Picked up my pup this past Friday, AKC Yellow lab. Got him home and in the house set him in front of kennel in house and tossed in stuffed duck breeder sent with me. Cooper walked in like he had done it 100's of times and passed out for the night. He wouldnt come out on his own I would have to scoop him out to take him outside. I figured new place, some stress from being removed from litter. He whinned and howled and everything else saturday night. He perked up Sunday and acted as a young pup, balls to the wall played for about 8 mins followed by 3 hours of napping. But now acts like he hates the kennel. He cries for a few mins then lays down usually to sleep.

Anyways, he has messed the kennel everynight. He is fed at 7 am noon and roughly between 6-7 and then water is taken away as well. He understands the door handle  jiggle means he gets to go outside and will go outside on his own no force and no carry. After last feeding at night he goes out 2-3 times before being put to bed roughly 9 pm. I get home from work at 11:30 and he goes out 2 times to do his thing, back in kennel by 1 a m. Nobody in the house betwwen 1030-1130.

He is only 7 weeks old as of this past Monday.
Kennel has divider in it.
Feed times set.
Plenty of trips outside.
Has not pooped in house just in kennel. Pee's as well. Has pee'd a few times in house.

So am I expecting too much? Doing something wrong? I know its gonna take a few days maybe a week or so.

I will try to post a pic if I figure out how too.

It may take a while,be consistant and patient. He'll figure it out.

Maybe a little.  When you take him out and he pees or poops outside, give him a LITTLE treat RIGHT AWAY.  You have to find a treat that he finds irresistible.  Small (pencil eraser size) chunks of boiled chicken breast work really well for that.   So do chicken franks sliced and quartered then microwaved for 3 minutes.  They look like burnt styrofoam, but dogs love 'em and they last several days to a week. Probably longer, but prep time on those is only about 10 minutes total, if you're a slow cutter.

If he does go in the house or in the kennel, take him right outside until he goes again, and give him a treat RIGHT AWAY.  

The point is to get him to associate doing his business outside with a yummy treat.

Don't let him see you cleaning up inside messes.  Let it just be "magic" to him as to how the mess got cleaned up.  Simple Solution is your friend in that regard.  While the spots may look/smell clean to you, he can still smell it and associate it as a place to go.

It might take a couple weeks for him to catch on, but he will.  He's just a baby and used to going wherever he might be at the moment.

I took my lab outside every 45 minutes the first two weeks at night. It sucked, but she never had an accident in her crate.

And another vote for the treat thing, it got to the point to where my lab would whine to outside and then go pretend to pee and then be all excited because she was going to get a treat...I think it helped a lot with the reenforcment of going potty outside is good.  She was 100% potty trained at 10 weeks.

You say you have the crate divided. Make sure there is ONLY enough room to lay down and sleep. Extra space will promote accidents. He'll get it figured out; he's pretty young.

Been using a garbage bag to cover the pillow/bed, and using old sweatshirts as a blanket. Easy to wash sweatshirt if he does have an accident. I have not changed the garbage bag though... will do as soon as I get home.

My yellow Lab pup, acquired at 9 weeks, was housebroken three weeks later. Never did soil his crate.  I did have the time to take him out A Lot, and I think that helped. He was crated when I left the house, but at six months he was too big and strong to strong-arm into his crate so I surrendered and let him have the run of the house. No pooping, peering, or destroying anything except one set of shoe laces.

His only vices are (which he still has) idigging and chasing (and catching) rabbits. With feet the size of my hands, he's pretty good at ithe digging.  So-so as a rabbit catcher. Now, at three years and 117lbs he's still a puppy and sheds unbelievably.  Right now, he's asleep on the back of the couch with his head on my shoulder.  Pretty spoiled.

Not to be a jerk but you are expecting too much and not doing enough for him.

At that age they need to be let out every 30 minutes even at night.  It sucks having to wake up constantly but its what you have to do.  You also have to take him to the same spot every time and then get excited when he pees.  At the 10-12 week stage he may be able to hold it about an hour.  At 6 months about every 2 hours.

You made the mistake of letting him pee inside and puppies like to pee where they have already peed.  It takes time but they learn if you do it right.  I can post full notes when I get home.

Labs are super obedient and trainable even if a bit dumb.  They are great dogs you just have to invest time in them.

The treat/potty thing worked for me. My lab mix is smart, only took a few times for her to piece it together. another thing that worked was a set of bells that you hang on the outside door. She'll hit them when she needs to go outside.

A couple things stand out to me.

You say he is now 7 weeks. You didn't get him today.  That tells me you got him when he was younger than 7 weeks.  Pups shouldn't be separated from mom and into a new home until they are 8 weeks.  Most sources will say 8-12 weeks. Honestly 12 weeks is probably the BEST, I wish the standard woudl be 10-12 vs 8-12, but so be it.


Separate a pup at 6 weeks or less and you set yourself up for all sorts of social development and behavioral issues.  Hitting 7 weeks before separating from Mom, that extra week is really helpful, so 7 weeks is a LOT better than 6, but it's still to early.  


Something to also keep in mind that puppies don't start creating preferences for elimination until 8 or 9 weeks (part of the reason 8 weeks is so often cited as a time it's okay to leave mom) so your puppy isn't even really at a developmental state where the want to not sleep where he poops is turned on in his brain yet.  Bladder/bowls control is also pretty underdeveloped until about 12 weeks of age so even when 'I don't want to poop where I sleep' is turned on, a pup doesn't have the control to not go.   Also, as a pup at 7-9 weeks starts to have it's preferences for elimination appear in that little puppy brain, it often starts as 'I don't like having pee/poop where I sleep' but as Mom Dog 'cleans up' this problem, the pup doesn't always successfully realize 'If I don't want pee/poop where I sleep, then I need to stop peeing/pooping there'


So part of the reason your pup poops in his crate is he is too young.  Part of the reason your pup doesn't like the crate is there is pee/poop there and he is too young to understand his roll in that fact.


Another issue, if you got him before 7 weeks, then you got him at a stage in the weaning process that makes him very vocal, and unfortunately when separated at this point tends to be a more vocal whiner the rest of their lives.



In conclusion, most of your problems are based on the age you took the pup away from mom.


Note I am not saying this is your fault.  A good breeder would have told you it was too soon and not let you have the pup.


The fact you got the dog so young tells me you didn't get it from a good breeder.  One of the things good breeders do is do some foundation groundwork to the pup to help it transition into it's new life.  If your breeder was letting pups leave at younger than 7 weeks, they probably didn't do a lot of this either, and so you have an uphill battle because of that too.

Lots of good points here

 

Good read and thanks for the reply. I picked up on friday he turned 7 weeks the following monday. I thought it was a bit early as well, but was told they were on dry food and didnt need mom. He is fairly clingy at times, meaning he is wanting to be around me. Not always under your feet but close to area.

The crying has slowed considerably, now down to about 1 min or less and not all the time for house kennel, more often when its something new ( outside kennel is new project now and its a slow start).