hello, Bonkers has been home for 1 week now and is just over 8 weeks. Since coming home she has been in a travel crate given by a friend. The crate zip was damaged and the flap doesn't close so she has had the run of the kitchen. At night this can be a problem as after her 5am wee she takes ages (about half hour) to settle as we can't lock her in. Also, we are struggling to pinpoint timings on her night time habits as she doesn't cry before letting go on the floor. Obviously we are doing all we can from the cleaning perspective and are aware she is too young to really be able to predict. We are considering getting a new crate which we can lock at night in the hope she will let us know she needs letting out. Is this a good idea after she has had that element of freedom. I know it's best not to attend to a crying puppy and preempt it but that's not always happening. Thanks Pip
Hello there, Personally, I would not risk a puppy peeing or pooing in a crate - I think that is a bit unkind. The idea of using a crate as an aid to toilet training is that the puppy views the crate as its 'den' and doesn't want to soil it - this is the instinct that allows us to house train dogs at all (there are lots of animals that can't be house trained). So I would not use a crate overnight if I needed to rely on a puppy 'letting me know' that it needed to go out. I'd use a pen arrangement, and allow the puppy to move away from its bed if it needed a pee or a poo in an emergency. That said, if you are able to make sure that you take the puppy out - night and day - such that it never has an accident in a crate, then they are great things to use and an adult sized wire crate with a divider to use when the puppy is small is ideal.
I agree with Julie Ts comments. If you use a crate we would usually suggest that you set an alarm to get up to take her out so she doesn't toilet in the crate particularly as it will be some weeks before she can go through the night or let you know in time that she needs to go.
We have a 9 week old chocolate lab, and we crate trained him from the very start. Initially in our laundry with the door to his crate open, for the first week he would relieve himself on the laundry floor, but he very quickly came to see the entire laundry as his den. He stopped relieving himself at all at night, and if he was bursting he would 100% cry, we would take him outside and then quickly put him back without any play to encourage him thinking night time was play time. He is now 9 weeks old and is fantastic, he sleeps in his crate all night from 10.30-8ish without any trouble, if he ever needs to go in the night (like recently when he had a tummy bug) he will be sure to let us know and we repeat the same procedure. He settles very easily in his crate and we are happy as we know that he will not soil it. I think puppies are very instinctive about this and so long as the crate is near enough to you so you can hear if she cries she will let you know she needs out and you can take her.
Hello, thanks for this. Bonkers will be 9 weeks on Thursday. She definitely needs to go a few times in the night and we're a long way from a full night like that I feel. Last night wasn't too bad but I think she had an upset tummy as had her injections yesterday and pooed on the floor twice early in the night (about 11.45pm) which was unexpected and outside of her routine which had appeared to settle slightly. Mostly she asks to go out during the day but at night it's a different story. Last night we prempted her at 2.30am and 4.30am then my husband got up at 6am. It's still a 2 hour toilet gap for us! We were thinking of getting the puppy pads and putting them down at night just in case. Pip
Personally I would avoid the puppy pads as they prolong the process and encourage them to pee inside. Paper may be a better option gradually reducing the size of the paper you leave down - worked for us. Although we do have a few accidents they are few and far between now at 12 weeks. Have you tried doing last feed a bit earlier? Ours is fed last meal at 6.30pm and had been since we brought him home - I think it helps with the night time urges! Patience, you will get there!! Each week gets a bit easier!!
Thanks! It's so hard to know what to do. So far we have been trying to time it but not always with success. From our bedroom we can hear her if she cries but sometimes that's too late and she's already peed or pooed. At the moment she has her last feed at 8pm and usually has a poo in the middle of the night at around 4am. Maybe I need to spend a few more nights closer to her on the couch so I can hear her when she cries? Or do we continue to try and time it? Aaaah, what to do!?
I think it's best to avoid having your puppy toilet inside overnight if you can. I agree with Julie that it's unkind for your pup to be put in that position. My two have never been told off for going to the toilet inside the house, but the other day when we were out, Shadow had an upset tummy and we came home to a mess. Both of the dogs were really upset about this until we cleaned it up. It was nothing to do with fearing being admonished, because that's never, ever happened, but they were clearly unhappy about having the mess in their living quarters. So, I would do anything I could to avoid this. For me, I set my alarm for every couple of hours (I believe I started every 3 hours) and got up to let my puppy out to go to the loo, waking her if she was asleep. Every night, I increased that time by 15 minutes. It seems like a pain to do this, but it only lasts a couple of weeks and then you have a puppy that can go through the night, except if they have an upset tummy (which happened to Willow, so I ended up sleeping on the sofa near her crate for a week).
I would set my alarm to take her out, she is very much a baby still although she may be beginning to recognise the signals when she needs to toilet but that's not the same as giving you time to reach her and take her out. If you have taken her out successfully at 2:30 and 4:00 I would continue to do that for a few more days and then gradually set the alarm clock a few minutes later every few days and before you know it she will be sleeping through the night. All puppies are different so it's really a case of seeing what works best for you and Bonkers. Personally I wouldn't introduce puppy pads or paper at this point in time, it can add some confusion for a young puppy as to what you want them to do. Jun was 10.5weeks old when we brought her home, 10 weeks is the norm with French breeders, and I set my alarm for around 2:30 for a toilet trip and then again at 5:30 but we very quickly moved to just one trip around 5:30 which gradually went to around 7 to 7:30 by the time she was 13 weeks old.
Ok thanks all. I will continue to set the alarm, moving it forward a little each time. I think last night was a funny one as she had an upset tummy I think from her first injections. Do you think it would help if we tried to keep her a little more lively during the evening? She often crashes out by 9pm so if we could try and keep her awake for a little longer perhaps that would help???
Could I just ask what your pups eating and play schedule is in the evening? Bonkers eats her last meal at 8pm and usually crashes by 9pm. I wonder if we could try and keep her awake a little later in the evening it could contribute to a longer sleep at night?
We tried this. It didn't work Willow woke during the night because she needed the toilet, not because she wasn't tired. She was always more than happy to go back to sleep once she'd done her business. She hasn't changed - she loves her beauty sleep
I didn't get up to my puppy during the night - he was in a pen arrangement, with his bed at one end and newspapers at the other. I went to bed at 10pm, my OH stayed up until midnight and took the puppy out for "last wees", then I got up at 5am. We didn't have a huge amount of accidents overnight, and gradually started leaving him longer, and it all worked out fine. That said, I wouldn't leave a puppy alone again his first night in a new home because having thought about it I think that's a lot to ask of a tiny baby pup - definitely not because I felt I had to make sure he had a wee and poo in the garden in the middle of the night - I think such a baby should be comforted his first few nights away from mum.
Huxley eats his last meal around 6.30 or at latest 7 p.m. He usually sleeps for an hour and then plays until around 9.30 or 10. Regardless of what time he is up until he will sleep until at least 7 a.m, but if we keep him up later he will sleep later. The other night we had him up until 12 and he slept until 9 a.m and even then didnt cry to be let out, we just went to check on him. I think he is just a sleepy pup and I guess because we feed him his last meal earlier he doesnt need to go out in the night to wee.
Thanks! Maybe we need to amend mealtimes a bit in that case. The breeder had her in a routine of 7am, 12noon, 4pm and 8pm and said we should stick to this. On average she has a poo every 6 hours and if she can do one earlier then it might take the pressure off of her bladder overnight? You are so lucky...believe me!!!!!! How old is Huxley now? Bonkers is 8 weeks and 4 days. Thanks Pip
Not all puppies are the same or attain milestones at the same time as others in much the same way as all babies are different. It is quite unusual for an 8 or 9 week old puppy to be able to go through the night without needing a wee or poo regardless of what time their last meal was. Many are just getting there at 12 or 13 weeks old, in much the same way that some human babies are dry at night at say 18 months and some not until 2 years old. Relax and enjoy your puppy the night time expeditions to the garden will be a distant memory soon enough and you'll be facing teenage tantrums
He is 9 weeks old today, but he has been sleeping through since about 7 weeks. We brought him home at 6 weeks and he initially would sleep through but wake up at around 5 a.m, we would take him outside, then put him straight back in with no playing or cuddles. He now follows our routine and will even go back to sleep in his crate for a couple of hours until around 10 a.m in the weekends if we put him back for a sleep in! I think MaccieD is totally right though and all puppies are different. We will have other troubles with him that you dont have. He is just a good sleeper and I think we tire him out pretty well in the day. We were also extremely black and white with him from the beginning about the rules. It is fine if he needs to go out to relieve himself but there wont be any play. Crying while in his crate also wont get him released, which has meant he now never does anything more than whimper for about 5 seconds when we put him in, and 90% of the time he is more than happy to go in for a wee rest. I think sometimes they recognise they are over excited and need to calm down in a nice calm dark place with a toy and a soft bed. I do think you could try feeding her earlier, or try only three feeds a day which is what we have been doing since 7 weeks and he is a very healthy weight and very happy wee puppy. Also give her a drink of water half an hour before bed, make sure she wees, and then put her in her crate. Just an idea. And I am no expert this is just what we have followed more as it seemed common sense than anything else. The breeder actually told us to feed him at 9.30 p.m and to allow him free access to food, but after some research and a chat with our vet I decided we definitely wouldnt be doing that, so 6.30-7 p.m dinner it is.
@Pip personally I wouldn't start reducing my pups meals down to 3 at less than 9 weeks. The extra food in puppy's tummy can lead to discomfort and tummy problems. What guidance did you breeder give as to when to reduce to 3 meals, which is something you need to do over several days?
