House breaking at night... HELP!!!!! - YorkieTalk.com Forums

beachluvn2 · 03-25-2011, 07:56 AM

My 3 yr old yorkie does great during the day with no accidents but at night is another story! Every morning when I get up my yorkie has gone potty in the house. He knows that its bad because he crouches an walks off as soon as I see it. I have tried everything. getting up twice a night to let him out didn't work. If I put him in his kennel at night, he either goes potty in the kennel or "cries wolf" all night long to the point that I am getting up a million times a night for nothing but him wanting attention. I am grossed out by the thought of him going on the floor and tired of cleaning it up but I am more tired from the lack of sleep I am getting from kenneling him (and still end up cleaning up poop). If anyone has any ideas please help! He's a great dog during the day!

Maximo · 03-25-2011, 09:16 AM

Welcome to YorkieTalk.

Is he pooping at night in the house, or pooping and peeing?

If you don't already, keep your boy on a good schedule for meals and activities. Do everything at the same time each day and this should help regulate him physically and mentally so that his need to poop comes during waking hours. Walking and vigorous exercise also helps.

My younger boy is thin and has a fast system, so he poops more than my older boy. Teddy often goes late in the evening, 11 pm, and then he has to go again early in the morning, 6:30 am. He is trained to wake me up because I usually don't get up that early. Teddy does this even when he has pooped in the afternoon. It could be that your boy has similar needs, that he can't go too long overnight without a potty break.

Rather than getting up several times a night, try the schedule, wear out your pup before bed time and take him to potty, then try getting up earlier than what you normally do. Make it clear that getting up early for potty isn't playtime. I stumble around, praise for good potty, and take Teddy back to bed to cuddle.

dawn27 · 03-25-2011, 09:39 AM

Mine are on a strict feeding schedule... no food after 6pm. given them plenty of time from then til bedtime (11-12pm) to clean out their system. Than up at 6am and out they go!

RachelandSadie · 03-25-2011, 01:49 PM

First of all welcome to YT.

Crate training is the most preferred method of eliminating pee/poop when you are not actively supervising the dog. However, if your dog was born or grew up in an environment that it was forced to pee/poop in his/her kennel then you are working in a whole new situation. Potty training a dog that is used to soiling their own bedding and crate surroundings is going to be a challenge. This is why we strongly suggest avoiding pet store or puppy mill dogs or even backyard breeding (not saying your puppy is one, just educating general public too). Dogs that are forced to pee/poo in their bed/crate are harder to train because the instint to never eliminate on themselves or their bedding is GONE. Now you have to back track and help them learn that it's not fun to soil their surroundings.

The best thing I can advise is to try to put a gate up in your bathroom or kitchen so that the pup is on a tiled surface and not carpets. Cover the entire floor in pee pads either washable (Tbumpkins and Co. 107Barney) or disposable. As the puppy learns to use those pads to potty on you eventually start to remove one pad at a time until the pup learns to go on only that last pad left. This teaches that at night when you are sleeping that the puppy has a place that is appropriate to pee/poop rather than the floor.

The other option is to sleep with your puppy in your bed. You will always know when they have to go potty because they will wake you up when they are awake. Puppy will be more relaxed at night sleeping right beside you and will usually wake you up to go. We also use a bell by our bedroom door and by our backdoor that our dogs learned to ring when they need outside. My dogs will sleep through an entire night with rare potty breaks, but when they do need one they jump down off the bed, which we wake up and hear them, and sometimes ring the bell to go outside in the night. I learned early on that Bentley would poop in his crate and roll in it. He had seperation anxiety and wouldn't sleep alone. We gave in and he now sleeps with us in bed and has never had a night accident since. He's more relaxed to sleep with us than alone in a cold crate. Also he whined all night long befoer and now he doesn't.

For the whining if you decide to use the kitchen/bathroom gating thing with pee pads, you will just have to grow thick skin and not give into the whining. After a few nights the whining should stop. How old is the baby? Baby dogs are like baby humans. They will sometimes have to cry themselves to sleep. I am a push over dog mommy that lets my dogs in bed with me because it's hard to resist those whines, but some mom's have to get tough and go a week or more without sleep while they get the new baby pup used to sleepign on it's own away from momma.

hope some of that makes sense and helps.

RachelandSadie · 03-25-2011, 02:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by beachluvn2

My 3 yr old yorkie does great during the day with no accidents but at night is another story! Every morning when I get up my yorkie has gone potty in the house. He knows that its bad because he crouches an walks off as soon as I see it. I have tried everything. getting up twice a night to let him out didn't work. If I put him in his kennel at night, he either goes potty in the kennel or "cries wolf" all night long to the point that I am getting up a million times a night for nothing but him wanting attention. I am grossed out by the thought of him going on the floor and tired of cleaning it up but I am more tired from the lack of sleep I am getting from kenneling him (and still end up cleaning up poop). If anyone has any ideas please help! He's a great dog during the day!

Also dogs have no idea what shame is. Dogs do not have those types of human emotions. They don't know that you are mad at them for something that happened five minutes ago let alone several hours ago. Punishing a dog that has an accident doesn't work because a dog has no idea why you are mad at them. If you are yelling or upset the dog is crouching because he is afraid of you not because they are ashamed of anything. Good luck with training. Be patient and kind. Reward and praise when the pup goes where it's supposed to and do nothing at all when the pup has an accident. Accidents are human error that we are not communicating the right techniques to the dog. It's not the dog's fault that we are incapable of understanding their needs or that we are not getting them outside on time. Blame yourself for accidents and never the dog and the pup will learn lots faster and both will be happier.

ziggy925 · 03-30-2011, 08:57 PM

If I keep a very tight schedule Ruger is fine, but sometimes I like to sleep a little later so I put down some pee pads and he uses them. It's not perfect, but it's a great compromise.

03-25-2011, 07:56 AM	#1
beachluvn2 YorkieTalk Newbie! Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: New Bern, NC, USA Posts: 1	House breaking at night... HELP!!!!! My 3 yr old yorkie does great during the day with no accidents but at night is another story! Every morning when I get up my yorkie has gone potty in the house. He knows that its bad because he crouches an walks off as soon as I see it. I have tried everything. getting up twice a night to let him out didn't work. If I put him in his kennel at night, he either goes potty in the kennel or "cries wolf" all night long to the point that I am getting up a million times a night for nothing but him wanting attention. I am grossed out by the thought of him going on the floor and tired of cleaning it up but I am more tired from the lack of sleep I am getting from kenneling him (and still end up cleaning up poop). If anyone has any ideas please help! He's a great dog during the day!

03-25-2011, 09:16 AM	#2
Maximo ♥ Maximo and Teddy Donating Member Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Northern Virginia Posts: 25,041	Welcome to YorkieTalk. Is he pooping at night in the house, or pooping and peeing? If you don't already, keep your boy on a good schedule for meals and activities. Do everything at the same time each day and this should help regulate him physically and mentally so that his need to poop comes during waking hours. Walking and vigorous exercise also helps. My younger boy is thin and has a fast system, so he poops more than my older boy. Teddy often goes late in the evening, 11 pm, and then he has to go again early in the morning, 6:30 am. He is trained to wake me up because I usually don't get up that early. Teddy does this even when he has pooped in the afternoon. It could be that your boy has similar needs, that he can't go too long overnight without a potty break. Rather than getting up several times a night, try the schedule, wear out your pup before bed time and take him to potty, then try getting up earlier than what you normally do. Make it clear that getting up early for potty isn't playtime. I stumble around, praise for good potty, and take Teddy back to bed to cuddle. __________________ Kristin, Max and Teddy

03-25-2011, 09:39 AM	#3
dawn27 2+2=4 X the Love ♥ Donating Member Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Bean Town Ohio Posts: 9,456 Blog Entries: 1	Mine are on a strict feeding schedule... no food after 6pm. given them plenty of time from then til bedtime (11-12pm) to clean out their system. Than up at 6am and out they go! __________________ Mommy to: Quincy, & Ruby Bella / Miah & Brandi Gone but Never Forgotten Visit: Bella Dawns for all of your Custom Pet Wear needs.

03-25-2011, 01:49 PM	#4
RachelandSadie No Longer a Member Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Kansas City, MO Posts: 5,748	First of all welcome to YT. Crate training is the most preferred method of eliminating pee/poop when you are not actively supervising the dog. However, if your dog was born or grew up in an environment that it was forced to pee/poop in his/her kennel then you are working in a whole new situation. Potty training a dog that is used to soiling their own bedding and crate surroundings is going to be a challenge. This is why we strongly suggest avoiding pet store or puppy mill dogs or even backyard breeding (not saying your puppy is one, just educating general public too). Dogs that are forced to pee/poo in their bed/crate are harder to train because the instint to never eliminate on themselves or their bedding is GONE. Now you have to back track and help them learn that it's not fun to soil their surroundings. The best thing I can advise is to try to put a gate up in your bathroom or kitchen so that the pup is on a tiled surface and not carpets. Cover the entire floor in pee pads either washable (Tbumpkins and Co. 107Barney) or disposable. As the puppy learns to use those pads to potty on you eventually start to remove one pad at a time until the pup learns to go on only that last pad left. This teaches that at night when you are sleeping that the puppy has a place that is appropriate to pee/poop rather than the floor. The other option is to sleep with your puppy in your bed. You will always know when they have to go potty because they will wake you up when they are awake. Puppy will be more relaxed at night sleeping right beside you and will usually wake you up to go. We also use a bell by our bedroom door and by our backdoor that our dogs learned to ring when they need outside. My dogs will sleep through an entire night with rare potty breaks, but when they do need one they jump down off the bed, which we wake up and hear them, and sometimes ring the bell to go outside in the night. I learned early on that Bentley would poop in his crate and roll in it. He had seperation anxiety and wouldn't sleep alone. We gave in and he now sleeps with us in bed and has never had a night accident since. He's more relaxed to sleep with us than alone in a cold crate. Also he whined all night long befoer and now he doesn't. For the whining if you decide to use the kitchen/bathroom gating thing with pee pads, you will just have to grow thick skin and not give into the whining. After a few nights the whining should stop. How old is the baby? Baby dogs are like baby humans. They will sometimes have to cry themselves to sleep. I am a push over dog mommy that lets my dogs in bed with me because it's hard to resist those whines, but some mom's have to get tough and go a week or more without sleep while they get the new baby pup used to sleepign on it's own away from momma. hope some of that makes sense and helps.

03-30-2011, 08:57 PM	#6
ziggy925 YT 500 Club Member Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Aspen, CO, US Posts: 544	If I keep a very tight schedule Ruger is fine, but sometimes I like to sleep a little later so I put down some pee pads and he uses them. It's not perfect, but it's a great compromise.