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Original poster

Puppy peeing at night-any ideas please from those who didn’t crate train

30 replies

Woody479 · 14/01/2020 15:14

Pup is 18 weeks old. We’ve had him from 10 weeks. He sleeps in the spare bedroom. Initially he was in a pen with a puppy pad at one end. We had every intention of taking him outside when he woke during the night but we don’t hear a peep out of him. The run up to Christmas was really difficult for us (I won’t go into detail but lots of ill health, work problems etc etc) we were all running on empty and the full night’s sleep kept us all going. I was concerned about letting him use the pads over night but everyone I spoke to in real life said he’ll eventually be able to hold it and will stop using them. I was happy to accept this advice!

Now all the additional life stresses have eased I’m worried that we’ve fucked up. He’s now not in his pen (soon learned how to escape). He’s in the spare room and we come down in the morning to a pee and a poo on the pad.

He’s 100% housetrained during the day.

I don’t know what to do really. Carry on as we are and hope that he’ll just grow out of it? Start taking him out during the night but how do I know when to do that if he doesn’t make any noise?

I am reluctant to get up in the night. DS has issues with sleep and it will be a nightmare trying to settle him back as it’ll disturb him and he doesn’t do well on broken sleep.

Tbh I don’t really have an issue with binning the puppy pad every morning when he’s so good during the day but I feel like I’m not doing my best by him.

Any thought or just some reassurance? Have any of you had puppies that just out grew going to the toilet during the night? Many thanks.

OP posts:
ChangeInTime · 14/01/2020 15:17

If he needs to pee he needs to pee. You can't expect him to hold it all night. My adult dogs need out sometimes at night. So do I.

ChangeInTime · 14/01/2020 15:18

Well I need to use the loo, not out. I don't want the neighbour's talking so I avoid going on the lawn,

Original poster
Woody479 · 14/01/2020 15:22

😆

So can I just keep letting him use the puppy pad until he’s old enough to hold it? Do they reach a stage where they can’t be bothered to get up to pee/poo if they don’t need to?

I’ve had rescue dogs before but never a puppy.

OP posts:

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about these subjects:

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Jeleste · 14/01/2020 15:23

If he needs to go then you dont really have a lot of choices.
1 let him go on the pad
2 take him out.

We have a cat door installed for our small dogs because one of them could never hold it all night and he still uses it every night. Even more now that hes older (16 years).
If you are on the ground floor with a garden maybe thats an option for you.

Bigsighall · 14/01/2020 15:24

We used to have one of us go to bed at midnight and one get up at 5 and let them out. Then stretch the gap. Did it a bit younger than your dog but maybe worth going back to basics?

Original poster
Woody479 · 14/01/2020 15:26

The problem is that he doesn’t tell us he needs to go so I don’t know when to go down and let him out.

We have 2 cats who are in the kitchen at night (that leads into the garden) so we couldn’t install a flap for him. We’d have to take him out through the front door.

So if the puppy pads are working for us at night am I ok to just carry on as we are?

OP posts:
BreastedBoobilyToTheStairs · 14/01/2020 15:26

We had every intention of taking him outside when he woke during the night but we don’t hear a peep out of him

If we waited for our pup to wake us up we'd have woken to wee everywhere every day. We set alarms and took him out whether he seemed like he needed it or not, then gradually lengthened the time in between.

Any accidents and you reduce the length of time until they get it right. It was hard going but it worked to teach him that he still needed to hold until he was outside.

sillysmiles · 14/01/2020 15:28

What time is he going out for last pee at night, and what time is he out for first pee in the morning?

Myyearmytime · 14/01/2020 15:31

If you can take him for walk so he poo in evening.
It could help .

lilmisstoldyouso · 14/01/2020 15:32

Did you study any training books before you got your pup?

You don't seem to understand about training, no offence, just an observation.

Putting a pad out is for redundancy, your pup won't learn what to do unless you encourage them.

Try the "Busy" approach.

You need to associate "doing their business" with a specific set of circumstances. Last thing at night take your pup outside, you MUST stay outside with them until they answer the call, the moment they start, you say "go busy", repeat it several times, you have to be encouraging and happy,high pitched voice etc. Do this again first thing in the morning and several times throughout the day and you MUST stay out with them.

Eventually they will associate the "busy" command with doing their business. You will then have a magical moment when you will just randomly go outside and when you say "busy" your pup will "go busy".

It takes a lot of time to properly house train a pup. You haven't been doing anywhere near enough work.

Good luck Smile

CuriousaboutSamphire · 14/01/2020 15:33

So if the puppy pads are working for us at night am I ok to just carry on as we are? Yes!

Just add a "Have a wee" command to your training and do it last thing at night and first thing in the morning, so he gets used to it and can rely on your timings. It won't be long before he can sleep through!

Original poster
Woody479 · 14/01/2020 15:34

Last pee is 10pm and then he’s up with DH and DS at 5, toilets outside, cats go out and he then sleeps in the kitchen until the rest of the house is up.

It’s a logistical nightmare really. I can’t figure out how setting alarms during the night would ever work with DS’s additional needs and the cats being in the kitchen. I suppose it’d be a couple of months of hell to achieve the end goal which is what we were prepared for when we got him but then life happened and we got lazy (I mean we’re a million miles from lazy but we were where the nighttime toileting was concerned but I will cut myself some slack given the circumstances).

OP posts:
CuriousaboutSamphire · 14/01/2020 15:35

O lost a sentence there... sorry.

Between Yes and 'Just add' there was another section about having to up your own game though. He is too little, he bladder is tiny. You have to put yourself out for him, no matter who it disturbs. Thankfully it isn't difficult:

Original poster
Woody479 · 14/01/2020 15:38

lilmisstoldyouso Our puppy is 100% toilet trained during the day. We’ve only used the pads over night. All other toileting is done outside, he’s just using the pad during the night for a wee and a poo. Yes I’ve read training books, we going to weekly puppy classes with him but sometimes real life doesn’t follow what the books say!

OP posts:
Gaelforce · 14/01/2020 16:28

We did a a last pee at night -11.30. She would run round the corner of the house and "pretend" that she'd gone. But we used the word "toilet" and she got a tiny treat. We'd get up at 7 & let her out, say toilet". On repeat for a couple of weeks and she got it.
She still "pretends" to go sometimes but I think that's cute Grin

Gaelforce · 14/01/2020 16:40

We did a a last pee at night -11.30. She would run round the corner of the house and "pretend" that she'd gone. But we used the word "toilet" and she got a tiny treat. We'd get up at 7 & let her out, say toilet". On repeat for a couple of weeks and she got it.
She still "pretends" to go sometimes but I think that's cute Grin

Gaelforce · 14/01/2020 16:48

*sorry - clearly, I'm on repeat now.
Good luck with your puppy- lots of patience will pay off.

Betelgeuse3 · 14/01/2020 16:55

I have a puppy just one week older, when I first got him, I got up every two hours the first week, now I'm down to a 1am toilet and a 5am one, just have to do regularly trips as there only still small they can't hold it as long.

flippyflapper · 14/01/2020 17:02

Definitely cut your self some slack. I also have our first puppy 19 weeks. We only had rescue before.

The fact that he is toilet trained in the day is excellent, we still have the odd poo.

But we have never had any accidents at night, but she is in a crate and i gear they dont tend to mess it up.

I am no expert learning like you, but maybe take the pad away for 1 night? As he sees it as a toilet maybe if not there he can hold it.

Our little one (she is tiny) goes to bed at 10pm and not a peep till 7am when we all get up, so they can hold it at this age (well again a guess for others) good luck

dontknowdontknow · 14/01/2020 17:07

Dogs need to be in kitchen with hard floor or similar, I imagine if his mess isn't being cleaned and scent removed you will continue to have an issue. Go and buy a book on puppy training where you learn how to clean up after them and toilet train etc.

Original poster
Woody479 · 14/01/2020 17:12

The spare bedroom has got a hard floor and we do clean up properly 🙄

That’s for all the constructive advise. We’re going to try taking him out during the night-see if we can figure out around what time he’s going.

OP posts:
pullingmyhairout2 · 14/01/2020 17:18

He is still too young to be fully trained, his bladder will still be small. Whichever option you choose it will work out in the end. You've done brilliantly so far so trust your instincts.

BipolarSunset · 14/01/2020 17:40

Hi OP,

Maybe try setting an alarm for every few hours during the night to let him out?

May only take a week or two for him to get used to holding it but in the mean time maybe try that?
We had to do this with our pup.

Stompythedinosaur · 14/01/2020 18:29

We had our pup in our room and she woke me if she needed to go out. She might just not be able to hold it through the night.

StrikingMatches · 14/01/2020 18:34

OP we had exactly the same method of training. Puppy pad or newspaper down and we would come down to a wee in the morning. We never set alarms etc for either our first or second puppy.

Eventually we just stopped putting the pad down and he stopped weeing. I think he associated the pad with an allowed place to wee. When it wasn't there he just waited to be let out. All was cracked by approx 4-5 months.