Crate training puppy

How best to use the crate over night?
Dale house trained in days but was already paper trained when he came at 8 weeks so we didn't really have to think much about this.

Chip had been in a kennel and had no training so is going to take longer. He's heading to the door during the day except when he's getting tired or in the middle of a game so I just watch and lift him out then.

However over night it seems unfair to leave him shut in. We're taking him out at 1am and up before 7am but its still too long for the wee fellow. If I leave the door open he just enjoys shredding paper or training mats and goes all over the kitchen.

He also wants to shred Dale's bedding if he's out of the crate and Dale hasn't got the idea of giving his new friend a row

Its a big crate so should I take out the divider at night and give him room to go in it or resign myself to a messy kitchen every morning?

I was advised to keep the crate in the bedroom so he could tell me when he needed out but I guess if you are happy to get up a couple of times during the night that is fine
I wouldnt take out the devider tho - puppy should be sleeping most of the time anyway and you are getting up to let him out so he will be able to hold it inbetween
If you take out the devider then he will be able to go to the toilet away from his sleeping place and then will begin to learn that its OK to go in the crate
I wouldnt leave him loose - too much mischeif they can get into and also in the crate you are teaching them that nightime is just a time to chill and rest and not run about

Hi Dalesmum Sorry can't remember how old your puppy is. I always take puppies into the bedroom with me in a small box until they are able to go through the night. A puppy won't usually soil in or near it's bed and will make a noise when it wishes to go out, it is easy to pop it outside then go back to bed. (I find doing things this way also speeds up the process of house training and teaching a puppy to eliminate on command which I always teach ).
My latest puppy Chloe is five months old and can now go from 10pm to 7am but they all vary slightly.

Thanks for the replies. Chip is just 10 weeks and I know it'll take time. He's doing his best. The crate is too big to cart up and down stairs.He's settled well at nights where he is so I'll just have to get used to getting up in the night a bit oftener. I read somewhere that making a toilet area in the crate was a good idea so I just wondered what other people thought.

Hi Dales mum I personally would never do that (and I never use newspaper either). I believe the fewer times a puppy soils in the house the better and the more chance you have of quickly teaching it that the only place to ‘be clean' is outside.

Mine go up to bed with me in a cardboard box with high sides .

all our pups was crate trained of a night, we used to have 2 crates 1 left down stairs and 1 up stairs. that way not having to carry it around all the time hun.
never make a toilet area in the crate as it will teach they can go in there which you dont wont.

if you could get a smaller crate for the bedroom it would help that way pup will tell you when he needs to go. I also dont leave as much water down over nite as they fill up and need to go more often, never had a prop with this as long as they have some. i never feed my pups after 5pm that way number 2s should be out of the way before bed.ours all go out for last toilet at 9.30 and go right through till 7am not crying or any thing and no miss hap's

I have mostly been on night shifts since I got Sebastian, and he's been crated at night time... As I'm not at home to take him out, if he needs to go, I have a kylie over his bedding... The kylie draws away the water, so it still feels dry to lie on...

He wet it twice... over a 2-week period, and both times because I'd been held up at work... He's now 19 weeks old, and when I'm home at night, he lets me know when he wants to go out, as he's sleeping in my bedroom. He's good for 9 hours over night.

Cheers
Lene

I think it's time for me to air my ignorance and ask "what's a kylie?" Is it some sort of Australian product or should I know already? Bear in mind, this IS Orkney, where a "new-fangled" idea is anything under 150 years old!

(Visions of Ms. Minogue in a basket, draped with Border Collies!)

Snorri

A kylie was mentioned in another thread.

It kind of like a drawsheet used for the elderly, who's incontinent, but we also use them for our clients (intellectually disabled)... The draw the wetness away so the elderly don't lie in wet beds... They're supposed to last all night - the kylie that is...

Maybe the explanation in the other thread is better, but I can't remember where that is...

Cheers
Lene

When our pups are young we have half the crate as a bed (cardboard box/bedding) and the other half as a toilet area with newspaper lining it. The pups are let out last thing at night then I get up with them when they ask to go out. I have never, ever found that they learn to associate the crate with toileting. They are night time trained incredibly quickly as they do not like to soil around their bed area and since it is enclosed, the 2 areas are close. I generally have dry pups at night in less than a week.

Puppies get used to spending on a specific surface, so if you have newpaper in their crate, yes, they may try ndf go in there if it is down in the day, because of the surface, if they have a 'oh no where do I go moment'...so just don't put the paper down in the day! Our problem with Cosmo was that he was used to spending on vet bed from birth so he would seek it out if he needed to go. Unfortunately biff has vet bed over his other bed.......

I only use the crate until pups are around 5/6 months old and I use it to keep them safe when I'm not aruond and also to speed up the being clean at night time process!

Good luck with whatever you decide.