Since he can only hold his pee for about two hours, you will have to take him outside to go potty every two hours. You can keep him out of the crate if you want as long as your are able to watch him fully so that you can make sure that he doesn't go potty on your floor. If you can't watch him, put him in his crate, or better yet, buy an exercise pen for him. I personally hate puppy pads, but my Yorkie is only two months & I don't want to wake up every two hours at night, so I put a puppy pad in his xpen at night, along with a blanket, lots of toys, water & food. I would highly recommend doing this until he is older & can hold his pee throughout the night. Eventually you will be able to do away with the puppy pads, but for now I suggest that you use them since he is so young. When you take him outside to go potty, tell him to go potty & once he does say "good potty!!!" & then praise him lavishly & give him a treat. Then take him back inside immediately. He needs to learn that going outside is potty time & not play time & if you let him run around after he has gone potty then he will get confused about what going outside is for. With that being said, I would give him a good ten to fifteen minutes to go potty when he is outside. If he doesn't go potty when you take him outside, put him back in his crate & wait fifteen minutes, then take him back outside again & start all over. Keep repeating this process until he has gone potty. Just remember that if you don't want to get him an xpen, then you will have to wake up every two hours during the night to take him out of his crate & take him outside to go potty. I find that quite annoying & I really need my sleep, so getting an xpen & putting a puppy pad in it is the best investment I have ever made. I bought my xpen at K-Mart & it was only 60$.
Amy |