What happened to our good puppy?!

So, after 2 1/2 weeks of no accidents in the house, Corgan has had 3 in 2 days! He *was* telling us when he needs to go out...not so anymore. He also has forgotten his name, apparently. I think even worse than these things - he isn't sleeping through the night! He wakes us up at 1:30 am, and then again around 4:00 am and won't quiet down until we are ready to get up between 6 and 7. He doesn't whine too much - he scratches his plastic cage door, rattles his cage, etc. We try to wear him out at night before bed, which used to help, but now it doesn't. And, when we take him out at all hours of the night - he doesn't go potty!!

Could we be feeding him too much? Should he just get more exercise? Should he sleep in another room (he's next to our bed right now)? Should we put a towel over his crate? HELP!!

Any suggestions on any of our issues would be greatly appreciated.

It sounds like the terrible two's....

Oh dear! To think that he was doing so well and now this regression! I'm new to owning a doggy, so am not in a position to advise. But wondering whether resuming giving substantial food rewards for good behaviours (such as business done outside/answering to name) might help? (assuming - possibly wrongly - that you might have discontinued these?).

Not easy being sleep-deprived. You have my sympathies!

I take it the crate is not too small? That the bedding in it is comfortable? That the temperature of the room is not too hot???

Hope the situation resolves soon!

When we first got barney he used to sleep in his basket no problem but after about a mouth he want to come in the bedroom with us? I had got him house trainer and 1 week in seem to get the runs every day so that put the house traning back abit now he seem alright. How about leaving the cage door open at night and when he crys take him out side as well I still get up at night with Barney if he wants to go out he is 7 mouths old I donot have the problem about him not going back to sleep he seem to go and get on his bed with no problem I hope that everthing works out for you Aileen

But wondering whether resuming giving substantial food rewards for good behaviours (such as business done outside/answering to name) might help? (assuming - possibly wrongly - that you might have discontinued these?).

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Nope, we still do what we have been doing, though maybe we should up the ante a little and give extra tasty treats instead of just lots of praise for going potty outside!

I take it the crate is not too small? That the bedding in it is comfortable? That the temperature of the room is not too hot???

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Actually, the crate is a little small - we just ordered a new one yesterday and hope to get it early next week. Everything else is fine, though.

How about leaving the cage door open at night and when he crys take him out side

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We leave the bedroom door open at night to allow ventilation, and except when he's in his crate he's not allowed upstairs, so I don't think this would work yet. I think once he's trained and sleeping through the night, and is allowed free roam upstairs, then we'll leave the crate door open at night.

Housetraining is a long term process -- puppies that do well initially are not really housetrained, they are only just doing well in the overall process and need constant close oversight and structure til around 6-7 months and close watching for up to a year. The biggest reason for regression is when the pup is doing well and people relax their watch, assuming the pup doesn;t need close watching any longer -- which seems a natural assumption but keep thinking 'toddler' -- kids still wear diparers/nappies and then those training pants for a long time even once they have started using their potty or the big toilet and often forget to tell mom and dad they have to go. Puppies are the same. They have very short attention spans and a million things they'd rather be doing. I have found advice I got from experienced dog people to be generally true -- expect occasional accidents up til around age 1.

None of my dogs have ever indicated when they are ready to go outside; the only one who came close was jaspar who for a while would kind of sit by the door but I often missed this as a signal! If you want hinm to alert you as a definite behaviour, it would be good to teach him to bark at the door to go out and reward that, or teach him to ring a bell for example (eg structure the whole housetraining -- and I emphasise *training* -- process to clearly have that alert as part of the whole process, and reward it as such. That makes your desire for a specific 'I have to go out' behaviour more defined for the dog, who , if he was never rewarded for his notifications, probably never made a clear connection that this was desireable behaviour and has just moved on.

As always, if you don't have it I'd really really really recommend buying Shirleee Kalstone's book on housetraining which will answer a lot of questions around this long-term training process!

I'd definitely be using treats, not just praise, for this very important aspect of training.

The other important thing to note here is: are you sure there are no medical problems causing this step backwards? A urinary infection for example will cause accidents and discomfort.

If there's no medical problem I would NOT be getting up to take him outside; you have to ignore his demands to come out. Place the crate in another room, buy earplugs, or whatever, but he is working to train you to get up and entertain him, it sounds like. 8) A towel over the crate can help.

Crates need to be large enough for the pup to comfortably stand, turn around, and stretch out at full length.

If we let Casey take an after dinner snooze, he is wide awake at 11 pm and ready to PLAY. We make sure he gets an hour of play time with lots of running after dinner and then keep him awake until bed time. Then he sleeps like a rock. A tired pup is a good pup?

Around 6 months or so, he also would have long spells where I would think he had the housebreaking solid and go weeks without an accident. Then Bam! seemed to just backslide for a day or two. Then right back on track. Fortunately, that was quite awhile ago now and he really does get it. Rings the bell too!

careful with the towel idea.... make sure it's an old shredded one. kosmo shredded one of my brand new 'luxury' towls when i put it on his crate by chewing and clawing at it!@! :yikes :yikes :yikes

Karlin said:

Housetraining is a long term process -- puppies.. need constant close oversight and structure til around 6-7 months and close watching for up to a year. The biggest reason for regression is when the pup is doing well and people relax their watch, assuming the pup doesn;t need close watching any longer -- which seems a natural assumption but keep thinking 'toddler' -- kids still wear diparers/nappies and then those training pants for a long time even once they have started using their potty or the big toilet and often forget to tell mom and dad they have to go. Puppies are the same. They have very short attention spans and a million things they'd rather be doing. I have found advice I got from experienced dog people to be generally true -- expect occasional accidents up til around age 1. .....As always, if you don't have it I'd really really really recommend buying Shirleee Kalstone's book on housetraining which will answer a lot of questions around this long-term training process! ...

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all so true--at 8 months zack had been staying home by himself like a big boy, and staying in the kitchen all night for 8+ hours, and always went potty outside from about 5 1/2 months, the exceptions were so rare that i don't remember any, if they happened. But last month when he was 8 months old, all of a sudden, he made a big pee in the kitchen while i was sitting here in the next room, and a poo in the bathroom covering two rugs. I cleaned all that up, liberally using Nature's Miracle, and the next night or the one after, he peed in the other bathroom on that rug. I was so not expecting that. The door to the backyard was open. But i guess he was just exploring and all of a sudden decided he had to go, and didn't really get the idea that inside is not the place to do it.

So i immediately got Shirley Kalstone's book as recommended By the time it arrived, Zack had returned to his big boy behavior, but i am older and wiser now. Now i know that it can happen without warning, and that beneath that big boy behavior is still a puppy who's understanding is not fully developed.

That is a great book! So clear and simple and to the point.

Anyway, the moral of the story is that letting down the guard can result in stepping in an unanticipated puddle.

Thaks everyone! I guess it was one of those "phases" everyone talks about...no accidents on the floor since those 3. We haven't been playing with the laser pointer as much either, and if we do we stop frequently for potty breaks. Also, we have him sleeping in his larger "daytime" crate downstairs now, and he hasn't made a peep! Yay!! Thanks for all of your advice and sympathy! Smile