Poop at night

[frkyfranzen]

Our puppy, King, is about 8 weeks old and we've had him for about a week and a half. My husband and I are very overwhelmed right now in potty training him at night.

We have a door to our living room and we close him in for the night with a small light on. I take him out before we go to bed (approx. 10 - 10:30 p.m.) for his "last" pee/poo. Sure enough by 6 a.m. he has pooed at least 3 to 5 places on our floor and pees on newspaper (trained by previous owner).

A friend gaves us a crate the other day. I put him in there for every nap yesterday - when he was sleepy I'd put him in. Last night, however, was a nightmare. I put him in at 10 p.m. and by 11:30 he was already crying. I took him out and he peed but then he wants to play! Do I play with him? Ignore him? I chose to give him some kisses and a good rub, then put him back in the crate. He cried, barked, howled ... My husband is not convinced that the crate is humane and he was afraid his cries would wake our 2 year old daughter. I didn't want to close the door to the room so that I could hear him to let him out, but my husband was going crazy. Anyways, I gave in and let him out and sure enough I was treated to 3 poops on the floor.
GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

Help please!!! I don't even know what I'm asking for, I guess some advice, past experiences, ... PLEASE

 

[Barb04]

King is still very young and will have to go often. His last pee/poo at 10/10:30 p.m. until 6 a.m. is too long of a wait. Some people get up every 2 hours at night to let the puppy go outside to pee/poo for a few weeks. I know this is tiring, but it seems to work. You have to realize that King is only 8 weeks old and will take some time before he will be able to hold it longer. Have patience!

If you do want to use the crate, can you put it in the bedroom with you so he feels close to you. If it doesn't work in the bedroom, you can put it outside the bedroom door so King can still see you.

I hope some of this may work for you.

 

[Barb04]

Someone just asked a question about crate training in this same section. Go to this link for more advice:

http://www.chazhound.com/forums/showthread.php?t=10091

 

[MyDogsLoveMe]

Oh the joys of puppies. Training them for night time takes time, patience and alot of LOVE. the first night Izzy B (our siberian) came home she was in a dog kennel, but was up several times a night letting her outside. Now she will go all night she is now 5 months old but I tell you what come sunrise she is dancing in her kennel. Be patient with your little one.

 

[YorkieLover]

When Cocoa was 10 weeks old she went outside @ 10:30 to potty and then to bed. I set the alarm for 1:30 for the first week and again for 4:30... After a few weeks I dropped the 1:30 and we stretched until 4:30 and so on. Now she can go from 10:30 to 6:30 with no problems. If a puppy is 8 weeks old it really can only hold it 2 to 3 hours at the most. Plus as someone else mentioned they have a tendency to poop alot at that age and if you are feeding too much or too often that maybe while the puppy is pooping alot.. Just a thought.

 

[showpug]

First of all, you puppy is very young! No puppies that age can hold it that long! I wish they could LOL! What you are going through is called "having a puppy!" The crate is not by any means inhumane. I have 4 dogs and they were all crate trained and love their crates today. There are times that they go in them on their own to sleep and they each know which one is theirs. I would crate your puppy at night and set your alarm for every 4 hours to take him out. The crying and screaming is NORMAL behavior that comes with crate training. If you are persistant and don't give in when he cries and wants out then it will only take a couple days to break the screaming habit. Right now he wants out and that is why he cries. If you let him out, or talk to him, or look at him, that will only reinforce and reward his behavior. Give him plenty of potty breaks, feed him 3 times a day (pre-measured amounts) and don't feed him after 7:30 pm! Good luck! It will get better, trust me I have raised 8 puppies!!

 

[juliefurry]

I'm afraid that I can't give you very much advice, everyone else here has already covered the good stuff. I jsut want to let you know that I am just getting over the stage that you are going through with my puppy. I know how hard it is to raise a puppy and a toddler at the same time (I have a 16 month old). I have been raising two young puppies (one almost 7 months and one just turned 3 months). He will get better, once he gets to about three months he should be able to go overnight (my 3 month old was going all night at about 10 weeks). Also, unless you already answered, what breed of puppy do you own and how big is the crate? If the crate is too big then he will still go in the crate because there is enough room for him to escape. If you are paper training you might want to try putting papers on the whole room that he is in at night and then slowly taking them back (maybe a small section once or twice a week) until you just have one section of newspaper by the door. Just a suggestion though, I hope he starts getting better for you.

 

[frkyfranzen]

Thank you sooooo much everyone for your replies. You have no idea how much it means to me to get this input. I definitely underestimated King's ability in bladder control. I will try to incorporate his sleeping in our room tonight and see how it goes.

Thank you again. And my cute little King thanks you too.

 

[Gallien Jacks]

Your dog is very young they cant hold them selves untill 12 weeks so be paitent and give him time

 

[frkyfranzen]

Update

I'm pleased to say that we had a good evening last night. I made a bed for King in our room and everytime he woke up I took him straight outside and each time he either peed or peed & pooped.

Even though I'm exhausted (I was up almost every 1 1/2 hours) I'm very pleased with the way things went. I could tell that King was very happy to be in our room - he seemed comforted in a way. Everytime we came back in from outside, he always went back to his bed - which made me very happy. Not only was King happy, but I'm soooooooooo happy that I didn't have to clean up poop this morning. Also, King wasn't as jumpy this morning - he didn't seem so desperate for my attention.

Thank you again everyone for your advice yesterday - it made a world of a difference to our household.

 

[Barb04]

So glad King enjoyed his bed and did his pee/poop outside. I know you're a bit exhausted, but it will be worth it.