Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello everyone,
My name is Chris and I just wanted to introduce myself and possibly get an answer to a question.

I live in Honolulu, Hawaii and am in the United States Navy. My wife's name is Cathy and we have 2 children - Cassandra who is 5 and Camden who is 3. We recently added a new member to our family. His name is Cody and he is a 3 month old purebred Golden Retriever.

Here is my question - hopefully someone has some suggestions:

Cody is pretty much potty trained. He does not have accidents as long as we, as pet owners, do our job and lead him in the right direction. The only problem is when I get up at 4:30 in the morning to go to work. Cody sleeps on the floor beside our bed and he is not interested in the least bit at getting up in the morning to relieve himself. I cannot seem to get him up and going in the morning. Is this typical???? My wife and kids get up at about 7 a.m. so when I leave for work I put him in the kitchen with the gate up (because he chews on the furniture when not attended).

When I force him to walk outside at 5 a.m. before I leave for work all he wants to do is lay in the grass and go back to sleep. After a half hour of standing with him outside watching him sleep it is time for me to leave for work so I put him in the kitchen. When my wife gets up at 7 a.m. there is usually a present waiting for her in the kitchen.

Is there any way to get him up and moving??? Or do we need to just let him sleep when I get up and hopefully he will stay sleeping until my wife gets up???

Anyone with any info please help.

Thanks,
Chris

welcome. so you are talking about the pup pottying between 5:30 & 7 a.m.

in my experience, my own dogs like to sleep 'late'. If my husband gets up early & makes noise in our small house full of dogs some crated, some in our bed, they all just sleep?

In some ways you are lucky. Wonder if your wife could get up a bit earlier or even leave the pup bed-side & have your wife slip the leash over her wrist in case pup stirs, she can take him out then?

also, is the pup getting to eat in the kitchen when you leave?

you don't want the pottying in the kitchen routine to go on

this dog is smart enough to actually train him to 'go potty' on command.

though I will add that some dogs that have been kept mostly in cages from tiny pups, don't grasp the idea of keeping their own space clean.

Hi and welcome!! I hope you get as much good advice and information out of these forums as I have when I first got my puppy. I have to say living in Hawaii must be fantastic and what a great place to raise a puppy with your beaches and the space for him to run around on!

I can only tell you about the short experience I¡¯ve had with my puppy. (She¡¯s a 5-month-old rough collie called Echo) I know she¡¯s a bit older than yours but she has never been in a rush to go potty in the mornings. When I first got her I was paranoid about waking up early and taking her out to make sure she didn¡¯t mess in the apartment but then I found she could hold it really well and she just seems to have a natural preference to do it on grass anyway.

Nowadays I take her out around 9am, which is also better because the workforce has left and the park is very quiet and she just goes immediately when we arrive.

I would say that you should just go off to work and leave him to sleep until your wife wakes up. If you feel happier taking him out earlier maybe you could just run him around or play fetch or get him excited somehow and then that will let nature takes it course.

The chewing on furniture might be more of a worry. Leave him plenty of things lying around to keep him occupied. I live in China and dog toys have been a nightmare to find so I¡¯ve had to make a lot of my own. Sounds very basic I know but she loves a pair of briefs tied in a couple of knots to chew on! Sounds a bit gross but if you wear them for a couple of hours then they will have your scent on them, which will make them even more appealing.

Hope this helps and good luck to you.
Mark

>>Hello everyone,
>>My name is Chris and I just wanted to introduce myself and possibly get an answer to a question.
>>
>>I live in Honolulu, Hawaii and am in the United States Navy. My wife's name is Cathy and we have 2 children - Cassandra who is 5 and Camden who is 3. We recently added a new member to our family. His name is Cody and he is a 3 month old purebred Golden Retriever.
>>
>>Here is my question - hopefully someone has some suggestions:
>>
>>Cody is pretty much potty trained. He does not have accidents as long as we, as pet owners, do our job and lead him in the right direction. The only problem is when I get up at 4:30 in the morning to go to work. Cody sleeps on the floor beside our bed and he is not interested in the least bit at getting up in the morning to relieve himself. I cannot seem to get him up and going in the morning. Is this typical???? My wife and kids get up at about 7 a.m. so when I leave for work I put him in the kitchen with the gate up (because he chews on the furniture when not attended).
>>
>>When I force him to walk outside at 5 a.m. before I leave for work all he wants to do is lay in the grass and go back to sleep. After a half hour of standing with him outside watching him sleep it is time for me to leave for work so I put him in the kitchen. When my wife gets up at 7 a.m. there is usually a present waiting for her in the kitchen.
>>
>>Is there any way to get him up and moving??? Or do we need to just let him sleep when I get up and hopefully he will stay sleeping until my wife gets up???
>>
>>Anyone with any info please help.
>>
>>Thanks,
>>Chris
>>

>>>>>>>>>>>>

My husband is up long before I am, and the dogs wake up quite nicely to go out for him because he gives them a very small meal at that time. That is what I would suggest. Your getting up and getting ready for work is going to wake him up enough that his body will need to eliminate. Since he's having accidents, he does need this potty outing. He'll wake up for a little food, once he knows to expect it.
-----
Kathy Diamond Davis, author, "Therapy Dogs: Training Your Dog to Reach Others," 2nd edition, and the free Canine Behavior Series at www.veterinaryforum.com

And try to keep in mind that Cody is a puppy!!! He is only 12 wks. old! Having 2 children you know that "potty training" for children takes quite awhile -- give your pup a break. If he only has "accidents" once a day, consider yourselves blessed by the doggie god! Some dogs aren't reliable until they are 12 mos. old and some, not even then- that generally being the owners fault or a physical problem. Rememer that old saying ..... "Let sleeping dogs lie." May very well hold true for your pup and the circumstances. And keep in mind that he is about eqivelent in age to a human toddler or less. He'sa baby--- have patience.
Nancy

What time are you taking him out last at night before you go to bed, or if you are getting up during the night, when is he last going out? If you're taking him out to potty in the middle of the night and then he comes back in to sleep, maybe he doesn't have to go when you go out. Does he have food and water after you bring him in and move him to the kitchen? Perhaps that is filling him up and making him have to go after you take him out.
My puppy is a 5 month old boxer mix that we got Saturday. He was a brought in as a stray to the shelter, so nobody could be sure as to whether or not he had been house trained and was turned out on the street, a runaway, or stray his whole life. Considering this, we started him on the two hour schedule like you would an 8 week old puppy. Even though we were doing this, twice he came in and had accidents on the floor within a half hour of walking him. The first time I couldn't figure out why he would be doing this, since we had just walked a mile, but the second time it was quite obvious why he did it. We were taking him out during the day and giving him a long walk to get him tired so he would rest in his crate. Then he would come in and drink a lot because he was thirsty from the long walk. After we realized that, we started taking him for a walk, letting him have a drink, then going back out a little later. Maybe something like this is the issue with your puppy.

Thanks to everyone for your great responses. Have pretty much licked this problem I think (until the next one comes up).

Cody goes to bed about 11 p.m. and gets up at 5 a.m. and goes potty all by himself.

Things we changed:
1. We no longer leave food out all the time for him. He is fed on a regular schedule to ensure he gets the proper amount. This way it is very easy to time when he needs to relieve himself.

2. He has become used to being fed at 5 a.m. and now knows that my alarm clock means FOOD and will get up as soon as I do. No more Lazy Bum syndrome.

3. He has not relieved himself in the house in over 3 days. We still keep him in the kitchen while we are away for short periods just in case. He has water available at all times because of the heat here in Hawaii.

Again,
Thanks to everyone for your replys. This is a huge learning curve for myself and my wife. We can't figure out who is more trying ---- Cody or my 3 year old son Camden..........

Chris
www.pen-turners.com