No worries Tuti...Meatball had a few accidents in his cage as well. They were just ignored and the bedding was changed. He'll be fine.

Tuti I hope you are feeling calmer this morning. I had a lot of days like that when you feel you are going one step forward and two back but you get there in the end.

Completely agree with everyone else, we have all experienced good and bad days with our puppies at some time.

Saffy used to hates her crate at first and would pee in it if left for more than 30 minutes at first. I never shouted at her just cleaned the bedding etc. It can be a slow process but you get there in the end with consistency and praise.

Hi Tuti

I didnt use a crate. Luna did have accidents... It happens. Archie's just an ickle baby, his bladder is only tiny. I took Luna down (lived on the 3. floor) whenever she had: played, slept, eaten, had a drink and then even once every hour on top of that. She learned to hold longer, but still had accidents. I had to start working full time after 3 weeks, and she peed 2 or 3 times a day on newspapers laid out all over the hall. Luna wasnt completely housetrained before she was 5 or 6 months old. So you'll have lots of accidents to come, I'm sure

I dont mean to say that a crate is bad, its just not been used much in Denmark. (Its starting I think, and I may use one for the next puppy, but I'm not sure yet.) But just wanted to say, that you have nothing to worry about. Archie'll do fine. And he probablely cried, cos he could hear your voices....

Thank you all for all your support. I was pretty upset last night.

Archie slept ok last night, he had a nightmare and was whimpering a bit in his sleep though eek! Also he woke up to pee more times than normal, but I think it was because the tuna in his dinner made him a bit thirsty, he was drinking a lot of water at night, I heard him wake up a couple of times to drink. He did not wee in the crate though, phew!

I've had a chat with my mum and the way we're going to do it is to actually leave the house when he's having his afternoon nap, as he usually sleeps quite well then. We'll leave him a kong to keep him busy and only go out for 15-20 min. I just hope it works.

Archie still loves his crate anyway, and we use it during the day for his naps. If he falls asleep somewhere I just carry him over to the crate, stand him outside and say 'go to bed!' He does it without any problems. Bellaluna I highly recommend the crate training, I think if a crate is used responsibly it is a very useful thing, not only for us humans but for the puppy as well

thank you all again for all your support

Oh I'm glad to hear everything is back to normal

I'm sure its a great thing, but as I work fulltime and am single, I'm away from home for a good many hours a day, and I dont think its fair on Luna to be crated that long

HI - I missed this ( still struggling with new format ) I completley agree with the others -Pups do wee
Not long after we got Macey I'd put her out for her last wee and gone to bed -OH brought her upstairs and plonked her on the bed -she jumped on my head and wee'd in excitment
don't worry too much -enjoy the puppyness -you miss it when its gone

Hi Tuti

The pup will be fine, they all have accidents either through submissive or excited behaviour. This does not mean that they will be further accidents, and even if there were it would only be a temporary blip.

You are doing all the right things. However you mentioned that your mum comforted the puppy when he was frightened. This is not a good idea, also if your mum is a bit unsure about crates then I may be able to help.

If you PM or E Mail me, I will send you some articles I have written on crate training and puppies, and how crates work and what the pup thinks of them also the critical periods in a puppies psychological growth.

If these come from a behaviourist your mum may well understand and accept the logic behind what you are doing.

So if you want these just PM me with your E Mail address and I will send you a number of articles that will help.

Stan

Hi Stan, if they;re the articles on your website I have already read them

it's pretty much what I'm doing anyway... if they are not let me know and I'll give you my email.


Just to let you all know, today we went out in the car and we parked, leftArchie alone for like 15min (he was sleeping). I had my eye on him but made sure he couldn't see me, when he woke up he just looked around and then settled down to nibble on his car-box! (pics of this later)

YAY!!!!

Great Tuti!...Sounds like he's doing real good. Also just to make you feel better, Takoda, my 5 month old pup, hasn't pee'd in the house for yonks now, last night though he was doing some serious rough housing and getting excitable with my other young dog running all over the place and then all of a sudden with no warning he squatted right there infront of me on the rug! Little ******!...Just one of those things, even at his age his bladder is still not fully developed and although they have completly learned what they need to do, sometimes they just 'wet' themselves when they are distracted like little toddlers do. I just told him he was a naughty boy and popped him outside for a breather and to take stock of his actions...lol...while I cleaned up and then we picked up where we left. Today, no accidents at all again and probably wont be for a long while (and by then hopefully his little pea sized bladder will be full grown...lol)

Murphy, that was funny...Did you really see the funny side of it at the time though...lol..peeing on your head!! I agree that this puppy lark is really hard work and you can be worn to a frazzle most days and it is over all to quick before they get big...It's just a shame that you can't stop running around after them long enough sometimes to actually enjoy the cute little bundle a bit more than it seems you get chance too!