Hi.
We bought our new little girl home last Tuesday. For the first 2 nights she was ok, then on thurs night she woke and cried for a little bit (we ignored it as recommended), fri night she cried more...ignored again, and then last night she cried a lot, and it was REALLY difficult not to go to her. She seems to wake at 2am and cry, then quiet after half an hour, then wake again at 4am and cry etc. We have bought a crate and she will go into it willingly when it is left open in the day, we feed her in there etc. But if we put her in if we have to go out, she starts to cry too. If I have cuddled her off to sleep in my arms (don't laugh) and then put her in, she is ok. Is this normal? Also we bought the crate because we heard it was good for training as doggys don't like to soil their sleeping area, but Nellie just wets her bed. Is this just a marking thing because she is unsure of her surroundings? When I saw the first wet bed, I thought that she must have had an accident, so I put it in the washing machine and went and bought another so she would have something to sleep on while the other was wet. But you guessed it, she wet that one the same night. I spoke to the breeder and he said she was marking her bed and to leave her with it for a few days, but I couldn't have left her with the first bed, as it was soaked!! She is very funny with her wee's anyway. I know most dogs will circle and sniff the ground before they want to go, and this gives you time to get to the paper, but Nellie just walks along and then just squats really quick. If I manage to see it and stop her by putting her on the paper, she wont go. I have a theory that she is letting me know who is boss early in our relationship :) :)

The purpose of using the crate for housetraining is that she will not naturally want to soil her bed unless she has to.  Unfortunately this puts the onus on the owner to ensure she never has to wet her bed!

A young puppy like a human baby has very little bladder control (slightly better with bowels).  This means they need to be taken out to releive themselves basically every 20 minutes while awake, otherwise they will have an accident, and yes squatting straight sown with no preamble is pretty usual.  If she wakes in the night you need to take her outside to pee.  If you do not want to do this then you will have to leave her in a room with a washable floor and leave the crate open so she can go and releive herself, but then of course it will take longer for her to work out that she should not be going indoors, the same with using paper.  Either she is allowed to pee indoors, or not.

Your right brainless.  Your pup shouldn't be weeing in her bed.  I have 5 month old Lab and he has never soiled his bed. He too used to wake up at 2am on the dot... he wanted a wee desperately poor fellow. So you must get up and let him out. It only lasts 4 weeks or so!  And it stopped completely overnight.  How big is Nellies crate? Milo is in a large crate, but as a very young pup it was enormous compared to him. You must divide the crate so there is sufficient space for Nellie to lie down, but not big enough so she can pee at the back and sleep at the front! We bought a sheetsof metal mesh from B&Q garden centre. We kept moving it further back in his crate over a few weeks period as he grew. Now he uses his whole crate.

As for Nellie peeing with no warning... yep thats normal I'm afraid!  Be armed with plenty of kitchen paper and diluted Persil (or the like). You mst get rid of any odour as she will pee there again.  If you catch her weeing shout her name loudly and the surprise will make her stop. Then LEAD her immedately outside and let her finish, with a treat of course.  If you don't see her peeing, do not punish her. Just clear it up.  It's amazing how they work it out though. It was overnight that Milo stopped weeing inside! One day he peed on the carpet, the next he whined at the door to go out and we haven't had an accident since.

Those first 4 weeks or so are tough.  If Milo cried when we went to bed, I couldn't ignore him despite all the advice to do so. I would go downstairs and lie next to his crate until he went to sleep! About 20 minutes!  What we do for our dogs!  After a while he went to bed no problems.

Nellies crate is really big. she has her bed up one end and newspaper up the other end. She has plenty of room to actually get off her bed, walk to the other end and wee on the paper. I have been following all the rules in my books...not making any comment about wee on carpet, but really praising her up if she does it on the paper and giving her a treat. Her bed was soaked again this morning, it is a filled cushion with cotton on one side and fluffy fleece on the other. Now the second one has gone into the washing machine, and the other one is only just about dry! I don't know what to think about the going downstairs to her cries in the night situation. Every book I have read has said this is a big no-no! The book said they will learn that if they make enough noise you will go to them...? Regarding the crate, I could partition it off, but if she is weeing on her bed now I can't see that it would make any difference.

I found pet shop bedding v.expensive and have bought some large vet bed off the web.I got free next day delivery too! and have just cut one huge piece into smaller sizes.http://www.bronteglenmill.com/products.htm they had changed their prices,when I phoned in my order and discontinued the free delivery,but as the web-site had not yet been changed they gave me the old prices and free delivery,excellent service!

How old is your new baby?  Could you possible make room for her crate (or a smaller cardboard box - she's going to chew her bed anyway) in your bedroom for the first few weeks or so?  It's a big upheavel for her to be away from her mum at such a young age, and all the hot water bottles and ticking clocks in the world sometimes just don't cut it for a young puppy :(  She'll probably settle a lot quicker if she knows you are around at night, just like you are during the day.  Then when she's confident with that you can start to teach her, when she's ready, that sometimes grown up doggies have to be on their own........

You have to distinguish between the cries though. Some cries mean "I want attention" some mean "I want a wee".  I strongly recommend trying to divide the crate. I think you will find that she does stop weeing in it - worth a try at least. When she cries in the night, let her out for a wee and then straight back into her crate - no play at all, not that you feel like it at 2am!  You can follow all the advice books offer, but at the end of the day there is often so much advice you don't know what to follow.  Try to imagine Nellie is a baby (as good as, I know), you wouldn't leave a baby crying in the night, so try not to be too hard on her.  By going to Milo in the night and letting him out hasn't made him a demanding nightime puppy. he sleeps all the way through no problem now and doesn't cry at all at bedtime.

I can't really comment on paper training as I didn't use it. I decided that Milo should learn from the beginning that weeing inside was not appropriate at all.  Try taking Nellie outside as soon as she wakes, after play, and after a meal, and maybe every half an hour or so if she hasn't been. Don't show her any attention until she performs. When she does repeat a word while she wees/poos eg be clean, and then finish with a treat immediately she finishes.  She will soon associate weeing outside with a reward.  It really does feel that you aren't getting anywhere with them and then suddenly, EUREKA they've mastered it.

So my advice is, don't get too hung up on what the books say.  Real dog owners advice is often more helpful. I rely heavily on what I read on the forum for many different queries. And they have all worked so far!

Personally i hate paper as it's just conveinient for us, our dog learned from the start to go out. She also howled at night so we took her to our room and she was fine, as she treats our room as her room she didn't wet/poo so coupled with the outside toilet training she mastered it in days. (With the odd accident of course).
Now she knows i haven't abandoned her she will sleep anywhere (This morning she only got up at 10.45am :D )

Thanks for all advice. Can I just ask, if you take the puppy to sleep in your room, will it not expect to stay there when it is older? It is just that i didn't want it to sleep in our bedroom as an adult...I could never sleep with the snoring going on. Or would it be ok once it had grown a bit?

Many people have found that, over the weeks, they can gradually move the pup's bed/crate nearer the bedroom door, then out onto the landing, then downstairs in the hall, till it's finally at the desired spot.
:)

Mine will now sleep anywhere! I think once they realise you haven't abandoned them they settle down quick.
What Jeangenie says is good, do it in stages and you'll be ok.
:)

What you are going through is exactly what I went through with Becks.  I put his crate next to my bed for the first month and then moved him downstairs with no problems at all.  As for the soiling his sleeping area, I woke up twice during the night for the first couple of weeks and there was the occassion accident, sometimes Id take him outside at 2am and he wouldnt go and then he'd go in his bed  arrrrrrrrrgh!!!  But after a couple of weeks he just started sleeping through from about 11pm till 7.30am. When its bed time now I call him and stand by his crate and he just happily trots in.  You'll get there, I felt like you but it happens so quickly if you keep at it.

Good Luck

Zoe

Thanks! Its like having a new baby isn't it? She is so adorable... I put a smaller cushion in her crate last night, and she didn't wee on it. The other one was so big, that I think she just wee'd on it and then moved up to the other end of it! :)