I was able to err on the side of caution and Atlas went to my parent's house until he was about 8 months old, so he generally wasn't left alone for more than a few hours during the day. (He also got to play all day with their dog, which made for a happy and tired puppy!) When spring came, we eased him into staying in his crate all day as my dad was able to come do mid-day potty breaks for a couple weeks. Then one of the roomies was laid off, so he wasn't crated for much of the summer/fall during the week as someone was home. We are back to crating again, and at a year and a half, of course he's fine with it. (He also has a XL sized crate and x-pen attached so he has lots of room and the option of finding cool floor space.)
During the night, he has been able to hold it from about 5-6 months on. This is usually a 9:30-5:30 time frame. I do often get up early most weekends to take him out (I can't fault him if he's used to early morning potty breaks), but the days I've slept in a bit longer he seems fine. Weather is definitely not an issue for him! But... going out alone is. If I put him in the pen and go back inside, he will usually just sit by the gate and wait. So, because he's crated again during the day I go out and stand in the pen with him (in the dark) so he will go and potty. If he goes out with the labs from downstairs, he has no problem, but he's kind of a wuss when he's alone. This is totally because I baby him, and I will make more of a serious effort to wean him off of needing my company! Haha. But I will say he was very easy to housebreak, with maybe only 5 accidents between both houses, so I'll take the needy over cleaning up pee!
During the night, he has been able to hold it from about 5-6 months on. This is usually a 9:30-5:30 time frame. I do often get up early most weekends to take him out (I can't fault him if he's used to early morning potty breaks), but the days I've slept in a bit longer he seems fine. Weather is definitely not an issue for him! But... going out alone is. If I put him in the pen and go back inside, he will usually just sit by the gate and wait. So, because he's crated again during the day I go out and stand in the pen with him (in the dark) so he will go and potty. If he goes out with the labs from downstairs, he has no problem, but he's kind of a wuss when he's alone. This is totally because I baby him, and I will make more of a serious effort to wean him off of needing my company! Haha. But I will say he was very easy to housebreak, with maybe only 5 accidents between both houses, so I'll take the needy over cleaning up pee!
