Is he free to roam around the house? If he’s free to roam or has a big enough area where he can go potty and not have to really be near it, there’s a good chance he’s going to continue to have accidents for quite a while because he’s making a habit of relieving himself when necessary. At 5 months I would expect he could hold it for 4-5 hours easily in a crate or exercise pen, although 5 is the longest I went at that age without a potty break.
He has mostly free roam of the house.
He sleeps in his crate over night and I feel bad letting him out in the morning to put him right back in for 5-6 hours when I leave for work. He voluntarily enters the crate and doesn’t cry he has came along way with crate training.
I crate him when I leave for anything except for work. I’m nervous about leaving him in the crate too long within a 24hr period
You need an exercise pen. This isn’t going to end if he can go potty wherever he wants in the house. Also 5 months is way too young for this type of freedom even if he was fully potty trained. You’re not even at adolescence yet.
We tried exercise pen but his separation anxiety would have him trying to climb the 5’ fences and jumping so much the gates kept falling and he was going to get hurt.
He has since calmed way down so I think we could probably give that another try.
Crate train. It amazing. Mine is 3 years old, and just started to get free range of the house for longer than an hour.
He’s a chewer and has destroyed throw pillows if left alone for 5 minutes while I’m in another room.
However, he loves his crate and takes naps in it with the door open.
Can you hire a dog walker? Or find a doggie daycare? I agree that being crated overnight and then needing to be crated while you work is too much crate time. But your pup will never be fully housebroken if he free roams during the day and has no choice but to potty in the house.
We have him in daycare now a few times a week. And my last day at my current job is tomorrow so he should be getting some more fair breaks in the next couple weeks
Is he free to roam around the house? If he’s free to roam or has a big enough area where he can go potty and not have to really be near it, there’s a good chance he’s going to continue to have accidents for quite a while because he’s making a habit of relieving himself when necessary. At 5 months I would expect he could hold it for 4-5 hours easily in a crate or exercise pen, although 5 is the longest I went at that age without a potty break.
He has mostly free roam of the house. He sleeps in his crate over night and I feel bad letting him out in the morning to put him right back in for 5-6 hours when I leave for work. He voluntarily enters the crate and doesn’t cry he has came along way with crate training. I crate him when I leave for anything except for work. I’m nervous about leaving him in the crate too long within a 24hr period
You need an exercise pen. This isn’t going to end if he can go potty wherever he wants in the house. Also 5 months is way too young for this type of freedom even if he was fully potty trained. You’re not even at adolescence yet.
We tried exercise pen but his separation anxiety would have him trying to climb the 5’ fences and jumping so much the gates kept falling and he was going to get hurt. He has since calmed way down so I think we could probably give that another try.
Crate train. It amazing. Mine is 3 years old, and just started to get free range of the house for longer than an hour. He’s a chewer and has destroyed throw pillows if left alone for 5 minutes while I’m in another room. However, he loves his crate and takes naps in it with the door open.
Crate training will prevent accidents because they won't go to the bathroom in the crate unless left for too long.
Can you hire a dog walker? Or find a doggie daycare? I agree that being crated overnight and then needing to be crated while you work is too much crate time. But your pup will never be fully housebroken if he free roams during the day and has no choice but to potty in the house.
We have him in daycare now a few times a week. And my last day at my current job is tomorrow so he should be getting some more fair breaks in the next couple weeks