Housetraining advice

[rollerbaby]

Hello. Would appreciate some advice on housetraining our 10 week old pup. He is being incredibly good and is definitely getting the hang of going outside on our decked garden (although not in one spot) and also has puppy pads down in his pen. Any accidents indoors are generally down to us not taking him out quickly enough!

As he's still very little I'm keeping the pads down in his puppy pen until he's a bit more reliable.

At night he sleeps in his crate (door open) and he can get up to go on the pads when he needs to. He cried for nearly the first 2 weeks but now sleeps through and no cries until about 6.30am. However, the mess in the morning is considerably more than when he first arrived because he's obviously getting bigger and more pooey! I'm wondering if we should go down at say 3 or 4am and take him out (even if we don't hear him whine) or whether we should leave it until we get up and hope that he holds it longer?

He won't be allowed out for another 2 weeks yet due to 2nd vacinnation, but should we start the crate training (i.e. closing the crate door at night and during the day) now do you think?

Sorry for long post - all advice welcome!

if you shut him in his crate then he is much more likely to cry in the night when he needs to go. At the moment you are teaching him that it's fine to wee and poo in the house - you can see that it's in his puppy pen and on pads, but to him it's in the house.

I find it quicker, easier and more effective to shut the crate and get up as need be, to take him outside. Puppies will do anything to avoid soiling their beds, so they'll let you know when they need to go. What you can't do is shut him in his crate and ignore any cries, but I'm sure you know that.

HTH & good luck.

What's the purpose of the crate if you leave the door open?

Shut it at night and he will let you know when he needs the toilet. But ensure you feed him and he goes to the "toilet" before you shut the door for the night. And that he goes out to the toilet first thing after opening the door.

Thanks for the advice. Should we start shutting it in the day too to begin with, or just at night? I'm anxious not to go backwards with housetraining!! He doesn't mind being shut in his pen for up to one to two hours when he's tired, so hopefully won't be too unsettling.

We shut out puppy in his crate at night and so take his water away at about 8.30pm. We take him for a wee when we go to bed at 11.30/12 and he is then fine until he gets up in the morning at about 7am.