[chevysmom]

Shya is just over 9 weeks old now and we are still dealing with potty issues with her, espcially in the crate. I have her crate divided off so there isn't a huge space for her, just enough to sleep comfortably, turn around, stretch out, etc. When she wakes up, she makes a tiny whimper sound and then pees. Sometimes she does this in the middle of the night and then sleeps right in the urine so I have to give her a bath first thing in the morning. Arg! She used to whimper and cry quite loudly when she wanted out and she still does but not all the time. Chevy never peed in his crate. I don't know how to curb this behavior. Any advise or tips??

 

[tracyc]

Sounds like she just needs to go out more often. The key times when most puppies have to pee are: upon waking up (big one!), after eating, drinking, or playing.

9 weeks is sooooo little. She'll get it! You might have to get up once during the night to let her out for a week or so. Set your alarm and get up at 2:00 for a pee break...then 2:30, then 3:00, etc. until you make it through the night.

Also--limit water after 7 or 8 in the evening. what goes in must come out...

good luck.

 

[pupresq]

I realize this might sound counterintuitive but if letting her out more often doesn't do the trick, I'd stop using the crate in the same manner so that she doesn't become used to sleeping in soiled bedding.

I don't know why some dogs do this but I've found that when it becomes a habit (as it sounds like is happening) and their natural aversion to going potty where they sleep gets eroded it becomes extremely difficult to get it back which is a big pain because you've got a larger and larger dog who will still pee in their crate - or at least, won't try very hard to hold it.

Not sure what your set up is like but since she's so little, I'd suggest setting up a little "play yard" outside her crate by having it open into an x-pen and putting papers or several pee pads in the pen part. You might put the whole thing (crate plus pen) over a heavy duty contractor's tarp to protect the floor and avoid any residual scents being left there.

Newspaper/pee pad training is never my first choice because it can make housebreaking take a little longer but I think it's definitely preferable to having a dog who gets used to going potty in her crate.

 

[pupresq]

Just wanted to clarify - I'd try Tracy's idea first. Only go to the pee pads if that doesn't work.

We use the set up I mentioned to retrain dogs from mills and other situations where they've become used to soiling their crates and bedding and it works pretty well but going outside is always the best when it's possible.

 

[Kayla's Dad]

How solid is the time she is waking up. Is it around the same time each day or different times.

Not much different that up Tracy said:
If solid, set yourself to wake up prior to that time and taking her out. If may be easier to set the time for her to go potty and then extending that time.

One thing I'm doing with Lancer (he's 9 weeks tomorrow) is maintaining a log to track his potty times in relation to his meals, sleep periods, etc. So far, I've been able to get up before he does in the morning and have been extending that time A bit each day.

 

[chevysmom]

She doesn't really have a set time of getting up though that would be ideal. Chevy has almost always been 7am to get up and potty and has always let us know when he had to go out.

If I set my alarm in the middle of the night and she is sleeping, should I wake her up to go potty? I am definatly going to limit the water after a certain time. Thanks for all the tips!

 

[3K9Mom]

If this continues, I'd take her to the vet. My pup "wet the bed" the first two nights I had her, even in her tiny little crate. I brought her in and she had a urinary tract infection. Puppies with UTIs need to urinate more frequently, and my vet says that if the UTI is bad enough, they'll just sleep through it all because they're just dribbling a little each time. But by morning, they're soaking wet.

Now that we've gone the whole course of antibiotics, she's sleeping from her last potty break at about 11:30pm until about 5:30-6am. Whew! She's only 10 weeks old; I'm thrilled!

And yes, if I wake up in the middle of the night and my pup is asleep, I go ahead and bring her out to her potty place and let her give it a try. We want our dogs to learn to potty when we want them to, not to wait until the last second (which is usually what happens. They wake up full bladder and whining like they're going to explode). I bring my pup out, she's yawning the whole way (so very cute!). She potties (she always manages to pee, and sometimes poop) and I bring her back to bed. She settles down immediately and is back to sleep within about a minute.

The big kids come out with me too, and they potty as well. It's nice family time!