marymrumfelt
Forums Enthusiast
I'm so happy I was able to search through old threads and read people's post regarding house breaking. I can honestly say it's been so much easier than I imagined. I pictured pure horror, but so far I've been pleasantly surprised. I started crating them consistently at 8 weeks and followed a strict schedule of food intake and also water and I was able to pick up within a few days how long after each pup ate until it had to go potty. They spent a lot of time in their crate during those first two weeks, but they did have plenty of entertainment. They started sleeping through the night about 4 days after I implemented their schedule, so at 8 weeks and 4 days they'd sleep and hold it for about 9 hours-- nice! from 8-10 wks they had maybe 5 accidents total -- 4 pee and 1 poop. I did take them outside every 20 mins when they were playing and had free access to water and then before/after nap time.... so a total of at least 20 times a day, haha. Then at ten wks I started leaving them crated while I went to my internship which was from 8am-1pm. They were fine and never has any accidents. Now at 12 weeks they run to the front door right away when I let them out of their crate and if we're playing and I ask if they need to potty they go to the front door if they do. I still have to watch them like a hawk and most of the time they are in the kitchen and it's blocked off... but they are getting more and more time where they can be free. I'm just so proud of them. They know "sit" "up" "inside" "potty" "crate" and "eat" 
