housebroken.

[reei]

how do u know when your dog is housebroken? do u leave your dog walking around the house.. when u go to work? it breaks my heart to put him in the crate when i go to work. i suppose, i'll let him walk around, when i am sure he is house broken.

[Pit Chick]

It's a trial & error process. You can try letting him stay loose when you go to work, but if he has accidents when you're gone, he's not quite housebroken yet. Don't feel bad for keeping him crated when you're gone. This way he learns to hold it for that amount of time and he'll sleep most of that time anyway. You could install a doggy door so he can go outside whenever he needs to. How old is your baby?

[lv4dogs]

Pitchick hit the nail on the nead. You pretty much won't know until you try.
How old is he & what breed? That may help some

Also instead of leaving him out for a full day right away, try to leave him out only for an hour or 2, like while you run errands or something. If all goes well, eventually leave him out of his crate longer & longer each time, gradually working your way up to a full day.

[reei]

hi,, he is 8 weeks old and is a miniature schnauzer.. i thought miniature schnauzer is suppose to be doggie odourless.. but he does have doggie odour..
anyway, training him to use the crate's tray as toilet whenever i let him out...

[lv4dogs]

From past experience I very much doubt that an 8 week old min. schnauzer is completely housebroken.
Although you may have an exception, but at that age and small of a breed I really doubt it.
"Usually" "most" dogs are not completely housebroken until about at least 4 months or so, "usually" longer for smaller breeds as their bladders are much smaller.

When you do decide to not crate him anymore you also want to make sure that he will not destroy anything while you are gone either. Maybe once he is a little older you can just gate up one room for him to be in, eventually give him more space little by little.

Sorry If I misunderstood, but it sounds as if you are teaching him to potty in the house? ON the tray? The only thing with that is you may have a very hard time teaching him to go outside and if you ever put the tray back in the crate you may have a very tough time getting him NOT to potty in the crate as the tray is in it. If your plan is to get him to go potty outside only at some point I wouls stop right now with allowing him to potty in the house.
Even if you are teaching him to potty outside on the crate you may have a hard time getting him to go on grass (in case you go for walks or he ever has to be kenneled etc...) and you would probably still have the problem when you put the tray back in his crate.

I'm not sure what smell you are reffering to, but I think every dog will have an ordor at some point or another. I don't think there is a truly ororless dog out there, it may just of been a selling scam if you purchased him from a pet store or back yard breeder. But it may be caused my numerous things. All puppies have puppy breath, is it that? Maybe he has an ear infection, anal gland problem, getting itno garbage or something, just needs a bath, needs his bedding washed the list can go on & on.

They are good dogs, my ex neighbor has 2 of them, cute smart testy things they are. Good luck!

I would enroll him in puppy classes once he gets his series of vaccines completed, you will need it, they can testy stuborn & too smart for your own good sometimes. Maybe even follow up with beginer obedience class once his puppy class is done.

[reei]

my puppy doesnt chew bone, doesn't eat treat.. doesnt play toys,, he just like to follow me around. when i take a ball and play with him,, he is following me instead of chasing after the ball...
anyway, he has quite good bladder and is able to hold.. till i let him out of the crate.. sometimes he will potty on the crate's tray.. sometimes, on the floor.. i am training him to go potty on the crate's tray..

[reei]

my puppy doesnt chew bone, doesn't eat treat.. doesnt play toys,, he just like to follow me around. when i take a ball and play with him,, he is following me instead of chasing after the ball...
anyway, he has quite good bladder and is able to hold.. till i let him out of the crate.. sometimes he will potty on the crate's tray.. sometimes, on the floor.. i am training him to go potty on the crate's tray..

[GraciesMommy]

Gracie is 7 months old and housebroken but she is still crated during the day and I am home for one hour for lunch..so its 3 hours in and out one hour and 4 more hours in til I get back home. She sleeps with us all night and never has an accident..infact she never moves all night once she goes to sleep beside me..but I still don't trust her to make it all day out of the crate..not yet..I want to graduate her staying in one room and see how she does first...I dont think she will be ready to have full run of the house before one year old..by then I will be off for the summer any way ( I work for the school) so I will be home 2 and half months with her being out all day...and that is when we will work on staying out like when I run errands..etc..and leave her out..She was easy to house break and hasn't had an accident in at least 3 months..so I would say 4 months is about right..

I had a schnauzer for 16 years..and she was sooooooooo easy to train..by 10 months she was out all day..had free rein..but I had a laundry room then with tile and we started out leaving her in there and she never once had an accident once she was trained..only room in my house now that has tile is the kitchen...so I cant do that with Gracie..
Your little baby should just now be getting where she can hold it for awhile at 8 weeks..so I wouldnt think she is completely trained just yet..what do you mean potty on the crates' tray?
Is he not going outside?
Also schnauzers VERY much have odors....a distinctive odor...and it gets worse with age...and they have such dry skin in the winter..every one I have known has that smell...Mercedes was forever scratching and that made the odor worse..
They are very smart dogs and generally easy to train...

[Pit Chick]

Originally posted by reei
my puppy doesnt chew bone, doesn't eat treat.. doesnt play toys,, he just like to follow me around. when i take a ball and play with him,, he is following me instead of chasing after the ball...
anyway, he has quite good bladder and is able to hold.. till i let him out of the crate.. sometimes he will potty on the crate's tray.. sometimes, on the floor.. i am training him to go potty on the crate's tray..

I would be concerned if a puppy that young isn't playing. Puppies should have a lot of energy and spunk and they are teething which gives them the earge to chew, so you may want to have him checked by a vet to make sure he's not sick.

If you keep training or encouraging him to go potty in his crate, you're never going to get him housebroken or crate trained.

[IRescue452]

You should teach him to go to the door whenever he needs out. A dog is never fully housebroken until its owner knows the signs that he needs to go out. Try hanging a large jingle bell from the doorknob to your dogs nose level. Each time you let him out, show him the bell first and get him to sniff it until it makes a noise, says look at this enthusiastically and point to get him to sniff after a while he should start going to the door himself and hitting the bell and waiting for you, dont make him wait too long. You won't need the bell anymore after a few months, and you will be able to let your dog have the run of the house worry free, well until he hides away with your favorite socks when you aren't looking. When you are at work I would crate him because a pup that age could get in real trouble when nobody is around. My toller was housebroken at 12 weeks, which is early, but I still crated her up to a year when nobody was home. There are other things to learn besides housetraining, like which cords not to chew not to get into the garbage, so there are still reasons to crate. How long are you away at work each day and how long must the pup stay in the crate? Did you paper train at all? It is not something I recommend because if you take too much time to answer the "door bell" the pup may find it quicker to just find a magazine on the floor.

[micki76]

Originally posted by Pit Chick
If you keep training or encouraging him to go potty in his crate, you're never going to get him housebroken or crate trained.

Exactly, crates are not intended to be used for a place for the dog to go potty.

Dogs do not like to soil their "den" (his crate) and won't unless they have no choice.

IMO an 8 wk old puppy can't be trusted as housebroken. Even if he can hold it for a long time, there are still things in the house than can be VERY dangerous to him. My dogs have been crated until they are 8 months to a year old and out of the chewing stage.

Chester didn't start chewing until he was about 3 months old, but he was still crated when we weren't at home. We did that until he was about 8 months old. Cinny is between 6 months and a year old and is still crated when we're gone, unless we're only gone a short time.

[reei]

usually, i let it out of the crate and potty on the newpaper covered tray. i don't bring him out now, coz' he only had one vaccination so far, have not complete the 3 vaccinations yet. i am afraid he might get sick, plus, it's still winter here. i lived in a 7th floor apartment, so , he will not be going out.. on his own to do his stuffs.. btw, i am suppose to pick up his stool if he potty outside, so i'll have to bring him out once a day.. when he is able to control his bladder. now, he needs to potty 3-4 times a day.