April 19, 2011
My 10 month old pup is pooping in the night. I can’t crate her because it seems cruel. What would you suggest?
Full Question:
We have a ten-month old Yorkshire Terrier. She has been going through the night for several months without needing to go outside. We feed her early, around 5:00, and take her out several times after dinner and immediately before we got to bed. After reading several articles, I have read that dogs probably should be crate trained. We have had her seven months. We did not crate train her. It seemed cruel at the time and she howled for hours on end.Our problem is that during the last several weeks, she has begun getting up in the middle of the night and urinating and defecating on the kitchen floor. We have not had this problem until now. She has been going through the night without having any accidents for 5 months or so. How can we correct this behavior in a dog that is not crate trained. She has been fully housebroken for three months until this started.
Ed's Answer:
I hate to say it, but some dog owners create their own problems as a result of their own lack of education on how to train their dog.
Dogs (puppies) will often scream when they first go into a crate. What I tell people is to leave the dog or pup in the crate and let it scream. Sometimes leaving a TV or radio on helps or one of the many things mentioned in the article I wrote on house training. We don't allow pups to have access to our home (on leash) until it has earned the right by accepting the crate.
When people take a dog out of the crate because they are tired of hearing them cry they are in essence training that dog to cry to be let out. In other words they have created their own problem.
The way to approach dogs that cry in the crate is to leave them in the crate all the time they are in the house. Your interaction with that dog needs to be OUTSIDE of the house. When the dog comes back into the house it goes back in the crate. It also gets fed in the crate. During this process we take the dog out as much as possible. With small pups this can be as often as once every hour. But the minute it comes in the house we toss a few all-natural treats in the crate and stuff the pup back inside.
We do not fuss over or talk to the dog while in the crate - we IGNORE IT.
For those people who refuse to use a crate there is only one other method to use and that's to leash the pup and 100% of the time you have the leash attached to you. The pup is NEVER off leash. Not for 1 minute.
When people don't want to do these things then they need to live with the problems they have created. I am a firm believer that some people should not own dogs. Those people need to recognize this fact and re-home their dog with someone who is prepared to do what's necessary.
Dogs (puppies) will often scream when they first go into a crate. What I tell people is to leave the dog or pup in the crate and let it scream. Sometimes leaving a TV or radio on helps or one of the many things mentioned in the article I wrote on house training. We don't allow pups to have access to our home (on leash) until it has earned the right by accepting the crate.
When people take a dog out of the crate because they are tired of hearing them cry they are in essence training that dog to cry to be let out. In other words they have created their own problem.
The way to approach dogs that cry in the crate is to leave them in the crate all the time they are in the house. Your interaction with that dog needs to be OUTSIDE of the house. When the dog comes back into the house it goes back in the crate. It also gets fed in the crate. During this process we take the dog out as much as possible. With small pups this can be as often as once every hour. But the minute it comes in the house we toss a few all-natural treats in the crate and stuff the pup back inside.
We do not fuss over or talk to the dog while in the crate - we IGNORE IT.
For those people who refuse to use a crate there is only one other method to use and that's to leash the pup and 100% of the time you have the leash attached to you. The pup is NEVER off leash. Not for 1 minute.
When people don't want to do these things then they need to live with the problems they have created. I am a firm believer that some people should not own dogs. Those people need to recognize this fact and re-home their dog with someone who is prepared to do what's necessary.
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