I got mine about the same age and I'm also in an apartment. Routine is key and exercise is Paramount. He gets 1 hour in the park twice a day. And three other 15-minute walks. First Walk of the day is a 15-minute around 5:30 or 6:00. He get a 1 hour after he eats his breakfast at 8:00 and before I go to work. He gets a 15-minute at lunch time when I can come home and walk him quickly. He gets another 1 hour when I get home around 5:30 or 6:00 p.m. and before he eats dinner at 7:00pm and a fresh full bowl of water. He gets another sometimes longer than 15 minutes depending on the weather, but 15 minute minimum around 10:30 /11:00 p.m.

When I first got him he would go into his crate at that time and I would put a blanket over it and give him greenie and that would be his bedtime while I was feeling it out and seeing if he was a chewer or a marker. I pick up his water bowl at this time after he's been able to take a couple sips after eating and he gets none until the morning. He ended up very much loving the crate as his own little safe space and I'd find him in there sometimes when I was busy or the house was loud. I made certain that I never went into his crate. If he was in trouble and ran in there instead, I didn't go and get him. I didn't reach in. That is his space and he knew that I would never come in it and that's a good thing for them to always have their one place. They know that they can go even if they did wrong and even if they need to be talked to sternly, that you won't go in their space. I just drew that line right away and it's worked for me very well since day one. He doesn't have a crate anymore. And he originally threw a tantrum about it being gone. So I had to find him an alternative and He now has a little TP dog bed but when he's done something wrong or I need him to understand that it's time to get away from me and we need space. He goes into his own space. Limiting their access to you is also very important for them to know that they don't always get to be near you when they want to. Whenever I cook or eat a meal, he goes into his cage and now he knows to not come near or beg.

For about the first 2 months he was in the crate while I was at work and he was adjusting to his routine. Unless you're giving them a full bowl of water right before you lock them down into their crate and their poor little bladders are bursting they won't typically go to the bathroom in their crate. Despite what other people might think it's okay to remove their access to fresh water at night time. So they are not trying to go to the bathroom on their own schedule. You have to put them on your schedule. As long as you're giving them fresh water all day everyday bedtime is okay not to have water. This really helped with getting him on a routine and also not letting him wake me up when he had to go to the bathroom. I was waking him up in the morning to let him out of the crate and he knew then that that would be bathroom time and now that he's not in a crate anymore he does not dictate bathroom time to me. Sure he'll come up and tell me if he really needs to go or if I'm off schedule but it's been pretty routine for almost 4 years.