use temporarily, it'll be two weeks before I can buy him an actual divider, but where can I find one w/o having to buy a whole new crate. My in-laws gave me the bigger one b/c he wouldn't fit in our small one, atleast not if he wanted to actually stand up.

And here's another question, I've never heard this before. I've always worked on crate training while I was at home and had nowhere to be, so I could take the time to get puppies adjusted to being in a crate graduallyl. I could walk away a few minutes and then come back and if they're quiet, they get praise and a treat. I've been doing this with Hershey and a friend of mine scolded me for doing that because he said it would give the dog a punishment complex in the crate, even if I'm praising him! Was he talking out of his head or is there some truth to that?

[chazzysmybaby]

Omgsh I got my puppy on July 4th tooooooo!!!!!! My mom was awarding my good grades and decided that July 4th would be REALLY good!!

My puppy has kinda a weird schedule sometimes cause I go out and party with my friends a lot.

His potty training is going really well. He still has a couple of accidents but he's doing incredibly good. Clicker training is really aewsome!! Though I wasn't the one who trained my puppy...he just learned by himself!! When he wanted to go potty outside, he would paw at the door a little bit, sit there and look at me. I let him out and he lies in the grass for a minute, then potties. He is such a good boy!! Mommy loves Chazzy.

My puppy usually wakes me up at 7 am so he can go potty. Because i keep my door closed with the AC on and he just whines and licks my face a couple of times and I'll take him out for a loooooong potty. I can't believe that he could hold it!!!

But occasionally, he'll try to sneak some potty somewhere when I'm in the bathroom or something.

[HersheysMom]

Congradulations on your pup! How old is he?

[chazzysmybaby]

He's 3 months old now. :-D Chazzy's just the most adorable little thing!!

[Kade]

Hershey, hope it works! Just make sure he's not eating the cardboard, LOL.

[chazzysmybaby]

Lol my dog eats the cardboard little bed that he sometimes crawls in when he's taking a nap. The edges are all ruffled and bit.

[HersheysMom]

LOL I got a big piece of cork/wood with some weight and it's propped up in the crate! Pup can't eat that! Hershey can't figure out how to get that thing down! OH I wish I could show you a video!

[chazzysmybaby]

Hahaha I'm sure that it's entertaining. My dog tries to bite and gnarl on his food and water bowl but it's stainless steel and he finds it hard to bite lolz.