House Breaking

[klayher]

So I've been reading Joan Bailey's book "How to Help Gun Dogs Train Themselves" and she says that overnight you should leave them in the kennel and let them cry and whimper and not let them out until morning, but I've also read you should be ready to wake up every two hours to let them out to relieve themselves.

What do you all think?

[vandeman17]

I think that you should be ready to let them out when they are puppies. I have read that a good rule of thumb is that they can hold it for about as old as they are so if they are 3 months old then they can hold their bladder for about 3 hours at a time.

I think that if you let them out when they whimper and then praise them when they do their thing outside then they will quickly learn that it is what they are supposed to do. We have a ten month old lab and the other night she had the squirts and luckily she went over to the door and whined to go out before letting it fly. 

[Stilly bay]

do let them out often.
don't let them out while they are screaming or else they will learn that being vocal gets a response from you.

[YellowDog]

I'm training my 10 week old lab now. I got him at 7 weeks old and at night he started out needing to go out every 3-4 hours. He is up to 5 hours most nights now. If I wake up and hear him stirring in his kennel I usually just take him out if it has been a couple hours so he isn't forced to whine to get out and I know I am going to have to take him within an hour or two anyway. Last night he was tired and went 6+ hours before going out. During the day when he is more active and drinking more he goes  out about every 2-3 hours at least. All pups are a little different on how long they can go. My female lab had to go out every 2-3 hours and took longer to stretch the length of time between going out.

[Sportfury]

I will second what vandeman and stilly say. A brand new pup needs to go out as soon as they wake up. My son's GSP will be four months old on the 31st and he is now getting to the point where he can hold it all night long. We also limit his intake of fluids later at night. He has water out all day and a little bit after his dinner is served, but we then remove it from the equation. If we don't that means someone is getting up to take him out.

I think crate training is essential, but it also has to go with the limits of your pup. Joan's book is a good one too.