If you are having a difficult time seeing action in the x-pen, put a chair out there by the pen, a book or newspaper (word puzzle) and wait the full twenty minutes. Consider it meditation. From time to time remind your friend why you are out there by saying things like, “I am waiting for you to go pee, so go pee please”. If after twenty minutes you still have no joy, put your dog on leash, take him backindoors to the crate, remove the leash and collar and put him in the crate. Say “kennel” as you put the dog in the crate. Wait five or ten minutes and do the routine again.
When your dog has relieved himself in the x-pen area you can give him some free time in the yard or in the kitchen of your home; at this pont we do not take him or her out for an on leash walk. After about twenty minutes of free time play a young puppy will want to go out to pee or poo again. This is why the long weekends work well for teaching the crate and the x-pen. A normal pup or adult dog will be well online in four days. Dogs which are not normal minded, i.e. Rescued, traumatized, injured, ill or geriatrics can take as long as two months to grasp the full routine and be ready to proceed with learning. Eventually the x-pen will not be required at home. If you live in an apartment, your x-pen is an on leash area to which you quickly bring your dog to relieve itself within a few minutes of your building doors. Gravel alley ways, specific tree trunk, parking lot post, curb gutters; drainage is a consideration for the urine. Tiny dogs can use balcony pee trays and if you have a penthouse balcony, I wish I had one too. The principal feature of the learning exercise is to put the dog on leash and collar from the crate, walk in a controlled fashion to a door, go through that door out to the exercise (pee) area. If you have an exercise pen, remove the leash put the dog in the pen, tell him why you are there and wait. If you do not have an exercise pen, leave the dog on leash and wait for results, repeat why you are there, if you have joy, (results) praise your dog, clean up where needed. Do not go for a walk! That would be giving the dog unearned territory. OF COURSE the dog will pee on a walk! That is what they do. We are teaching him to go in a specific spot, at a specific time determined by us. This is laying a foundation of understanding that will allow your dog to run free, safely with reliabilty. It is a wonderful thing to see your dog running free as Nature intended, a sight well worth the effort getting there.
