Desperately need help! Toileting!

[NigellaEllaElla]

Hi, I need some guidance. I'm hoping I haven't totally screwed this up already. I have a 17wk old puppy. When we initially had him the breeder recommended we didn't bother with puppy pads and just got him straight outside. Which did make sense.

Fast forward 2 months and he is pretty good at going outside during day, the back door is open cause of the heat in our conservatory and he doesn't have any accidents in house if door is open. However if it is closed he just wee's and poo's ad lib. We let him out regularly, say every hour or so.

At nights we were coming downstairs to a right mess in the hall, wee and poo everywhere cause he's not using puppy pads.

So my friend, who breeds dogs advised me two weeks ago to cage him at night and during day when we're out (if we were going out it was same issue as at night, even though he's confined to hallway both times). So we borrowed her cage and cage him now when we go out during day, and he has never wee'd or poo'd in cage and he has been left for upto 4 hours so far.

But he won't go in the cage at night, well obviously he will, but he howls and barks consistently and I have 3 young children and a husband who works extreme shifts. So at night we haven't been caging him and he is getting better but we're still getting at least 1 wee and usually a poo too.

So now I don't know what to do? How do I sort the night problem? When can I get rid of cage during day? What should I do re the accidents when the back door is closed and he can't get in garden?

I'm at my wits end and my lovely in laws are having him for a fortnight when we go on hol in 3 weeks and I don't want them to have to deal with all the mess. If he would use puppy pads at night/in day I feel like it wouldn't be a problem.

Help me please! ð??«

Bumping because I'm in a similar position. 15, almost 16 week old. Happily goes outdoors if the door is open, but if not then he goes on the kitchen floor. Not clean through the night unless I wake up at 3ish (and even then it's not guaranteed)

I would suggest that your daytime problem could be addressed by going back to basics - take him out every 30 minutes, praise if he wees. Then escalate that to every hour.

For me, the night problem is made better if I take his water away at about 8:30pm or 9pm. Also keeping his last meal early; 6:30pmish usually means that I can coax him out last thing before bed; 11:30pm, and he'll do what he needs to do. He's then up at 7 and I let him out again. I miss sleep, but it works as often as it doesn't and he's getting used to the routine.

I don't crate my dog; although he has a crate he can go in to if he chooses. I can't use newspaper or puppy pads, as he's in that destructive stage where anything paper or paper-like gets dragged around the house and ripped up. I'm hoping he'll get through it soon as it's really frustrating!

It sounds as though, because the door is always open, the pup has never learned to ask to be let out and so if the door is closed he has no way of letting you know he needs to go out and so does it inside. It's quite an important part of toileting that they learn to get you to open the door.
I think you probably need to go back to basics, keep the door closed, take them out every half hour or so and watch them obsessively to pre empt any accidents.
What happened with Eric was for the first fortnight I'd take him out religiously but always open and shut the door then as soon as he had got that sussed he realised he needed to get out and would stand at the door and bark and then I'd take him out.
He only pees and poos on walks now but if he needs to go out he either still does that same bark or he does a Lassie as we call it where he finds someone gets their attention and leads them to the door.

Eric's never been crated and was house trained by 11 weeks so you don't necessarily need a crate to house train just be a bit obsessive for the first few weeks I suppose.

I agree with pp , you need to go back to basics taking the pup out regularly and praising when a wee/ poo occurs - if you add a command word it helps and then they know what they're expected to do . We had a pen when our pup was small and then just blocked off a bit of hallway with a stair gate until he was trained ( I'm not a crate lover) . No offence to crate users but you've summed up in your OP what my issue is with them you have left him in it for 4 hours during a day but then want to put pup in overnight ,assuming that is 8 hours ( overnight) that means the pup has been locked in a small space for 12 out of 24 hours - even if that is only 1 day a week its too much IMO . As for the puppy pads they really just give the dog a mixed message about where the right place is to do his business , you need to train that outside is where you do that .

I would start over with the house training - and leave the door closed so the dog learns to let you know he wants to go out. Don't assume he will bark - my dog will just sit in a specia place and look miserable until I take her out.
I have met people who teach their dog to ring a bell by the door, which is handy if the dog generally isn't very vocal about wanting to go out.

You will need to watch the dog like a hawk if he doesn't tell you he needs to go out. You should be able to see whe he wants to out - I have always found that the dog will search for a place to pee or poo.
The moment you see it, take the dog out. Add command to pee if you want. Praise when he goes.

With regards to the crate, you will have to train him in getting used to being in the crate. Shutting him in it for hours without him being used to it and being happy in the crate is not nice for him. I personally am not a fan of crates and have never used them.

House training is hard work because the dog needs to figure out what you want him to do - and that can take a while. I do think you will be fine in two weeks, but do keep in mind that going to a new house can confuse the dog a bit. The first thing my dog did when she went to my parents' house was to have a massive poo on the floor - despite having just been out for a walk and being fully house trained in our own home.

Yes, go back to basics and make sure you ALWAYS go with your puppy, make going outside hugely rewarding, very tasty treats and lots of praise.

Remember for your puppy where ever he toilets is self rewarding, whether he goes in the house or the garden he gets a sense of relief, you need to up that so the garden is the great place to go, THEN he will ask to go there, then eventually it will just become habit.

Perversely I always think summer puppies are harder to train than winter, as people have their doors open and almost expect pups to sort it out themselves (not a criticism, it's very common) whereas in the winter you tend to take them out every time, so they actually catch on to what you want far quicker.

Just always remember that to a dog anywhere other than it's bed is fair game to relieve themselves, it's just us crazy humans that have these weird ideas about not doing it in their houses.