Clean @ night

Hi,

Has anyone got any tips on how to get my pup trained to be clean at night, I have applied all the basic rules and he is clean during the day, but what do I do at night?

By clean I assume you mean housetrained?

What methods are you using at the moment, and is your puppy in a normal bed or in a crate at night?

A bit more info will help

Becs

what training are you doing during the day ?

Archie is 13 weeks, he sleeps in the kitchen in an open cage, he gets scared if I close the door so I leave it open just for him to use as his own space. I make him go for a wee just before I go to bed. Lots and lots of praises and kisses when he has done that.
Same during the day really, just looking for the signs that he needs to go out and walking out with him. He is really good during the day, I just dont know how to stop him going at night....

At 13 weeks his bladder's still very immature. He may need you to get up once in the night to let him out - night is a very long amount of time to expect a puppy to hold it.

My personal preference is to use a crate to assist in housetraining - leaving the door open doesn't achieve this though.

Have you tried to crate train him? It takes time and patience, but is easy to achieve.

Becs

I am a bit reluctant to use the crate as he is frightened of it, I dont know if this would feel like a punishment to him...What do you think?

It shouldn't be seen as a punishment to him, if it's introduced properly and carefully. Like anything, a crate can be abused, but most crate trained dogs continue to enjoy using their crates of their own accord even when adult.

How did you introduce the crate to him?

It takes time and routine to get a puppy used to a crate, but providing it's done properly he'll view it as a little safe den, with toys and treats inside.

My 18 month old still uses his crate, and my 6 year old rescue (who's only been with us for 4 months) has decided a crate is a great place - she tries to shove Satchmo out of it - and she's never seen a crate before! So no, they're not automatically seen as punishment. Just don't ever put him in it when you're angry with him or telling him off.

If you need advice on correct crate training, let me know

Becs

It's a long time to go without a pee for a young dog with a small bladder. Do you have anything down for him to go on, like newspaper? Dogs like to eliminate as far away from their beds as possible.

What we did when we first got Loki was to cover the whole kitchen in plastic sheeting with newspaper on top. We did the training to go outside as you have done during the day but he still went during the night because he couldn't hold it in.

But after a while he used to cry when he had gone (might have been before to let us know but by the time we got there - too late). No telling off and we'd still let him out and ask him to be clean anyway. During this time we began to remove the papers so that they were only close to the door to the garden. Loki had already shown a preference to urinate as close to the door as possible.

Eventually, it just happened - he went less and less during the night then he was able to control himself and call us and then didn't need to go anymore.

We finally took the last papers up at around 6 - 7 months when we were sure he could hold his bladder.

It will come. If he is used to 'going' outside and has plenty of opportunity to do so.

He is really happy in his crate and sleeps in it all the time, he has his toys and bed with his favorite blanket in it and it is his space ( no kids allowed in). So he loves it. I have never made it a punishment thing, in fact I dont think I have really told him off yet !!
Reading this I think time and patience are the only things I need, he is a very clever pup and Im sure when his bladder matures he will be fine. Thank you very much for helping me, it is nice to know there are some dog experts on hand for support.

He will be fine Khart. It sounds like you are doing all the right things during the day. Loki has a bed and make-shift kennel to sleep in but we've given him access to the hall and landing since he's been really clean so he sleeps all over the place now.