Hello, Based on his age the most he can hold his bladder for during the day is his age in months plus one...which means that at 2 months of age 3-3.5 hours is the most he can hold it for in the crate while you are gone. When you are home I suggest taking him potty every hour like you are doing already though. Assuming you want to get up for the day at 5:30 am (you can have him go back to bed after the potty trip if you would rather sleep in more), then I would follow the below schedule, which is very similar to the one you already have, with a couple of adjustments: Up at 5:30 - immediately take to go pee. 5:45 - feed 2 cups pup food and drink water 6-6:10 - go to pee/poo 6:10 - crate; small cup of water in crate (if it doesn't lead to accidents, otherwise give water at beginning of potty trips, meals, and during the evening). 9:20 - go to pee/poo 9:30 -12:30 - crate; small cup of water in crate only 12:30 - go to pee/poo; offer food and water (whether he ate earlier or not...puppies can eat three times a day still at this age, he will transition to 2 soon though), take outside to poop after eating. 12:50 - 4 pm - crate/ small cup water in crate only 4:00 - go pee/poo 5/5:30 - feed two cups pup food 6:30 - 10 restroom breaks every hour (using Tethering method or crate training method from article I have linked below) 10 - crate for bed Crate Training and Tethering methods for potty training; https://wagwalking.com/training/train-a-german-shepherd-puppy-to-poop-outside A month from now pup should be able to go another hour between potty trips while in the crate. That number will continue to increase by one hour until 7/8 months of age where is maxes out at 8-8.5 hours between potty trips. Puppy can sleep in later than 5:30 am if you are getting up at that time because he wakes you and not by choice, but you will need to take puppy potty at that time still most likely at this age, then put him back into the crate afterwards and ignore the crying until he learns to go back to sleep after a few mornings of the routine. I am guessing the 5:30 am is your own wake up time and schedule, which is great - but just know that you can teach a puppy to accommodate your schedule with sleep with some work and consistency on your part - many people get up earlier than they want to long-term because puppy wakes them without going back to bed after and they get into an early morning habit. As far as the eating I would check with your vet. Generally most puppies that age are fed three times a day. The biggest concern is how much he is getting per day though and how his weight and overall health is. If you are worried about amounts, filling hollow chew toys with food that's been mixed with a little liver paste can make eating more fun and help with boredom in the crate, and food can be used as training rewards too, so that pup ends up eating a little throughout the day in the form of training rewards and stuffed toys, without getting into the habit of being free fed with a bowl of food out all the time, which can be bad for some dogs. Look on the bag or website of the food you are feeding. Most companies produce feeding guidelines for their foods based on expected adult weights and puppy's current age (so look up the average weight for an adult male Golden Retriever and take his father's size into consideration if you know it). Some will produce guidelines based on puppy's current weight - which also works as long as puppy is not too fat or skinny for their age. Feel down puppy's rib cage with your hands, look at their back and hips, and look at the tummy. A healthy puppy's tummy should tuck up a little bit near the hind legs to give an appearance of a waist (not an extreme tuck and not a straight line or pot belly), you should be able to easily feel their ribs but the ribs should feel boney or protrude. The spine and hips should be easy to find but their should be just a little bit of padding in the area around them so that they aren't sticking out a lot. Feed pup based on your dog food's guidelines then keep an eye on his physique to see if they are getting too fat or too skinny and need the food amount adjusted due to their individual metabolism. Divide the amount of food you determine they need per day into the number of meals you are feeding. For example, if pup gets 4 cups of food per day, then give a little more than 1.5 cups three times a day to equal 4. My Retriever ate around 3.5-5 cups per day of the food I fed, with amounts increasing as pup got slightly older, then slowing down again after 1 year of age when her metabolism slowed down - but that amount was based on her individual metabolism, the food I chose, and her age at the time. If you determine that you are feeding the correct amounts but puppy is still not eating, you may want to try gradually switching to another puppy food to see if that helps - just make sure that it is a food formulated for puppies or all-life stages - that meets his nutritional needs at this age. (I am not a vet) Best of luck training, Caitlin Crittenden

Aug. 28, 2019

Hello Kyle, Do not listen to your friends' advice. Riggs is still young enough that he likely does need to pee in the middle of the night. If you let him pee on himself in the crate multiple times, you run the risk of him loosing his natural desire to hold his pee in a crate. Loosing that desire makes potty training using a crate almost impossible. The situation would be different if he was six-months old, but a ten week old puppy cannot help his need to pee. Continue taking him outside during the night if he asks at this age, but to ensure that he is not asking to go potty out of habit do the following: 1. When you take him out during the night, take him on a leash, keep the trip very boring and calm, and put him straight back into the crate after he pees. If he cries when you put him back in the crate and you know that his bladder is empty now, ignore the crying. 2. Move him out of your bedroom and use an audio baby monitor to listen out for him needing to go potty during the night...You only need to do this if he begins to wake up to play or because he hears you...You can do it if you would simply like for him out of the bedroom however, and it will have the added benefit of teaching him to sleep somewhere away from you - which can make traveling and boarding him easier as an adult. 3. Remove all food and water two hours before you put him to bed. 4. Take him outside to go potty on a leash and watch him to make sure that he actually goes potty, right before you put him to bed - not thirty-minutes or an hour beforehand because his bladder will not shut down until he is actually asleep. His bladder calming down is what allows him to hold his pee throughout the night. 5. Don't expect him to sleep for longer than 10-12 hours at night. The exact amount will depend on how often he sleeps during the day. Keep an eye on his evenings, that 10-12 hours will begin when he falls asleep in the evening, not just when you put him into the crate. If he is going to sleep early in the evening, then he will wake up earlier - fully rested and ready for the day. 6. Don't feed him in the morning until the time when you want him to normally wake up and eat when he is older. You want his body to get used to eating at that time and not an earlier time. If his body gets used to eating at an earlier time because he woke up too early to pee one morning, then his body might begin to wake him up to eat too soon in the morning. If you get him up earlier to pee and let him stay up, then wait to feed him until it is within one-hour of when he normally eats. An occasional exception to this is not detrimental, but avoid a habit of it. If you run into any specific issues, then you can always check back here with questions as he gets older. Most puppies wake up during the night until they are around twelve weeks of age. Their bladders can only go so long. Some puppies sleep through the night earlier and some a bit later, but when a puppy actually needs to pee, he needs to be taken outside. You simply need to stick to your routine and not do anything but take him outside and right back in, so that he will not learn to wake up for any reason (like playing, cuddling or eating) besides a full bladder...Learning to wake up for a reason other than a full bladder is what leads to long term night-wakings. Best of luck training, Caitlin Crittenden

Nov. 30, 2018