My Puppy Is Disgusting

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I've housebroken a few, seeing as I get strays and castoffs all the time. Housebreak them, teach them some basic manners (my dogs help with all of this), then find them homes. It is NO FUN. But great once they get it!

Anyway. Your pup is four months, he may not be able to hold it very long yet. He may need to go out every hour for a while, once you see that's ok, then start extending the time by 30 minutes. Zoe, our 18 month old, was really slow in this regard. We got to 4 hours and that was the limit for a while. She wasn't allowed back in until business was done (winter helps with this, a short haired dog will want back in!). My husband is a night owl, he'd take her out at midnight, then I'd get up at 5 am to get her outside again. This also helps with the crate never getting soiled.

I *think* the hard part for you is, you both work outside the home. I work from home, most of the time, so my dogs have the easy life. For the first week I have a new dog around, especially a pup, I have them leashed to me, or in the same room with me. ANY sign of an incident about to occur, and they get told "no, not here" - scooped up and taken outside and told "ok, go potty" in an upbeat voice. I never yell, or spank.

We also cut off water access after 10pm. It's not a problem anymore, so free access is always there again now, it was just during potty training.

When we left home, and Zoe was at an age where we no longer felt the need to crate her, she would be left in the kitchen/dining area with our oldest, Stu, who really hates it when a mess is made on the floor. We would leave a limited amount of water out then also. Again, now there's a huge bowl that's always available. Once they "get it" it's smooth sailing from there.