Help! New puppy in the house

[Bailey+Ralph]

I wouldn't let him associate the crate with toileting at all.
If you line the crate with bedding then he shouldn't pee in there.
It will help to housebreak him if he doesn't use the crate for toileting.
Otherwise when he gets older and you take the paper away he will still pee in there b/c he wouldn't know any different.

This would mean setting the alarm to get him out a couple of times in the night, or if you have the crate in the bedroom with you ( i didn't do this) then he should wake you up.

[Lyn Scillitoe]

Ok Thanks I may try this but tonight I don't have the energy - I'm seriously knackered from my exhausting day crying and fretting and really need to sleep tonight - I hope it won't cause too many problems if I leave it for one night?

[misticaleclipse]

Hey I just wanted to follow up and see how its going?

[mjb]

I did the same thing. I didn't know much about dogs at all, and I was so worried about how to be sure they bonded with us and wouldn't grow up to be aggressive, etc. It was alot of wasted energy, my worrying. On the plus side, I was so depressed, I lost weight!!! Weight loss was good, not depression. If I had it all to do again, I would probably still have the crying moments because watching a puppy constantly during the housetraining stage is exhausting. And I felt like I couldn't get out of the house very much because I didn't want to leave him alone for long! So I would go through the same thing again about being exhausted and feeling like I didn't have a life anymore, but I wouldn't worry as much.

I decided at the time that I would never get a puppy again....that I would get full grown dogs from now on!! Two years later, I'm weakening on that stance.