We got Samson when he was about 9.5 weeks. I am away for work about 9.5 hours during the week and my fiance is gone anywhere between 5-9 hours (depending on his schedule for the day). From day one we have left Samson in a gated bathroom with a bed, a washable pee pad, toys and water. It's the same on the weekends when we are going to be out for more than 3 hours (we leave him in his crate if it's shorter than three hours). Once in a while we will leave food on the weekends if we know we are going to be gone past his dinner time, but most of the time we don't leave food at all. We feed him all the food he wants in the morning and all the food he wants at dinner, but we do not leave food during the day. He ALWAYS pees on the pad and he has been able to hold his poop all day for the last two months. The amount of pee on the pad is getting smaller too. When my fiance comes home in the mid to late afternoon, most of the time Samson hasn't gone yet or has just gone, so we know he's getting better at holding his pee as well.
We've spoken to our vet about not leaving him food and she said it's fine, as long as he's eating enough the other two times (plus he gets treats throughout the morning and evening during potty times). He is not underweight and he's doing great she said, so we're okay with our decision. It's a lot easier to poop/potty train when you control when they eat/drink. |