Need help with crate training ASAP

I have had these two puppies for two weeks now and they are doing great with housebreaking during the day. The problem is at night. They each have their own crate, and every night the pee and poop in their crate. This is our schedule please advice me on how I can change. We go to be at 10pm we let them out to the bathroom at 9:45 then my hubby sets the alarm for 1am, by then they have already gone to the bathroom. So he cleans them up and gets up at 4:30 and they have done it again. So he gives them a bath and goes off to work. I have tried making their crates as small as I can. (just made a bigger mess) Everything that i have read says that they don't like to go to the bathroom where they sleep. I am so discouraged. Does anyone have any advice on how to help them at night?

Thanks,
Jennifer

how old are these puppies? (trying to think of a better solution)

Can you ring your breeder? A good breeder will help you through this problem. If these were 'internet' puppies or pet store or backyard breeder puppies - then you may have some difficulty in training them as they probably were reared in cages where they peed and pooped all over each other and down to the cages below or in small spaces where the mother couldn;t keep her whelping area cleaned (this is what trains puppies to start recognising their immediate area as a 'clean zone' and jump[starts housetraining). They won't have any knowledge from their mother of how to keep the whelping area (eg den) clean because there won't have been any opportunity to teach this.

It would be unusual for puppies to be going on themselves this early in the evening.

I recommend getting this book:

http://www.dogwise.com/ItemDetails.cfm?ID=DTB132

Make sure they are not having treats/food etc within several hours of bedtime. Lift water about 2-3 hours before bedtime. take them out for a walk to get them to eliminate before crating. DON'T just let them out -- walk them, to make sure they are going. If needed you'll perhaps have to get up earlier then a second time during the night til they understand that crates need to be kept clean. Also you can take out blankets etc which allow them a soft place to wee and poop. Use a flat pad not bunched up blankets. You could also try to put them in an xpen with puppy pads rather than crate. Might be easier to get them to use the pads and forget about crates at night for now.

Thanks, Charlie is 18 weeks and Peanut is 12 weeks.

Are you cutting off food and water at about 6pm?

I have cut food out at 6 but I have left the water out until 7:30

I had this trouble with Alfie. Is it possible to put the crates in the kitchen with the kitchen door shut but with the crates left open and pads across the other side from them. Then instead of using the crate Alfie got out went to the loo on the special pads then back to his crate.

jens6pack said:

We go to be at 10pm we let them out to the bathroom at 9:45 then my hubby sets the alarm for 1am, by then they have already gone to the bathroom. So he cleans them up and gets up at 4:30 and they have done it again. So he gives them a bath and goes off to work.

Click to expand...

Sorry this sound way over my head, but I have full faith in Karlin, Kathy or Sandy having sound advise for you.

I just wanted to ask; can we clone your husband?!! Wow that is dedication!

Are you cleaning the crates with enzymatic cleaning solution? If not than the lingering scent will also encourage them to go again. I'd try the puppy pad approach but be aware some pups think they're for shredding, so if you find that then it might be easier to set up the pen on a piece of flooring that's easily cleaned. But I'd get them to the vet as well, especially if you have been lifting food and drink. A pup should not be messing at nightat 18 weeks, especially when you're taking them out. Most pups by 12 weeks or so don't need to be taken out overnight at all!

Thanks so much for all of the replies so far. I will be calling the vet in the morning. I hope that they are alright. So do you think something other than behavior could be wrong with them? They did it again last night, I lifted the food and water at 5:30pm. It took me a long time to decied that I was ready to take on the challenges of a puppy. Before I made the leap I read everything I could find. This is just odd that they are acting this way. Oh we have been cleaning the crates with natures miricle and windex.

Jennifer

Having two is much harder than one on its own, and they will copy each others' behaviour, so that adds to the challenge a bit.

I think this is a behaviour issue and is going to take extra work.

A very good article on this issue of crate soiling, how to deal with it and why it happens:

http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&C=127&A=1713&S=0

More excellent articles from this excellent site for anyone having housetraining issues:

http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=C&C=127&S=0

I too had a time with Lily when she was little. I still have some housebreaking issues to overcome, but they are slowly passing. Take the advice of Karlin. I did and I tell you what, there are so many good ideas and helpful hints there! And that book is awesome! Lily has changed SO much after I started putting certain practices in place. I now have the problem of teaching her indoor rules. The crate is a plac eshe NEVER messes in anymore. Once she was old enough to sleep through the night I started refusing to get up to take her out. On occassion if she is very whiny I will. She finally connected that she shouldn't mess in her crate. What is funny is that the connection hit while she was staying with a friend of mine. I went to Hawaii for vacation and for 10 days a good friend and border of mine kept her. She took her outside each morning and hosed her down after messing in the crate. I am not sure if it was te hose or not that made her stop doing it, but hey, I wasn't the bad guy who did it!
Stick to your guns. It DOES get easier! I was so ready to give up, but things have taken a good turn!

Good Luck!

Thanks for all of the advice. Charlie is doing much better now. Peanut is still messing in his crate. One thing is we had our vet look at them and Peanut has Coccsidia (i don't know how to spell it) so hopefully after he is cured from that he will be able to not mess in the crate anymore. Wish us luck.

I found that natures miracle works great. mine dont mess in their crate anymore, but did once or twice when we first got them. I think you have to REALLY saturate the bedding and floor to get every bit of the odor out of it and clean the puppies so they do not smell the urine/feces on themselves. I used puppywipes at night and wiped them down good.

the other thing I have noticed is that when one puppy "goes" the other almost always " goes" which causes twice the mess.

it does get better -