Okay, I'm pretty mad at myself here. I was operating under two basic
assumptions: First, that a puppy would not "go" in his crate unless he had
no other choice, and second, that he would indicate any distress through
whining. I figure the second assumption is the one that got me in trouble.

Here's the deal: When I last housetrained a puppy, 14 years ago, she was in
a crate in my room at night. At some point she'd start whining, and I'd
take her out, being very quiet and making sure not to turn it into a play
session, and then I'd take her back inside as soon as she'd done her
business and put her back in her crate until morning. She was 12 weeks old
when I got her, and it didn't take her long at all to start sleeping through
the night.

My new puppy is only 9 weeks old now. The first few nights, he didn't start
whining until pretty late -- oh, say 4:30am or so. I'd take him out, and it
would be 20 minutes at least before he did his business. That alone
confused me, as logic would dictate that he should really need to go badly
by that point! Yesterday he didn't start whining until 5:30, and when I let
him out, I realized there was an odor. I pulled out his puppy blanket, and
found he'd urinated on it -- we'd had the blanket out every day, so I'm sure
this is the first day it happened. Aargh!

Okay, so my first inclination was not to give him his blanket last night,
thinking that having something absorbent in there with him was the problem.
This morning he didn't start whining until 6am. I came down to get him, and
could smell it as soon as I opened the door. With nothing to absorb it
except Lexi himself, he was soaked! I did take him out, but of course there
was nothing left for him to do. So, he started his day today with a bath.

So, now what? I'm assuming that I will need to set an alarm and let him out
at, what, 2 or 3 am? When I crate him again in the middle of the night
without playing with him to tire him out, he doesn't settle back down for a
couple of hours. I can't have him whining for that long in the house as he
will wake everyone up. I could put the crate in the garage, but well, I
hate doing that.

The thing that really worries me is that now I'm just screwed. That he
already has it in his head that the crate is a place to pee, and he'll have
no reason now to even try to hold it.

Any advice?

Bizby

On Fri, 22 Jul 2005 07:02:38 -0400, "bizby40" ,
clicked their heels and said:

When I last housetrained a puppy, 14 years ago, she was in
a crate in my room at night.

My new puppy is only 9 weeks old now. ........snip I came down to get him,


Why isn't he in your room?


--
Janet B
www.bestfriendsdogobedience.com
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/bestfr...bedience/album

How big is the crate? The rule of thumb I was taught was that there should
be *just* enough room in the crate for the puppy to stand up and turn
around: anything larger is too large.

When Macula was an itty-bitty puppy, we had the back of the crate blocked
off by a cardboard box, making it about 1/3 it's original size. As she
grew, we collapsed the box to give her more room.

Marie

"bizby40" wrote in message
...
Okay, I'm pretty mad at myself here. I was operating under two basic
assumptions: First, that a puppy would not "go" in his crate unless he
had no other choice, and second, that he would indicate any distress
through whining. I figure the second assumption is the one that got me in
trouble.

Here's the deal: When I last housetrained a puppy, 14 years ago, she was
in a crate in my room at night. At some point she'd start whining, and
I'd take her out, being very quiet and making sure not to turn it into a
play session, and then I'd take her back inside as soon as she'd done her
business and put her back in her crate until morning. She was 12 weeks
old when I got her, and it didn't take her long at all to start sleeping
through the night.

My new puppy is only 9 weeks old now. The first few nights, he didn't
start whining until pretty late -- oh, say 4:30am or so. I'd take him
out, and it would be 20 minutes at least before he did his business. That
alone confused me, as logic would dictate that he should really need to go
badly by that point! Yesterday he didn't start whining until 5:30, and
when I let him out, I realized there was an odor. I pulled out his puppy
blanket, and found he'd urinated on it -- we'd had the blanket out every
day, so I'm sure this is the first day it happened. Aargh!

Okay, so my first inclination was not to give him his blanket last night,
thinking that having something absorbent in there with him was the
problem. This morning he didn't start whining until 6am. I came down to
get him, and could smell it as soon as I opened the door. With nothing to
absorb it except Lexi himself, he was soaked! I did take him out, but of
course there was nothing left for him to do. So, he started his day today
with a bath.

So, now what? I'm assuming that I will need to set an alarm and let him
out at, what, 2 or 3 am? When I crate him again in the middle of the
night without playing with him to tire him out, he doesn't settle back
down for a couple of hours. I can't have him whining for that long in the
house as he will wake everyone up. I could put the crate in the garage,
but well, I hate doing that.

The thing that really worries me is that now I'm just screwed. That he
already has it in his head that the crate is a place to pee, and he'll
have no reason now to even try to hold it.

Any advice?

Bizby

"bizby40" wrote in
:

[]
Any advice?

Bizby

Yes.

1. Ditch the bedding from the crate, after cleaning it completely with a
good enzyme cleaner.

2. Put the crate back in your bedroom, where it belongs (at least until
he's reliably house-trained).

3. Stop giving your pup access to water after 7:00 pm.

4. Take your pup outside to "go" at least twice after his last drink,
three times is even better (make absolutely certain that his bladder is
empty before putting him back in the crate that last time).

5. Set your alarm for midway through the night (between when you put him
in his crate for the last time and when you get up to let him out in the
morning) and get up and take him outside to "go." DO NOT PLAY WITH THE
PUPPY! Give him roughly 5 minutes to "go," always using the same cue,
e.g., "Hurry up!" etc. Praise him when he "goes."

6. Bring him back inside and put him inside his crate. DO NOT PLAY WITH
THE PUPPY!

7. Go back to sleep.

When he's about 4 months old, you can start to reconsider if it's really
necessary to get up and let him outside in the middle of the night. That
is, he should be able to hold it throughout an entire night by then.
This of course varies somewhat by dog, breed, etc.

PS: If you regulate his input, you'll also be regulating his output. SO
PAY ATTENTION! STICK TO A SCHEDULE! So there's no reason to succumb to
his whining in his crate. Go to sleep at approximately the same time
every night (yes, even on week-ends) and get up at approximately the same
time each morning.


--
Handsome Jack Morrison
*gently remove the detonator to send me e-mail

"Janet B" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 22 Jul 2005 07:02:38 -0400, "bizby40" ,
clicked their heels and said:

When I last housetrained a puppy, 14 years ago, she was in
a crate in my room at night.

My new puppy is only 9 weeks old now. ........snip I came down to get
him,


Why isn't he in your room?

Because my husband is in my room. It's okay if he whines and
then I get up and take him out. But it's not okay if he then whines
for the next two hours after I put him back. I'm not sure how
to get him to stop doing that.

Bizby

"Handsome Jack Morrison"
wrote in message ...
1. Ditch the bedding from the crate, after cleaning it completely with a
good enzyme cleaner.

Okay.

2. Put the crate back in your bedroom, where it belongs (at least until
he's reliably house-trained).

I just don't know how I can do that if he is going to whine for a
long time after I put him back in his crate. I can nap some during
the day when he's tired, but my husband has to work all day.

3. Stop giving your pup access to water after 7:00 pm.

Okay.

4. Take your pup outside to "go" at least twice after his last drink,
three times is even better (make absolutely certain that his bladder is
empty before putting him back in the crate that last time).

Okay.

5. Set your alarm for midway through the night (between when you put him
in his crate for the last time and when you get up to let him out in the
morning) and get up and take him outside to "go." DO NOT PLAY WITH THE
PUPPY! Give him roughly 5 minutes to "go," always using the same cue,
e.g., "Hurry up!" etc. Praise him when he "goes."

Okay. And if he doesn't go in that five minutes? Do I put him back in
until morning? He seems to have a need to sniff around for a while before
going.

6. Bring him back inside and put him inside his crate. DO NOT PLAY WITH
THE PUPPY!

Yes, that I've been doing. The reference in the first post was not
to indicate that I had been playing with him at night, but that a good
play session during the day would tire him out, and since I'm not
doing that at night, he's wide awake when he goes back in and
I assume that's why he's been whining.

7. Go back to sleep.

lol -- I can try.

When he's about 4 months old, you can start to reconsider if it's really
necessary to get up and let him outside in the middle of the night. That
is, he should be able to hold it throughout an entire night by then.
This of course varies somewhat by dog, breed, etc.

okay.

PS: If you regulate his input, you'll also be regulating his output. SO
PAY ATTENTION! STICK TO A SCHEDULE! So there's no reason to succumb to
his whining in his crate. Go to sleep at approximately the same time
every night (yes, even on week-ends) and get up at approximately the same
time each morning.

Thanks for the advice!

Bizby

On Fri, 22 Jul 2005 09:47:07 -0400, "bizby40"
wrote:


"Janet B" wrote in message
.. .
On Fri, 22 Jul 2005 07:02:38 -0400, "bizby40" ,
clicked their heels and said:

When I last housetrained a puppy, 14 years ago, she was in
a crate in my room at night.

My new puppy is only 9 weeks old now. ........snip I came down to get
him,


Why isn't he in your room?

Because my husband is in my room. It's okay if he whines and
then I get up and take him out. But it's not okay if he then whines
for the next two hours after I put him back. I'm not sure how
to get him to stop doing that.

If you don't have the pup in the room with you, you're not going to
know when he gets up and starts moving around - - a sign of impending
urination or defecation. Your husband doesn't like being in the same
room with dogs?

Mustang Sally

"sighthounds & siberians" wrote in message
news
On Fri, 22 Jul 2005 09:47:07 -0400, "bizby40"
wrote:
Because my husband is in my room. It's okay if he whines and
then I get up and take him out. But it's not okay if he then whines
for the next two hours after I put him back. I'm not sure how
to get him to stop doing that.

If you don't have the pup in the room with you, you're not going to
know when he gets up and starts moving around - - a sign of impending
urination or defecation. Your husband doesn't like being in the same
room with dogs?

My husband is not crazy about dogs. He doesn't mind them in the
same room, but doesn't want them keeping him awake. If I must
be in the same room as the puppy, I'm either going to have to move
my hubby out, or sleep downstairs with the puppy.

Bizby

"bizby40" wrote in
:

[]
5. Set your alarm for midway through the night (between when you put
him in his crate for the last time and when you get up to let him out
in the morning) and get up and take him outside to "go." DO NOT PLAY
WITH THE PUPPY! Give him roughly 5 minutes to "go," always using the
same cue, e.g., "Hurry up!" etc. Praise him when he "goes."

Okay. And if he doesn't go in that five minutes? Do I put him back
in until morning?


Yes. Take him out to the same spot each time, where he'll always find
previous "tokens" of his outside visits.

Use the cue term religiously and repeatedly -- it will help to signal him
to "go."


6. Bring him back inside and put him inside his crate. DO NOT PLAY
WITH THE PUPPY!

Yes, that I've been doing. The reference in the first post was not
to indicate that I had been playing with him at night, but that a good
play session during the day would tire him out, and since I'm not
doing that at night, he's wide awake when he goes back in and
I assume that's why he's been whining.


He's probably been whining to get you to let him out of the crate. He's
been training you very well; not it's time to train him.

If you've been doing *your* job correctly, there can be no other reason
for his whining. His bladder is essentially empty, etc.

Yes, your husband may have to listen to a little whining for a few nights
(because you've been TRAINING him to whine). If you keep letting the
puppy out when he's whining (reinforcing the whining), your husband is
going to have to listen to the whining indefinitely. Raising puppies,
children, etc. sometimes require sacrifices.

Either you're willing to make them, or you're not.

The same goes for your husband.

Tell him to think of the old Fram oil filter commercial:

"You can pay me now, or you can pay me later."


--
Handsome Jack Morrison
*gently remove the detonator to send me e-mail

In article ,
bizby40 wrote:
My husband is not crazy about dogs. He doesn't mind them in the
same room, but doesn't want them keeping him awake.

Human sleep disruption is one of the big disadvantages of
getting a puppy instead of an adult dog. It pretty much
comes with the territory, It does end, however, and
probably sooner than you think. In the meantime, the effort
you put into housetraining now, into teaching him that
whining doesn't bring a big payoff, and so on will help him
become a better pet as he matures. It's worth it.
--
Melinda Shore - Software longa, hardware brevis -

Average real weekly wages are lower today than they
were at the end of the 2001 recession.