My 10 week old puppienis goin potty in his crate at night. I don't feet him after five and I take him out right before we go to bed. Most offthe time I even take him out in the middle of the night several times. I know he's young but I did not think it would be this bad. Every morning I get up and wash his crate out. And I'm not sure what to do about him because he always needs a both but I was told that I should only give him a both like ones a month ir that. And this is getting realy nasty and I feel realy bad for him. What can I do. I don't feel that I can take him out at night. I already do it at least 3 times at night and it's hard on my sleep. Is it normal for him to do this? Wall he's this youn can I keep him out side in the yard (if the weather is good. I live in Georgia so that's most of the time) with a dog house?

I am by no means an expert on this but I feel compelled to respond. Your pup is very young. It is not abnormal for a pup to go in the crate at this age. The general rule of thumb I hear is that for every month of age, your pup can hold it for 1 hour. At 10 weeks, I wouldn't expect him to hold for more than 2 hours. Someone correct me if I'm wrong. I had similar problems with my pup early on. Be as patient as you possibly can, and follow Ed's advice. He will get it. Also one of the keys for crate training to work is that the pup is kept very clean. If that means a daily bath, I'd give him a daily bath with a quality non allergenic shampoo. This made a big difference for me when my dog was very young. He will outgrow this, patience is key. I hope this helps you, and good luck!

This link has a lot of resources for housetraining issues

http://www.leerburg.com/housetraining.htm

I highly recommend this ebook, http://www.leerburg.com/housetrainingebook.htm

Don't forget to wipe down the crate with a product like Nature's Miracle, which eliminates the urine smell. The smell of urine will keep a dog going back to that place to pee again.

And yes, the pup is extremely young, a baby, and does need to go out a few times at night. All of us have gone through that, it's just what it is. As he gets older he'll be able to hold it a little longer.

I'd be taking him out every hour and forming that outdoor-potty habit. If he is in the crate when he has to go at that age, that's where he will have to go. Bad habit being developed.....

The more you take him out, the more he will be out when he has to go and the less the crate is soiled (and the faster the habit is reinforced).

The more he goes inside because he had to go, the longer it will take.

I don't have puppies, but I have trained adults and even seniors who had never been inside or who had been forced to go in their kennels all their lives. Believe me, the time spent at the beginning pays off big. And throw a party for him every time he does go outdoors.

Make sure he gets a clean bill of health from the vet. Could be worms or UTI.

I also would discourage you from keeping him outside just b/c of potty training being hard. (I wouldn't leave a pup that small outside unattended at all, personally). If you ever plan on having him in the house, he needs to be housebroken/crate-trained. This stage is kind of hard for the human (having to get up at night),but it really doesn't last that long. When I got Kodee at 7 weeks old, he was going out 2-3 times per night (I have 3 kids so a pup was a cake-walk for me. LOL!) Kodee was only going out about once a night by 12 or 14 weeks, then around 18 weeks or so was holding it all night. And Jason's right about the baths. Keep pup/bedding/crate as clean as possible at all times.

Also, is your crate small enough? My pup was doing great, holding it all night, but when I bought him another crate for our bedroom (bigger than the one in our living room), I got cocky and figured I didn't need the divider to make his space smaller (since he was holding it all night). Guess what - he started peeing in the crate at night again. I put the divider in, and he never did it again. (Now he's so big there's no divider anymore). The point is, even once the pup can go all night, you still have to pay attention to changes in routine, crate size, etc.

A little lost sleep is a small price to pay for a housebroken dog. It's worth it.

Thanks so much for all your help. I do need a divider, were can I get one?

You can fashion one out of wood or wire and some zip ties or caribeaners but make sure it's sturdy, has NO sharp edges and I'd make sure the collar is off to be ABSOLUTELY SURE there is no hazard of choking. Better idea to just buy a collapsible crate from say Petco or Petsmart that comes with an adjustable divider so as the pup grows you can just move it back further and further until you don't need it anymore.

The crate should be just big enough for the pup to stand, turn and lay down in or they will go in the far corner and sleep on the other side.

View it like having an infant - they need to be fed/diaper changed every few hours...similiar with a tiny pup. Sux, but it's GOT TO BE DONE!! You will be soooo thrilled when he finally starts sleeping thru the night! The good news is your puppy will outgrow this FAR more quickly than a people puppy

Last night I put a divider in my crate, I think it realy did some good. I took him out about every 2 hours. He did realy goog. I took him out at 3:45 and than he woke me up at 5:30 with very runny poop all over. I'm so sick of this. I got up so many times. I realy tried hard. And he pooped when I took him earlyer, and I gave him his dinner at 4:00 the day berfor so why dose he poop so much and why was it so loos? ( he's been haveing loos stools for about a week now). I read Ed's eBook on puppies having loolse potty. My pup has the pudding kind. The eBook said that was from, stress, food chang or feeding to much. I realy don't think I'm feeding him to much. I did chang his food from kibble to raw over a week ago and I don't know what stress his could be dealing with but this crate thing. Can some one help me. I'm realy trying and I realy do want this to work, I'm just lost and overwhelmed.