Peeing in crate during the night

[Puji]

I have a related question. Do you let your pup tell you when it needs to pee at night (by whining), or do you decide to get them up at a certain time and take them out?

Charlie always slept right through the night, even as a very young pup - he would wake up between 4am and 6am. We didn't crate him back then. He'd sleep in an old laundry basket in our bedroom. We knew he'd be awake because he'd start chewing his bones (or the basket) really loudly, or he'd come over and try to find us. So we'd take him out, and then try to get him to rest a little more. Usually he'd just want to start the day, though. Nowadays, at 15 months, he sleeps in his crate and doesn't wake up till around 8am (though we've been getting him up earlier since we got Lexi).

Lexi - our 14 week old - usually sleeps through the night. She goes to bed (in her crate) around 9pm after a last-minute pee. A few times she has woken up around 2am and whined. She regularly wakes up around 6am and whines. I take her out when I hear the whining - she has to be quiet for me to open the crate door, though. If it's 2am, she goes straight back into the crate after her pee, with no cuddling or anything. If it's 6am, she goes out for her pee and we start the day. I hope that eventually she'll wake up later and later, till she can sleep through the night till around 8am like her brother.

This morning, I found a little pee spot in her bed - clearly not big enough for a full pee - maybe some came out in her excitement to greet me and Charlie? She has also peed in her bed once before, while I was out of the house. Charlie never did this, so I have to admit I'm a bit surprised. I certainly don't want her to get used to peeing in her bed. Should I just see how things evolve and expect that she will wet her bed here and there till she matures? Or should I put her on a schedule at night - e.g. up at 5am for a pee, and then back to bed?

Also, I don't want her to get used to whining for my attention. Though, at the same time, I'm happy that she can tell me when she needs to go out!

Any thoughts?

[tanza]

IMO… the correct thing to do, if they wake up and whine, out they go, then immediately back in the crate. If they are waking up for your attention and not really having to pee, they get the message if they go out and straight back to the crate. IMO it is a mistake NOT to react to their whine.....

I usually will not wake a "sleeping" pup up to go out, but wait till they tell me it is time to go out....

[southenders]

Hello Tanza, I have read many sites regarding whining. Most recommend ignoring it completely. We have two whiners. One has separation issues that we are working on, the other will whine most every morning at about 6~6:30AM. Their crates are located in our bed room. My feeling is that the little one now 10mo's old whines as they want to join their pack leaders in bed vs. going out to pee first thing in the morning… So your suggestion here is to take them out to do their morning job, and then back in bed? And if they whine again, back out... until they break the habit? I can see the advantage that they might equate whining with being let out. Any help would help.

@tanza:

IMO… the correct thing to do, if they wake up and whine, out they go, then immediately back in the crate. If they are waking up for your attention and not really having to pee, they get the message if they go out and straight back to the crate. IMO it is a mistake NOT to react to their whine.....

I usually will not wake a "sleeping" pup up to go out, but wait till they tell me it is time to go out....

[Vicki]

Same problem with my little one peeing in her crate. She has lived with me for less than a week, so I hope the problem will resolve itself soon.

I've been getting up every three hours to take my new adopted girl outside to pee. She lived at a vet clinic for six weeks in a pen, so wasn't always able to go out when she needed to pee and pooh. Cami seems to understand outside is where she is suppose to go, but can't hold it all night.

[tanza]

@southenders:

Hello Tanza, I have read many sites regarding whining. Most recommend ignoring it completely. We have two whiners. One has separation issues that we are working on, the other will whine most every morning at about 6~6:30AM. Their crates are located in our bed room. My feeling is that the little one now 10mo's old whines as they want to join their pack leaders in bed vs. going out to pee first thing in the morning… So your suggestion here is to take them out to do their morning job, and then back in bed? And if they whine again, back out... until they break the habit? I can see the advantage that they might equate whining with being let out. Any help would help.

And being put right back in the crate again… however mostly I was talking about in the middle of the night, if they whine to go pee...

My crates are in the bedroom too... and honestly after morning pee I take them back to bed with us.... that is a reward for sleeping all night in the crate and peeing outside...

[southenders]

Hello Vicki, I would suggest limiting water intake especially well prior to bed. Perhaps an ice cube. The other thing is to limit the size of her crate to just enough so she can stretch and turn around. We had similar problems with our second male basenji. He but quickly grew out of it. Around the house was all together different though. Keeping to a strict routine and keeping track of time between an accident in the house and last meal/water offering was very important. Remember, 1 hour per month is the most she/he should be expected to hold.

Hope this helps

[lvoss]

Since Cami is over a year old, and really should be able to hold it through the night, my first question, has she been tested for a UTI? If she has a UTI, that would explain her need to go so frequently and things should get better once she is on antibiotics.

If she does not have a UTI, then it may be a learned behavior from being at the vet and not being able to go out when she needed to. If this is the case it can be much harder to break. But you will want to limit water intake before bed, create a schedule so you can take her out before she needs to go and hopefully once you are having no accidents in the crate, start lengthening the time between taking her out.

[Vicki]

Yes, the vet tested her for UTI. Living at the clinic, Cami received good vetting.

Thank you for the information. Last night, Cami didn't pee in her crate. She received lots of praise. Altho, she did when I left for an hour this morning, but she did hold her pooh!!

I haven't had Cami for a full week, so the other dogs and I are adjusting to her quirky ways. Being homeless, than living in a pen, Cami doesn't know for sure what is right or wrong. She is learning by watching the other dogs.

[LiveWWSD]

@Vicki:

Being homeless, than living in a pen, Cami doesn't know for sure what is right or wrong. She is learning by watching the other dogs.

Often that is the best training for a dog, to just see how other dogs in the household/pack behave. Glad to hear she is trying to learn where she needs to go and where she needs to hold it.

[Darwin]

We have really good luck with our little 9 week old at night now (wish I could say that about daytime)…

He falls asleep on one of our laps typically around 9:30pm (usually my fiance' is watching tv) and then we wake him back up once he is good and asleep and WARM, and take him outside to pee, this way he does it very fast and wants to go back to sleep, so then we put him in his dog bed. After he is asleep we move the whole dog bed into his small crate in our bedroom.

Mind you we won't use the crate once we can TRUST HIM. Our bedroom has brand new carpet and new paint and all new very expensive furniture (basically we did that right before we decided to get a Basenji :P)

So then if he wakes up and whines, I get up and rush right to him and immediately take him outside on the leash, he goes immediately, then I give him half a treat and he lays next to me on the bed to fall asleep (he will NOT go back to sleep if I put him in the crate and my fiance' can't handle the screaming (she needs her sleep as she commutes a LONG drive every day)) so then if he falls asleep before I do, I move him back to the crate.

Obviously the downfall to this is that sometimes I fall asleep first and then he gets to sleep in my bed... but he always wakes me up if he has to go (I keep my arm around him).

But we started this method about a week and a half ago and only had an incident in our bed the first night, since then its been better and better every night!

Now he only has to get up one time per night, which is usually around 3:30am now, it used to be 2, then 2:30, etc... so he is getting better.

However I have learned to give up on the idea of getting him to fall back asleep after my fiance' gets up for work, he will just fight me the whole time.

I sure wish I had the ability to be home all day to not have to crate my dog, but it is not an option, people have to work. So a lot of dogs will have to be crated for long periods of time. Hopefully eventually they get used to it.