# Eliminating in crate at night (cute puppy pic attached!)



## stephnjackson (Nov 15, 2013)

hi - i wondered how u had been getting on? my boy is now 7 months and sleeps in his crate, sometimes telling us when he wants to go to bed lol! it takes a lot of perserverence, i remember being at the end of my tether, never let him out when he cries, this is a reward, instead we scheduled toilet breaks thru the night and when he cried a firm "quiet - bedtime" command was given, but from the stairs nit actually going to him, he soon slept thru the night from about 16 weeks so hang in there! hope this helps x

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## eleni (Oct 10, 2013)

Poor little furry baby! I feel so sorry for them when they are so little and helpless and trying to figure out the world around them. I don't know, my advice is probably biased because I have never liked the idea of crates. But maybe she feels lonely and has some runny poop problems as well? If I were you I would try the laundry room idea. Also, have you tried putting a clock or something in her blanket that would make a heart-like ticktacking noise and soothe her? She is so little, I feel sorry for her.


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## zippychicken (Oct 14, 2013)

Hi guys, thanks for your replies.
Maybe Ive done the wrong thing, but the night I posted this I left the door to her crate open and since then she has had no accidents at night. I close my bedroom door and whenever I hear her collar jingle I take her out to the toilet (which is now down to once a night).
She's also suffering with an inflamed bladder and during the day she squats constantly to pee but at night she doesn't have any accidents inside which is great. The only problem we have to work on now is biting ankles!


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## Wrigleysmom (Dec 30, 2006)

Very pretty pup! Glad things have gotten better!


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## Ripley16 (Jan 26, 2012)

Is she on antibiotics for her UTI? Ripley suffered from 2 UTI's when she was small due to an inverted vulva (quite common in females). To cure it, we let her go through one heat cycle before spaying. If your girl has a similar problem, I would suggest this to solve the UTI issue.


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## zippychicken (Oct 14, 2013)

She's been on antibiotics for a few days now and we're going back to the vet tomorrow for a check up. How did you find out Ripley had an inverted vulva? Sounds painful 
Our vet didn't seem too concerned as he said it was only slightly inflamed, so I hope she doesn't continue having problems  but letting her have a heat cycle is something I've been thinking about.


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## 3inarow (Jul 29, 2013)

My Bentley wouldn't stop crying until I moved his crate next to my bed at night. I went through him crying for weeks. Everyone said it would stop but it didn't until he was next to me.


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## CRS250 (Dec 31, 2012)

I'm very sorry I didnt see this thread originally...it sounds like you were expecting a 7 - 10 week old puppy to hold her bladder all night in a crate.

UTI's can be caused by her trying to do this :'(
(How to Prevent UTI in Dogs: 13 Steps - wikiHow)

Your puppy should be taken out to potty every 2 - 3 hours throughout the night or provided with an area other than her crate which she can access and eliminate. Even if she is not waking you up now, you should change this schedule and follow documented veterinary advice. 


If you havent read them please read Dr. Dunbar's books before/after you get your puppy. They are available for free as ebooks.


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## zippychicken (Oct 14, 2013)

Of course Im not expecting her to hold her bladder all night. I said I take her out to go to the toilet but when she was in her crate she was constantly soiling it- even when she had just gone out.

Since we got her I haven't had a decent nights sleep… Every sound I hear I turn on the torch and make sure she's ok. Nearly every time she's fast asleep and just making noises (she has a lot of doggy dreams). Am I supposed to wake her up to take her out to the toilet?
I would NEVER do anything to cause her problems or make her uncomfortable and I can't believe I'm being accused of mistreating her


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## CRS250 (Dec 31, 2012)

zippychicken said:


> Of course Im not expecting her to hold her bladder all night. I said I take her out to go to the toilet but when she was in her crate she was constantly soiling it- even when she had just gone out.
> 
> Since we got her I haven't had a decent nights sleep… Every sound I hear I turn on the torch and make sure she's ok. Nearly every time she's fast asleep and just making noises (she has a lot of doggy dreams). Am I supposed to wake her up to take her out to the toilet?
> I would NEVER do anything to cause her problems or make her uncomfortable and I can't believe I'm being accused of mistreating her


Please accept my apology if you found my post to be an accusation, the fact that you are here and looking to help her shows very clearly that you care very much for her and would not intentionally do anything to make her uncomfortable or cause her problems. 

Your post seemed to imply you were trying to crate the dog over night.

"*Thought she had gotten used to the crate at night after only 4 nights!!!"

*I read this, coupled with that you hadnt had a decent nights sleep, to be that you were, after 4 days at home expecting her to sleep overnight in the crate.
The advice in Dr. Dunbar's books is to set an alarm and let the dog out, increasing the time which you set the alarm as the pup matures, start the alarm at 2 hours at 8 weeks and increase by 15 minutes per week of age that this is sufficient and she has no accidents until you can let her out once per night without a problem. That is what we did and had error free crate training. I believe by 16 weeks we were at once per night. Which we kept up for quite some time. A number of occasions were my waking up a very sleepy pup for potty time.
Others who have a great deal of experience raising dogs, but not a vet license, will tell you to ignore the vets writing the book and to let the pup cry to tell you she needs to go out. I do not understand this line of thinking - You train the dog not to cry in the crate, but you expect her to know it is okay to cry in the night?


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## Chaya (Aug 18, 2012)

I'm glad you found a solution! I found with my girls that when they're little (and even when they're a few months old), sometimes, they may confuse the pee sensation with the poo sensation. For example, if ours was having diarrhea, it was very likely that she would also have more pee accidents during that time. I think in general, they tend to have accidents when things are not 100% in their little bodies.

My little one (Laika) also has an inverted vulva. It means that it's slightly tucked in, and tends to remain wet because air can't circulate as easily. This causes bacteria to grow more quickly, so we are also waiting until after her first heat (where the vulva will expand out) to spay. In the meanwhile, our vet told us to wipe her and try her down there 1-2 times a day. Talk about high maintenance lol.

Good luck!


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## Tosh's Legacy (Oct 2, 2013)

eleni said:


> Poor little furry baby! I feel so sorry for them when they are so little and helpless and trying to figure out the world around them. I don't know, my advice is probably biased because I have never liked the idea of crates. But maybe she feels lonely and has some runny poop problems as well? If I were you I would try the laundry room idea. Also, have you tried putting a clock or something in her blanket that would make a heart-like ticktacking noise and soothe her? She is so little, I feel sorry for her.


I'm a bit of a softie, too, and think that they are so small and lonely and miss mama and brothers and sisters. Guess there are pros and cons both ways, but I built a little pen in the laundry room and mine have done just great that way. (That was with two puppies). I always put a little clock in the blanket, too. Kind of old-fashioned, but it does help. My Tosh hated the crate and did not like the laundry room, so he was in a little pen in the bedroom. He did just fine. Maybe it is like people: they are individual personalities. All of mine get to listen to soft classical music, and all have loved it. My thought is to see how her personality responds to a different method.

An afterthought on the crating: if you are one that will be in dog shows, etc. don't listen to me and "Eleni"! Listen to the people that do that. She will need to get used to crating at some point. Better now than later.


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## zippychicken (Oct 14, 2013)

I thought she was used to the crate by the 4th night because she didn't whimper or cry when I first put her in, I thought she was used to not having her littermates around and being in a new house. 
I did not expect her to be toilet trained by the 4th night and I would not expect her to stay in the crate the whole night.

For me the crate training wasn't working and since I stopped it she has been doing fine. She sleeps next to me at night and when she's home alone she goes into the laundry with some of her things. Its good to know I'm not the only softie!


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## HolDaisy (Jan 10, 2012)

Hi, your little girl is so adorable 
We had a mixed experience of the crate with our boy. He loved it from the moment he came home and would go in on his own to nap throughout the day. However, he started off with the first 4 nights crying constantly, so I was taking him outside throughout the night to try and avoid any accidents. I waited for him to make a noise to let me know he needed to go out..but more often than not he'd had an accident and THEN barked, which I thought we'd never change. I didn't think I'd sleep again lol. After that I set alarms to get him out before he had an accident and this seemed to do the trick as accidents were happening around the same time every night. Sammy soon got into a routine and he knew I'd come and let him out if he stirred and I only had to set alarms for about a week.

Good advice I got from people on here was for night time potty breaks to be 'strictly business' - no talking, no fussing just outside...back in crate and back to sleep. Sammy soon picked up that it wasn't play time in the middle of the night. He did well in his crate until we got to 20 weeks old and then it went downhill again. He started barking relentlessly and wouldn't settle. I think my main issue was the crate I got was way too big for a pup, so he'd got lots of room. We decided to take the crate down and let him sleep in the bedroom (after puppy proofing), he slept straight through the night that first night and 7 months later no problems whatsoever 

Some pups do well with the crate, some don't. Sammy was the first one we ever crated. Be persistent and if you want to carry on with the crate, she will get used to it before you know it. If not, I'd suggest totally 'puppy proofing' an area and letting her sleep there if she's not happy in the crate, that's what we did with Daisy.


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## zippychicken (Oct 14, 2013)

Thanks for your advice HolDaisy, it sounds like our pups are pretty similar. She sleeps next to me in the bedroom which has been puppy proofed and whenever she's left home alone she goes into the laundry.

We're the same with going to the toilet at night, as soon as she's been we go straight back inside - no playing, no gazing at the stars and no chasing moths. 

I really regret putting her in the crate for those first few nights but I'm hoping she's forgotten about it by now!


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## HolDaisy (Jan 10, 2012)

I'm sure the crate is a distant memory for her if she's settled in your room now. I forgot to ask...what's your pups name? She's beautiful 

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