I guess theres no better way than to start with an about us! (Also I know theres a ton of posts about potty training, I read the sticky! And I still feel I need help, as I've failed so far...)
https://m.imgur.com/d0UO9jF This... Is Milo.
He's a 14 week old cavalier King Charles, and he's our first puppy. He's super smart sometimes. And we're super nice owners lol.
Anyway we want to potty train him without crating him, if thats possible? We have two cats we'd love for him to hang out with when we're not home. When I was a kid I had two dogs that were never kenneled, but never went inside. Parents just said they hit the dogs, which we won't do!
Our schedules are relatively set. I tend to leave for work at 730am and get back at about 430pm. The wife either leaves/arrives at 9:30am-6pm or 1pm-9:30pm. On a typical day, he gets to go out at 6:30am-7am, at 9 am, at 4:30pm, 8pm, 11pm before we go to bed. (as of lately!)
So I'll now draw a picture of the timeline, as we're noobs and bad, and I wonder if we've broken the doggo
We got him at seven weeks, so i'll start there
Week 1: Taking him outside every hour, having him pee, saying "outside" and "potty" each time. We put out Pea Rocks in our front area (town house) for him to pee on, and he uses it and sometimes goes over to the neighbors Mulch. We also put down Pee Pads, but, like a few in the living room upstairs cuz he seems to make mistakes there. We reward him with lots of love, good jobs, treats each time he goes out.
Week 2: This continues. We dont work this and the previous week. A few mistakes/accidents.
Week 3: Continues, again, a few accidents. We start going back to work slowly, one of us at a time.
Week 4: We're back at work full time with the above schedule. He pees outside the moment he wakes up. He then (sometimes) goes inside and pees a tiny bit or poops. Only reward outside. Started waiting for him to pee twice outside, the he tried to pee 3 times outside for more treats lol. The moment I get home from work (4:30) i see a poop at home, and maybe he peed but its hard to tell downstairs as its carpet and hes a tniy dog, but, hes always super excited to pee when I get home and pees right away. Still having issues with an occassional mistake.
Week 5: He's peeing more in the neighbors mulch, and seems to love it more than the rocks. I pull up the rocks, put down mulch, and he continues to do his business like the above, except, we blocked off the basement so he can only go on the rug/hardwood upstairs as its easier to clean and spot. continues to have a few mistakes. Pees when he wakes up and when i get home. We start doing sit/stay/down and hes doing so well!!!! Such a smart puppers!!!
Week 6: Mostly stops peeing outside. And pooping. It takes a while, sometimes, as he gets distracted by the people nearby (he loves EVERYONE) or any noise, or specifically the leaves that are dying. Those are so fun. But if we wait long enough, or go outside for ten, inside for 5, outside for 10 min he does eventually do his duty. But usually in the neighbors and not our pit. Which is mostly ok
However, now when he gets up in the morning hes slower to pee, and slower to pee when I get home, if he does at all. He seems mroe interested in saying hi and getting pets. I got a bell set, but, he doesnt seem to use it, and we figured maybe we're overloading him with stuff. So we stop bell for now.
Week 7: We've started t crack down more, watch him non stop, and he still if he gets a single moment will just pee inside or poop. I cleaned the entire carpet/rug/floor with anti-pet stuff and carpet extractor with pet stuff. Still blockin basement. Started a strict schedule of food at 9am, 4:30pm, 10:30pm, as per online advice, and im sure we've made a lot of mistakes as new owners. When he pees outside he knows hes getting a treat, he stares at you, and gets excited. He is like 50/50 now and he was like 80/20 before. (inside/outside) and its frustrating as a new puppy owner.
Week 8: The future:
I'm taking a week off of work to help teach him again, but I dnt know what I should be doing, or if We've given him too many different things, or confused him, or broke him from house training. At this point, its really hard to teach him without being home 24/7 or crating. Or maybe hes too young to hold it for 6 hours? Then again, he pees right infront of us nooo
Is it possible to potty train him without crating him?
Can he still learn to potty train?
Is it too early for him to be able to hold it for 4-5 hours while we're gone?
What do we do going forward, or specifically, if i have a week off for it?
If we do crate train, can he later be trained to just not use the crate and not go inside?
**As of yesterday, He will pee outside in the neighbors little area, but seemingly hates ours as of lately? Maybe i can move the woodchips he pees on to our section lol...**
https://m.imgur.com/d0UO9jF This... Is Milo.
He's a 14 week old cavalier King Charles, and he's our first puppy. He's super smart sometimes. And we're super nice owners lol.
Anyway we want to potty train him without crating him, if thats possible? We have two cats we'd love for him to hang out with when we're not home. When I was a kid I had two dogs that were never kenneled, but never went inside. Parents just said they hit the dogs, which we won't do!
Our schedules are relatively set. I tend to leave for work at 730am and get back at about 430pm. The wife either leaves/arrives at 9:30am-6pm or 1pm-9:30pm. On a typical day, he gets to go out at 6:30am-7am, at 9 am, at 4:30pm, 8pm, 11pm before we go to bed. (as of lately!)
So I'll now draw a picture of the timeline, as we're noobs and bad, and I wonder if we've broken the doggo
We got him at seven weeks, so i'll start there
Week 1: Taking him outside every hour, having him pee, saying "outside" and "potty" each time. We put out Pea Rocks in our front area (town house) for him to pee on, and he uses it and sometimes goes over to the neighbors Mulch. We also put down Pee Pads, but, like a few in the living room upstairs cuz he seems to make mistakes there. We reward him with lots of love, good jobs, treats each time he goes out.
Week 2: This continues. We dont work this and the previous week. A few mistakes/accidents.
Week 3: Continues, again, a few accidents. We start going back to work slowly, one of us at a time.
Week 4: We're back at work full time with the above schedule. He pees outside the moment he wakes up. He then (sometimes) goes inside and pees a tiny bit or poops. Only reward outside. Started waiting for him to pee twice outside, the he tried to pee 3 times outside for more treats lol. The moment I get home from work (4:30) i see a poop at home, and maybe he peed but its hard to tell downstairs as its carpet and hes a tniy dog, but, hes always super excited to pee when I get home and pees right away. Still having issues with an occassional mistake.
Week 5: He's peeing more in the neighbors mulch, and seems to love it more than the rocks. I pull up the rocks, put down mulch, and he continues to do his business like the above, except, we blocked off the basement so he can only go on the rug/hardwood upstairs as its easier to clean and spot. continues to have a few mistakes. Pees when he wakes up and when i get home. We start doing sit/stay/down and hes doing so well!!!! Such a smart puppers!!!
Week 6: Mostly stops peeing outside. And pooping. It takes a while, sometimes, as he gets distracted by the people nearby (he loves EVERYONE) or any noise, or specifically the leaves that are dying. Those are so fun. But if we wait long enough, or go outside for ten, inside for 5, outside for 10 min he does eventually do his duty. But usually in the neighbors and not our pit. Which is mostly ok
Week 7: We've started t crack down more, watch him non stop, and he still if he gets a single moment will just pee inside or poop. I cleaned the entire carpet/rug/floor with anti-pet stuff and carpet extractor with pet stuff. Still blockin basement. Started a strict schedule of food at 9am, 4:30pm, 10:30pm, as per online advice, and im sure we've made a lot of mistakes as new owners. When he pees outside he knows hes getting a treat, he stares at you, and gets excited. He is like 50/50 now and he was like 80/20 before. (inside/outside) and its frustrating as a new puppy owner.
Week 8: The future:
I'm taking a week off of work to help teach him again, but I dnt know what I should be doing, or if We've given him too many different things, or confused him, or broke him from house training. At this point, its really hard to teach him without being home 24/7 or crating. Or maybe hes too young to hold it for 6 hours? Then again, he pees right infront of us nooo
Is it possible to potty train him without crating him?
Can he still learn to potty train?
Is it too early for him to be able to hold it for 4-5 hours while we're gone?
What do we do going forward, or specifically, if i have a week off for it?
If we do crate train, can he later be trained to just not use the crate and not go inside?
**As of yesterday, He will pee outside in the neighbors little area, but seemingly hates ours as of lately? Maybe i can move the woodchips he pees on to our section lol...**