I don't know what to do...
 

Good Morning everyone,

I know that I've posted something similar to this a while back but it just hasn't changed at all...

I received Roxy Jan of 09 at 8 weeks old. Being that I live in Jersey it was very cold outside for her so I trained her to potty on pee pads. Well she was good until about Aug she started ripping up all her pads and eating her poo so I decided to train her outside potty.. Now I know that it'll take some time to train since she was so use to potty inside. Trust me I had patience ;) I made a schedule for her and woke up at 5:30 every morning to take her to potty. Well very long story short... She is about 80% potty trained....


Roxy's day goes like this.. 6:00am potty she's quick so she only pees and runs back inside. up until about 6:35 she is eating and playing around in apt. at 6:35 I take her out to potty again this time she has to poo so I take her to poo at times she lets me know if she has to go really bad so we go earlier...
She is crated from 6:50 to about 12:30 when i get home for lunch I take her out and she goes potty outside like clock work... Now potty scheduling is doing great. But here is my dilemma...

I feel absolutely HORRIBLE to leave her in the crate at her age she is 15 months already. So what I did was I tested her to see if she can be left alone in apt.. i closed doors to bathroom doors to rooms and gave her access to only the living room where she spends most of her evening sleeping... So I alternated. Morning potty done. I left her out I come home at 12:30 and before I leave I put her in crate for the afternoon. 1st day she did great... 2nd day I alternated morning in crate and afternoon out of crate... I don't know if I might have confused her a little with alternating so soon because when I got home at 4:30 she had poop inside the house. So she has this thing where she likes to clean up after herself so she eats it. :eek: But I can tell because there were some pebbles left over... :rolleyes: Anywho.. My apt is not so big to be able to put a gate because believe me I have about 3 of them from my old apt back in Nov. Please give me advice on what I should do.. Should I extend her morning time out of crate for a little bit then try afternoon as well. Am I going about it the wrong way?

This is my first doggy and I can't help but wonder because to be honest. I'm 28 years old and I have absolutely no social life at least at times I feel that way because I feel bad that she's locked up in the crate so I rush home to take her out and spend time with her. I'm NOT complaining because I adore my baby but I do feel bad that she is in crate and now to top it off she seems to be getting chubby :( obviously not enough play time...

What should I do?

I'm sorry this is so long but I wanted to touch every subject there was.

have you try getting an expen and placing it in the corner somewhere in the living room with her crate inside it, food/water bowl and peepad in case she needs to use it during the day?

My apt is not big enough for a gate or a expen....

believe me I have 3 of them.. And no I'm afraid to leave her with food or water because thats where my dilemma is of her peeing or pooping in the house. I don't want to confuse her again and put a pee pad in there kind of defeats the purpose of her potty outside no?

well mine are both trained for outside and inside especially when we have bad weather...and what about leaving her in the bathroom where she has more room to roam...just puppy/dog proof it...like put the toilet paper up where she can't reach it...because i know mine will shread it!

I wish.. She no matter what goes outside.. Believe me there are times where its raining and I just don't want to take her out but she whines until I do. So if she gets wet I get wet with her...

I would try the bathroom and see the only thing that I hate about my bathroom is I have a stand up shower so only thing separating her from shower is the curtain n I doubt that'll stop her LOL!!! I'll try anything once.. So I'm gonna check it out and see..

how about putting the baby gate up in front of the shower curtain?

Consistency is key when potty training, so I wouldn't alternate her time in the crate. Nor would I feel bad for leaving her all day in a crate, when Lexi was a puppy I left her in the crate from 8-5. I would come home at lunch for some playtime and to let her out for a pee. I do believe that crate training her help with her potty training as well as contributed to her being a very well rounded dog.

You have a couple options and it's completely up to you on which one you want to pursue, but keep it consistent and I think you'll see an improvement.

If you have a little extra spending cash, you could look into some doggie furniture. I've seen some cute coffee table / dog crate combos, if you got one for a large dog, your baby would have a little more room without having to fit a bulky kennel in your apartment.

Kind of Like:
Amazon.com: Solid Oak Wood Dog End Table Crate...

xxmxaxrxyxx I'm gonna try it out and see if the gate will hold up since its a stand up shower there won't be anything there to hold it up. I'll figure something out... I have a 6 panel gate for outside but they are all detachable...

JenniferLeigh Thanks for the advice however I don't have that kind of money but the crate she stays in she has more then enough room I believe to turn, lay and stretch out. I just wanted to give her freedom in the house that way she can associate the apt with her pen sort of a (I don't potty where I play and sleep) kind of training..

The changing of the time in crate was just for 2 days she's been crated ever since Aug until now.

How many times a day do your babies poop not pee but poop.. Because at first was only 2 times a day but lately when my mom comes to pick her up my mom lets her play in backyard and she poops at lunch time...