I may be expecting too much out of Venus

[Bnot]

Venus is now 3 months old. I made an x-pen for her, and put put it in the kitchen, and put her crate in it. She used her crate as a ladder to crawl out of it at night. So I took the crate out of the pen. She uses the pee pads for both functions while in the pen. She also will fall asleep in the pen, but when I wake, she's escaped it again. I have a piece of plywood in the kitchen doorway to at least keep her in the kitchen tiled area.

I put a pee pad in the kitchen, out of her crate, so when she crawls out in the middle of the night, she'll have one out to go on. She won't use that one. She continutes to go on the floor, anywhere, after her escape every night.

She's also a screamer! Wakes me up almost every morning from 1am-5am. If I get up and pet her a few minutes, she'll quieten down, and I go back to sleep. Sometime after that, is when she crawls out of the pen again. Then she messes up the floor, with a pee pad out and ready for her to use.

Also, I've tried taking her food away 3 hours before bedtime, and she will still poop 2-3 times at night! Seems to be the only time she poops is in the middle of the night!

You'd think that if she's using her pee pad in the pen, she'd use the one thats out of the pen! But she won't.

Am I expecting too much for 3 months old?

[chachi]

Shes still pretty young. I outside trained mine but they werent trained untill 8 months

[gutu28]

Try putting her crate in your room, ona chair next to your bed.
This is what I did with Cali..I would just stick my fingers through the crate if she started to cry.

I had an expen with pee pad at one end and her toys, food, bed, water, etc.
I watched her like a hawk if she was out..when I was home, she was out of the expen unless she was in trouble.
When I left she was in the xpen.
If she ever had an accident, she would go in the xpen and get to come out until she went on the pee pad.
It was funny..she'd go a little bitty drop cause she knew if she peed on the pad, she was out! haha
I put a pad down in the living room, and in the hall..she tends to go in one spot, so I just put a pad down there..

I got her at 10.5 weeks..we were 95% by about 4.5-5 months.
Now, at almost 7, she's 100%!

[Gingergirlsmom]

There's a lot of good advice on crate training on this forum. Just do a search. There are even some links to some good info about ct.

I would think any 3 mos. puppy with room to roam would still be having accidents on the floor. That's still really young.

[Suzy]

I COMPLETELY understand your frustration. We had LOTS of issues with Emma, including potty training, screaming, and separation anxiety. The good news is, there is a light at the end of the tunnel! It was strange, once she hit the 12-14 week age, all of the sudden she "got it"! She is now 95% potty trained (pee pads for both #1 & #2), she will sleep through the night most of the time, and has learned to be quiet most of the time when she's home alone.

She staying in an x-pen during the day-my husband and I both work 8-5, but I come home at lunch and let her out to play and snuggle for an hour. Her pen has her pee pad, bed, blanket, toys, and water in it, and she feels safe in there. She actually freaks if we leave and DON'T put her in the pen.

We also turn on Baby Beethoven CD's on repeat for her most the time when we leave. I got the idea from a friend who used them on her dog during thunderstorms. Now, when we turn it on, it's her cue that it's time for "Bye-Bye", and she understands we'll be back. You might try this at night-who knows, it COULD work, and it's actually soothing to adults too

Another idea-Emma used to climb on the crate too and we realized she could get out, so we took it out of the pen. (She was never successful though) You might try putting an old bedsheet over the top and some sides of the pen so it becomes a little den for her (make sure she can still see out), and maybe she'll settle and sleep in there. You might need to tie it down for awhile until she gets used to it.

As far as potty training at night-have you tried putting a pad in there with her that she's already "gone" on once or twice? Emma used to get confused when she'd wake in the middle of the night, and stagger off to pee wherever. Once we left the pad that already "smelled" in there, she was much better about using it.

Hope some of these ideas help with your difficult one. I promise you she'll outgrow this and move onto bigger, more mischevious things

[kalina82]

i would put her in a crate and not give her so much room at night. crate training makes house breaking so much easier

[Bnot]

Thanks for the tips you all, will try some of these.

The crate I got, is way too big to sit in a chair, in my bedroom. It will fit on the floor by my bed, but then she keeps me up all night whining. She screams loud enough to wake me from the kitchen to the bedroom, at least 1 time every night anyway.

Strange though when she's in the pen, she's using the pee pads.

After the great escape at night, she uses the floor. I have pee pads in and out of the pen.

Today, I see where she's finally used the pee pad thats not in the crate! But then after that, I also found another puddle, lol. One step forward, one back.

Will probably wear my mop out before I get her trained! LOL But seems I can see a light at the end of the tunnel, and its not a train!

I just can't catch her in the act of climbing out of the pen. She's smart enough to do this when I'm asleep.

I'll get through this somehow! Just aggitating at times to see her use it once or twice, then puddle on the floor the 3rd time.

She's not dumb by no means, and I'm sure she'll get it, in time. She's still just 3 months old.

[keri1973]

i keep harley in his crate by my bed on the floor at nite too. for the first couple nites he would whine some but then i just telling him "hush harley" in a stern voice and would kind of hit the side of the cage and now he is quiet all nite long. he will get up and poop and pee and eat during the nite and i dont hear a peep out of him....