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Help potty training golden retriever puppy?

11K views 31 replies 27 participants last post by  metalone67 
#1 ·
I just got a golden retriever puppy that is almost 8 weeks old.
I read a lot about potty training and decided to not confine him to a crate in the process.
When I am home I watch him very closely and let him out every 30-45 min or anytime I think he needs to potty like after meals, after naps after playing etc... The first day there were accidents because I didn't pick up on his cues fast enough but yesterday was the second day and there were no accidents. So far he has slept through the nights so there is no problem at night. so iit looks like I have a plan that works well for the times that I am home.

The problem is what to do when I'm not home. Currently I fenced off a 4 by 6 area in the garage and covered it in pee pads. Left water, bed and toys and the puppy in that area. I read that once he starts making a habit of peeing in a certain area that I should slowly reduce the area that is padded and he will start going on the pad only. This sounds good to me but my question is, is this confusing?

On one hand I am teaching him to go outside to potty and on the other hand I'm telling him its ok to potty indoors. On paper but indoors nonetheless.

Will he get to the point where he knows the difference? I want him to someday be able to tell me he needs to go out when im home, and know to go on the pad when I can't be there to let him out.

This is my first puppy and I want to do it right, so if you have better methods please tell me...
 
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#2 ·
This is my first puppy and I want to do it right, so if you have better methods please tell me...
Yep. Get a crate. Hire a dog walker if you are gone longer than 4 hours.
Using pee pee pads is a TERRIBLE way to housetrain a dog. All that does is teach them to pee inside, specifically, on things.
The other alternative is using Ian Dunbar's long-term confinement pen that involves a piece of sod in a plastic tray. At least then they are learning to go on grass. They also spend a lot of that free time digging and eating the sod. You can download Dunbar's "After You Get Your Puppy" book for free, just google it.
Bottom line....get a crate.
 
#4 ·
get a crate....my goldens have always loved their crates after the initial introduction period, and prefer to sleep in them when given the choice. I leave the door open when they are adults, and that's where they go, by choice.
 
#5 ·
Get the crate X's 4!

As others have said the crate will become a safe place (eat there, sleep there) and it gives you an option to confine them safely where they are comfortable so that you can do things around the house without having to continuously monitor the puppy for accidents.
 
#9 ·
I can't imagine NOT using a crate. Makes life so much easier for both if us. My dogs have always liked using one. I have a crate for my 7- month old pup and I often find my 6-year old has gone in there to lay down.
 
#10 ·
Crate train. Aside from housetraining, it is just not safe to leave a puppy/young dog loose when you are not in constant supervision. They can get hurt all kinds of ways. One quick chew through an electrical cord, for example. Puppy is little now, wait until the teething really starts, you'll be amazed what destruction those teeth can cause. Lots of dogs are given up to shelters for "behavioral issues" that could easily have been avoided with basic crate training. Enjoy your puppy, but learn to establish boundaries from the start and try to head off trouble before it happens, much, much easier training that way.

Pups/dogs should ride in crates in vehicles as well, vs loose.
 
#13 ·
I don't crate my dogs in the house, and I did potty train my golden with pee pads. I left her in the bedroom during the day with pee pads on the floor and under the throw rugs. Between 8 weeks and about 3 months, I came home at lunch and let her out into the yard. By 3 months, she could make it 9 hours without pooping (but not peeing), so I quit coming home for lunch (couldn't afford to keep using an hour of annual leave a day.) So, she would usually leave a piddle puddle, because you can't expect a puppy to go that long without peeing. I'd toss any wet throw rugs into the laundry in the evening and change the used pee pads. At about 4 months, maybe 4.5, I forget, there was no piddle on the floor one day when I got home. Nor the next day, or the next. After a week of no piddling in the house, I picked up all the pee pads, and that was the end of that.

Obviously, I'm in the minority these days. But, I think there are potential huge problems with crate training. If you have to be gone for many more hours than a puppy can go without "going", then they HAVE to go in their crate. Do it often enough and the pup learns to tolerate sitting in its own urine or excrement. Also, if the puppy has a bout of diarrhea (not uncommon in puppies), they're stuck in a crate messing all over themselves. I'd rather come home and launder a rug than come home to a miserable puppy coming in feces.

YMMV
 
#15 · (Edited)
Why one would not use a crate is beyond me.

Crates offer at least three important advantages:

1) It is a spot of their own that they will keep clean (this is a huge variable when potty training). This is inbred behavior and should be utilized during the life of the dog.
2) It's a safe spot (or should be) that they can go to; whether for a "time out" of sorts by the owner, or if the owner wants the dog out of the way ("kennel!") or when they decide they want to get away on their own.
3) A confined space like a kennel can be used in the car, at a friend's house or relative's house, outside during gatherings when the dog needs to be "put up", etc.


Remember, dogs are from the genus of canis and they use dens to rear their young. Kennels are an appropriate artificial substitute, with further advantages for our domesticated partners.
 
#16 ·
I DO use a crate in the vehicle and at shows. The dogs are fine with it.

Ken, why would they be dead if kept outside a crate? Assuming you make a reasonable effort to puppy-proof the room.
 
#18 ·
I can't imagine leaving a pup in any room of the house uncrated! They chew everything and besides ruining whatever they have chewed, you have to worry about what they have ingested…like throw rugs, wood trim, drywall. And I would never teach a dog that it was ok to pee in my house.

Crate training all the way.

Meredith
 
#21 · (Edited)
Another vote for Crate Training.. A close friend is a vet.. and you would not believe the near death surgeries she has had to perform on young dogs that injest something in a "puppy proofed" room. Crates are safety zones for the puppy and help them develop skills needed to be a good citizen the rest of their life. Do they like being locked into a crate the first few times... HECK NO.. and they can sound like caged monsters in there.. but before long, they willingly go into their little saftey zones. I cant imagine why a pup would need more room than a crate would provide, when most of the time they spend in the crate is sleeping... I have a 9week old right now.. after the first day.. she is quiet in her crate, and is either sleeping or chewing on a nylabone puppy chew ( a crate safe toy- nothing stuffed in there) and has only once peed in her crate. She comes out ready to play and run, but has no issue with the crate come bedtime.
 
#24 ·
Whenever I hear people say they don't use crates, I think they've fallen for the PETA/HSUS misinformation that they are cruel. As other posters have pointed out, crating a dog is NOT cruel and dogs actually prefer having their own safe den if they have a choice. You can always transition a saintly puppy (does such a thing exist? LOL) to house freedom once it's reliably house broken, but as others pointed out, even when housebroken the crate keeps them as well as our possessions safe during the prolonged adolescence so common to retrievers.
 
#25 ·
Wow, amazing how any puppies survived before crates were around. I've also known of dogs that died in their crates of things like bloat or intestinal blockage that they might have survived if they were free to let the owner know they were in distress in the middle of the night. Everything is a trade-off. Retriever training is not exactly the safest thing you can do with a dog, either.

The OP didn't seem that interested in a crate/no-crate argument. He/she wanted to know if pee pads would confuse the dog about going inside vs outside. My point was that my puppy, who used pee pads and was confined to my bedroom, has never confused inside and outside. She is 4 years old and has the run of the house (along with the other 3 dogs). She doesn't potty in the house. As puppies grow older, they normally develop an aversion to soiling the area they sleep and eat in. There are a couple of things you can do to help alleviate any confusion.

Get up early enough to take the puppy for a walk and some play. Give it plenty of time to burn some energy and relieve itself before you leave the house.

Put a soiled pad or a piece of a pad in the corner of the yard where you'd like the dog to eventually go. Put a rock on it to keep it from blowing away. The odor will help encourage the puppy to go there.

Periodically thoroughly clean the area where you're confining the puppy, especially after it starts making it through the day, so there is no lingering odor of piddle.


Enjoy your puppy! Golden puppies are so cute.

{Not crate training makes you a member of PETA???? Puuu-LEEESE. That is absurd.}
 
#27 ·
I'm with Ken. Get a crate!!! Stop screwing around. 1 electrical cord chewed, 1 chewed bed sheet or curtain around the pups neck or 1 time into the cleaning chemicals and you wish you had a crate. Your pup is relying on you to keep him/her safe thru adult hood. Don't blow it......
 
#28 ·
There are times in a dog's life that it may need to be crated. If God forbid your dog needs to be operated on crate confinement will be needed. Dogs who have been put in crates as puppies seem to have an easier time with spending time in a crate. As your puppy gets older the likelihood of surgery increases. Another thing introduce your puppy to a ramp. A couple of weeks ago I was at the Vet and a gentleman was trying to get his BIG dog into his car. I do not know what happened to the dog, but there were a lot of stitches in several places on the dog. His dog would not walk up his ramp because it was a smooth surface. I pulled my ramp with slates on it over to his car and the dog felt more at ease to climb on it. At that point he was wishing he had introduced his dog to a ramp long before that day. I wish he would have had a crate in his car, but he did not.

I could give you many examples for the benefits of crate training, but this one has not been shared by others.
Terri
 
#30 ·
I just went through house breaking my ylm pup. started him in a crate and it only took a couple of weeks for him to stop going in the house. Only pooped once in the house and that was all. I was very surprised by how easy it was to train him using the crate. It had been years since I had trained a pup. Only problem I had was that I was laid up for six weeks from a surgery at the same time he came home and my wife did most all of the training. she let him go just off of our front porch to do his business. This sets up for a mess in the front yard and should have taken him out to the edge of the woods. Last lab I had I had done this and she would not go in her kennel, unless she was there a very very long time, or the yard, always in the woods.
 
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