Hi
We are proud owners of a cheeky 5 month male GSD, our first family pet!!
I have worked hard to introduce him to and socialise him in all sorts of new experiences and he is doing really well. We thought we had done everything by the book as regards toilet training but he continues to wet his vet bed during the night. He sleeps in a crate which is the right size for an adult Shepherd and seems very happy in it.  I have been told to make the crate space smaller but this has made no difference. I have tried half the crate covered by vet bed and half in paper but he purposly wets the bedding so now I just have vet bed and wash it daily ( one in the wash one in the crate!!) Am I expecting too much of his bladder at this age. I clear up any mess without comment. Any suggestions or advice would be gratefully recieved
Thank you

Molly did this till she was about 6/7 months, like you I was always washing vet beds. The only thing I did was remove the vet bed at night until she was fully house trained. I never had a problem with the other dog as she housetrained so quickly, but I actually saw Molly get up, turn round and pee then turn round and lie down! Even when she was out of the cage and sleeping in the kitchen with loads of room she still did it! I even started putting her out at 2 am but it was such a fight getting her out the door and she would just lie down outside and go back to sleep :rolleyes: Eventually I gave up and so did she!
Sorry I can't be much help.
Dee

Thanks for your reply Dee, its made me feel better!! I get quite disheartened listening to other dog owners who say their dogs never wet their beds or had accidents in the house...Lucky them!

Don't worry, andy. There's not a pup in the world that hasn't had an accident in the house. No matter how vigilant the owners are! :D

Hi - One thing you could try is to stop using the crate and just see if that makes a difference.  Sometimes dogs get it into their heads that the crate is the place to toilet, and once they have this association, it is very hard to change it. 

You could also try using a different kind of bedding besides vet bed - it might be that he thinks the vet bed is the thing you want him to toilet on.  (Sometimes puppies which are paper trained think that absorbent things are to be toileted on - don't know if yours was paper trained or not though.)

Is he dry when you leave him in the crate during the day?

If not, you might also want to take him to the vet for a check up - sometimes pups can get urinary tract infections which make them need to pee a lot - it's quite common. 

Lastly, if none of the above works, I think you should just set your alarm for the middle of the night and get up and take him out to toilet, even if he hasn't barked or requested that.  If you can manage to do that, and it means he stays dry at night, you will have broken the habit.  Then I'd suggest you set your alarm for 30 mins later each night, so you are slowly stretching him, until you can go all through the night without getting up.