jack is 10 months old, weve had him 2 months. he was never crated at his 1st house, we have one but dont crate at night and only use it when popping out for short periods. We did attempt to crate at night but he cried so we let him out ( i now know this wasnt the thing to do) At night and whenever we are out he currently has the lounge diner to be in and its fully carpeted. his crate is also in this space. Up until recently hes been clean in the house during the night, however in the last week or so hes been messing in the house wee and poop. The toilet training articles say puppies should be crated at night as he wont mess in his bed. As much as that makes sense im apprehensive of crating at night because he will cry, and with 2 children asleep upstairs and neighbours i dont know how long we could wait it out before opening the door. Im thinking of leaving a radio on for him? does anyone have any tips on how we can get him back to being clean at night? Currently i only leave him for upto 3 hours during the day then the rest of the time the door is open to the garden for toileting. We are also coming down earlier in the morning to let him out but its not making a difference yet. if we can get him clean at night we will have a much better relationship!
Re: toilet training and crate 10 months old One of my puppy books has a different system from the others, and it's the one I used. It's different from what a lot of people use on the forum too, so big caveats, and you might want to stick with just the crate. I had Charlie in a pen, with the crate inside and the door open, and newspapers at the far end of the pen. This was referred to in the book as "long term confinement" ie where he could be if I wasn't able to watch him for accidents, or take him outside every 30 mins (or whatever), eg I had to go out. The crate was referred to as "short term confinement" and this is where Charlie should be when I was available to taxi him outside for toilet breaks and when he wasn't completely "empty" - the idea being that he wouldn't dirty his crate and would hold on until taken outside. Chatlie didn't need training to be happy in the pen, like he did for the crate, because the pen was quite big and just seemed like a room to him. I still have the pen (although not the crate) and it has just become Charlie's room. So, if you could get hold of a large suitable pen, or make one, you could go get a large sheet of cheap Lino or something, and put the pen on it in your lounge diner? Getting him off the carpet is really the thing, I think. It's probably encouraging him to go where he has been before. I know this isn't quite what others do, but it worked really well for me.
Re: toilet training and crate 10 months old [quote author=blackjack link=topic=2692.msg27336#msg27336 date=1380026737] then the rest of the time the door is open to the garden for toileting. [/quote] The only other thought I had was whether he is being rewarded for going outside? If he is just wandering in and out with the door open, this might not be helping. You could try taking him out for specific toilet breaks and making sure he has big rewards for going outside? You might be doing this, of course, but it wasn't clear from your post.
Re: toilet training and crate 10 months old thank you for responding, the door is open he comes and goes as he pleases so no rewards for going outside, i guess as it gets colder the door will be closed more. We are planing to change to lino in the dining end but to do this we also need to put doors into an archway to create a place he will be sleeping in. Unfortunately the house isnt big enough/the right design to use a pen as you suggest.
Re: toilet training and crate 10 months old Can you put a baby gate in your archway? We use baby gates to keep Riley in the kitchen to great effect.
Re: toilet training and crate 10 months old There are various approaches you could take, one is to change the place he sleeps in, and another is to get up in the night (before he poops or sees) for a few nights to break the habit. If he were on a washable floor I would probably go for the latter to begin with. If he was clean at night for several months, it may be that something has changed? Sometimes as pups get older, we start to overestimate how long they can last. And sometimes previously clean puppies will mess indoors if the weather is bad, rather than pee or poop in the wet and cold. Sometimes, something is disturbing a previously clean dog and making him anxious, and sometimes being poorly can do it. If you get up earlier and he has still messed, then you need to get up earlier still. It is a pain, but is should be temporary. Other options are to change the way he sleeps, either by moving him to a different room (the floor smells different and he may not mess there) or by crating him. Could he sleep in the hall, or even the bathroom? It is very hard to clean carpets effectively enough that a dog will not be able to detect the smell of previous accidents, and as you probably know, dogs are very prone to relieving themselves in places where they have done it before. You can train him to like going into a crate, by the way, though this might take a few days. There's an article here about how to do it. One way or another you really need to get him off your carpets for a while. Pippa
Re: toilet training and crate 10 months old yay! sucess and a clean pup and house! he was put in the garden for 20 mins before the house was locked for bed. I told hubbyto take him out there praise if jack did his business, however hubby decided just to put him out there, anyways i came down at 2.30 and let jack out again and waited for him to pee with the command word toilet. He went after a few minutes and i treated and praised. came down at 6.30 and all is good!
Re: toilet training and crate 10 months old The "OH effect". LOL. Think a few of us have that ;D Well done. Bet you are pleased. Light at the end of the tunnel
