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Night Time Crate Training - long (sorry)

14 replies

ILikeToClean · 14/03/2013 17:23

Ok, so we collect puppy in 9 days time. Very excited and pretty organised with what we are doing and having everything etc. But just one question about crate training at night. Have read lots of threads on here about what to do but am still confused as to what is best. I definitely wanted to try and stick to the outside for all toileting, and not use newspaper or pads at all, but now, after speaking to a friend, not sure if this is best ? let me explain, these are the options I think:

  1. leave him in crate at night with no puppy pads or anything (obviously after a late night wee), keep crate as just a bed area, ignore any crying and just see if he can hold it all night or if does do anything just clear up in the morning and wait for him to learn to control. I know posters have done this and said that they never have any night-time accidents but he will be 8 weeks and I am sure that a lot of pups cannot hold it that long. I guess this would just be a case of try and see if we are lucky, but then might he get distressed laying in his own mess and have negativity about the crate?

  2. sleep downstairs with him for a few nights, ignore any crying but take him out for a wee at a set time (say 3am) without any fuss. Or don?t set the alarm and leave until he lets me know he wants to go ? but how do you know if crying is due to needing a wee or just anxiety? And if I do this will he expect it every night ? do I leave it later and later each night or be guided by him? I don?t mind sleeping downstairs (probably not where he could see me) but I don?t want him to think every time he cries I will come and let him out ? I know we need to be tough and am bracing myself for ignoring the crying.

  3. Put a pad in just at night-time, take him out in the garden during the day and last thing before bed, but put a pad in for nights only. Will he get confused with this or realise what it is for and differentiate between day and night?

    The reason I am not sure is because I was going to do option 2 (although unsure how to know when he will want a wee or is just looking for attention), but a friend said I needed to put pads in at night, or else he will learn that every time he cries I go to him. She said I would be crazy to keep going down at night, but from reading extensive posts on here I think in the long term puppies are trained much quicker if you do just stick to outside, and I really don?t mind some sleepless nights for the sake of the future. DH thinks option 3, but that is because he does not want us to have broken nights (we will share this), he and my friend say that eventually in the morning the pad will be dry and then you can take it away, but would this confuse pup?

    Sorry for length, any advice appreciated!!
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littlewhitebag · 14/03/2013 17:37

When we got our lab pup we put newspaper in her crate and we got up in the night when she cried and let her out. Usually about twice each night. She never ever wee'd or poo'ed in her crate. It was pretty tiring but she only ever went in the house if we didn't recognise her signals to be let out or she was very excited. During the day we took her out constantly and she seemed to catch on pretty quickly.

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SpicyPear · 14/03/2013 18:02

To a certain extent you need to see how you get on as all pups are different. For example mine was clean from midnight to around 6.30am from day one but some take a long time to be dry at night. I set up a playpen in the garden, staked into the lawn so that I could put him in there and wait for him to go, giving no attention at all until he did. This helped with him learning the difference between "business trips" to the garden and playtime in the garden.

Personally I would start out trying to avoid putting a pad in the crate. His instinct should be not to mess in his crate and that really helps with toilet training. If they get used to going in their crate it can become a habit.

I pretty quickly worked out when he was attention barking and when he was barking for the toilet. It's not really possible to explain as it's different for each pup but you should get an idea once you know how he's getting on with the crate and what his routine is.

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ILikeToClean · 14/03/2013 19:57

Thank you, I do want to avoid pads if poss, what a good idea to have a pen in the garden as another thing that occurred to me was would he go wandering off in the pitch black, visions of me hunting for him by torchlight! Grin I suppose it'll be trial and error!

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ijustwant8hours · 14/03/2013 20:32

Mine had free run of the kitchen overnight (with his crate open) at first. He was perfectly happy (well 5mins whining) and went to sleep ona shelf next to the boiler. When it was obvious that he was just doing one massive wee shortly before I got down stairs I started crating him overnight - he would have been about 10.5 weeks. He had outgrown his shelf by then and had also got accustomed to the crate!

He does have a bladder of iron though!

Personally I wouldn't plan too hard! Work out your "boundaries" and roll with the punches, you don't know what your pup will be like yet!!

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mabongwen · 14/03/2013 20:42

all puppies are different, you may have one that settles straight away and is able to hold for long or you may have the opposite.

My experience was we had our's at 4weeks old, I know really young, but we rescued him personally and consulted a vet. We had nothing when we got him. The shame. So he spent his first couple of nights, till his crate was delivered in a Walkers multipack crisps box with a towel in it, next to my bed. His wimpering would wake me and I would take him outside. Probably 2/3 times a night.

Once the crate came, he was moved downstairs. We basically just put blankets in that we could wash on high temp should he dirty, but we found he actually didn't dirty in his crate and was quiet all night once we dressed a large teddy in a t-shirt that smelt like us and a hot water bottle in there.

We did however limit his water intake after about 8pm, the vet told us we could. So we would take up his water at 8pm he would then pee it all out by 9:30 pm. He had a empty bladder going to bed so it was easier for him to hold and wait.

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needastrongone · 14/03/2013 21:20

ILikeToClean - I think that I might be a bit like you! I like to be organised and plan for stuff and I too spent ages thinking through the night time scenario. Our puppy has taught me, especially to start with, to go with the flow. FWIW, DH slept downstairs with him for a few nights and moved further away gradually. They are so very tiny and have just left their mum and litter mates, been taken to a strange place, with strange people, strange smells!!! It's a scary world all of a sudden.

I put down one puppy pad half-heartedly, he chewed it up! We crate trained to great effect and have been incredibly lucky with toilet training, he 'got' night times very quickly, think we have only lifted him maybe two or three times at most. Maybe you need to see what you get before taking a view what's best?

Keeping a clean and tidy house is achievable with a puppy. Hard work but doable. It matters to me, really it shouldn't but I am afraid it does!

And.... Scented candles are your friend in the winter months! I keep the industry alive at present I swear.

Try to go with the flow. It will be fine and bloody hard work but wonderful fun too.

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ILikeToClean · 14/03/2013 21:23

So general consensus is don't use pads, put him in crate and then just see if he wakes for a wee or not, if so take him out, if he goes through the night great, just see what happens basically! Thanks all, feel like I've lost all common sense when it comes to this puppy lark, I just so want to do it all right!

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wildfig · 14/03/2013 21:24

Agree with those saying don't confuse the puppy with pads in the crate; the whole point of the crate is that dogs hate soiling where they sleep, so crating him will teach him to hold it in. But bear in mind puppy bladders are very tiny to begin with!

Our puppy - who took a loooong time to learn not to wee inside - was dry overnight quite quickly. The first couple of nights, I slept on the sofa from midnight (out of sight) and set my alarm to take him outside at 4.30ish - no fuss, no playing, just straight outside and lots of praise when he weed, then back into the crate. Up again at 7.30am-ish, straight outside, and then the usual house training routine. I don't think I ever had to clear up anything in his crate, although that might be slightly rose-tinted memories.

But, to give you fair warning, if your puppy's anything like ours, you will feel like the meanest owner in the whole world for the first few nights, as he runs through his entire repertoire of tragic whining and howling to get you to come and sleep next to him. Seriously. We had one night of drama, another night of grumbling, and then he was skipping off to his crate at bedtime, ready for his Bonio, and has been ever since.

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RosieLig · 14/03/2013 21:27

Ours was 10 weeks when we got him. We crated him fom 11pm til about 5/6am an he didn't ever mess in the crate. He didnt cry either.

I would go for it.

Rosie

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ILikeToClean · 14/03/2013 21:32

Hi needastrongone, your puppy threads have really helped in the last few months when making the decision to even get a puppy! How is your pup's eye now? I do overthink everything and like to be in control, it's true, dh is more fly by the seat of his pants and tells me it'll be fine! I'm not sure he appreciates the work involved tbh! I'll try and relax and enjoy him, v excited and actually been more relaxed about a clean house lately as I know it'll never be as clean again Hmm but i think I'll love him so much I won't care! Waiting is making me crazy I think! I'll be fine once he's here! Thanks again

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ILikeToClean · 14/03/2013 21:34

Sorry everyone posts crossed, brill advice from you all as usual and pretty much the same so thanks!

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Twattybollocks · 15/03/2013 22:19

We crated pest from about 13 weeks, she was initially in a basket at the side of the bed, but after I stepped in something on my way to the loo at 2am, we got a crate which went at the side of the bed (I'm a softie and couldn't bear to put the poor wee thing On her own in the kitchen when she had just been separated from all her siblings) we never put pads in,
Just her bed and she woke me up by whining and shuffling when she needed the loo. We had no crying or howling at all.
That's me though, and wherever you want the dog to sleep as an adult is where they should sleep as a puppy. Upstairs in our bedroom is the obvious choice for us, also as we have a burglar alarm, the kitchen was a non starter. We didn't do any crate training as such, her basket was in there, we were right next to her, she got in her bed, we shut the door and that was that. I think we were really lucky that she wasn't bothered by it at all.

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ILikeToClean · 15/03/2013 22:31

Thanks Twatty, our dog will need to be downstairs as we have a cat so want her to have "refuge" upstairs, think I'll sleep downstairs at first and just see what he is like, and play it by ear from there!

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R184 · 08/07/2018 13:22

Can you tell me what happened in the end? Just got a puppy and having similar issues!

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