Crate Pooping

[Jessica Frank]

Hi everyone, my 15 week old Goldendoodle Bentley and I have hit a snag in house training.  For the most part he is doing a great job. He will occasionally poop near the door if I am not picking up on his signals that he is ready to go out, but otherwise has no accidents.

 Two nights ago he had an upset stomach and when I took him out of his crate the next morning, he had pooped all over it.  He is very small so his crate is sectioned off, but he pooped all along the perimeter of the crate.  Now last night he pooped again.  He hasn't done this weeks and I'm frustrated by this regression.  

I have never had a puppy before so I have no idea if this normal, but any advice would be greatly appreciated!  Thanks everyone!

[Sue]

Is your puppy given enough time before being put in the crate for a bowel movement? I would try to make sure that the last bowel movement happens after 7pm so that Bentley can hold it all night. Also, is it possible that you may not be able to hear his whimpering to get out during the night and that is why he is pooping bc at one point he just can't hold it. 15 weeks is still quite young....I remember last summer I was up quite late with Lexee 12am and rising again at 6am.....so max she was holding it was 6 hours....perhaps it is too long.....just guessing..but might be a reason....let me know how it goes moving forward.

[Jessica Frank]

We always go out right before he goes to bed (10 pm) and 95% of the time he goes at that time. It is very possible I'm not hearing him whine at night, maybe I should move his crate closer.

[Lori, Winnie, Bob and Indie]

Was the second night of accidents diarrhea, too? If so, I'd get him checked out by your vet. Diarrhea is very difficult for any dog (pup or adult) to "hold," so this might not even be a regression in potty training.

If it wasn't diarrhea the second night, I'd have to wonder if he still smelled remnants of the night before. Did you clean the crate with an enzymatic product like Nature's Miracle? 

[Jessica Frank]

The second night was not diarrhea and not nearly as much. I did use Nature's Miracle but maybe I didn't use enough.

[RBG]

II highly recommend giving him a night time potty break a few hours after you put in to bed.  I know its sounds brutal, but it can establish good behaviors again.  heres an excerpt from The Housebreaking Bible that was seriously my housebreaking bible when I trained Twyla, haha.  So good! 

Overnight Scheduling for Your Puppy

Anticipating and preparing for your dog’s need to go potty in the middle of the night is the key to training him to sleep though the night as quickly as possible. Most puppy owners just go to sleep at night with their fingers crossed, hoping the dog will be okay until morning. Not a good plan. He’ll likely either have an accident in his crate or start barking and crying in the middle of the night to go potty. When he starts barking, his half-asleep, groggy owner stumbles around in the dark looking for his slippers and MAYBE gets the puppy out for a potty trip before it’s too late.

Aside from the obvious problems with that plan, there’s the really big problem: Your dog learns he can wake you up by yipping and yowling. Once he learns he has control of whether and when you sleep or wake up, he’ll likely wake you up earlier and more often. When you plan his nighttime schedule properly and in advance, you’ll be taking control and you’ll be able to make wake-up times later and less frequent. A much better plan!

The way to take control of overnight potty times is to set your alarm to wake you up in the middle of the night, whether the little guy wakes up or not. We want to beat him to the punch, waking him before he’s so uncomfortable that he wakes up and starts to fuss. This way, he never gets into the habit of making noise to wake you.

At first, you’ll probably need to set your alarm to go off a few times at night, depending on your puppy’s age at the time you’re starting his program. If you start him when he’s 7-9 weeks old, it’ll probably need to be every 2 hours; from 9-14 weeks, every 3 hours; 14 weeks and up, every 4 hours. These are general guidelines, of course, and you may find that your puppy needs to go out more or less frequently.

If you’ve already been through a few hellish nights with your puppy, you probably have some idea how long he can hold it – so you can base your scheduling on that. If your puppy has been waking up screaming every 4 hours, wake him up every 3 or 3 1/2 hours. The goal is to catch him before his need to go becomes so critical that he starts barking and howling.

Now that you’ve got your dog on a schedule of waking up at intervals during the night, you’re going to start to push it so he sleeps longer. This is where the program starts to pay off: Since you’ve taken control of the nighttime schedule, you can adjust the wake-up times and work toward the holy grail of puppy training… sleeping through the night.

Once you’ve been able to wake your puppy up and take him out to potty on schedule with no barking, howling or accidents in the middle of the night for three consecutive nights, you can move on by extending the time between potty trips by 30 minutes. So if you’ve been waking your dog up at 1:00, 3:00 and 5:00, you’ll now start waking him at 1:30, 4:00 and 6:30. After another three good nights, you’ll move all 3 potty trips ahead by 30 minutes again.

Keep moving the potty trips ahead until the last potty trip coincides with your wake-up time. Congratulations – you’re now down to two potty trips instead of three! And if you keep pushing ahead by 30 minutes at a time, you’ll soon be down to one, then NONE!

Heres the klink to the site.  amazing information  http://thehousebreakingbible.com/wp/

Good luck!! He will get it :)