Maximilian99
Boxer Pal
I'm going to vent here a little, because I certainly don't want to take it out on Max - by the time I discover it he has no idea why I would be upset anyway...
Max is our family's first dog and he is a great deal of fun, but also a TREMENDOUS amount of work.
He was born on 9 August and we received him on 1 Oct. So we have had him about 5 weeks now (it seems longer). He is just coming up on 3 months old (so I figure he should be able to go 4 hours). Editorial...now that I realize how short of a time we had had him and how well he is doing overall, I feel like a horses rear end and actually feel a little better. With all the work I am doing with him, it just seems longer...
He had peed in his crate twice before sparadically, but I wrote that off as my fault as I may have asked him to be crated just a tad too long. I am aware of the rule about months to hours on holding it, and I am very diligent about letting him out. Here is Max's schedule:
wake up at 5:30 a.m.
Feeding at 6:00 a.m.
He is crated at about 9:30 when my wife leaves
He is let out for lunch by me when I come home at noon
He is then crated at 1 until he girls come home from school at 3:30
He is then with the family until 9:30 or 10:00 for bedtime.
I get up at 1 a.m. to let him out and then he is generally good until 5:30.
He basically gets his water taken up by 7 p.m. and is pottied multiple times before he is crated for the night.
The last two nights he hasn't made it to our 1 a.m. potty break without peeing in his crate. I am frustrated because potty training has been much slower than I had expected (I may have false or unrealistic expectations)
By the way he went to bed about 9:40 the last two nights and woke me up about 5 minutes before my alarm. When I got down there (all of the rooms in our house are on the second floor - he "lives" in the family room) I found that he had peed in his crate. But then he is fine until we get up at 5:30.
Another question I have is this..
He has a very nice area with an excercise pen attached to his crate that is over a big roll of linoleum that I bought at Home Depot. He lives in the family room so he can be in the middle of the action. I have never moved his crate - that's just always been where it has been. Should I have a crate in my bedroom for night time?
Also, the crate is a large wire crate, but I have it divided so that he has just about enough room to lie on his side comfortably, nt much more. I also have a blanket over part of the crate to provide more of a den atmosphere, but he can still see what is going on.
I know there is a lot of info here, but I wanted to spell out the situation so everyone knows the details...
Max is our family's first dog and he is a great deal of fun, but also a TREMENDOUS amount of work.
He was born on 9 August and we received him on 1 Oct. So we have had him about 5 weeks now (it seems longer). He is just coming up on 3 months old (so I figure he should be able to go 4 hours). Editorial...now that I realize how short of a time we had had him and how well he is doing overall, I feel like a horses rear end and actually feel a little better. With all the work I am doing with him, it just seems longer...
He had peed in his crate twice before sparadically, but I wrote that off as my fault as I may have asked him to be crated just a tad too long. I am aware of the rule about months to hours on holding it, and I am very diligent about letting him out. Here is Max's schedule:
wake up at 5:30 a.m.
Feeding at 6:00 a.m.
He is crated at about 9:30 when my wife leaves
He is let out for lunch by me when I come home at noon
He is then crated at 1 until he girls come home from school at 3:30
He is then with the family until 9:30 or 10:00 for bedtime.
I get up at 1 a.m. to let him out and then he is generally good until 5:30.
He basically gets his water taken up by 7 p.m. and is pottied multiple times before he is crated for the night.
The last two nights he hasn't made it to our 1 a.m. potty break without peeing in his crate. I am frustrated because potty training has been much slower than I had expected (I may have false or unrealistic expectations)
By the way he went to bed about 9:40 the last two nights and woke me up about 5 minutes before my alarm. When I got down there (all of the rooms in our house are on the second floor - he "lives" in the family room) I found that he had peed in his crate. But then he is fine until we get up at 5:30.
Another question I have is this..
He has a very nice area with an excercise pen attached to his crate that is over a big roll of linoleum that I bought at Home Depot. He lives in the family room so he can be in the middle of the action. I have never moved his crate - that's just always been where it has been. Should I have a crate in my bedroom for night time?
Also, the crate is a large wire crate, but I have it divided so that he has just about enough room to lie on his side comfortably, nt much more. I also have a blanket over part of the crate to provide more of a den atmosphere, but he can still see what is going on.
I know there is a lot of info here, but I wanted to spell out the situation so everyone knows the details...
