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Need some crate help

1K views 11 replies 6 participants last post by  Shade 
#1 ·
So I have a full size crate and a 9 week old puppy. I got him quite young and knew that he was unable to hold his bladder at first, so lined his crate with puppy pads for accidents. Little guy realized he liked peeing on the puppy pads so I took them away and he no longer gets them. Pup is great with going potty outside, if he is out of his crate he is fine and will not go inside. When he has to go he'll go to the door and I'll let him out, no problems there. The real problem is that at night he will go to the bathroom in his crate, in the farthest corner from where he sleeps. I get up every 3.5 to 4 hours to let him out at night, but regardless he is still going in the crate. It is BAD too, I wake up in the morning to a huge pee/poop mess that smells god awful and is EVERYWHERE.

My crate doesn't have a divider, and I don't know what to do. I have been to 5 pet stores and none of them sell them. I have looked online and can't find one big enough for his crate. I would love to just buy him a new crate but with all the puppy vet visits I just don't have the extra $$ to just buy a new crate. What can I do? I think I am losing my sanity a little bit :confused:
 
#4 ·
Thanks, I tried Craigslist and I think I will have some luck there.

The divider does help but you got to get the pup out in the middle of the night. At 9 weeks they can't hold it all night.

I kept my rain boots (Russ came home during the rainy spring season) jacket, flashlight & leash by the door so it was easy to get him out fast. When I heard him to stirring around out we went. Honestly just a few weeks of this and he was house trained. German Shepherd pups are easy to house train as long as we are consistent.

Glad you ditched the pee/poop pads:)
I am taking him out in the middle of the night, every 3.5 to 4 hours. He is still managing to pee huge puddles in between when he goes out.
 
#3 ·
The divider does help but you got to get the pup out in the middle of the night. At 9 weeks they can't hold it all night.

I kept my rain boots (Russ came home during the rainy spring season) jacket, flashlight & leash by the door so it was easy to get him out fast. When I heard him to stirring around out we went. Honestly just a few weeks of this and he was house trained. German Shepherd pups are easy to house train as long as we are consistent.

Glad you ditched the pee/poop pads:)
 
#6 ·
I agree with Courtney, I'm a light sleeper so Delgado learned in the first few days that if he whimpered it would wake me up and I would immediately take him outside. Everything was at the foot of the bed so I would just scoop him up, take him out on a leash and once he did his business he was picked up again and placed back in the crate. No talking or fuss, just out and then in. Some times he would go out twice in an hour, sometimes it was 6 hours before he asked to go out.

Some nights he went out only once, others he might be out 3 times. I just went with what he needed that night. One thing I found that helped was always making sure he had a good run before bed and a long bathroom break, then a small treat and tiny drink of water and it was bedtime. He was tired, not hungry or thirsty, and did his business so very quickly we were down to maybe one trip per night and then he was sleeping through the night each time

Oh and the crate I bought was missing the divider, I simply made a homemade one. You can use either metal or wood (pretty much anything that they won't chew easily) to block off a portion of the crate
 
#8 ·
I bit the bullet and went and bought a second smaller crate to put in my room. I lucked out because PetSmart is having a memorial day sale, so it was half off!! He fits in it great and still some room for growing. I'm hoping having it in my room will make it easier for me to catch when he needs to go out at night.
 
#10 ·
Riley was 8 weeks when we got him and I was up most of the night taking him out for quite a while. Riley slept in the bed with us, so I knew when he needed to go out. He would usually move around or start nuzzling me.

Kaleb was 3 months when we got him. I would still need to get up once or twice during the night. Kaleb was crate trained. He is also a very vocal dog. There were no doubts when he needed to go out...;)
 
#11 ·
Just wanted to update, last night was fantastic!! The new crate is perfect, I let him out twice during the night and he slept without making a peep. Like someone else said I knew it was time to go out when he started moving around enough to wake me up. At one point he made it 3.5 hours without needing to go out so that was pretty impressive.
 
#12 ·
Good news! :happyboogie: Hopefully he'll be sleeping through the night shortly :)
 
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