Housetraining

[JRs4eva]

Hi. I'm a 17-year-old student and live with my mum, dad and younger brother. We have two dogs, one is 5 and one is about 18 months. We got the younger dog, Titch, when she was five or six months old. The people who owned her had been keeping her in a stable with a couple of other puppies. She's a really obediant, affectionate dog, lovely in every way but for some reason we just can't get her to be clean at night. She never messes during the day, even when we go out, but at night she almost always has an accident. Sometimes it stops for a few days, but it always starts again. We know that the older dog, Chyna, is perfectly housetrained and she actually gets quite stressed when Titch messes, because they sleep in the same room.
Titch sleeps in a dog crate, Chyna has free run of the house at night. We've tried letting Titch out to sleep in the house and we've also tried making the crate smaller so she has no room to move away from the mess, but nothing works. We have a garden and let the dogs out at night at around half eleven. My mum gets up at half six and lets the dogs back out.
I tried to teach her to eliminate on command, but she just cowers at the word. If anyone goes outside with her at night, she walks to heel with them and refuses to do anything else. Sometimes there is a cat or hedgehog in the garden and she won't go at all... I'd be really grateful for any advice.

[Moo]

In one word... CRATE

Here's our extended thread on Housebreaking...
http://www.prodoggroomingsupplies.co...ead.php?t=1902

[Dax]

Do you feed once or twice a day? I would try feeding twice (once first thing in am and the final meal around 3 pm) No treats or food after 3pm. I am making the assumption that mess means poo.

Continue with the other things you are doing (crating at night, 11 pm outings, etc) It might take some time. Don't be afraid to make sure the dog knows that the mess is not to your liking. "WHAT IS THIS.. BAD DOG" is perfectly acceptable but no rubbing or physical correction. Praise every time the dog eliminates outside.

[Moo]

Sorry, was in a rush this morning... How long are nights? Mine has always slept from 1 AM - 7 AM, (last person awake at night to first person awake in morning) never had any problems as a pup in a crate. If the crate is minimal in size, she'll sleep in her own messes?

[erdog3]

I too would have to agree with Dax here (another of those rare occasions Dax. lol)
Give your last feed earlier in the afternoon rather than later, allow at least an hour then some exercise. It not only burns the calories, but allows the food to pass through. Then a last pit stop at night, then into the crate..See how you go, if it isn't working in a few days write back in, we'll have to delve deeper.
Cheers Ellierat.

[JRs4eva]

Thankyou, all of you, for all your help and advice. At the moment they both get fed once a day at about half six in the evening... We'll try feeding earlier.
The nights are from around 11:30 to 6:00am. We've never hit her or anything, but she's VERY responsive to the word 'no'! (I guess she's just a timid dog). And, yeah, if we make the crate smaller she literally will just go to sleep in the mess she's made. Sometimes she urinates too, so would it be worth taking up the water? I'm not too crazy about denying the dogs a drink from 3pm until six the next day!

[erdog3]

You can remove the water a little later on, say by 9pm, then when she is let out for her last pit stop she should pee then.