How long can I crate my 2-month-old puppy when I'm busy or at work?

They are adorable! At four months of age, 10 hours is too long for Coco and Chaz to stay in their crate. Their bladder isn't big enough to hold their urine that long, and they should be let out to potty every three to four hours. I would consider hiring someone to stop by at least once or twice a day to let them out to potty if you can't leave work to let them out. Dogs should be in crates no longer than eight hours, even if they are older. I hope this helps!

The puppy should be fine if it's taken out at noon for a pottty break and you take it out again as soon as you get home. I recommend keeping it in a crate and you can have a puppy pad in the crate for accidents if needed. A big dog will grow and mature quickly so you should only have to worry about this for the first week or two. I'm glad you are doing so much research before you get your puppy. You'll have lots of fun with it and German Shepard Dogs are very smart so enjoy training with it. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to help you get answers to your veterinary questions.

It does sound like Bella was holding it in the whole time, and six hours is too long to leave a three month old puppy without a potty break. She needs to be let out to go potty at least once every three hours. You can still put her in the crate while you are gone, but I would come back if you can every three hours to let her out, or you can hire someone to let her out every three hours. As she grows, she won't need to be let out every three hours, and by the time she is six months old, she could hold it for up to six hours, so having someone come by is only a short term thing. Crate training is an effective way to potty train a dog, and I do recommend it. I will give you my method for potty training Bella when you are home with her: Start by keeping your puppy on a regular feeding schedule, and taking away her food between meals. Take her out to potty first thing every morning, and once every 30 minutes to an hour. Always make sure she goes out after meals, first thing when she wakes up from a nap, last thing before bedtime at night, and right before you leave the house. Take her to the same spot each time to go potty. Her scent there will encourage her to go. Stay with her outside each time she goes to potty, at least until she is fully house trained. When she goes outside, praise her and give her a treat. I hope this all helps :-)

The best way to potty train a puppy is with a crate: https://www.petcoach.co/article/how-to-crate-train-your-puppy-or-older-dog/ At this age, Sophie should be able to hold her urine comfortable for 6 hours. If you must be gone longer than that, I recommend to try to have someone available to let her out to relieve herself. This will speed up house breaking. I hope this helps.

Thanks for your question. There is no "right" amount of time for a dog to spend in the crate. A general rule we tend to follow is that puppies can go without a potty break for 1 hour for the age in months plus 1. So an 8 week old puppy is about 2 months, so if you add 1, that is 3 hours. During the day you really don't want to make Jasper wait much longer than this at a time, or he is likely to have accidents. Some puppies can hold it longer, and some more active puppies need to go more frequently. They can typically hold it much longer overnight while they are asleep. If you are crate training your puppy, I recommend they sleep in the crate at night, and some practice during the day is good. Occasional crating while you are home can be beneficial so they don't always assume crating means you are leaving. The length of time doesn't matter. Even 30 minutes is a good "practice" length of time. Then of course, keeping them in the crate when you are gone is the important part, so they stay out of trouble. I hope this answers your questions. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

It will take time to fully train Tank. If he is only 2 months old he can really only hold his urine for about 3 hours. If he starts to whine in his crate at night I would recommend walking him when he starts to whine. When you take him outside I would recommend walking him on a leash. This is because puppies are easily distracted. Once he urinates +/- defecates he can have off leash time in the backyard. With crate training remember anytime you cannot have your eyes on him 100% of the time he should be in the crate. Also if you take Tank outside and he doesn't go to the bathroom I always recommend putting Tank back in the crate for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes take Tank back outside to try again. It takes time and patience to train a puppy, but if you are consistent it will pay off. Congratulations on your new addition to the family and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach!

You've listed Grizzly as 2 months old, and this is still WAY too young to be holding it that young. Puppies do not have developed bladders that can hold their urine that long until they are about 8-9 months of age. The rule of thumb is one hour for every month old your pup is so Grizzly should be going out at a minimum of every two hours. Puppies generally also need to go potty about 15 minutes after waking up, playing, eating, or drinking, so you can use that to start timing his outings and make it a success. Since he is very young, he will also likely need to go out to go potty 1-2 times in the night, even if crate training. I do not recommend withholding water at all as this can lead to health issues.