[BTLucy]

We finally got our Lucy

and she has been great about going potty outside. We had one slip up, we were in the room with her and caught her and rushed her outside, where she finished. We take her out after every nap, meal, play time and at least every 2 hours or so.

My question: we do not have a puppy pen and our house has an open floor plan that makes blocking off one "room" difficult. We've read that another option is to leash her to us. How exactly does this work? She is not fond of the leash and we don't want to build any negative associations with it. Do we leash her to us, only if we have time to stay in one area during school time at the table (we homeschool our skin kids), during movie veg time, while just relaxing? Or when we are puttering around the house( I feel like I would be dragging her all over).

SO, looking for tips on keeping her confined, when confining not possible. Thanks!!

 

[doxiemommy]

Congratulations on Lucy!

Tethering her to you with the leash is so that you can keep her right with you, in your sight, that way you don't lose track of her, allowing her to sneak off and pee/poop. It can be very handy.
Crating is another way to contain her.

I would recommend a combination of crating,tethering, and allowing her to roam free withing your direct line of sight. Crating is a great way to teach her to become independent. And, you can give her a chew toy, perhaps a kong stuffed with peanut butter and frozen to keep her busy in the crate.

Tethering is really usable for any of the times you've mentioned, sitting at the table, relaxing, or just puttering around. Although if you were just watching a movie, you could have him cuddle with you ! I always love cuddle time!

 

[BTLucy]

Yes, we do use a crate and she's great with it. The only time she whined was to get out to potty!

We will keep at the leash, but she's not fond of it yet. She either tries to run from it or chew it. We'll keep working on it though.

She does have some free roam time, but I'm a little nervous to give her too much time until she's older and we have house training firmly entrenched.

And she gets lots of cuddle time!

 

[Hambonez]

We've got the open floor plan situation here too and ended up having to order an extra-wide baby gate online to block off a room. Prior to that we used his exercise pen opened up. He doesn't really challenge the gates, so just having a blockade is generally enough for him.

 

[doxiemommy]

You could try letting her wear her leash around the house, just dragging it behind her, to get used to it.
Don't worry about too much roaming time, as long you have your eyes on her!