Here's what I'm doing with Tucker (6 mo. old) He has an xpen that he goes in when I can't watch him like a hawk. He has his bed food, toys and a pee pad in it. At first, I had pee pads to cover the entire xpen area and little by little we got down to just one. The xpen is in the main area of the house, so I don't feel like I'm locking him away from us like I would if I had to put him in a crate every time.
I take him out about every two hours (more often when he was younger) This is often enough that he doesn't usually need to use the pad which is my goal, sometimes he still does though. When we go out, I lead him to the door with a leash and have him ring a bell. We then go to a certain part of the yard and I repeat the phrase "go potty" over and over until he goes. He now knows what that means and will go fairly quickly. The leash helps to keep him focused and under my control.
We have been at this for 3 months and today when he was running around my back yard off leash, he stopped and ran to the back corner of my lot (the potty area) to poop. This is helpful for me because I know where to go to clean up the poopies and helpful for him because he is used to this spot and can recognize what I'm trying to get him to do.
When I can't take him out every two hours, he goes in his crate and will hold it until I can take him potty. He is only allowed to run around my house after he goes potty and only for about 15 min, otherwise, he is either in my arms or in his xpen or crate. HTH! |