Don't want to give up my entire life - how long in crate?

[Jane, Rooney & Stuart]

Rooney comes home in 2 days and I am very excited.  Rooney will be almost 11 wks and his breeder says that he is sleeping through the night in his crate from about 9:30 p.m. till around 6:00 a.m.  He has never gone potty in his crate. 

 

So I am told that I need to take him outside to "get busy" every two hours during the day to give him the best chance at success.  And for the first week I intend stay with Rooney while he gets used to us, his new home and his brother, Humphrey who is a cat. 

 

But I do not want Rooney to be the only thing in my life - I have a ladies golf group that I play with and here is my question.  I have hired a professional dog sitter to watch Rooney on my golf day, for about 5-6 hours.  I will have to run Rooney over to her house and drop him off and then go back for him later in the day - a bit stressful as we tee off around 8:30 but I know he can't spend 5 hours during the day alone yet - it is too soon.  This is going to cost me an arm and leg ($40) so I don't want to do this for longer than I have too. 

 

So after he is used to us, I am going to start leaving him for short periods during the day and then slowly stretch the time longer and longer.  How old do you think a dog would be before you could leave them for 5 hours.  I wouldn't do it often but once in a while.  There is a doggie day care place across town that he could go to when he has completed his shots, he'd have more fun there and it would be cheaper but I'd have to be on the road really early to get him there and get back here.

[Carol and Banjo]

When Banjo was 12 weeks we were able to leave him 5-6 hours in his crate during the day and he did fine. At that time I was going into the office 3 days/week. We left him with a frozen Kong. I would fill it with a bit of kibble and cover that with a mix of yogurt mixed with oatmeal or peanut butter mixed with oatmeal. To this day he funs to his crate when he sees us getting ready to go and reaching into the freezer. He LOVESSSS his kong treat!

[Cheryl and Eddie]

Eddie stays in his crate for up to 8 hours, if needed (never wanted) but he never complains. His trainer also said he would eventually love his crate (which I never believed!). But guess what he loves his crate and goes into it even when we are home and he want to lay down. It feels safe for him. he is also capable of sleeping through an 11 hour night. Be patient. They are great dogs at potty training. Edie was trained within one week. I slept with him in the guest room through the first week....we were out at 2 am, 4 am 6 am, what ever, but after that first week. he just wanted to sleep through the night@!

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

We have a dog sitter in our area who comes into our home and takes the dogs out to potty and then plays with them for a while. I'm a bit of a "fanatic" about leaving my guys home alone, so I hire her to come in if we're ever going to be away for four hours or more. She spends an hour here, and she only charges me $25. That might be a less expensive option for you, and since Rooney will be home (crated), you won't have the issue of trying to drop him off and make your early start time.

[Camilla and Darwin]

I stayed home with Darwin for the first week, but after that it was back to work. We left him for 3 or 4 hours a day for the first week, then moved up to 5 or six during the second week. HOWEVER, he was 12 weeks when we got him.... so that changes things a little bit.

He could probably be in there for over eight hours now, as he can hold it for a LONG time at this point. However, we've never left him in there for longer than 7 hours. If we have to work longer than that, we put him in doggy daycare. Just a personal choice. Do you do the golfing just once a week? If so, you could stay home the first week, and have the person watch Rooney for two weeks after that, I think that would be sufficient time for his bladder to adjust and you'd only have to pay for 2 days...

[Sandra Griffith]

Megan is right. The general rule is 1 hour per month old + hour. So a three month old puppy should be able to hold it for around 4 hours. This is when the puppy is resting. If they are playing or excited, the ability to hold it is diminished substantially. I like to set up an exercise pen when a puppy is going to be alone all day. I place a crate, water bowl and place to acceptably eliminate if it is needed within the ex-pen. There is an excellent picture of this set-up in Dr. Ian Dunbar's book What to do Before and After Your Puppy Arrives. Also, I like to pick up the water about three hours before the puppy goes to bed to help with overnight. I do think that it is important to have fresh water available for the puppy throughout the day. Of course, the puppy should go out the second you get home as that is when they are very excited. Having said all of this, every puppy is an individual and some are better at holding it than others. I also like to give a puppy a frozen Kong to keep them occupied when they are alone. This serves two purposes: it gives them something to do and helps with their need to chew while they are teething. Hope this helps and congratulations on you new upcoming arrival.

[Patty, Roxy & Spencer]

We got Roxy at 16 wks and Spencer at 17 wks. They were both from the same breeder and both potty and crate trained. The crate is a great training tool for potty training. They both sleep through the night in their crates(from 8 to 9 hrs). Once in a while one of them will have to go in the middle of the night. They have their night time crates in our bedroom so we can hear them being restless which means they need to go out. At 11 wks Rooney will probably have to go more often than mine had to at a few weeks older. Also Roxy has much better holding power. I don't know if that is a gender situation, but I suspect that it is. Usually if one of them has to go in the middle of the night it's Spencer. It's a good idea to be with him for the first week to get used to his new family and get him used to a potty routine. I was told to wait about a 1/2 hr. after a meal and then take them out. This worked pretty well with Roxy. After a short period of showing her her potty spot she would go right to it and do her business with my prompting of "Go Potty". I usually wouldn't wait that long for Spencer. He would want to go out much sooner, so I would usually not wait much at all after a meal and take him out. Once they know what door they need to go to they will in a short amount of time of training. Doodles are so smart. And it is a good idea to take them out often in between meals and water drinking. We have had to leave them in their crates a few times 5 to 6 hrs. We made sure they had kong type toys to keep them occupied. I hate to leave them more than 4 hrs at a time during the day time. So if I had to leave them more than that a lot I would look into local pet sitters that come to your home and let your pup out, walk them, feed them if need be, and play with them. Also the puppy day care is a good alternative. Some day cares require you puppy to be at least 1 yrs. old. You're going to love your new puppy and you may find that you won't want to leave him at home, but take him with you as ofter as you can.....Good Luck and Enjoy you new Doodle.
Patty

[Sandra Griffith]

I have found that the ability to "hold it" is not necessarily gender related. For example, my female puppy was able to "hold it" for a much shorter time than her sister from the same litter. Also, when I spoke of the ex-pen set up, I do not use it at night- just during the day if I'm going to be gone for a long period of time (like going to work all day). At night I place the crate next to the bed. I know you're going to figure it all out in a way that works for your puppy.