# Puppy pooping during night in his bed - Newbie



## Ness x (Dec 31, 2012)

We have a 10 week old French Bulldog. We brought him home 2 weeks ago and for the first week he was able to hold off pooping during the night. The past week he has started going during the night in his bed. 

He is caged at night and we have been told by other dog owners not to go see him during the night or this will unsettle him. He is last fed at 6:30pm, He usually last goes around 9:30pm and caged at 10:30. We don't hear him during the night and our alarm is set at 6 to take him straight outside.

I've read a few sights on the net and some say they take theirs out when they hear them or leave them and deal with mess in morning, so unsure what to do. I'm happy to set my alarm to take him out during the night but as mentioned above we were told we shouldn't.

All feedback appreciated.


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## sonya4403 (Oct 22, 2012)

Firstly have you wormed your dog, this could help and then continue to worm him monthly upto 6 mths old, then everty 3mths. 
You will be houstraining your dog at the moment and he just needs to get used to this, do not keep him caged for long periods in the day and go out regularly into his garden for him to do his business, use a command for this and stay with him untill he does his wee/poo then praise him. In time he will get to realise that his cage is a place to rest and not a place for making a mess. Don't expect too much, he will make mistakes for quite a few weeks and never scould him for making a mess in his cage, just let him out into his garden, clean him up and start again. Good Luck!

Regards Sonya


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## Jenny Olley (Nov 2, 2007)

biggest reason pups poo in their cage in the night is they can't hold it, major reason for this is a food high in fillers, maize, corn etc. so I would look at that first.


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## BoredomBusters (Dec 8, 2011)

Ness x said:


> We have a 10 week old French Bulldog. We brought him home 2 weeks ago and for the first week he was able to hold off pooping during the night. The past week he has started going during the night in his bed.
> 
> He is caged at night and we have been told by other dog owners not to go see him during the night or this will unsettle him. He is last fed at 6:30pm, He usually last goes around 9:30pm and caged at 10:30. We don't hear him during the night and our alarm is set at 6 to take him straight outside.
> 
> ...


Whether you go to your pup at night to let them out or not is personal choice, but at that age it might be impossible for your pup to hold it. I agree look at his food and maybe change the time of his last feed, but it's really hard to change things if a dog learns to mess on their bed. I suggest you either get up at night to take him out, or make sure he's got a 'toilet' in his crate so if he needs to go he can.

The mother should teach pups not to mess in the den, some breeders make this harder than others, but they have an inhibition against messing their beds. Once this has gone if pup's 'forced' to mess the bed repeatedly they lose this then it's really hard to get them back on track.

Some more info here - Boredom Busters - House Training your Dog or Puppy under 'overnight'. I've looked after dozens of puppies (mostly small breeds) for the last few years so I've had lots of practise!


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## Hanlou (Oct 29, 2012)

When we first got Teddy I got up every 3 hours to toilet him. Literally got him out, carried him straight out to toilet, praised him, then put him back to bed.

He's in our bedroom in his crate so we can hear him and he will now let us know when he wants to go and mostly sleeps through. 

I would be setting your alarm to toilet him more frequently - he's still very young and probably just needs to go more often than you are giving him opportunity to.


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## Sled dog hotel (Aug 11, 2010)

Ness x said:


> We have a 10 week old French Bulldog. We brought him home 2 weeks ago and for the first week he was able to hold off pooping during the night. The past week he has started going during the night in his bed.
> 
> He is caged at night and we have been told by other dog owners not to go see him during the night or this will unsettle him. He is last fed at 6:30pm, He usually last goes around 9:30pm and caged at 10:30. We don't hear him during the night and our alarm is set at 6 to take him straight outside.
> 
> ...


Personally I have always taken mine out in the night if the have woken or stirred and needed to go. Its not uncommon for pups to need to go for awhile as they havent got a great capacity as they grow it gets better and they do start to go through. I had mine within sight and sound so if they woke naturally the were popped out to go an usually needed too. Some people set an alarm once or twice and pop them out that way if they cannont go through. AS long as you dont put bright lights on, or interact with them, as that can stimulate them wide awake, just literally out, toilet couple of words of praise, treat and back to bed its usually fine.

A crate is only an aid to toilet training, the theory behind it is a dog wont soil its bed or surrounding area or where it eats, and given the opportunity to do it elsewhere they will, but if they cant hold on, they have no choice they cant get out, so do it where they are. Some can get quite stressed about it too, or can get into bad habits that way.


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## Sled dog hotel (Aug 11, 2010)

Ness x said:


> We have a 10 week old French Bulldog. We brought him home 2 weeks ago and for the first week he was able to hold off pooping during the night. The past week he has started going during the night in his bed.
> 
> He is caged at night and we have been told by other dog owners not to go see him during the night or this will unsettle him. He is last fed at 6:30pm, He usually last goes around 9:30pm and caged at 10:30. We don't hear him during the night and our alarm is set at 6 to take him straight outside.
> 
> ...


One thing I was going to say and forgot, as he was originally going through at first and then the pooping started, have you changed his food and if so did the night pooping starting co-incide with that? if so it may be the food, some have more bulkers and fillers in them with no particular nutritional value they just create more waste hence more toileting.

Did the breeder give you a diet sheet, as to how much and when time wise and how many meals? If you have changed, his times, number or feeds and quantities that may have even done it too. Usually with dogs the toileting pattern and digestive tract time, is governed by the feeding pattern too, so maybe another consideration.
If you have changed his feeding routine to what he was used too aswell, t


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## dexter (Nov 29, 2008)

if he's last fed at 6.30 p.m. at night what time is his next feed? and how much are you giving him in his last feed?


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## Ness x (Dec 31, 2012)

Thanks for your comments everyone, really appreciated.

I guess it's probably down to food coupled with that he only had his 2nd vac on Monday and worm and flee.

His breeder fed him Eukanuba which they advised me to keep his food down all day as he needs as much as he can take for growing. I didn't agree with that at all from all the research I've done. We cut his meals to 4 x a day to 7, 11:30, 4, 6:30 as this is what suits us and over the first week we gradually weened him off his to orijen. 

We probably didn't give him long enough during the switch either so we've taken other feedback from this forum and have started again but give him a little longer for his stomach to settle. It maybe that orijen doesn't agree with but time will only tell with that one.

We set the alarm at 2 and really pleased, he was not only clean but still dry too. I settled him back quite quickly and still dry and clean by morning, we set our alarm to get up at 6. My husband needed to get up to take him out and poop, he only seems to listen to his commands at the moment. But that's fine for now, only one step at a time.

Thanks again everyone and really pleased I've found this forum. So helpful.


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## dexter (Nov 29, 2008)

feeding him at 4 and then 6.30 is too soon between meals, he would be better being fed at 8 at p.m. imo. 12 and a half hours its a long time for a baby to go without food .


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