I seem to have a catch 22 situation with my puppy. She's a great 5 month old Pom who I have posted about once before. Both my husband and I work fulltime and commute 40 minutes together. Since there would be no one home to take Pumpkin out during the day, we blocked off the entire kitchen and put down a wee pad (of course water, toys, etc)
She's great on the wee pad (except when she misses on the edge grrrr). What I wish I could do though is have her use the pads when I'm not there and go out when I'm home. To test my theory I tried crate training her this past week when I'm home...letting her out every hour. She went outside a few times but always seemed to prefer her pad....I don't want to punish her for going on the pad b/c then that will confuse her right? Am I stuck with a pad in the house forever b/c I don't have anyone to take her out during the day? (I leave at 8 and am back at 5:45) To be honest I'm not sure how long she can hold it at this age..I'm guessing 3 or 4 hours. I don't like the dog going in doors but I'm not sure it can be helped.
Any thoughts?
p.s. i'm not so sure she's pad trained ...more location trained b/c she peed on the exact spot where her pad always goes but in between while I was changing it...ugh.
She's great on the wee pad (except when she misses on the edge grrrr). What I wish I could do though is have her use the pads when I'm not there and go out when I'm home. To test my theory I tried crate training her this past week when I'm home...letting her out every hour. She went outside a few times but always seemed to prefer her pad....I don't want to punish her for going on the pad b/c then that will confuse her right? Am I stuck with a pad in the house forever b/c I don't have anyone to take her out during the day? (I leave at 8 and am back at 5:45) To be honest I'm not sure how long she can hold it at this age..I'm guessing 3 or 4 hours. I don't like the dog going in doors but I'm not sure it can be helped.
Any thoughts?
p.s. i'm not so sure she's pad trained ...more location trained b/c she peed on the exact spot where her pad always goes but in between while I was changing it...ugh.