Off topic somewhat, we have introduced a new puppy into the family. Now this thing is an input / output machine. Does anyone know the best way to deal with them at night? If he is in a crate, he tends to do his business in there, spreading it everywhere unless we sleep near him and let him out when he wakes. Surely this cant be my life for the next 2 months?! I'm thinking of bedding him down in the kitchen with free access to training pads (which he has pretty much mastered during the day). Any thoughts would be a help i'm sure! Thanks Buzztouchers!

Ha! Boy do I feel your pain, as will my good lady when I show her this post. On iPhone right now. Give me an hour or so and will post back some things we've done and discovered. Speak soon. Congrats again!

Most puppies will not soil their crate. If that is happening, your crate is probably too big. You might want to find a divider to wall off a part of it and make his usable space smaller. Depends on the dog, though. I have two (count 'em, two!) mini-dachshunds that are 4 years old and still aren't potty trained. They are stubborn. Good luck! Can't wait to get rid of these varmints..... Andy

We have a new puppy too, and she hates the puppy pads! Proof: http://i.imgur.com/3KBhinO.jpg The blue pieces were a puppy pad! We found that regular timed visits out, awake or asleep every 2-3 hours overnight (ugh, I know) helped train her for outside. Only took about a week and then we were sleeping through the night. Idea: Puppy training app with timer? :-) Best of luck! -William

Congrats on your new Challenge! :) We have cats, lol! Cheers! -- Smug

Thanks Keith, its best sometimes for people to know when we are in something together, it helps somehow! @Andy The crate is definitely too big but he has started kacking the actual bed! Ummm, nice! @kozmo - that looks nasty - glad you got it sorted! The outdoors issue we have is that he really shakes when we go near a back door, let alone get him out there. He needs 2 injections too before he can be 'properly' house trained. I think it should be relatively quick when we can do this, in about 2 weeks time. Happy to hear more experiences, really helps somehow!

Hi Alex, congrats on your new addition. AHH the potty training saga, I am asked this everyday.... First of all, what kind of dog is it? @Andy is absolutely correct about the crate size. Dogs crates should be a positive place and a place they want to go to sleep and get away from any commotion. They consider this their "den" and want to keep it as clean as possible. They don't like to defecate where they sleep because they want to make sure it is always as clean as possible. For the crate size, it should only be big enough that the dog is able to stand up and turn around comfortable, and that is it. Depending on the dogs size don't forget the width. That may need to be reduced as well. Also you mentioned you are using wee-wee pads, I am assuming it is a smaller dog. I have seen that some dogs get confused between wee-wee pads in the kitchen, or where ever they are, and towels that are put in the crate. What time do you feed the dog at night and what time do you put him/her in the crate for the last time until morning? @Kozmo is also correct about training to go outside at timed intervals. That does help. Are you planing to teach him/her to go outside as well? Some problems with wee-wee pads, is it teaches dogs that they are able to go when ever they want and there is no need or training to hold or wait for the appropriate time. Holding/waiting can be learned as they get older. I hope that helps! Howard

Some great advice above. Cooper is 5 1/2 months now. Absolute terror but love him to bits. 1. Every couple of hours through the night, the only way. Boy was I tired took a couple of months. Puppies have no bladder control until around 6 months. 2. I'm against the pads, think it encourages the wee soul to poop where he shouldn't, the sooner you can associate outside with toilet the better. Each time you take him out say toilet and keep using the word. He's too young to understand much else. 3. Some dogs can take months (yes 12+ that's a year) to get used to a crate, some take right away, don't give up, keep the cage thing going and make it smaller if you can. They don't want to poop where they live. 4. Dogs need water but monitor closely what he's drinking. He's going to need out within 15 mins after a drink. 5. Cooper is caged during the day, but he sleeps with us at night now and mostly makes it through. 6. If it is two weeks until all his jags are done you have a tough two weeks ahead. You are going to hate the wee blighter in the coming weeks but boy do you love him. ALWAYS positive reinforcement. Never negative. 7. No two dogs are the same. Last pup was house trained fully in two weeks, no crate, no damage and a loving lil fella. Still miss Benny. He stayed up at night with me when I first got into Buzztouch. Read as much as you can from different sources online, I have read a ton on pups, habits, others experiences and so on. Some good advice, some bad. Your wee guy is himself and nobody else, tailor what you read to his personality. 8. If you can find some puppy training classes when he has had his jags, Cooper loves them and these folk always have good advice tailored to your pup. 9. Dogs struggle to communicate with us, they want to but struggle figuring it out. Teach him tricks, lots of praise, especially when potty time comes. Man it has been tough but after nearly 6 months he's getting there. Lucky that I have a decent fenced in back garden but he still can't be out there alone. Email me anytime buddy, it can be tough, it will be tough but boy is a good dog worth it. Will ask my good lady what she thinks the important things are and post back. Cooper is far from developing apps with me but he is getting there.

@hasher Thanks for the great advice. He has a cushioned bed in the crate with some rugs on top of it. Maybe he mistakes the rugs for pads? I thought the pads were the first step to learning control. Wherever he is in the house, when he needs to relieve during the day he goes to the pads. Doesnt this mean he is controlling the feeling until getting to the right place? The breed is French Bulldog - I've since read they are not the easiest to potty train. We used to have a cocker spaniel and although i'm having difficulty remembering back to when he was a puppy, i'm sure we got him trained very quickly. This thing is much more 'clingy'. I've tried to get him outside this morning and he just cries and shakes! How can I get him to go to toilet outside when he is petrified of the outdoors?! We had a good night last night. He's pretty sleepy from 2100 onwards but crashed at 2200. I woke him at 2345 for a pee and he then slept solid until 0530, nearly 6 hours! He had a pee and a dump and then went back to bed for another hour. @Keith - I'm with you about the outdoors but he is literally petrified of it! That is a complication I could well have done without!!

Nice one. Try taking a tasty treat outside with you, associate the experience with something pleasant, poor wee guy. Repetition and positive reinforcement. Sucks about the outdoors though. One of our neighbours has had a few french bulldogs, will ping him and see if he has any input.

@alex- Okay so Wee-wee pads is a temporary step to transition him to go out side. In that case, do not use pads at all. In these cases all that does is confuse the dogs and gives them mixed ideas of where to go to the bathroom. Having them go on pads, gives them the idea that it is okay to go in the house which is not the end goal. These are my suggestions to potty train dogs to go outside. As @MacApple suggested yes definitely make it a positive experience with a treat or praise when they go to the bathroom. You want to give them a treat once they go to the bathroom outside and not when they come in, because if you do that,they are associating the treat for when they come in and not going to the bathroom. At the beginning going outside is for one purpose only and that is urinate or defecate. You don't want to play with them that much outside because they will be pre-occupied with playing and not go to the bathroom and once you bring them inside they will go. You want to bring them outside through the same door and to the same place. You want to bring them outside 10-15 minutes after the following: -When they wake up -after they eat -after they are done playing inside You want to bring them out as frequent as possible even if they don't need to go to the bathroom. Bringing them outside gets them used to being outside and the feel of grass under their feet. There are 1000's of different recommendations and methods. The above advice is what I tell my clients and seems to work most of the time. But definitely do not use pads anymore. H-