My puppy’s disgusting midnight snacks!

[Colliedogowner]

Has anyone else experienced this or have advice?
In my house we have an unpleasant midnight snack situation with our puppy, who is pooping and peeing in her crate once each night and eating it all like a bloody scooby snack. she makes no sound or fuss at all about needing to go, the only way we know it’s happened is because she’s whined a tiny bit afterwards and we’ve gone in to see the remnants. She does literally go for the whole feast 😢
we give her outside visits regularly, with the last one around 10pm. We lift her water no later than 8pm and she’s on 3 meals (7am, noon and around 5pm - we’ve gone early in the hope she’ll be empty at bed….) She’s very snoozy in the evenings and she does pee right before bed but she won’t poop. We make sure she’s active, all the sensible things. We set alarms to take her out during the night but when we do, she’ll go outside but doesn’t do anything. All these ‘accidents’ have happened between 12-2am so we’ve set alarms to pre-empt it (no joy as she doesn’t go)
She’s good during the day, a very high % of all pees and poops are outside and we don’t use puppy pads indoors. She likes her crate, eats in it and generally sleeps well in it too with very little fuss (we’ve not started ‘out of the house’ seperation training yet and I’m sure when we do she’ll get a bit noisy.

She’s 10.5 weeks old and has been with us 6 nights so far. She’s a border collie and did not have access to outdoors at her original home, and she was not toilet or crate trained at her original home either.

the weather has been pretty bad so we’ve now erected a big parasol at the back door to keep the area dry for her so she feels more encouraged when she does go out. We also have a square meter of artificial grass which has arrived today, which we’ll put down in the hopes that she likes that (we have only concrete and soil in our garden unfortunately, no grass).

a trainer has suggested putting her on 4 meals a day instead - same quantity but spaced out more, 7am, 11am, 3pm and 7pm.

any advice or suggestions would be hugely appreciated as we don’t want this to become a life-long bad habit!

I’ve never been woken up by a housetrained dog needing the toilet in the middle of the night, unless it’s unwell.

They have access to water always.

I'd rather deal with 'accidents' than leave my dog thirsty. Ours is older now so can manage a good 7 hours without outside time. But she goes out around 11pm and I get up at 6am for a wee.

This is typical of owners trying to make their own lives easier at the detriment of the animal.

Exactly. Imagine leading such a controlled and restricted existence that you can't even have a drink of water when you want one.

@Janiie

ehat part of 'you're wrong to do that' do you not understand??

when even the RSPCA say that you need to give them access to fresh water 24/7, you should know you need to, I mean, they're not known for their high standards.

If you won't listen to reason yourself, at the very least stop telling people to do it

She's asleep! She's up at 6am and drinks as much as she likes until bedtime. Then she goes to sleep.

Our pets have always been well cared for.

This.

people should not really think about getting a dog without proper knowledge.

Poor puppy.

If they're as well cared for as you say, then it shouldn't be an issue to leave them with access to water overnight - as required by the animal welfare act.

She's still a baby. That's too long for her to go all night

definitely still a baby yes! It’s not all night that she goes though, we take her out at night at least 3 times every night.

@Janiie

"There is not a chance I'd knave a bowl of water in a crate with a puppy overnight. They're up early anyway so have plenty of opportunity to drink.

Ditto when they are full grown tbh. Fresh water available all day, absolutely not all night unless you want to spend your life letting a howling dog out for a wee at 2am."

Then you need to be reported to the RSPCA. I wish I knew where you lived. You are spouting ridiculous. dangerous and cruel nonsense that contravenes all recommended animal welfare laws, to say nothing of compassion. I've kept dogs all my life and (barring emergencies or illness) they soon learn to settle at night. If your dog is howling regularly at 2am I suggest it has nothing to do with water consumption and more to do with its owners.

OK I stand corrected. Apologies everyone.

I'll leave some out tonight.

@Colliedogowner

OP, I'm tagging you directly because I am alarmed to read that you are leaving your dog without water from 8pm (or earlier). This is against welfare laws. Your dog should have access to water at all times. This is not a fad, or a fashion - it is fact and not negotiable. Please do not do this.

Dogs are polyphasic sleepers. They will wake and move around at night. (One reason why no dog should be shut in a small cage.) They may also want to drink. Fresh water must always be available.
The only way to prevent your dog eating poo overnight is to make sure the poo is done outside and cleared up straight away. Sleep near the pup so you can take it out when it wakes and stirs.

There are certain foods, and artificial additives, you can put into a digs foods which will make the poop totally unappealing to her, tumour vet should be able to advise you.

Definitely can't be taking her water away overnight OP, she needs access to water at all times.