I have a 10 week old lab puppy. I have had her for about 3 weeks now. I am trying to house train her, but am having some difficulty. I am crate training her. The biggest problem I have is that I work during the day, and can't come home during lunch. She is doing well when I can be home with her. When I am home, she stays in her crate unless she is outside, eating, or playing with me. I know I can't leave her in the crate the whole time I am at work. My fiance' takes her outside right before she leaves for work at 8:30, and I am usually home by 5:30. I know I can't expect her to hold it all day at this age.

I guess the question I have is what should I be doing to try to make her understand it isn't ok to go in the house. If I'm not home I can't correct her for going in the house, so how can I make her learn she's not supposed to go in the house?
Unfortunately I don't have anyone who can realiably come to my house everyday and let her out.

Any suggestions would be great.

Thanks.

Fortunely for me I am at home, not back at work yet(not for another 2 years)What if you left her in her crte for the time that you can't let her out(while you are at work), she'll learn to hold it and learn that when she's got to go it's outside not in.We have a doggie door for our dogs ,it helps.Your pup might have to learn to hold it, don't feed before you crate and don't allow her to drink tons of water as well.
It won't take long before she is potty trained, it seems like they catch on quick, at least I find that they do.
http://s141.photobucket.com/albums/r77/cadogancna/

Is it a good idea to have her crated for that long?

I have read (I believe it was on this sight), that a puppy shouldn't be in a crate for more than about 4 hours at one time other than at night. If I left her in the crate all day she would be in there for at least 9 hours.

Also, is a 10 week old puppy capable of holding it for that amount of time?

I keep her isolated in one room of my house so that she doesn't go all over it. I think she has associated being confined to her room with not being able to go outside. Which, I guess is true. She really only gets confined to the room when we leave for work. I have taken her outside right before I left for work and had her pee and poop just to come back 15 minutes later to find that she has gone in the room. Its like she is making no attempt to hold it. When we leave, she generally hasn't had food or water for about 2 hours. She gets fed at 6:15 am, and it is picked up at 6:30 am. She is taken outside the last time before we leave at 8:30.

Well when you have no other options, I don't think until you can let her loose it matters ,IMO.If a pup can be crated during the evening for over 8 to 10 hours , why not in the day.
I hope someone else jumps in and give you more advice on this ,
or an idea of what to do other than crate all day.

If you have an area in your house that it's carpeted(e.g. kitchen, bathroom, etc.) I would get a baby gate or dog gate(same thing, dog gates come in varitey of sizes, baby gates don't) and put the gate up and the crate inside the enclosed area and leave out newspaper in the area, if you want easier clean up. Is there any way your fiance can go home for lunch to let her out? That would be my only other suggestion.

I also have a lab pup(male chocolate) and when we first got him he did have to stay in his crate for a longer period of time than I wanted(6-7hrs) and he did 'mess' in his crate. But I keep a towel in there(until he starts teething) so when he pees I can just take out the towel and wash it, poop on the other hand... he pooped in his crate 2 times, then realized he didn't like sitting in his own stink that long, lol.

In my house, I'm the primary one who lets our dogs out and the one who feeds them(unless my fiance is on days off) I try to make it a point to go home for lunch to let them out, but I can understand if neither of you can get home. I'd try the gate and crate idea I gave at the begining of my messege. Good luck!

I am already confining her to one room of my house with a baby gate. This room has linoleum (sp?) floors in it, so clean up is really easy. When I clean up her messes I wipe down the floor where the messes were with Nature's Miracle to remove the odor.

Unfortunately my fiance is unable to get home during lunch either. It is just to far for either of us to go during lunch. It takes over an hour to get there and back for both of us.

I am working on getting my brother to come over and let her out. If I can get him to commit to doing it everyday then I will start crating her during the day. I just dont want her to have to be in the crate for 8-9 hours if he doesn't come over. As much as I hate coming home to a messy, stinky room, I would hate even more coming home to a puppy covered in pee and poop.

I guess finding someone to tend to her during the day or finding a way to come home are my only options until she gets old enough to be able to hold it while we are at work.

Generally, at about what age does a puppy become able to hold it for 8-9 hours during the day? I know it is different for every dog, but just in general?

*SIGH*

I am sorry, but if you don't have the time NOW, to work on the basic basic levels of potty training, how are you going to have time to dedicate to the training of this dog when it enters the unruly stages, when time is truly of the essence?

Or is that time when this pup goes to the pound, (cuz you didn't have time for it), "sort of" potty trained?

Michele, in all fairness to Adam, most people work out of the home and the hours he mentioned, 8:30AM to 5:30PM are common hours. In a perfect world, all dog owners would be stay-at-home dads and moms, but it isn't realistic and people still own dogs and they get proper attention (that's not always true of course, but generally speaking). There's a lot that can be done with a puppy after 5:30PM until bed time and before 8:30AM after waking - playing and training (and that needs to take place). It breaks my heart to ever leave a puppy that young alone for 9 hours in a day, but sometimes it just has to be that way. I'm home all day with my pup, but not everyone can do that. There are no easy answers, unfortunately.

Adam, I started my previous post with an apology and I meant it. Again, I am sorry...I knew what I posted may have had a "tone" and thus, my apology.

I will say, IMO, it is not fair to that pup to be alone in kennel for 8-9 hours a day, nor, IMO, will the dog have a solid groundwork/foundation set for being housebroken. It, IMO, is essential that you have a designated person available to this pup sooner than later. I do hope this is feasible for you, although you posted initially that it wasn't really.

I know it is not a perfect world. I know people have jobs and lives and different priorities. I have a high expectation for people to research and have a plan before getting a dog/pup. If people are never challenged on this, how can they learn?

They learn by their own mistakes and unfortunately, that is a main cause for the (7,200 GSD's alone) abundance of pups and dogs filling the shelters.

Michele, I understand exactly what you were saying. Nothing would make me happier than to be able to be home with her all day. I love my puppy and would never ever even consider getting rid of her for any reason. I know her having to be home alone for that long will make housetraining be more difficult and take longer. I am just looking for advice to make it as easy as it can be given the circumstances.

I put a great deal of research and though into getting a puppy. I have had labs my whole life, so I knew what I was getting into. I do not feel that it was a mistake to get her, and I do not feel that I am doing her any disservice or treating her poorly by not being there with her. It is just going to take more effort and patience on my part to help her learn what she is expected to do.

I did have a plan for someone to come tend to her during the day, but unfortunately, people tend to be unreliable and plans don't always work out.

I spend every free minute I can with my puppy. All of her other training is going exceptionally well. When she is compared to the puppies of some of my family, that were in the same litter as mine, she is far more advanced in her training.

I love my dog, and I am just trying to do the best that I can with her.