# Potty training and separation advice for working puppy parents of 12 week old



## DenyGirlV (Nov 17, 2016)

Hi,

My fiance and I brought our 12 week old girl, Denver aka "Denny", home with us about 3 weeks ago. She is incredibly sweet, smart, and already so attached to us (as we are to her). We are having a few challenges as first time Vizsla owners and would love some of your thoughts.

During our first several days with her, my fiance was able to work from home to get her acclimated to her new environment, but now we are both gone during the day from approximately 8 am to 5:30 PM. We have arranged for a dog walker to come twice per day around 11 and 2 to let her out for the bathroom, play, and food and water. For the first week, we had her crated while we were gone with no accidents. During the second week, we came home to find that she had peed her crate two days in a row. We felt terribly guilty to leave her sitting in her messy crate knowing that even with a couple potty breaks she wasn't able to hold it long enough, so we decided to change the arrangements. 

We now have a pen set up for her in our hallway with a baby gate. She has her bed, toys and a potty pad (which we have not trained with otherwise). We come home daily to find her potty pad chewed to shreds and she has peed (typically both on the pad and on the floor). We have also heard from neighbors that she is barking throughout the day even though when we come home she is quiet and usually been sleeping. 

Our concerns are 1. Is she ever going to be OK with us being separated with her during the day? This is only week #3, but she seems so distraught when we get home and her pen is a disaster area. Once we have her fully vaccinated in a couple of weeks, we plan to send her to puppy day care which should be a huge help. We know that many other people manage to work full time and own V's- is this just a normal puppy adjustment period? 

2. Potty training. Should we stick to the crate while we are gone? We felt like 9 hours is too long to leave her in there even with two walks, but now she is peeing in her pen and we definitely feel the affects on her learning to go outside. When we take her out for the bathroom, which is about once an hour when we are home, she typically goes right away and we give her lots of praise. However she gives us absolutely no signs and is still having lots of accidents inside. Are the puppy pads just adding to the confusion? We did just buy her a bell for the door and have been ringing it each time we go out for the past 5 days or so, but she shows no signs on picking up on it yet. I should also add that she sleeps in the crate at night now, with no complaints and no accidents.


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## hecallsmebama (Mar 31, 2016)

On the potty training, I would say yes to the pads adding confusion. They are kind of like a dog's version of pull-ups. They just prolong the learning process. I'm not saying she can't ever learn while using them, but I would expect it to take longer and be more expensive. Also, I'm sure you are using an enzymatic cleaner on accident areas, but just be really thorough. They can smell their "mark" and will continue to mark.

I would guess she will eventually be ok with being away from y'all for the duration of your work day, but I do think its a lot to ask right now. Until the day care is an option, she's likely to continue to be destructive. One reason being that she is unsupervised and not being taught or redirected to do otherwise and the other being that her exercise needs are likely not getting met. I don't have a lot of ideas except maybe leave her more safe/tempting items to entertain herself with like frozen kongs or the like. 

Also, the pen is a lot of freedom. You might want to reconsider the crate with more frequent breaks. Did she bark when she was in the crate before you had the pen? If not, I would say she felt more secure there than having the freedom of the pen.


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## Penny4YourThoughts (Aug 4, 2016)

Be careful with the pee pads. Our girl was just hospitalized with a bowl obstruction from ingesting similar things. :'(


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## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

Penny4YourThoughts said:


> Be careful with the pee pads. Our girl was just hospitalized with a bowl obstruction from ingesting similar things. :'(


I hope she's okay. Obstructions are scarey.


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## b4ruby (Sep 3, 2016)

I can relate to the peeing because our boy had difficulty holding his urine during the day. We got Lincoln at 10 weeks and he never peed in his crate at night. For the first week we took him out in the middle of the night and after that he could hold it for 9 hrs. Daytime was a very different story. We taught him to pee on command every 20 min outside in hopes that he wouldn't have any accident inside. He would never show any signs of needing to go out, he would just let lose. We realized it was when he was excited or was trying to figure out what we wanted him to do that he would leave a stream. We also realized he didn't have enough control over his peeing. He is now 6 and a half months and he hasn't had any accidents but we are still vigilant. 
Denny is still very young. Exercising her outside for at least a half hour to an hour in the morning before you go to work could help. I'd also recommend moving her back in her crate. At her age she sleeps a lot and if she's worn out in the morning from exercise and has a few toys stuffed with food she should be fine until the dog walker comes. I agree with HeCallsMeBama that the ex pen is too much freedom. She needs a den to cradle her. We stuck with the crate and our boy loves to go to bed in it. Since we travel I wanted him to always have his home/kennel so he'd be at ease. We always treat him when he gets in. He is rarely in it during the day but there have been times I've needed to put him in. He'll cry a bit or bark but with in a few minutes he's asleep. I hope this helps. 
I've felt at times that I couldn't understand our pup the same as the other dogs we've had. He is not like any dog we've ever had. I know we both have a lot more confidence in each other these last few weeks. Good luck and enjoy!


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## Penny4YourThoughts (Aug 4, 2016)

TexasRed said:


> Penny4YourThoughts said:
> 
> 
> > Be careful with the pee pads. Our girl was just hospitalized with a bowl obstruction from ingesting similar things. :'(
> ...


Yes she's doing a lot better now, just trying to fatten her up, since she lost some weight (and had none to loose in the first place!) it was a sad sight to see her when we brought her home, (1st photo attached) we have been feeding her 6 small meals a day at the vets recommendations. it's been just over a week and she is just starting to look and act more herself. (2nd photo is her today)


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## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

Poor baby
She looks so much better in the second picture.


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## DenyGirlV (Nov 17, 2016)

Thank you all for the advice! We are doing a lot better. Gave up on the pee pads all together (they were just making a mess for us to clean up, and scared about her eating them). Shes still having an accident or two towards the end of the day after the second walk, but less and less. She's also dealing with the separation a lot better too. Sometimes it's hard to believe she's only been with us for a month and a half  But we are making progress.


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## lufcbrown (Aug 23, 2015)

Hi Denygirl,

Where does your pup sleep at night? We are pretty much in the same boat as you with our vizsla not liking the pen. She is sleeping in the crate next to our bed at night. We went to 2 pet shops earlier who both told us we should have her sleeping in the crate in another room. I just wanted to see what you do with her at night?

Dave


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## Betty (Apr 14, 2016)

V's need to be close to their humans, apparently the people don't know that. Keep your V in your bedroom if that is at all possible.


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## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

We can only give suggestions on what has worked on our pups. Some settle better if they know your close, others refuse to settle when knowing your close by.
Clocks that tick set right outside the kennel, a shirt with your smell inside with them, even classical music playing softly has worked for some. 
Just keep trying different options till you hit on what works for the individual pup.


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## DenyGirlV (Nov 17, 2016)

Hi Dave,

Her crate is in our bedroom at night. We did her first few nights in another room with the door shut, but we quickly gave in and she is so much happier with us. She goes in there on her own now, and will even put herself to bed before us sometimes if she's really warn out. We recently put her bed in the crate, and now she'll even let us sleep till 7:30 AM sometimes haha.


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