Is it okay for my new puppy to stay in a play crate for 6 hours daily?

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!

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.

Good question! A dog should not be crated for longer than eight hours at a time, so you can wake up to let them out to potty and then go back to bed, or you could start having them sleep outside the crate. Good luck, I hope this helps!

The general rule of thumb for crating is 1 hour for every month of age plus one. This means he can be crated a maximum of 3 hours at a time before needing to come out, go outside, etc. It would be best at his age for him to be with someone throughout the day instead of short visits during the day.

I highly recommend crate training puppies regardless of where you adopted them from. The general rule for leaving dogs is how many months plus 1 in hours. So if he is 6 months old, you should be able to leave him for 7 hours. Congratulations on your new puppy and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

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 :-)

Being only 6 months old, it is safest in a kennel until he gets used to the new routine. It will prevent him from having an accident and destroying things out of bored and possibly ingesting something that may harm him. If you can start getting him used to the kennel before you leave to let him know it is a safe spot that would help. make sure you give treats when he gets in there. Leave him toys as long as he does not destroy or ingest them, and make sure to rotate toys so he does not get bored with the same one every day.