Pup soiling bed

duploelabs

Hi there,

So I've a Chihuahua/Dachshund mix. He's 7 months old and is generally toilet trained with the odd accident. He sleeps in his cage at night with newspaper, bed and water bowl. Recently he's come to making a really big racket, barking and whining during the night, and peeing and cr@pping in his bedding and dragging it around his cage, knocking over his water bowl.
He's familiar with being in his cage from a very young age (he's bred by a vet) and I've tried varying the level of bedding he gets from a single blanket to one of those covered pillows (he likes to burrow). I've also tried varying covering the cage and also leaving him a covered hot-water bottle as well as a ticking clock under his bed.
I haven't been going down to him during the night, but in the morning he's in an awful state and distressed.
He's not hungry as he's fed at 6pm and then again in the morning.

Any tips?

andreac

If hes crying etc then you need to let him out. By crying etc hes telling you he needs to go and because you dont let him out he has no option to go in his crate.

Even at 7 months, its still a long time to be left without being let out to the toilet. Does he get let out before bed?

I would go back to basics and get back in to a routine again. Start getting up to let him out during the night and gradually increase that time that he's in his crate until his bladder and bowels get stronger. He's still only a baby so you need to be patient.

Dogs hate going to the toilet where they sleep so it's not very nice for him and he is letting you know by crying, but as i said, as he isnt let out, then he has no choice to go then in his bed.

duploelabs

Yep, he's let out for a wee before I head to bed and put him in his cage, although he's not alway picking up on the prompt that this is his wee time so I figure that he doesn't need to go

cocker5

duploelabs wrote: »

Yep, he's let out for a wee before I head to bed and put him in his cage, although he's not alway picking up on the prompt that this is his wee time so I figure that he doesn't need to go

Great advice from AndreaC... he is crying telling you he needs to go, your not letting him out so he is forced to go in his bed etc.

You need to get up each night and let him out... start back with basics... he's only 7 months, if he still has the odd accident this means he's not fully house trained.

Start back a the start spend 2/3 weeks working hard with his training and he will be fully trained then.

Every now and then my dog (who's 10) shouts up at me that he needs to go out (he doesnt have a cage) and i get up and let him out - its only fair he's begging me to let him out. this could be once a month or once a week - its like us humans many nights we get up to go to the toilet each night... he cannot get out himself you have to let him out.

Dozer Dave

Locked in a cage all night with a ticking clock under his bed no wonder his behaviour is gone erratic.

duploelabs

Dozer Dave wrote: »

Locked in a cage all night with a ticking clock under his bed no wonder his behaviour is gone erratic.

It's quite of common technique that has worked in the past if pups have separation issues from their mothers as the ticking mimics the mother's heartbeat

betsie

You need to get up and let him out when he starts crying, that's what he's crying for, he's doing exactly as a toilet trained dog would do & Should do but ignoring him means he has no choice when he needs to go. Have you changed what time you feed him at last/ what you feed him/ how much you feed him recently.....that may explain why its started recently? if so you may want to feed him a little earlier?

borderlinemeath

6pm last feed until morning (about 7am?) is a very long time for a dog let alone a pup to go without food. He's a very small mix so he's probably going to bed a bit hungry too. I'd give him a handful of food when he's heading to bed, it'll help him settle and sleep and he might not wake up because his tummy is rumbling.

duploelabs

borderlinemeath wrote: »

6pm last feed until morning (about 7am?) is a very long time for a dog let alone a pup to go without food. He's a very small mix so he's probably going to bed a bit hungry too. I'd give him a handful of food when he's heading to bed, it'll help him settle and sleep and he might not wake up because his tummy is rumbling.

I do actually do that as a way of reward, his crying starts pretty much after ten minutes (remember that I've also just left him out before bedtime) which has led me to believe it's not hunger or need to go to the toilet that makes him cry

cocker5

duploelabs wrote: »

I do actually do that as a way of reward, his crying starts pretty much after ten minutes (remember that I've also just left him out before bedtime) which has led me to believe it's not hunger or need to go to the toilet that makes him cry

if the crying starts straight away then no its more than likely not toilet issues that's making him cry at the start of the night BUT the racket during the night then soiling his bed IS toilet issues etc.

What age was your dog when you got him? the immediate crying sounds like he's unsure, or worried... can you leave a low light on for him maybe? does he have any teddies etc?

he sounds like he may suffer from separation anxiety and he's not toilet trained properly... start back at the beginning with both areas and he will be fine

duploelabs

cocker5 wrote: »

if the crying starts straight away then no its more than likely not toilet issues that's making him cry at the start of the night BUT the racket during the night then soiling his bed IS toilet issues etc.

What age was your dog when you got him? the immediate crying sounds like he's unsure, or worried... can you leave a low light on for him maybe? does he have any teddies etc?

he sounds like he may suffer from separation anxiety and he's not toilet trained properly... start back at the beginning with both areas and he will be fine

Yeah i think it's separation that's instigating it and then the stress is causing him to defecate. Like I said before, he's been fine since I got him at 4 months but only developed in the last few days. Might leave a light on for him and see if that helps

Frigga_92

If he's crying in the night, bring him out. I have 2 miniature dachshunds who are 14 months old and 2 german shepherds who are adult dogs and if any of them get fussy in the night I let them out. It's very rare that it happens but I'm not a great sleeper anyway so it doesn't bother me.
Our female german shepherd can get very stressed sometimes (if there's a lot of people coming and going from the house, farm machinery in our fields at the back of the house etc) and will poop when stressed and gets so embarrassed so if she needs to go out I let her out no matter what time it is.

We leave the radio on all the time for the dogs, it's just some background noise to cover up any noises outside that might annoy them.

Start again with the toilet training.
Try to get him into a bedtime routine, my husband brings all the dogs out to the toilet at midnight, gets the 2 german shepherds onto their bed, gives them a treat each, gives them a cuddle, says "no barking" and turns off the light, then he tells the dachshunds "into bed", they're still getting treats for toilet training so no bedtime treat for them, he gives them a cuddle and puts their blanket over them, we have a lamp on a timer for them so they're asleep before it goes off. That's the routine every night.