Hello everyone,
I have a gorgeous very clever ten week old shih tzu, He is learning everything very fast!
He uses training pads when indoors but if the door is open or we're out on walks he goes outside. He tends to do 2 poo's at nite and a few wee's, i'm just wondering if anyones got any advice how he could 'hold it' till the morning? i appreciate he's still very young and maybe it's just too soon and it will come in time. Just thought i'd throw it out there and see what responses i get. Thanks guy's
Stanleys mum

Hello stanleysmum

get rid of the toilet pads.

all they do is teach your pup to go to toilet indoors.
what happens is your pup learns its ok to go by back door.

and it means you have to teach your pup twice - once to go by back door, and then again to go outside, which is confusing and time wasting

take pup out into garden regularly and constantly throughout the whole day and evening for next couple of weeks. this may also include getting up in middle of night at first as well.
stay with pup in the garden each time, encourage pup to go, keep it positive, and reward pup with praise or treats when it goes.

and start crate training, dogs wont soil in their bedding area.

>and start crate training, dogs wont soil in their bedding area.

They'll only keep it clean if they're given enough opportunity to leave it. (I've known of people who think that putting a puppy into a restricted area somehow magically increasses the size of their bladder!)

when you say "leave it", i assume you mean the crate???

in which case, abso-damn-lutely!

i ought to have added the OP ought to ask on here about crate training before and if delving into it.

can i ask why your using training pads, as this will not help teach the puppy to go outside. it's best as the other post said to take your pup into the garden every half hour or so at the beginning come rain or shine and wait till it goes then praise and come back in. you can lengthen this time as the pup gets older. Also if the pup starts sniffing the floor a lot it may need to be taken out before there's a wee on the floor. if you get any accidents in the house just ignore them and take the pup straight outside then clean up really well else the pup will go to the toilet in same place again.
just leaving the back door open is not enough to teach where to go to the toilet, he will only learn if he gets the praise from you and his scent goes on the garden not carpet.
As for over night, take the pup outside as late as possible before bed time and expect the pup to have done something in the house over night at first. the only way to minimize this is to get up in the night and take the pup out as well.
i've never got up in the night and just found that over time the accidents get less as the pup can hold the wee longer. whatever you do always ignore any accidents and eventually the pup will learn right from wrong and also it's bladder etc will be well controlled.
like all babies this takes time so don't expect the pup to hold his toilet for long, even when you think the pups grasped it they can still have accidents for quite a while. All pups are different some are clean day and night very quickly and others can take months but just stick with the basic rules and go back to basics if you go backwards a bit and your get there in the end.
i find that there's very few accidents in the day if you follow these rules which means you can relax more and enjoy your pup rather than cleaning up little messes all the time.
i've never used a crate for any of my dogs so can't comment on them not wetting in their as the other post said but i have had a pup that would wee on her bed every night but this just suddenly stopped.
hope you enjoy your new pup.    

The simple answer is that yes, at just 10 weeks of age he's much too young to physically be able to hold it overnight -it's like a baby still needing nappies. :) If he poos twice at night it might be that the last meal has been given a bit late in the day -ideally he should be able to empty himself from that last meal before going to sleep. Weeing however is a different matter and of course he needs to have water available at night, so you can't expect a lot just yet. It's often around 5-6 months of age before you can expect a pup to be clean overnight, unless you get up during the night to let him out.

Thank you all for your responses,
I am going to take the training pads away, i have been taking him out regularly in the garden so will keep doing that, also he does receive lots of praise and encouragement.
Gonna try feeding him a little earlier in the evening.
He's learnt loads of other things very quickly so i'm sure it wont be long.
Will let you know how he gets on
Thanks again, Stanleys mum

If you watch your puppy closely they do a thing I call the poo dance which is running around and going in circles. As soon as you see this happening tell them its toilet time and run to the back door. They catch on quickly and will ask to go out when they learn this.

Have taken training pads up and watching him all the time, he is learning very quick and we're getting less accidents each day! Thank you all for your advice
Stanleys mum

He is a baby and like human babies cannot have full control of his bladder and bowels until they mature enough for him to do so.

Time and consistency with training.

I wouldn't expect any pup to be totally reliable anything much under 6 months, just like a human child wouldn't be reliable until around 3 years old,  and that with parents lifting at night for the toilet, asking them if they have been etc.

I am sure most of us with primary school children have been sent home the odd pair of wet nickers, with child wearing spares.