How many times a day should I put my puppy in his crate?

I am tring to "Paper/pad" train my 12 week old puppy. I'm going
nuts with desiding the best way to do it.

I'm using sniffing drops on the pad so he can smell where to go.
I made my bathroom into a play pen for him with his paper/pad to go on.

Every few days when he does a good job going on the paper/pad, I'm going to make the play pen bigger and bigger until he has the full run of the house.

The thing is that, I have had some people say,"Leave him in the crate all day and only let him out for bathroom brakes." And others say "leave him in the play pen all day and see if he will go in the same spot. Only put the dog in the crate at night..."

I really don't know what is the best way to go about this. So I'm doing
half and half. I let him play in the pen for an hour then I put him in the crate for 3 hours then let him out again. I really don't know whats best.

I walk him 3 times a day too. When ever he gos to take a pee or poop.
I say "Bathroom" And give him a treat. I'm hoping I can also use voice command to get him to go on the paper/pads too. I'm really trying here.
Any ideas?

OK, I'll try to keep this short. Keep in mind, this is how *I* did it, there are other ways to do things, but this is what worked best for both of my guys.

My guys were never crated for long periods of time, and NEVER at night.

Roxy as a young pup, had her crate. When I went to work she was left in her crate. She never had an accident. After about two weeks, (so she would have been around 3 months old) she was allowed to roam free in my room. So her crate was in my room, and my door was shut. Never an accident in my room.

After a few weeks of that, she was allowed in the hallways as well. This is when she started having accidents and I resorted to paper training. If she peed/pooped inside, I took her to the paper. Once she was about 6 months old, she stopped going regularly on the paper, but once in awhile she'd leave a poopy present for us on the paper

Both of my guys were never crated at night. They had their own beds, and did not leave them at any time of the night. When I went to bed, so did they. In the mornings, Hades would wake me up to go outside.

I'm not a "crater", I don't have anything against people that crate though

What I would do with a 12 week old puppy: Take them outside 3-4 times in a hour! And highly reward those times that he does go outside, with my voice and with a yummy treat, that's used only for when he poops/pees outside. (My guys know what go poo, go pee means, everytime I take them outside they hear it until they do one or the other)

So, if your not there, crate him. If you are, take him out as much as you can! Reward those times he does go outside! And if he does have an accident, one firm "no" at the scene of the crime, and clean it up well.

This has gotten long, and I don't know where I was going with it, but I hoped I answered some of your questions. All of the above is just what worked for me!

Good luck!

We crated at night, but I am a late nighter and my wife is an early riser for work so it was maybe 5-6 hours at a time in the crate. All day he was left out but watched with vigilence. When he was between 8-12 weeks old he probably went out 15-20 times a day. As soon as he woke from a nap- outside. Playing for 10 minutes? Outside. Just ate? Outside. Had a drink? Outside. Gradually the amount of times he went out got less and less. We rarely had accidents- maybe some excitable peeing but almost never a #2. He never had accidents in his crate either. Crating serves other purposes- it's safer for them when you are not around. Puppies chew things and electrical cords, your favorite shoes, or the leg to your good table are not off limits to them.

My Pug puppy seems to only use the paper/pads half of the time. The other half are all accidents. I live on the 2nd floor. I don't want to always worry about taking him out for a walk. Most people I know with small dogs have them as mostly house dogs. As I would love to take him out side to play. I would like the option to not have to go out all the time.
I had the dog in my bedroom. He peed on my rug 3 times. I was kinda upset because its a very light color carpet. So I'm tring to get him to train on my hard floors before letting him on the rugs.
I just hope I can get him to learn what to do. I really can't understand why hes only making it on the pads half of the time.

I don't paper train and never will, so the way I trained Tango is going to differ from yours a bit but it's still all the same sort of idea except my dog went outside right away and yours goes on the paper.

Tango was only ever in her crate when I couldn't watch her, and when I left the house. I also put her in it for about a week when I first brought her home. The rest of the time she was attached to me by a leash and that way she was always with me and never had a chance to have an accident. When she was really young (8-12 weeks) I took her outside every half hour, after every nap, after she ate, after playing etc. She was with me while I cleaned, while I watched TV, while I cooked, etc. If she wanted a nap, I'd put her in her crate unless I was going to be sitting still for a while. She had one accident as a puppy, and that was because I'd left her home with my parents and they didn't watch her. She was 100% housebroken by the time she was 4 months old, but I could trust her before then aswell. Even after 4 months, I still watched her like a hawk because I didn't want to make a mistake and set us back in training at all but never again has she had an accident. This is a wonderful way to train a dog, and I will continue to do the same thing with all of my future dogs. It's worked extremely well for my family and I. I would do the exact same thing if I was paper/pad training, except instead of taking the pup outside I'd take him/her to their papers. Good luck!

^ Yes, I hurd about people keeping there dog on them at all times.
How do you keep from tripping or steping on the dog when you clean
house like that? What do you do when you see him peeing when hes not supost to go? This pug of mine, is a very quiet pee-er. Very sneaky.
It would help if he barked when he has to go.

well it sounds like your giving him mixed signals, he can go on the paper, which in my estimation gives him the idea he can "go" anywhere on the floor not just paper, and he can go outside. So it sounds like he figures it's "ok" to go , well, just about anywhere!

One note, if he pees on hardwood floors, let me tell you, they will stain like crazy and you will never get that up.

I think you need to decide exactly how you want to housebreak this puppy and work from there. Obviously the best solution is outside potty breaks, You don't mention how old he is, but if that's the way to go, then start now, and be consistent and take him out alot!

If you decide to "inside" potty break him, how about litter box training him?
I think litter box training him would give him a better idea and solution than allowing him to go on paper/pee pads.

Sneaky or not, he needs to be tethered to you 24/7 when he is out of his designated area, and as soon as you even "think" he is going to go, or even in the middle of it, scoop him up and take him to the appropriate spot. ALWAYS praise and reward for good potties *vbg*.

Just some suggestions
diane

Tango got stepped on often, don't get me wrong. But she quickly learned to stay out of the way and was never under my feet, which is also great as they get older. It's wonderful not aving a dog right under your feet all the time. Like jynx said, if he's 'being sneaky' pick him up and take him to his papers. Also, give him a command like "Hurry up" or something and praise LOTS. I also agree wtih the litter box thing if you don't have easy access to go outside. It'll be easier for him to get the concept.

The problem with litter boxes. Dogs don't know to bury there droppings like a cat. And the litter will fly every where with them hoping in and out.
The "Hurry up" idea I have seen work before. But how do you teach them what it means?

When you see your puppy eliminating on the paper say something like "Good Hurry up!" or "Good Hurry!". That's what I did with my dogs and they learned quickly. Also, just because you're using a litter box doesn't mean you actually have to use cat litter in it. You could put newspaper inside the box. I know a few people who do this .

Well in sted of saying the "Hurry up" I have been doing that with the word.
"Bathroom!" Hummm.... News paper in the litter box. That could work.
(sigh) I know whats going to happen. Hes a puppy. Hes going to pull out all the scraps I bet. I had to buy a "pad trapper" So it keeps the pad flat on the floor so he does not chew it or bunch it up in a corner. He has been using the pad. Just not as offten as I was hoping. I'm also woundering if it would help to have a few pads down insted of one pad. It might give him more space to go on. What do you think?

Here's what I did with my puppy:
I made myself a rule -- puppy only gets to have four paws on the floor for an hour after going #1 AND #2. After that hour is up, I put him on my lap and play with him until he goes to sleep, then I put him in his crate and let him sleep. When he wakes up, I take him straight to the potty area. Then he can do whatever he wants for one hour. After that, I pick him up, keep him with me or in his crate and off the floor.

I actually wrote down what time he went and whether it was #1 or both. I made a chart to write on that had the following spaces:

Wake up
After breakfast
After morning nap
Before lunch
After lunch
After nap
Before dinner
After dinner
After nap
Before bed
Middle of the night

After a while I didn't have to worry about the intermediary spaces as he started being able to hold it longer. He still sleeps a lot and takes long naps, so when he wakes up, I take him straight to his potty spot and he goes. Using the cue word every time is a great way to work it.

I used a child's playpen with his bed, food & water dish, some toys, and potty pads on one end. When he came out of his crate, he naturally went to the opposite end to relieve himself, so that's where I put the pads.

Now I just use the play pen at night in case he needs it in the middle of the night, the rest of the time I take him outside. He has been holding it through the night for a while now! It's been working really well.

I was so happy a few min ago. I saw the puppy taking a poop on the pad from across the hall. As I got closer he saw me. He ran for me as the poop was hanging out of his butt. It landed on the floor. So much for being happy.

Yes, I like the play pen idea. The dog should enjoy his puppy hood. Not be traped in a crate all day. I guess I just need to give him more time to rember where to go.

What you need to do is get him trained to go outside. That is hard to do if you are encouraging him to go inside too, even if it's on paper or puppy pads. Pugs are not always the easiest dogs to housebreak so anything that is confusing to them is going to prolong the training. Sourjayne wrote pretty much what I wrote about how often you need to put him out. House training is as much about YOU being trained- learning the dogs habits and signals and timings- as it is for the pup. You have to watch them constantly. Using a playpen or other enclosure is not an excuse to not watch him and allow him to relieve himself indoors. If you can't watch him, put him in the crate, even if it's for 5 minutes. Then take him out when you let him out of the crate. If taking him out 20 times a day is too much work, well, all I can say is good luck. You need to create the good habits of going outside now, while he's young. You were worried about him marking in the house in another thread, believe me, an adult dog that is TRAINED to go to the bathroom inside is going to make your house smell far worse. By that time, it's much harder to change his habits and get him going outside. If you start now, you can probably have him completely trained in 6-8 weeks. It's a small investment to make for a happy dog and a clean house.

I agree with Dan, and in another post you worried he wouldn't bury his droppings like a cat if you used litter and the litter would be all over??
Dogs are NOT cats, tho they can be trained to use a litterbox. But as Dan states, housebreaking is all about YOU being trained as well. Dogs do not train themselves. Dogs are usually the product of what WE as humans teach them. You will get out of him what you put into him.

Frankly I'd rather have litter all over my floor vs having dog pee and poop all over my floor.

Dan is also right, in that small dogs can be notoriously hard to housebreak, but once it's done, you won't have to worry about the future having him pee on your furniture, your bed or gosh knows what else.
Good luck
Diane

Tira and Gunner have both been "paper-to-outdoor" dogs. Tira used paper for awhile, then went to strictly outdoors. Now that she's back with us (and an indoor dog again) she knows her place to potty is outside ONLY.

Gunner is 5 months old. He potties outside from 10am until 1 or 2am (when we go to bed). In the middle of the night (about 8 hours) he pees on his pads and will sometimes poop on them (if he didn't poop before bedtime).

Keeping Gunner on a feeding schedule helps alot with night time poops as well. He's not allowed to eat after 9pm and both get fed each morning after the first potty break.

I wouldnt' bother

I also wouldn't bother with puppy pads or newspaper or litter boxes. With Wrigley (who is about the size of a Pug) when we got him at 10 weeks his schedule (which is close to what it is now) was:

4am husband goes to work-potty break
6:30am I get up for work-potty break and breakfast
7:30am I leave for work-potty break put in crate
Noon-husband comes home for work-let out for potty and small lunch break
noon-3 out of crate playing in living room wtih someone watching at all times (with a potty break about half way through)
3-5:30pm put in crate
5:30pm I come home let him out for potty and he is allowed to be out of crate
6pm dinner
7pm walk (which of course includes potty!)
9pm potty break
11pm potty and put in crate.

I would NOT recommend making the crate bigger until the pup is MUCH older. It should be just big enough for him to turn around and lay out fully--we tried at 5 months to make the crate a bit bigger (we have a divider) and he had the first accident he had had in about a month. We just now (at 7 mo and no accidents since the 5 mo one) made it a bit bigger.

I would say with this schedule Wrigley only had about 10 accidents total in the 5 months we had him which I think is pretty good (only 1 was poo).

I also think that crating while you have to clean or are moving all around the house is perfectly acceptable.

I don't feel a 3 month-old pup should be in a crate alone for more than 3-4 hours, except at night. It's just a really long time to hold it!

I do crate at night, because I feel it's much safer, until I can trust Fozzie. He could still decide to chew something up or eat something bad! My room is pretty clean, but I still sometimes leave shoes or certain "clothing items" out that he loves to chew. I agree with Sourjayne, a schedule for your pup to live by is so important! I also feel that a playpen or a secure bathroom is better than free roaming at this point in your puppy's life (he is still very young), unless you puppy-proof your e n t i r e house!