We are getting a baby (8 weeks old) in about 2 weeks. I have read a million and one posts about potty training and I'm still confused.

We do plan to crate train.

Some say that an 8 week old baby needs to go out every hour 24 hrs a day, others say 2 hours, some say only once at night. I can't imagine having to take a puppy out every hour 24 hrs a day since I will be the only one to do this. My husband works long hours and I refuse to allow my 8 yr old outside by herself while i sleep.

I have also read that since we are crate training and potty training that she should stay in the crate until she has to potty. That just seems mean and hateful to me, I wouldn't want to be locked up all the time.

I have also read that until the puppy is potty trained there should be no out door activities, no walks, car rides or playing outside.

How do you all weigh in on this? Any tips, advice would be very helpful. Thank you so much!

Puppies have to go out generally; when they awake from a nap/sleep, after eating/drinking and after playing/being excited.

Since puppies don't have full control over their bodily functions as a very very general rule they can "hold it" for one hour for every month they are old (i.e. 2 hours for a 2 month old). Some puppies can't do that and will have to go out roughly every hour or so (when they're awake). Some puppies can "hold it" longer and won't need to go out quite as often. Just depends on the puppy.

Until the puppy learns or gets the hang of going outside to go to the bathroom there really shouldn't be any playing outside (in the yard). That's so that the dog learns more quickly that outside = bathroom. If you start playing outside the puppy learns outside = playtime and will want to do that over pottying because it's more fun.

Puppies shouldn't be outside of your yard/house until they have received all of their shots and that's for their safety. After that you can take them on short walks and what not but I've never heard of any restriction full time to the crate. The only thing I recommend is that if you can't keep at least 3 sets of eyes on the puppy at all times or have him/her tethered to you then crate. Supervision and consistency is key - especially in house training.

Obviously all puppies are a bit different but since we just went through this with our 8 week old a few months ago i'll tell you what we did and hope it helps.

We took ours out ever 2 hours on the hour, no matter what to establish that outside was potty time. Treat every time he/she goes outside, pee and poop. Accidents inside might and most likely will happen. We would clap loudly once, to startle and stop him from going, then immediately take him outside to show that inside was bad and outside was good, treat, praise once he completes outside.

It's important to try and catch them in the act of an accident, because if you dont, then nothing, bad or good, will have any effect because they wont associate it with somehting that already happened.

We crated at night, he whined a little, and then just took him out in intervals when he was getting used to it, until he got the idea that night time is sleep. Stopping or slowing water intake is also important if you want to eventually get through the night without accidents. We stop water around 8pm, 2 hours after feeding, go to bed at 10:40 ish, if he needs water bad, we give an ice cube or enough to satisfy and not more. ( He gets all the water he wants all day though.)

Thats basically what we did, and now he has no accidents and sleeps through the night happy as a clam.

Hope it helps and good luck.

I just went through this wit koda.. I basically did all the things eveeryone else said.. But i actually took him out every hour at first.. Because whenever he got bored he would just pee lol.. But he is good when i take him out he pees right away.. Even if he jjst went 20min ago he will squeeze what he has out. The biggest thing wit koda was always make him sit by the door your takin him out before you take him out.. Koda now knows when he sits by a door i take him out to potty. Eventually i wanna get a bell for him to ring.. U can also look into that.. At night i only took him out hen he woke up and whines them right back in his crate he went. He usually woke up about every hour and half.. Thats really hard on urself for sleeping but thats what u get when u get a cute little puppy. After about a month koda now sleep through the nite so it will stop eventually but it gets annoying. Goodluck!

Thank you all so much! I'm so glad I ran across this site, everyone is so helpful and friendly. It's so nice to hear from husky owners. I have had so many people tell me that I'm making a mistake, that I shouldn't get a husky. Of course this has all come from non-dog owners or people who have never had or known a husky.

I really do appreciate your advice. Thank you!