I used a crate to house train Bandit. He had one accident out of the crate, and one accident in the crate. I was going out with him every two hours (yes...I even made him go out in the middle of the night) for the first couple weeks. I didn't wait for him to tell me he had to go - we just went. Often. He got the idea, quickly. I would say 2-3 weeks and I could trust him to not go in the house when we were there, a few more weeks and I could trust him to be alone in the house and not go inside. I would definitely use a crate if I were you.