They are confined to the hallway which is all lino and it's fine for them to pee on and have been doing frequently, at night they are in our bedroom as will whine in bythemselves, and there is a puppy pad on the floor even though we're getting up every couple of hours there are still accidents

Well, how long is every couple of hours?

couple = 2 hours

For as long as I can remember a couple has always equaled 2, Megan.

Milla, I think you are doing a good job all things considered. I wouldn't crate them either if they had to be left alone for long hours like in your situation. Typically, using puppy pads and allowing them to pee indoors will only prolong the house training, but in your situation it sounds as though there is no other option. With that in mind, you will need to be prepared for their house training to take longer than it would for others who do not use puppy pads and are able to take them out every couple hours during the day. I say that to remind you not to get frustrated if they do take longer than you might expect.

Well it sounds like you are making progress.

Don't give up though they will get the hang of it. Anna is 7 months old and is about 99.9% accident free. We have had her since she was 6 weeks and been working on this long battle ever since. Anna knew she was supposed to potty outside a few months ago but ended up getting crystals in her bladder which prolonged her training. She then had to go out every 30 minutes or it was potty on the floor. What helped me alot was praise every time and goodies. I still praise Anna and she will turn to me and get so excited and know I am proud of her. I also sometimes still give her goodies.

Anna's way of telling me she has to potty is hitting the blinds, sitting by the sliding glass door and staring at me. When we lived in our townhome she just sat by the door and if we were upstairs she would sit by the bathroom door upstairs. She has actually jumped in the tub one time and peed. Guess she thought it was her own personal toilet.

When Anna had accidents she usually did it without warning or I just wasn't getting the warning which is possible. If she has an accident in the house and I catch her I place her and timeout for a minute or so and then clean up the mess while talking to her about no potty inside. I buy the Nature's Miracle Orange Oxy spray and it works wonders. I love it! It got rid of the smell and she didn't potty in that same spot, which she never did anyways. So my suggestion is to try the Nature's Miracle. I recommended it to a friend and they love it too.

Also when Anna was a puppy she did have free roam to the house unless she we were taking a nap down stairs then I would block off the stairs so she could not go upstairs. That's in the town home. In our apartment, which we moved into in July we didn't block off anything, it is a lot smaller here than where we lived in Bluffton. But we do keep all the bedroom doors closed, as well as the bathroom doors most of the time.

Hope this helps some and good luck. I personally love Anna's crate and Anna has learned to love it as well. Also with Christopher and I being in college we also have a sort of long day, about 4-5 hours but we usually will come home and let Anna out if it is longer than that in between classes. I know you guys don't have much of an option but just figured I would throw that in there.

Edit Forgot to add that at night time even in the beginning when we first started crate training her at night I only got up once in the middle of the night to let her out. If she had to go before than she would mostly cry and let me know. She is no longer sleeping in the crate at night but in the bedroom with us and she will hold it all night and will give me kisses in the morning when she has to go.

Hi, I am from Australia too originally.

We got Kaya at 11 weeks old (she's 18 weeks now) and had her 95% potty trained within about a week. Firstly, I work from home so I was able to take her out ever 20-30 mins whether she need to go or not. This definitely sent the message that outside the house was the only acceptable place to potty. Without being critical, I think that part of the problem is that fact that you are not home to teach them and impart your expectations on a consistent basis.

Also, crating is a very foreign idea to Australians but seems to be very common in America and Canada. I didn't know of anyone who had a dog that was crated in Aus when I lived there for 11 years.

However, the crate has been an absolute life saver for us. Kaya is crated overnight in our bedroom and has been since day one. I only took her out the first two nights to potty and after that she went through until about 5.30am. Subsequently, she has learned to hold it in and now goes through until somewhere between 6.30am and 7am. We don't keep food and water in the crate at all, in fact she has all food and liquid removed by 8pm from the kitchen and gets nothing until the next morning. After all, what goes in has to come out!

The only time she has wee'd inside the house within the last month was when she was exploring in the basement for the first time about 2 weeks ago and got a bit over excited, other than that she's been great.

Thanks everyone for your comments it is appreciated. We realise it's not an ideal situation, but realistically we have to work and not everyone can work from home so we're trying to make it the best to sit our situation. I will keep you all updated.

Both pups went accident free from 10.30pm to 6.30am when they woke up this morning - doing the happy dance!

Neeka is about 6 months old. She'll have maybe about 2 pee accidents per week. Usually it is in the kitchen on the tile. Easy to clean up. But we are trying to stay on her to get to the finish. She is ALMOST 6 months

I have an 11 month old and a 4 month old, and I can say, it takes AWHILE!!!

Nikko took the longest; it was about 6 months before he was fully potty trained. The first few days I got him he had a few poop accidents, but after that it was only pee.

Yukon has been much easier. He still has accidents sometimes, but for the most part he does pretty well. The last pee accident was last Saturday. For the last month he has had maybe 1-2 accidents per week. It took us about 6 weeks to get to that point. He is about 2 months ahead of where Nikko was.

So it all depends on how diligent you are with training, and the individual puppy. And once they are trained, don’t be discouraged by the occasional accident.

I agree completely with Jackie. Pee pads aren't the best means of potty training, as I find they only confuse the dog. You're teaching them that it's alright to pee inside, when what you really want is the opposite. I dunno, just my 2 cents.

Our boy Bear was house trained since he was about 12 weeks. Every dog is different, and it really does depend on how much effort you put into potty training. With Bear, we had him on a set food and water schedule, as well as a walk schedule. That REALLY helped. Also, anytime we were home, we had Bear tethered to us. So we were able to watch him at all times. I believe that a lot of Potty training really depends on how well we (the owners) are able to read their potty signs.

Is there a reason you aren't crate training? Not judging at all, I just know that crate training can really help, and speed up the process! Also, I would definitely invest in a good cleaner. We used Nature's Miracle advanced formula, which is great if you do have accidents

Good luck, and just keep on persevering!

Just wonder, what was your schedule with Jackie? Our pup is about 8 weeks old and we're trying to potty train it ^_^;;.

I think the general rule of thumb for pups is they can hold their pee as many hours as they are months old. For your pup, since it's 8 weeks, I'd say she should be taken out every 2 hours. It sounds like a lot, but in the long run, she'll adapt to it much quicker. Welcome to puppyhood!

Few replies I've missed most of the questions have been answered above so won't go over them again.

Milla is now 12 weeks and hunter 14 weeks. The dogs are outside in their run during the day while we're at at work which has greatly reduced the accidents and mess. A good night will see about 3 accidents each which is a huge improvement, a bad night would be five (even with us getting up throughout the night)
Stress is down so we're enjoying the pups a lot more now which is important

Thunder is 7 months and 99 % housebroken, he only pees when excited. It take time with huskies.