Hello, i'm new to this site and desperately need help with my year old black lab. We bought her at 11 weeks from a local breeder. I have one serious problem, she is not housetrained at night. There have only been a couple of nights when she has been clean. We have had a personal trainer to visit the house as we were having a few other difficulties too. The advice he gave was to not shout or correct her in the morning as she wouldn't know what she had done wrong, we just clean the mess and then let her outside to do her morning business. It took 8 months to find a suitable food that suited her. We do not feed titbits but really reward her with praise and her food biscuits when she has been clean outside. She doesn't have accidents during the day. She gets walked twice a day once in the morning and then again after her dinner. Getting desperate now.
Have you tried adjusting her dinner time and taking her out later at night to do her business before bed? Is she crate trained? Crate training was an effective potty training tool for us, both day and night. You may have to go back to basics with her - here is an article http://www.thelabradorsite.com/house-training-your-labrador-puppy/#potty-training-at-night
She is crate trained, although I do not lock her in it at night, she is in the kitchen with a stairgate across to ensure she remains in there. She is fed at 5 o'clock in the evening, and yes on a couple of occasions I have fed her at 7 in the evening and then taken her out, alas to no avail. She has sometimes pooped in her crate. I will take a look at the article, thank you. My husband works nights and gets in at 2am in the morning, he lets her out then also but she doesn't usually do anything.
Hi Mel, and welcome to the forum. What is your girl called? Just wondering how many meals you are feeding a day? Sometimes too large a meal as well as too late a meal can cause night time soiling. What are her poops like normally? Soft and squishy or "kickable"? jac
Hi The first 8 months soft and squishy, now they are usually solid, but not always. She has 2 meals a day, 6:30 in the morning and 5 o'clock in the evening. Her name is Miley and we love her to bits, just finding this part quite difficult when contemplating the future. Her food is from tails.com, so it is quite strict portions.
That's a tough one. Feel for you. I hope you find a solution soon. Search through the forum-there are so many posts about this subject. I am sure it will get solved. Chin up.
Hi and welcome to the forum. It does sound like you need to go back to basics with her crate training at night as per the article posted above. Hope the article helps
Often we would suggest going back to basics as Ashley and Naya have suggested It might also be a good idea to try 3 smaller meals too, if that were possible. So....the going back to basics being setting an alarm for during the night to pre-empt the night soiling (obviously after the 2am your OH takes her out)and take her out quietly with no play til she poops. They gradually setting your alarm 15-30 mins later to extend her time. I think I would be combining this with crating during the night too until she is clean. Also making sure that all accidents in house are absolutely 100% cleaned with ammonia free cleaner (Like Simple Solution) so she doesn't have areas she has designated as poo/pee spots in the house. Smiley Miley
