Housebreaking !!!!!

[cheryl & oliver]

Well Mr. Oliver is 3 mos old now, and doing really well. He weighed in at 15 1/2 lbs last week, and he had gained 5 lbs in 2 weeks...He eats like a little piggy and he is very smart. My only concern is that he does not tell me that he has to go out at all. I can catch him, and when I ask if he has to go out to pee or poop, he goes right to the door. Leash goes on and out he goes, he makes and we praise him up the Kazoo. My biggest problem is the nightime....He gets walked around 11 pm, and then it is bedtime. He will make in his crate around 5-6 am, and then we hear him barking. I thought they do not like to make where they sleep, but to Ollie this makes no difference. We have tried to get up before him, but I guess we are just too tired to do this, and when I have done it, he is sound asleep in the crate...We have tried waking him and taking him out, and even that doesn't work. He doesn't like to be in it after he goes, but he still goes anyway...Is this about right for his age?...I am not appreciating cleaning and washing the crate in the early morning hrs...We take him out, and then clean it up, and put him back in without really talking to him, I don't want him to think that this is playtime, I turn the lights off, and hubby and I go back to bed for a bit more sleep. I have a silly rule in this house, no one human or canine gets breakfast before 6:30 am...Any hints or thoughts would be greatly appreciated....Cheryl

[Carla, Lucca and Izzy]

I remember those days. For me it was around Xmas last year. I used a baby video monitor when he was younger. The slightest stir woke me so I was up and got him out before he peed. Lucca didn't like to go back in his crate either in the morning. His crate was in the kitchen and we also had a dog bed in there for daytime. I would curl up on his bed to grab a few more winks (if he wasn't biting my feet or hands)!! yes, he is spoiled!! Bear with it. It will get better and very soon. I think Lucca turned the corner around 4 months and sleep deprivation was a thing of the past. Now, at almost 10 months he sleeps until 8:00.

[cheryl & oliver]

Hi Carla, thanks for the words of encouragement, I needed them, lol....How old was he when he actually started to tell you that he had to go out? and how did he tell you?...We have him in a playpen too at night because it is easier to clean up a mess if it is on the tile floor, I just lift the pen and clean it up, and put him back in a different area of the room....I cannot handle cleaning the crate at this point at that hour of the morning, lol, and it is easier to clean it and then just wet swifter off the tile floor...Maybe he will start to sleep thru the night soon...It is like having a baby again, lol, except this baby has 4 legs, and loves to chew everything in sight, including feet and hands, lol....

[Carla, Lucca and Izzy]

For night time ..as he got older he was able to hold it longer. After he made it thru the night I would still get up by 6-6:30ish to let him out. Now we can sleep til 8:00 on weekends and there is no problem. We also use the potty bell during the day. It works great. We started that at around 3 months. It is definitely like having a baby.. lol and as he gets older (now 10 months) it's like having a toddler/teenager. But now he listens (most of the time) and is turning out to be an incredible dog. He still eats everything and I still have to have the house puppy-proofed, but that's ok. The only ones that suffer are my boys because they have their socks eaten all the time. We love hm to pieces. He is also a mama's boy and I love it..lol

[cheryl & oliver]

Well I am hoping that a month will make a big difference in him. He will be 4 mos. old next, and I am hoping that he gets better with holding it. I took him out just before I left today, he peed and pooped, and I put him in his crate, he was not a happy camper, lol, when I came home he had peed, maybe because he was upset? Not sure of the reason, but he is going to have to get used to his crate, because that is where he has to sleep {until I am absolutely sure that he is housbroken}, and he has to go in there when I leave the house. I guess it will be a matter of wills, lol, but I am the alpha, not him. so we will see what happens as we go along. He is just so cute, and I love his face, lol, and he is getting so big, it seems like he is growing every day!!

[Lisa]

Hi Cheryl,

By "make," I'm assuming you're talking about peeing. If so, what our breeder suggested is to limit the puppy's water intake after 7 p.m. Give him no more water, just an ice cube or two to prevent dehydration. This worked perfectly for us. As far as Ollie telling you when he has to go, that probably won't happen consistently for a while. But as he gets older, he will be able to go for much longer periods without your taking him out. We hung poochie bells by the door and taught Barkley to ring those. We still remind him to "get busy" every time we bring him back from a walk or bring him back into the house, however, and he's five months old.

[cheryl & oliver]

Lisa, thanks for the response. I stop his water right after he has dinner...around 5:30 PM, and he is walked several times before his last 11 pm walk.I do give some ice cubes though, like u say. But he will poop and pee, during the night or that early morning time in his pen or crate...It is so frustrating to me...

[Moe]

My vet said to leave the crate floor bare, no bedding, no towel, it seems to help.

 

[Lynda Kamrath]

I think this is about right.  It is kindof like a child.  You wonder if they will ever been potty trained.  Our ALD has a 12-hour bladder now but will come to us in the middle of the night if he has to go out.  He licks my face.  Our goldendoodle comes and shakes his collar at my head if he wants out.  In the morning they go right outside and down to the dogrun area to eliminate.  During the day it is whenever they want out (stands by the back door) and always a little time at night while we are in the hottub.  Never a problem after they were about six months old.  Before that, they just didn't "get it".  If I were you, I would just ignore the crate at night.  Once he goes in at night, that is it until morning.

[Elizabeth, Bailey & Bruin]

Yep...remember those days not to long ago.  As someone already suggested, make his crate smaller.  If you can't make it smaller, put down a pee pee pad for him.

 

With Bailey, as soon as we heard her stir, about 3-4 AM, we would jump up pick her up and out the door she went.  Then back to bed for a few more hours.  Unfortunately, our sleep was given up for awhile.  It's like having a toddler in the house.  It will get better, hang in there...