I am trying to house train my 11 week old puppy. She has to go out every 2-3 hours-- even at night. Should she be able to hold it?

Question

My Japanese chin puppy is 11 weeks old. I am trying to teach her to eliminate outside. So far she is doing OK when I am with her as I take her out every 1-2 hours and after her naps. She will go when I am outside with her. At night, we have to go outside once every 2-3 hours as well. Can she hold for more than 1-2 hours at her age as I read several advices that she should be able to? If I leave her in the crate for more than 2 hours, she will eliminate in the crate. I left her in the garage in the exercise pen, her crate and the pee pad. She knew to use the pee pad. to eliminate when I am not there to let her out. This is working out great for me but I am not sure if I'll confuse her. I have to work and can only take lunch break (after 4 hours) to let her out. Do you have any advice when it comes to housebreaking a puppy and a busy owner? Your advice is greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

Accepted Answer

First pee pads are the dumbest house training product on the market. Think about it. You are trying to teach a 11 week old puppy to go outside - then you put down a pad and tell her that its OK to pee and poop in the house as long as its on these stupid pads. Sorry - this NEVER WORKS.

You are doing the right thing. Take the dog out all the time. The average dog can hold it by 16 weeks. There are ALWAYS ACCEPTIONS TO THE RULE. This does not mean you did anything wrong, it only means you continue on the right path and eventually the dog will come around.

A couple of years ago it took one of our dogs 6 months - that would be 6 VERY LONG MONTHS for us. But she is fine now.

I would recommend you purchase the DVD I produced titled Your Puppy 8 Weeks to 8 Months.

I have owned and trained German Shepherds for 40 years. In the past 30 years I have bred over 350 litters of working bloodline German Shepherds. I give this video to all of my puppy customers and never get questions on how to raise a pup.

Read the description of the tape on my web site. Dog training is not rocket science its simple common sense ideas on how to handle and train a dog.

You should also consider my DVD on Basic Dog Obedience. The fact is you have way more to learn than your dog. I always recommend the handlers start studying this DVD right away even though you won't train a lot of the work until the pup is 4 to 6 months old.

I also recommend that you go to my web site and read the article I wrote on my philosophy of dog training. I think you will get some good ideas there.

You are always going to be exposed to people who offer advise on how to fix your dogs behavioral issues. The problem is that most of these people don’t have the experience to offer sound advise. I have a pre-written script I send people to make it easier to place some faith in my advice. It goes like this:

"Everyone has an opinion on how to train a dog – just ask you barber, your mailman and your neighbor."

The problem is very few people have the experience to back up their opinions. This results in a lot of bad information being passed out on how to deal with behavioral problems.

Pet owners like yourself need to figure out who has the experience to warrant listening to. Dog training for me is not a hobby. It’s a way of life. I have been training dogs for over 45 years. I have bred over 350 litters of working bloodline German Shepherds, I was a police K9 handler on a drug task force for 10 years and I have produced over 120 videos on dog training. Many of them directed towards professional dog trainers.