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I have a Chi that is one years old and crate trained but not completely house broken.
Up until now, I have been taking him to work with me so I have been able to let him out whenever needed. But with my job now, I won't be able to take him to work so my question is:
How long can he stay in a crate without peeing? The longest I have left him is 5 hours, but I am gone for work from 9am-6pm. He is so little (5lbs) that i am scared that he can't last that long. My lab however, can stay in all day without going...
The other issue is I can't put him in the bathroom with a babygate because 1. he can climb them 2. he chews up his pee pad.
Any Suggestions???
I was thinking of my room with the pee pad in the bathroom, but I am scared that he will pee on the floor instead of the pad out of anxiety...

>>I have a Chi that is one years old and crate trained but not completely house broken.
>>Up until now, I have been taking him to work with me so I have been able to let him out whenever needed. But with my job now, I won't be able to take him to work so my question is:
>>How long can he stay in a crate without peeing? The longest I have left him is 5 hours, but I am gone for work from 9am-6pm. He is so little (5lbs) that i am scared that he can't last that long. My lab however, can stay in all day without going...
>>The other issue is I can't put him in the bathroom with a babygate because 1. he can climb them 2. he chews up his pee pad.
>>Any Suggestions???
>>I was thinking of my room with the pee pad in the bathroom, but I am scared that he will pee on the floor instead of the pad out of anxiety...
>>

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

Nine Hours would certainly be too long. You can stack baby gates, one above another, for more height. You can also have someone come in and give him potty breaks. And there are portable exercise pens with tops.
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Kathy Diamond Davis, author, "Therapy Dogs: Training Your Dog to Reach Others," 2nd edition, and the free Canine Behavior Series articles at http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=SRC&S=1&SourceID=47

You are correct, that is too long to ask them to hold it regularly.

You mentioned that he chews up the pee pads. Have you tried one of the frames for the pee pad? The frames can sometimes help with the chewing by making it too hard for the dog to pick up the edge of the pad.

You mentioned that he climbs the baby gate, can you put him in the bathroom with the door shut?

A couple of other options might be an x-pen with a lid or maybe a very large (Great Dane size) wire crate.

>>I was thinking of my room with the pee pad in the bathroom, but I am scared that he will pee on the floor instead of the pad out of anxiety...
>>

From my experience, if they are given a lot of space like this they tend to find a place on the floor to pee and it makes housebreaking impossible. I wouldn't recommend this last option, at least not based on my Chihuahua experience.

Good luck and keep us posted!

.

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tabitha
Kayo, Kahla, and Dante'