Hello,

And thank you for your services. I appreciate you being here for me!

I found you through Facebook, somebody recommended your link. I thought I would check it out. I am from Illinois, where we lock up our politicians.

First of all this is our fourth dog as a married couple. Each of us has had dogs before. This is our second Wire Fox Terrier that we are trying to crate train. The issue is, I thought dogs would not soil their own beds. Magic, our 10 week old puppy dog, has a crate covered with an old sheet, a heater to keep the room warm, an appropriate sized plastic box that has a clean towel/rag in it, for comfort. We recognize the fact that puppies are going through a difficult transition period. We let her outside to relieve herself before bedtime. The water has been removed at 7pm. She is exercised before bed, good idea about keeping her up before bedtime though, I will remember that. But in the morning I would expect some soiling in the cage, but her bed has always been wet, and twice I have found feces there as well. There has been feces in the cage area in the past.

We wash down her cage and her bed with 3/1 Vinegar. We change her bedding each time. What can we do? We have never put any of our dogs in our bedroom, especially un-crated. This dog loves to bolt to the carpet area to relieve herself.

Thank you for your time and consideration in your suggestions.

Paul

 

Hello Paul,

 Nice to meet you!  At 10 weeks old your puppy is not capable of staying dry from night through morning.  You will need to bring them outside every 2 hours at this age to eliminate.  Having a puppy at this age is a lot like having a newborn baby that you have to get up and change their diapers for!  It can be a lot of work but it will be worth it in the end.  If you do not get up and teach the dog to soil their bed that can be a problem later and they may never stop doing it.  So how long do you have to do this?  For every month of age add one hour….so if your puppy is 2 months old they can go about 2-3 hours before needing to go outside to eliminate.  So it won’t be until your puppy is about 6 months old before they can go about 6-7 hours at night.  I know this is tough news if you like your long sleep at night!  But, it has to be done, so take shifts with your wife.  Pick the puppy up, bring them to eliminate, praise when they eliminate and put them back to sleep…don’t play at this time…just do their business and go back to sleep.  Time will pass quickly and soon you will be through this difficult puppy stage!

 Good luck!

 All the best,

Julie

 

Julie,

Thank you for your reply. Yes, it looks like the inevitable. Shift work like when we had our child to bring up at night. oye, we thought that that was over. Oh, well the Joys of puppy hood :0

Paul