What am I doing wrong - puppy wee's inside

Bebs

my puppy is 8 months old, she is a chihuahua cross yorkie. She is really good during the day and cries if she needs to go out for a wee or a poo. The problem is she is still messing in the night, I put down a puppy pad and she wee or poos on it. I take her water bowl away at 7:00pm. How can I house train her at night or will it evetually come right when she gets a bit older?

Also, she does not tend to poo at night but when she does she tends to eat it :eek: why is she doing this?

MissGolightly

if she only pees or poos on the puppy pad, first thing i'd try is taking it away, you don't know when exactly she's doing it, and it may be that if she doesn't have the puppy pad she'll hold on for that extra hour til you come down. if she continues to pee or poo without puppy pad... well i'll let someone more experienced answer that one, as i've never had to deal with that one!

cyberbob

Well for starters you should never restrict a dogs access to water.

I am not a fan of puppy pads as it just means you end up doing twice the training. Once on the puppy pad then again to get them to wee outside.

Do you take your dog to the toilet after you have gone to bed or do you leave it 7 hours or so over night? From an early age you normally take them out 2 or 3 times in the night untill they get used to the idea that they can pee outside at night. I would if I was you be taking your dog out a couple of times through the night. Then once she is going on a regular basis cut down the amount of times you get up at night until she can go a full night.

Bebs

cyberbob wrote: »

Well for starters you should never restrict a dogs access to water.

I am not a fan of puppy pads as it just means you end up doing twice the training. Once on the puppy pad then again to get them to wee outside.

Do you take your dog to the toilet after you have gone to bed or do you leave it 7 hours or so over night? From an early age you normally take them out 2 or 3 times in the night untill they get used to the idea that they can pee outside at night. I would if I was you be taking your dog out a couple of times through the night. Then once she is going on a regular basis cut down the amount of times you get up at night until she can go a full night.

I read in the book I purchased that I should take her water away after 7:00 - I guess that is wrong and will let her have water.

We normally take her for her last wee at about 11:30 pm and then my husband gets up at about 5:30 - 6:00, so I guess it is still a long wait - thanks for your help, we will get up at night and take her out.

Raksha

How is she when she's left alone during the day? How old was she when she came to you, and where had she lived until then? Was she in a small area, with her mother, or in a larger area with just her litter mates?

Must of a dogs behaviour is formed in those very early weeks, and if she was kept in a small area, with her mother who was eating the pups poo to keep the area clean, your pup may well have learnt the behaviour from watching her mother.

Bebs

Raksha wrote: »

How is she when she's left alone during the day? How old was she when she came to you, and where had she lived until then? Was she in a small area, with her mother, or in a larger area with just her litter mates?

Must of a dogs behaviour is formed in those very early weeks, and if she was kept in a small area, with her mother who was eating the pups poo to keep the area clean, your pup may well have learnt the behaviour from watching her mother.

She is fine when we leave her alone during the day but it is normally not longer than four hours. She was 7 weeks when we got her and we got her from a great home. She was not in a small area with her mother, she was at home with the woman who owned the dog and they were playing around the whole bottom level of the house.

Tropez

Bebs wrote: »

I read in the book I purchased that I should take her water away after 7:00 - I guess that is wrong and will let her have water.

We normally take her for her last wee at about 11:30 pm and then my husband gets up at about 5:30 - 6:00, so I guess it is still a long wait - thanks for your help, we will get up at night and take her out.

To be honest, there's several schools of thought regarding the whole water thing. Some people do recommend limiting or restricting water to a puppy after a certain time, some people even go as far as suggesting a regular water schedule for a young dog, whilst others are vehemently opposed to the idea of restricting a puppy's water at any time.

In my local owners club, I've encountered dogs raised on every school of thought, all of whom have grown up healthy and well looked after so I'm not going to say there's necessarily any right or wrong way to do it but I would say that 7pm to 5/6am without water is going too far... 10-11 hours is just too long for a puppy to be going without water and may in fact be the cause of some of the problems. Puppies who expect to not have access to water for extended periods of time are likely to over-consume on water when they do have access, meaning very full bladders at times when they're not being watched. While an eight month old puppy should theoretically be able to hold it for the majority of the night, it will be less inclined to do so if its been guzzling water because it expects not to get another chance for 10 more hours. Puppies pick up certain routines after all.

As for the poop eating, some dogs just do it. Mummy dogs do tend to clean up after their young so, as was stated earlier, it is believed the poop eating is a habit learned from mum. That said, it does seem more prevalent in certain breeds, although oddly enough none of my whippets, which is one such breed, have ever engaged in it.

Raksha

OK, so we're not talking about a pup raised on a 'puppy farm' or similar, that's good. However - were the pups allowed and encouraged to wee outside? Or were they 'paper trained'?

the poo eating can be learnt, but it can also be down to a medical condition (bacterial overgrowth) which needs vet treatment with anti biotics (the pup will often be 'ribby' too, because all the nutrition in the food is being utilised by the bacteria), or can be caused by a lack of enzymes - often solved by feeding the dog pineapple or courgette. Some dogs learn to eat their poo to destroy the evidence if they have been 'house trained' by harsh methods too..

Bebs

Raksha wrote: »

OK, so we're not talking about a pup raised on a 'puppy farm' or similar, that's good. Oh NO, she came from a very loving family!!! However - were the pups allowed and encouraged to wee outside? Or were they 'paper trained'? - puppies were taken out regularly for wee's and were not encouraged to wee inside or on puppy pads.

the poo eating can be learnt, but it can also be down to a medical condition (bacterial overgrowth) which needs vet treatment with anti biotics (the pup will often be 'ribby' too, because all the nutrition in the food is being utilised by the bacteria), or can be caused by a lack of enzymes - often solved by feeding the dog pineapple or courgette. Some dogs learn to eat their poo to destroy the evidence if they have been 'house trained' by harsh methods too..

- She only seems to eat her poo on the odd occasion when she has an accident inside (at night) - is it possible that she is trying to clean it up like her mum may have done? We had a good result last night, she made a wee at 11:00, we left her water out all night, then I took her out at about 2:00 am but she did not wee! When we got up this morning she had not made a wee, I also did not put a puppy pad down, perhaps the puppy pad encouraged her to wee! we will see how things go tonight! It's like having a baby again lol - she IS my baby

Raksha

One of the problems with puppy pads is that they actively encourage the pup to wee indoors by using pheramones. the pup then gets a 'reward' in the sense of relief when it uses the pad, so it becomes self rewarding. It sounds as if you may be lucky and she's made the connection between the presence of the pad itself and being able to wee indoors. If you move the time you get up to let her out back by 10 or 15 mins each night, it shouldn't be too long before you know how long she can be left

dragonmonkey

Try giving her a bit off pinapple to stop her eating her poo