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Message: [QUOTE="Husky25, post: 4122774, member: 2839"] Haven't read all the posts so I well just share our story. We adopted our canine-daughter the weekend before the weekend that COVID restrictions were announced. She was a 4 month old black lab mix. She is now a 2 year old lab mix and she saved us from going insane when my father was in the hospital. We hired a dog walker and found a spot in a doggy daycare because my wife's and my offices were both 40 minutes away in the opposite direction, but as "luck" would have it, we didn't need those services much, due to COVID restrictions and my wife now working fulltime from home. Strongly consider getting pet medical insurance, if eligible. Baby Girl (not her real name) has idiopathic epilepsy, and while that is not covered for her (We got it after she had a seizure), everything else is and it saves about half on vet visits and medications. The first piece of advice that we received is that for a dog her size at the time, that they are [I]able [/I]to "hold it" for about as many hours as they are months old. It's whether they want to. In a new environment, they want to mark their territory. So we took turns walking her about every 60-90 minutes for the first two days and gave her treats each and every time to reinforce that "business" is done outside. We would literally walk her about 10 times during the day and a couple times overnight. She only had a few accidents those first couple weeks, but they are a part of completing the house training and became few and father between. I recommend the bells as well. Evidently Povlov's Dog is a real phenomenon. Finally, we had a session with a trainer to learn how to get her to sit, come, not to chew on anything but her own toys, and how the humans are her alpha, even the (then) 4 year old. We tried crate training, but she didn't like it. So we took our chances with her just sleeping on a pet bed and stayed on our overnight walking schedule. She's rarely had an accident overnight. She now has the biggest crate we could find, which is basically meant for a St. Bernard, but she is far more accepting of it. Still, we only use it when we are going out for basically over an hour and can't bring her. A bittersweet idiosyncrasy that she doesn't like to do her business in our yard. So even if she is getting outdoor time, she has to be walked. Finally, don't be that guy who doesn't clean up after your dog. [/QUOTE]

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