we collect our yellow lab puppy this weekend. its my first lab puppy at this age, my last one i had from a year old. everyone telling me two options:- 1 - let her wee/poo in her pen and dont go downstairs if crying and clean up mess in the morning and let her out. 2 - take her out for a wee/poo throughout the night., every 3 hours. (Seems very tiring but happy to do if this is the best option) cant decide what to do. we are going to let her out at 11pm before we go bed and then we are up at 6am when my daughter wakes. any ideas?
Re: night time (let wee in pen or take them out in garden?) roughtly how long would we need to do this? when can they go all night without going out?
Re: night time (let wee in pen or take them out in garden?) Here is the link to the house training article on the main site for starters http://www.thelabradorsite.com/?p=450 I guess they are all a bit different. Our Lilly was pretty quick as she was 11 weeks when we got her, but others have taken a bit longer. jac
Re: night time (let wee in pen or take them out in garden?) Hi, if you take your pup out last thing at night (around 10:30 or 11:00), she may be able to hang on until 5 or 6, but lots of puppies need to go out in the middle of the night for a while. It won't be for long, though!
Re: night time (let wee in pen or take them out in garden?) Yup def option 2 Riley is 2 and a half and I can't even remember how long we had to get up for - just a dim and distant memory! He was easy to housetrain though ;D Good luck, looking forward to seeing some gorgeous puppy pics.
Re: night time (let wee in pen or take them out in garden?) Hi, Harvey is 8 weeks old. The breeder that we got him from suggested leaving him all night right from the off. This is what we did (in our bedroom for 2 nights and then in the designated spot downstairs thereafter). To date, admittedly only 5 nights so far, he has gone through the whole night without messing in his crate. We take him outside for a last minute pit-stop just as we put him away for the night at around 10.45pm and then we get him up at 6.15am (we did have a 4.30am and 5.30am whine on 2 nights to let us know that he needed to go - I just took him straight out to do his business and then back in the crate until 6.15am). I suspect that there is no set period of time that applies to all puppies - they all vary, just as humans do. This is our first dog too so I can't really offer any firm advice - just thought I'd share our experience as we look to be working to similar schedules. Good luck.
Re: night time (let wee in pen or take them out in garden?) Another vote for option 2. We had Bess in our room in a cardboard box for the first two weeks; after she learnt to climb out of her box she was in her crate in the kitchen and usually lasted until about 6.00am. Good luck Alice
Re: night time (let wee in pen or take them out in garden?) Oh dear....I feel like I'm coming out of the closet for option 1 ! Caveats - there must be a suitable crate/bed and separate pen arrangement. This isn't like just leaving a dog in a crate without adequate toilet and bed separation. There is definately more than one method and for me, the short term/long term confinement method set out by Ian Dunbar worked just perfectly. And I also think not going down at all during the night resulted in a very quiet dog. Charlie pooped once in his pen, and was dry overnight in about 10 days, and house trained very reliably by 4 and a bit months. That said, I kept the nights very short at first - I started at 5.5 hours and worked up to 8 over 3 months.
Re: night time (let wee in pen or take them out in garden?) We did similar to UncleBob, when we got Hattie we took her out last thing at night and she was put in her crate until the next morning, she NEVER went for a wee or poo in her crate and she has a bladder like a Camel. We never went downstairs either if she whined and she has always settled without any problems and we got rid of the crate when she was about 6 months old and no issues. Good luck. Helen xx
Re: night time (let wee in pen or take them out in garden?) I picked up Harley at just over 7 weeks old. I put a separation in her crate and put a puppy pad in incase she needed it at night. From day 2 (day 1 I was up every 2-3 hours, but usually as she wanted to play!) Harley would go down just before 12pm and not wake until about 7am. She continues to do this! She only used her puppy pad twice. Since then she has been dry and clean at night. She has also been house trained, no accidents for about 3 weeks (she is 12 weeks old now). I know I am very lucky with Harley, but every dog is different. Just thought I would share my recent experience . Good luck x
Re: night time (let wee in pen or take them out in garden?) Just reading through this thread shows how different they all are , so its difficult to offer advice, to each his own My old Lab girl Tess had to be let out at around 4 in the morning, just for a couple of weeks , luckily it was summer time so I just stayed up and dozed on the sofa . Sam hasnt ever been let out during the night for a wee , but I did set the alarm for 6 and whisked him out pretty smartish
Re: night time (let wee in pen or take them out in garden?) We've had Layla from 7 weeks. She has never made a mess or wee'd in the house. She goes out at 10.00am and for the first few nights she wined at about 4.00am ... let her out to toilet without speaking to her and she would go back in her crate and settle until time for breakfast. She now wakes about 6.00am at 10 weeks old. Good luck with whatever you decide to do.
Re: night time (let wee in pen or take them out in garden?) Option 1 for us. We have our 14 week old puppy in a crate, with door open but then within a large pen area overnight. We let him out at about 11pm to do his business and then he usually holds it until about 6/7am. There have been a few mornings where we have come down at 6.30am and he has gone to the loo on his puppy pad but very rare now tbh. Perfect as we usually get a good nights sleep and so does he!!
Re: night time (let wee in pen or take them out in garden?) The first few nights we had Whiskey, we did bring him out for toilet during the night, but more often than not he didn't need to go..tried him a whole night without and he's fine! Can hold it in until morning (we're up around 6.30), apart from one night, but this was after an unusually late meal. Just my 2 cents worth.
