Potty training nighttime
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I have a 12 week old puppy, that we're starting to house train. She's already pretty good at using her litter box. We're transitioning her slowly by moving her box slowly to where we want her to go in the backyard. At night, she sleeps in our room in her crate with a pen around it. The litter box is inside at night. I don't think she actually uses it in the middle of the night, but I can't be sure.
Part of her training involves a treat when she's done it right? Well, she has decided that faking a pee is a great way to get a treat... Definitely don't want a fake pee for a treat at 3 am just to find she went 15 minutes later inside the house...
A friend said if you do take them out in the middle of the night, they get used to waking us up and continue doing that into adulthood. And he has a point because we've just gotten her to stop waking up crying at night, and finally getting her comfortable going in her crate voluntarily.
Should we be taking her outside in the middle of the night to pee anyway?
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When Safi was crated at night I just put paper sheets in the crate and nothing soft as that encourages them to pee on furniture. Take her out last thing to go and make sure the crate doesn't have a lot of space, I gave her enough space to turn around comfortably using a divider which I moved as she grew. I also made sure the crate was covered at night. They don't like to toilet where they sleep or sleep in it but if there's enough space for them to have zones they happily will. At the start I used to take her out in the night regularly but I couldn't keep it up and she wouldn't go outside but then would go when we got back in! She used to fake pee too just to get me to shut up pleading with her to go
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Consider trying a "bedtime potty" and a "just woke up potty" routine. And possibly transition to picking up the water bowl after a certain hour (close to bedtime) to help curb her need to go out. -- just an idea, it's been a long time since I've had to potty train a pup.
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I discovered with my 11 week old puppy, not tofeed her too close to bedtime as that just meant she had to go a lot at nigt. And I do wake up when she begins to make a lot of noise (I've been told not to respond to her noise but it seems to be a signal that she has to go so I do at night) and take her outside (yes putting on her and my jackets) at 3 am. BUT I say "go potty" and when she does she immediately gets a few tiny treats and lots of praise. No accidents over night since.
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Thanks for the advice. It's definitely helped!
