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Originally Posted by JillK1  Hi Maria and Trin7
Thanks so much for your responses. It is interesting that you have both outdoor trained your dogs. That is great to know. The question is whether I will be able to do that since it is SO cold out. Maybe I'll have to peepad train her for now and then start outdoor training in the Spring?
Trin7 - what is/was your crate training schedule for Mabel? I'd appreciate any guidance.
Thanks again
Jill |
Hi Jill - I started Mabel off by taking her out every hour until she was six months. I didn't realize it but it was taking her longer to pee and I was out in the cold waiting and waiting. It finally dawned on me that just maybe she didn't need to go out that often. I increased the amount of time to every 3 hours and now I take her out at 8:30, 12:30, 4:30, 8:30 and as I'm a night hawk I usually take her out around 12:00 am but I have been able to leave her in her crate from 9:00 pm to 8:30 am without any mess. Mabel is 7 1/2 months now and I believe (hopefully) that she is house trained. She hasn't given me a signal yet when she needs to go out but I think I take her out often enough it's not really an issue. When Darwin was about a year old when he was on the back of our arm chair making these annoying whining sounds. After about the fourth time telling him to be quiet I realized this was his way of telling me he needed to go out. I'm hoping Mabel will tell me soon in her own way and I hope I'm smart enough to figure it out! About the cold, it's about 12 degrees fahrenheit and Mabel and Darwin both go outside. For some weird reason, Mabel has to hop up onto a snow hill in order to pee or poop. If I don't let her, she takes forever. Put her on a snow hill and she goes really fast. Quirky little thing! For a dog that shivers, this just seems so strange Hope this helps you, good luck!