Crate Training @ night..HELP!

[Jenna B. & Chianti]

First off Hi! I am new around here...would love any and all advice.

We picked up our "Chianti" on Friday and had a great first 2 nights - out at night 3 times at about 1.5 hour intervals, she whined we took her out, she went and then went right back into her crate.

Last night however was a nightmare. We took her out at 10:45 right before bed, she woke up at 12:00 to go again. Then at 1:30 was up again, we took her out and she went pee, she did not want to go back into her crate at all (she laid down just outside the crate), so physically put her back in. At 2:00 she was whimpering again....we did not take her out given that it had only been 30 minutes. She continued to whine for the next 40 minutes, when I looked down and saw she had soiled her crate.

I guess my question is how do I know if she really has to go or if she is whining just to get out of her crate? and how do I prevent last night from happening again? Any thoughts or advice would be great! TIA

[Denise & Hunter!!!]

Hello!! Chianti is soooo cute!! Our goldendoodle, Hunter, is 7 months old now. I found her doing the same thing for about the first 3 or 4 nights. I had someone suggest to me to cover her crate with a blanket. Is her crate pretty small? I know they like that snug/den feeling :-) If its to big she will have accidents in it. I never let her whine for more than about 10-15 minutes without taking her outside. I didn't talk to her or play when she was supposed to be sleeping and whined. I would take her out of her crate, say "go outside go potty" (whatever you want to say), we would go out and if she pottied I praised her and took her right back inside and put her in her crate. Hunter quit waking up at all after about 2 weeks and after about the first 4 nights or so it was just once or twice, then once, so on. I did feed her at 7P and then took her out for the last time before "going to bed" about 10:30-11P (any many times inbetween!!) and took her water away then too. That really seemed to help. It got her on a schedule after about 2 days. I still have to lure Hunter into her crate at night!! LOL I have to bribe her with a cookie and then she goes -- hhhmmm I wonder why??!

[HANNAH 8/2/07 & HONEY 7/2/08]

How long do you allow her to whine before taking her out. Do you try and quiet her in any way to see if it is her just wanting to get out...If she does not quiet down around 5 to 10 minutes of whining, usually that is the sign they have to go. Once you take her out, if she goes give her lots of praise and a treat if you like, and a few minutes of playtime to tire her out again, if she does not go...don't say anything to her and put her back in her crate. You might also want to cover her crate. Do you have a divider in your crate, if your crate is to large for your puppy she will mess in it. It can take a few weeks to get her on a good schedule, hang in there we all have been through it.

[Leigh & Allie]

I will be in your shoes in 9 days. I have read and heard from a friend to set your alarm clock and take her out at whatever time intervals you think is needed. How old is she? If she is 6-8 weeks I believe the book said she will need to "eliminate" every two hours. Anyway set the alarm for two hours and take her out. Every night extend the time until she is sleeping through the night. I am going to make you a friend so I can ask you how it went when I get my little one!

[Jenna B. & Chianti]

We do have a very small crate for her...she can just stand up and turn around in it. I think its actually a cat carrier (we have it on loan from a friend).

The alarm thing is what we did the first two nights and it worked great, last night we did the alarm thing, but she was wanting to go out almost every hour...so the alarm thing went out the window.

I know we will get in a groove...last night was just disheartening since things were going so well!

Thanks for all the support!

[HANNAH 8/2/07 & HONEY 7/2/08]

Jenna...not always do things go as planned and with training its the same way...dont get discouraged...she will learn..with time, patience, practice and lots and lots and lots of praise when she does do good...you will be just fine. I have heard with Puppies they should go out every 20 mins to start and increase, also your puppy should be able to hold it for 1 hour for each month of age..3hr.-3months, 4hrs-4months..etc up to 1 year...but its never wise to leave your dog going 1 a day every 12hours...so I don't fully agree with this.

[Adrianne Matzkin]

I can only go by what Charli is doing - I haven't read any books but...
Charli is supposed to be 18 weeks old (from a Puppy Mill and I think she is younger)
She has been sleeping upstairs with us for the past 2 weeks, sleeps through the night without needing to go out. Goes out around 11pm and doesn't go out again until 7ish. If she were to wake me she would go out but she hasn't. I wonder if it something to do with having a older sister???

[Allyson, Peri & Taquito]

I never set an alarm clock to take Peri out (6 months old now). She woke us up on her own the first week around 2-3 am every night. We took water up by 7 (now we do not take it away) and within 10 days, she slept throught the night. Blanket and sound machine did the trick (and still do) for us. She slept until 10am on Saturday!!!! WOW. You will get there. Be consistant and put her in the crate at the same time every night.
There are also past discussions on this in the "Puppy Madness" group. You will see that you are not alone and probably 1/2 the people on here experience this.
Oh, one more thing, when you take her out in the middle of the night, do not say anything to Chianti. She needs to know she is not getting special attention from you by yelping to get out of the crate. This worked for us. Silent walks, pee time, back in crate.

[Denise & Hunter!!!]

I second the part about not saying anything or getting special attention!! That really seemed to make a big difference for us too.

[Adrianne Matzkin]

Me too!! It is NOT play time - if you start that it will always be play time and it will be very hard to stop that routine. Consistency during the night time potty breaks and good coverup for you for a couple of weeks will do the trick. LOL

[Mary Beth Sancomb-Moran]

Welcome, Jenna! We had some issues with Casey the first night, but what we found is that he HATES to be warm. The first crate we had for him was a small carrier that was primarily plastic with some ventilation - typical small carrier. He whined incessantly the first night. When we got him home, we put him in a small all-wire crate and he was much better - only whined when he needed to go outside.

It might be worth a try to see if Chianti (who is adorable, by the way) is like Casey and is whining because she's hot....

In the meantime, I would take her out whenever she whines. Make it business-like: no playing. Put her down, tell her to go potty, and bring her in. After a few days, they understand the drill.

Good luck - and have fun! They're so adorable at this age...enjoy it while you can!

[Jenna B. & Chianti]

Okay so we have had a crazy day! Its apparently not just a night issue. We were doing all of the above, small crate, it was on our bed so we could see her/stick fingers in to comfort, take her out, praise her and then right back into the crate. The only thing we haven't done is a blanket over the crate or the fact she is hot.

Well today we were doing well, took Chianti out she did both, brought her back in to take out my inlaws dog that we are dog sitting, so I crated Chianti. I came back to a s*** mess (pardon the french) in her crate. When I left for work at 3:30, Chianti was sleeping in her crate and my husband got home at 5 she again had soiled her crate. She took 2 naps in her crate this morning and was totally fine even though I was not in eye sight, so I don't understand the difference.

Anyone think this is her acting out? We were told she was the alpha of her litter....
Or do we think she just had bad diarrhea from the dewormer and/or milk she had the last 3 days and really can't control it? I am not getting discouraged, but would very much like a course of action from here if this is her acting out!

Thanks again for all the support!

[F, Calla & Luca]

Why is she getting milk? Puppies should be weaned when they go to their homes and then they should just get water along with appropriate puppy food. I think milk might be a problem and dewormer as well. How old is Chianti?