Should i put him to bed earlier

hairyslug

We have a new 13/14 week old staffie cross, all is well and he is very clever. While toilet training has been quite successful after on two days of strict training and rewards, bedtime is another matter. Brendan (my daughter got to name him) settles in his basket at around 7, by 9 he has a last wee (well he goes out and I try and get him to go, he doesn't like the cold, or the dark, or rain or wind) and is in the crate by 930/10, up I go to bed and there maybe 10 minutes of crying. The crate is big enough that we have a separate area for him to wee in at night. Would I be better to get him in his crate at around 7 so he can settle for the night and sleep though till 5.

The crying I understand, he's young and it will take time for him the get used to it and know that I will be down in he morning but Im sure it could be quite stressful for him. So I'm wondering if I let him sleep though from early evening to the following morning, would it benefit him more mentally.

muddypaws

I would suggest the opposite. Put him to bed later, and if you need to, set your alarm and get up through the night to let him out. You really don't want him going to the toilet in his crate, that should be the place he goes to be safe and comfortable, not a toilet area.

He has a tiny bladder, so asking him to hold it in all night is too much for him.

andreac

There's no way he should be in the crate that long. It's far too long to leave him without a toilet break.
I wouldn't leave an adult dog let alone a pup in a crate that long.
As muddy says he shouldn't be peeing in the crate. That's what you don't want him doing as that is totally confusing him.
You should be bringing him outside to pee all the time. Never encourage in the house or crate etc. Always outside as you are confusing him by doing anything else. 5 or 6 hours max is what he should be left at the mo at night time without a pee break. Until he's able to hold it for longer.

hairyslug

Thanks, I'll give it a go tonight, wee and bed at 11 and again at 3.
He's fairly tired by 7, and I feel he really needs sleep, should I try and keep him up for an extra hour or let him sleep through.

muddypaws

Dogs tend to sleep a lot anyway, my lot spend most of their day sleeping, so I would let him sleep when he wants to. If he is asleep when you want to go to bed, wake him up, don't play with him, outside with him, wait until he goes to the toilet, praise and a reward, back into bed. Same then when you wake him up through the night. Pups usually will go to the toilet after eating and when they wake up, so hopefully it will all come together

As he gets older, you can set your alarm for later on, and then eventually he should make it through the night. You are lucky to have him at this stage during the summer (??) really not much fun getting up in the middle of a winter's night and taking a pup outside.

Bunnyslippers

I'd let him out to pee at around midnight then set the alarm for 5 or 6, if he's a small breed and he starts crying then earlier - it isn't forever as their bladder capacity is very small but gets better. You definitly don't want him to learn to pee in his bed, firstly it goes against instinct and secondly once they start it is very hard to change. We got given a pup a year ago who the owner couldn't cope with, she left him in his crate from 9pm till 7 in the morning, he was out for less than an hour then she put him back in without realising his bed was wet and would go to work all day, he is a smaller dog too, and she couldn't figure out why he smelt, was soaking wet and had a skin problem!
We got him at around 14 weeks old for a bit while she was in hospital, then she took him back for a few weeks, then gave him to us permanently. It took until he was about 9 months old for him to stop peeing where he slept, we stopped keeping him in a crate, but he would still pee where he slept, we got there in the end but it was hard, so don't go down that road!:)

Mine don't like the wet or cold either but they soon learnt the longer they didn't pee the longer they had to stay out - a faff I know as not much fun trotting round a garden in the rain and dark shouting "go peepees"!:p