Can Anyone Help with House Training Problem??

My Ruby is 1 and a half and a lovely cuddly girl who is intelligent enough to "Sit", "Stay" and "Kiss"! She has a true Cavalier nature, eager to please everyone and happiest on my lap! But we have one big problem. She wets and poos at night in the kitchen. She's been at the Vet's and had incontinence tests (Negative) and we are currently plugging a D.A.P. in at night-time to calm her but eventhough she and her little mate are too relaxed to get up in the mornings, somehow she has had the energy to leave a number of poos around the kitchen during the night!

We bought her at 6 months from a breeder and she already had been wetting her bed so we tried both of them in a Crate for 10 months but I felt so sorry for them in it that I put it away. Her friend is a little 8 month female Tibetan Spaniel and they get along very well. The Tibbie sometimes tries to eat the poo just to add to the problem. Yeuk! javascript:emoticon(':sl*p:')
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Has anyone had a problem like this with their Cavalier? I've had 6 dogs (3 were Cavaliers) over the years and never had to deal with one who spoils her own patch. Any tips??

Did she have accidents when you kept her in a crate?

I was going to ask the same. I'd use a crate at night or else try confining down to a very small area -- like inside an x-pen. But I think a crate is a better option. Also are you cleaning all the mistake spots with an enzymatic cleaner? If not they can smell where they went (even if you clean with bleach -- that doesn;t break down the smell to them) and they will keep going in the same places.

I'll do my broken record speech :lol: and say, order Shirlee Kalstone's book How to Housetrain a Dog in Seven Days. It will help on how to use crate training to solve problems like this.

Right now this is the place your dogs view as the OK potty place at night because you are not there to teach them otherwise. If you want to teach them otherwise, a crate will greatly help at night until they lose the habit of viewing an indoor space as an OK place to go.

Also are you doing one last walk at night so that they poo and wee? Are you feeding late at night? I am thinking of reasosn why a dog would have a full bowel late at night -- most dogs just sleep through and don;t need to get up to relieve themselves, so perhaps there's some additional pressure for them to need to go?

I walk my dogs one last thing before bedtime and they all will almost always do both a poo and a wee.

I agree with Karlin. While there are many different opinions about crate training, it is an extremely helpful tool while housetraining, especially when encountering issues like these. If only one dog is having problems, you only need to crate the dog with the issues. Even if you crate both of them, I'd crate them separately. You can set the kennels next to each other kso they are still next to each other, but they will each have enough space.

Make sure the kennel is not too large for the dog, though. The dog should be able to stand up and turn around, but not enough to be able to pee/poo and then sleep away from the mess. If the crate is the right size, the dog's natural instinct to keep its space clean will help reduce accidents.

If she had pee accidents while in her crate, you want to make sure she does not have a urinary tract infection and other medical problems that can often cause uncontrollable urination. Also, you may want to remove any bedding in the crate that could have been peed on; the dog will pee on it again if it's there and has not been cleaned with enzyme cleaner.

Karlin's suggestion about controlling food and water will also help remove the risk for accidents. Pick up the water bowls about 3 hours before going to bed, and feed in the morning and/or early afternoon. These steps will give the dog's digestion tract time to process and eliminate waste in their before-bedtime-outing.

While these steps might help, it sounds like your little one has been used to relieving itself at night for quite some time. It will probably take time for the dog's system to adjust to this new schedule. It may mean getting up during the night at first, just like would be necessary with a puppy. It will depend on how much control your dog has over relieving itself.

When you get the chance, I'd love to see pictures of your little ones!

I have to confess Gwen, we are having the exact same problem with Riley. She is 10 months old (today actually). We worked and worked and worked on house training when we got her. She was using the doggie door by herself at 4 months and she will actually pee and poo on command if she has to go.

She is great about using the doggie door during the day, but turn out the lights and that is another story. I think she is just lazy! She can let herself out anytime she wants yet she chooses to go in the floor, but only when we are asleep.

We are still using the crate, but mommy starts to feel guilty and after a week, I think "Oh, she's been in there long enough, she needs to sleep with us", and a few days will go by with no accidents, then we go back to square one. I know what I need to do and I know how to do it - I just love my cuddle bug in bed with me!!!

I'm really glad you posted this! Now I know we are not alone, and I am going to start crating her for a while and be strong about it. She is actually fine in the crate, I'm the one with the problem!!! :lol:

Toilet Trouble

I would like to thank everyone who gave me such good advice on this toilet problem. Funnily enough, even seeing the details typed out helped to see through the fog! I think I'll go back to putting her in the crate on her own at night and buy the book Karlin recommended and cross my fingers! Last night, she came in from her last run in the garden having been waiting at the door for a few minutes and the first thing she did was poo on the kitchen floor. I don't get cross with her, I just go quiet. Glad to hear that we are not alone....Good luck with Riley! Can't work out how to put a picture up but if I get help from my kids, I'll give it a go!!

I think the issue here is really that you cannot just let her out on her own to run around while you wait inside, and hope that she knows to go, which is what is happening by all sounds of it. You need to take her out on the lead, stay with her til she goes no matter how long that may be, and to treat and praise when she goes (take her for an actual walk if needed -- that is what I do, and the act of walking helps to encourage their bladder and bowel). She is just not making any connection between you opening the door to let her out and the fact that she is supposed to relieve herself outside. She should not even be allowed to have the *opportunity* to go once she comes inside -- which means making absolutely, 100% sure she has already relieved herself outside. You can't be sure of this , or of training her that she is to go outside at night, except by being next to her to immediately praise as she goes, then immediately treat when she finishes -- this is what makes the connection for her that good things happen when she goes outside. . Right now her routine has evolved to go inside after she has her run, and this will take some work to break -- as dogs only know what we show them is the right choice. If she starts to go inside you should be right there to instantly pick her up mid flow or mid poop to take her outside to let her finish, then praise/treat as she completes the job outside.

It's really a matter of clearly showing her what the right choice is and being with her at all times so there aren't any other options but the right behaviour -- and praise/reward.