As some of you know I've been having problems with Izzy at night. She doesn't go long without needing to go to the toilet and if I carry on sleeping she does it in the cage. Is this because the cage is too big? She sleeps at one end and then I have a puppy pad at the other. I also use this cage when I have to leave her, so if she needs to go she can. I suppose I'm giving her mixed messages. Anyway I've decided to try her in the smaller cage I have for the car. She's still in the bedroom. I'm going to st my alarm for 3 hours and hope she lasts that long! This toilet training is really worrying me. During the day she seems to want to go every half an hour and if I forget she does it wherever she likes. Is this still normal at 9 weeks?
Re: Size of cage Dogs do not like to foul their beds, so by having a smaller crate will help. But she also needs to go out so you will have to manage that. Restrict water before bedtime and make sure she has been out, stand with her and make sure, reward her with praise and a bit of kibble. Train to go outside:- After food, After play, After sleep, After training, After any excitement. Thinking about what you have said, if she needs to go every 1/2 hr, she may have a UTI I would get her checked at the vets.
Re: Size of cage She is just little yet. I think if you want her to be dry in her crate it is best to just have enough room for her bed, and swerve the puppy pads. Some people buy dividers for the crate, others are more creative with boxes or cardboard to make the bed crate temporarily smaller. There are mixed opinions on the going "cold turkey" overnight or setting an alarm for regular loo stops. I was a cold turkey, but that was before joining this site. I think setting your alarm and gradually extending the time between loo trips is best. They seem to learn to be dry at night in their "den" quite a bit before being dry during the day. I always took water up at night (well, left it out of the crate) when Lilly was being house-trained. And not feeding too late in the evening helps too. But.....there are others who have done it MUCH more recently than me who I am sure will chip in And......Indy beat me to this.
Re: Size of cage As the others have said, she's still little. It will take quite a few weeks yet until you can be confident of her not going in the house. Mine are four and a half months now and still will have a wee inside if I don't read their signs - which is maybe once every ten days or so now. I was of the camp of having a divided crate to make it smaller and getting up throughout the night. Adding 15 minutes each night, it's surprising how quickly this turns into only getting up once a night. When Willow (I only had the one puppy then) outgrew her divided section after about three weeks, I just removed it; by then she had come to associate the crate as being her den, so I didn't have any accidents in there - except for the time she jumped in there instead of going through the door to outside which was open right next to it!!! You still have to be vigilant and patient for a while yet
Re: Size of cage Well that was an ok night. I woke Izzy after 4 hours and we went out. Then she woke me at 6 to go out. I got up then. Hopefully i can stretch it out each night.
Re: Size of cage Hi seems like you made some progress - well done. Don't be hard on yourself she is still so young and will get the hang of it. I did exactly like you are now doing - we divided our crate and let Phoebe out after about 4 hours the first few nights and then moved it back to five and then six. We are now on 6.5 hours and Phoebe is 12 weeks. Don't want to push my luck though so although may try an extra 15 min or so over Xmas, am quite happy. In the day time we were letting Phoebe out every hour or so and she still goes out every 2 hours or so now. I think it's a very slow tiring journey but hopefully worth it in the end!!! Keep going you are doing well. X
Re: Size of cage Long after 9 weeks I was still taking Chepi out for toilet breaks every half hour. At 9 weeks sometimes every 10 mins. I would stay up late for a late toilet and get up early: about 11.30 and 5.30. She has a large crate which I sectioned off and gradually made bigger as she grew. 9 weeks is still very, very young - really a newborn and with a lot to learn. Good luck!
Re: Size of cage Another good night with no accidents, 4 hours, 3 hours, 2 hours. To be honest if it wasnt for my other half getting up to go to work at 4.30am, she would probably go 4 and 4. Then when shes had breakfast she has her devil dog stage...running around and biting everything! Gosh it hurts! Then back to her angel dog stage...never a dull moment!
Re: Size of cage [quote author=Wendy68 link=topic=9195.msg132058#msg132058 date=1419322963] Another good night with no accidents, 4 hours, 3 hours, 2 hours. To be honest if it wasnt for my other half getting up to go to work at 4.30am, she would probably go 4 and 4. Then when shes had breakfast she has her devil dog stage...running around and biting everything! Gosh it hurts! Then back to her angel dog stage...never a dull moment! [/quote] We swore Willow had an evil twin sister hiding inside her, that snuck out on occasion. We called her Evil Edna (from Will'o the Wisp) Stick with it, one day you'll realise that you no longer look like a pin cushion and you haven't cleaned up an unwelcome puddle in days x
Re: Size of cage [quote author=snowbunny link=topic=9195.msg132076#msg132076 date=1419325940] Stick with it, one day you'll realise that you no longer look like a pin cushion and you haven't cleaned up an unwelcome puddle in days x [/quote] Agreed, Bouncer will occasionaly forget himself & nip me but it is mostly "mouthing" now. Also a few grown up teeth are making an appearance so the little needle teeth are soon to be a memory.Last time he wet the floor was my own fault as I forgot I had locked the dogflap. :
