# Advice for leaving new Frenchie home alone!



## kbung (May 22, 2013)

Hi guys! Any advice would be greatly appreciated because I don't know what I should do! Our French Bulldog, Louie is 14 weeks old. We were fortunate enough to have 4 weeks off to devote entirely to training him and he did awesome! He goes to the door every time now and accidents are very rare, he seems to be able to hold it for quite a while when playing around the house and sometimes 8-10 hours overnight. We have only had to leave him home alone in his crate for 3-4 hours at a time and he did very well, no mess! Today was the first time he was left alone in his crate for a whole work day. We thought it would be a good idea to replace his small carrier crate (which he loved) and get a crate large enough to fit a small bed as well as a pee pad for him hoping he would not soil his bed but maybe that wasn't such a good idea. He chewed the pee pad to shreds and was laying in his "dirt" when I returned home. We don't really have any neighbors or friends close enough to come let him out and would rather not pay someone to come let him out. I'm wondering if we should consider a baby gate for the bathroom/kitchen? Anyone have similar situations/experiences? I'm really worried that this might cause a step backwards in the potty training but we can't take anymore time off work. I don't expect him to hold it for 8 hours but he clearly didn't get the separation of bed/potty.


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## NicoleIsStoked (Aug 31, 2012)

You should not be encouraging him to potty in his crate for any reason. If he's going outside then by giving him a puppy pad your confusing him. Walk him in the morning and then put him in the small crate with no bed or puppy pad. He will be fine.


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## Gogoclips (Apr 27, 2013)

I agree that you should not be encouraging him to potty in his crate. But, at 14 weeks, it is most likely he can only hold it in 3-4 hours at a time (overnights being the exception). If you want him to use the pee pads you have to start from the bottom with them. Use it to absorb some pee that he may have put somewhere else, and put the soiled pee pad in the part of the house you want him to potty in. This helps him figure out what they are for, and puppies in general tend to pee where they can smell that scent. I suggest leaving him in a safe room, or an expen, with his crate in one corner and the pee pad in the other.


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## kbung (May 22, 2013)

Thanks! I probably should have mentioned that he has used pee pads before; he was pee pad trained when we got him from the breeder so for the first day or two I tried them in front of the door he now uses to go outside. He did well with them for that short time and never chewed them. Maybe he's forgotten what they are, or just destructive behaviour from being left alone? I put a few treats and a new bone in his crate with him that he didn't touch until I let him out (then he devoured them). I wondered about the expen before we bought his new crate but we were afraid he'd learn that it was not secured to the floor and would be able to push it around. Anyone have any experience with them? It does sound like a better option for now.


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## doxiemommy (Dec 18, 2009)

I have an expen, don't really use it much anymore, though, as our dogs are older and have free roam of the house. But, when they were puppies we never had a problem with them pushing it around.

As for puppy pads, I would try not to use them, if I could help it. We did use pads with our first puppy, because we were in an apartment and we were quite far from an outside potty area. The problem was, our puppy started thinking it was ok to pee on anything that was pad-like in any way, like a throw rug, or door mat, or even the towel my husband kept "accidentally" leaving on the floor by the hamper.
So, we stopped using pads.....


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## victorino545 (Apr 8, 2013)

Fourteen weeks old seems to young to leave in crate all day, he is still a baby. I know you do not want to pay anyone but maybe you should consider it at least for a couple of months until he gets a little older. We rescued a 5 mo old and the owner crated him 9-10 hrs a day.because they worked. It really created problems for him, we have been working hard with anxiety, socialize, etc. He was scared of everything, especially being left. They also used pee pads and we finally got him going outside now and doing really well. I think he got confused with pee pads and going outside, something to think about. Good luck, would like pictures!


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