# How long can they hold?



## nodognolife (Mar 28, 2010)

Hello, I am new here.
My husband and I have a 9wks GSD puppy.
Our last GSD was adapted by us when she was 7, so she was already
trained well. This is our first time to raise a puppy.

It has been harder than we thought. Housebreaking, mouthing, picking
things on the street, chewing, etc... we are dealing with problems with patience and tips from books and DVDs.

My husband works in unusual shifts, and I decided to wait to start working
again until summer. Now always somebody watches her, me or my husband or our family members. In 6 months or so I want her to be able to be by herself in a crate or gated area for 6 hours. 

Is it better for her to be used to be alone already? If there is always someone in the house when they are puppy, is it going to create dependency ? 

Also how long can a puppy hold pee without getting bladder infection? 

What do you think? 

Thank you


----------



## elisabeth_00117 (May 17, 2009)

At nine weeks old my puppy was holding it for about an hour or two, never more.

I did have a different kind of set up than most though.

I had my crate and a excerise pen attached to that with a kiddie pool in the excerise pen with puppy pee pads in the pool so he could relieve himself. I also had a large area where he could play or laydown outside of his crate. His crate had a nice comfy bed inside while the exercise pen had the cooler tiled floor.

I have a photo of it somewhere that I can put up.

This worked for me and I really liked this idea.


----------



## doggiedad (Dec 2, 2007)

i got my puppy at 9 weeks old. in the beginning i took
my puppy out every 15 minutes. over night he went out every 2 hours.
i slowly increased my dogs breaks. 15 minutes to 1/2 hour to 45 minutes
and so on.

when i crate trained my dog i use to crate my dog for
5 to 10 minutes at a time. i did this many times during a day.
i slowly increased his crate time. i crated my dog while we were home
and then i started crating my dog and leaving the house. i used the same timing mehtod to crate when we left the house.

everytime i put my dog in his crate i would place him within
inches of the door to the crate and say "go to your crate".
after i helped in i would praise and treat him. at some point i could say
"go to your crate" and in he would go. i also practiced "go to your crate" from different parts of the house.

my is 2.9 years old. i never leave my dog longer than 4 hours
without a break. my neighbor or my GF's nephew comes in
to help with our dog. 

i'm sure a dog can go 6 to 8 hours without a break
but i'm not doing that to my dog. my dog has full run
of the house but i'm not leaving him 6 to 8 hours
without a break or a snack. leaving a dog in a crate
6 to 8 hours seems a bit much to me. i want my dog to be comfortable
at all times.


----------



## doggiedad (Dec 2, 2007)

nice set up.



elisabeth_00117 said:


> At nine weeks old my puppy was holding it for about an hour or two, never more.
> 
> I did have a different kind of set up than most though.
> 
> ...


----------



## elisabeth_00117 (May 17, 2009)

Oh, yes I should mention that I meant 1-2 hours was when I WAS NOT HOME. 

I am a student so class plus travel time, or when I went to the store was the amount of time he was alone for.

I usually let him out ever 15-20 minutes, about 5 minutes after he drank ANYTHING - even a lick, 10 minutes after he ate, and in the MIDDLE of any play session.

Worked for me.


----------



## nodognolife (Mar 28, 2010)

Thank you everyone for sharing your experience.

Right, I am home so I take her out after she wakes up, eats, plays hard, or every 45 min or so. She seems sleeping longer at night, about 3 hours. 

I agree, I dont want to leave my dog for long hours in a crate. Hopefully I will find a job that I can come home time to time to check on her.


----------

