[hulkamaniac]

I saw this mentioned in passing on another web site and realized that it's basically what I did with a terrier I once had many moons ago. Back then I was working 3rd shift and was working multiple 12 hour shifts in a row. I did not have time during the day to let a dog outside. When you've just worked 3 12's in a row and you've got 8 hours before 12 hour shift #4 you want to spend as much of that 8 hours sleeping as you possibly can. It was 20 degrees outside so I couldn't put the dog outside and leave him as that would be cruel by any definition. I put the dog in his crate, took the crate door off and pushed it up to the dog door which I left unlatched. When the dog had to go, he wouldn't want to go in his crate so he would walk out the dog door and do his business out there. Essentially, he kind of house trained himself as he developed the habit of heading out the dog door when he needed to pee.

 

[Allie3985]

I have never heard of this. Doesn't sound like a bad idea. I forget how lucky I am to have a stay at home hubby I wonder if you could incorporate this into training a dog to pee on one of those indoor potty pad things. If you could maybe baby gate off an area just big enough for the crate and the pad.

 

[jesirose]

Sorry, I just don't see the point of having a dog if you only have 2 hours a day to spend with them

Sounds like it got the dog house trained ok...

 

[Allie3985]

I think it is important to stick with the focus of the post and not speculate or judge beyond that. I used to work four 12 hour shifts pretty much back to back and then have a week or so off and my husband and I were seperated for part of this time. . .this is just an example of how there are reasons that a person would have to deal with this kind of situation and it is not relevant to the question anyway. During this time I had to spend an outlandish amount of money on doggy day care for a few days but then spent a week with them constantly.

 

[2malts4me]

This has nothing to do with potty training, but...

When I asked my two fire-fighter brothers what would be the best way to ensure dogs were safe if a fire started and they were home alone - they both said almost the same thing.

If they were in a crate they basically had no chance of saving themselves and a FF might not even notice the crate as it's so dark in all the smoke they can barely see anything (they hadn't even heard of those little window stickers and probably wouldn't notice them if they had).

If the dogs were running loose in the house they might just hide and not be found. They both said the ideal would be to have a crate attached to a doggie door so they could let themselves out during an emergency - into a fenced in yard or enclosure of course. Oh, and an alarm with the owners recorded voice giving them the command to go out the doggie door. And, if you didn't want the dog going in and out other than an emergency they thought if somehow the doggie door would activate when the alarm went off Anyway, it turned into a big "what would you invent" contest. lol

Just rambling.

 

[hulkamaniac]

Sorry, I just don't see the point of having a dog if you only have 2 hours a day to spend with them

Sounds like it got the dog house trained ok...

I actually have to agree with you. At the time I was way too busy all the time and had no business having a dog as I just didn't have the time for it. TBH I got the dog solely because there was a serial killer on the loose in my town, the media was all over the story and I was scared ****less. His victims were all young single women and I happened to live in a duplex recently occupied by a young, single woman with a young, single woman next door to me in an area not far from where his most recent victim had been killed. I was scared to death and having a dog around made me feel a little better.

 

[Elana55]

Considering this "training" method the only problem I can see is the dog MIGHT not understand that OUTSIDE is where the pee and poop ought to be when you are home and the dog is not crated.

I would have still followed up with rewards and positive reinforcement every time I was present and the dog pooped and pee'd outside.

I would do this not only to help reinforce the idea that this action is an out of doors only action but also to let the dog know that it is OK to pee and poop when I am around.

The other problem I see with this method would be the lack of generalization to a new place. IOW's if you moved somewhere else, or went to visit someone else, your dog might not generalize his housebreaking without the same set up. Of course, the housebreaking may not generalize no matter WHAT method you use to train the dog until you have reinforece the behavior in a number of locations.

 

[blackrose]

While I don't think that training meathod will be a maricle cure (you should also take "proper housebreaking steps" when the dog is loose), but that is how Blackie and Rose were housetrained. I think of it like modified crate training. The only difference is that the dog isn't really given a chance to mess in its crate, because it always has the opportunity to go outside.

Blackie and Rose have been outside dogs, but they have very good house habits. They are so used to going to the bathroom outside, that going inside has never been a problem with them. It also helps that they have a very good "denning" instinct, in which they don't want to mess where they live.