Potty training and crying at night..help!

[Dugan's mom]

Dugan is 12 wks old and has very few accidents in the house...but he pees almost every time I leave him in his crate. What confuses me though is when we first got him at 8 wks he didn't do this! Just in the last week or so he has started to do this at least once a day. I have tried removing any towels or blankets out of the crate.. but he would just pee on his stuffed animal (to soak it up I guess) .. I hate to make his crate so bare and unwelcoming but it looks like I'm going to have to remove anything remotely cushy! We also made the crate smaller so that he doesn't have room to pee in one corner, but it hasn't made a difference. Does anybody have any suggestions as to how I can get him to quit peeing in his crate???

Also, Dugan has been barking for several hours every night. He won't go to the bathroom though when we take him outside, all we will do is look at us (and then go back in and pee in his crate when we go to bed)! Any suggestions as to why he is barking (and barking and barking...) for hours on end and what what we can to to put an end to this????! We usuallly ignore him 8 times out of 10 and eventually he tires out and goes to sleep but my boyfriend and I are absolutely EXHAUSTED. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Snow Queen]

I hope this helps, as my girls are about his age:
Remove his water shortly before bedtime and take him out for some vigorous exercise!
Then, give him a chew toy to take to bed. If he's got something to chew on, he'll be less likely to bark out of sheer boredom. And if he's had enough exercise, he shouldn't be barking for more attention.
If he's not had water before going to bed, and has emptied his bladder during exercise, he'll be less likely to need to urinate.
And finally, where is his crate located?
Have you thought about bringing it nearer the bedroom?
He may just be lonley...

 

[boxer]

Where do you keep his crate at night? Is it in your room beside your bed? If not, then it might be a good idea to shift it there where he can be near you.

If it's already there, then you might try putting it out in your living room, or wherever the busiest area of your house is (and that's where I'd recommend it be during the daytime). Most pups are happier right beside their people at night, but there are a few who do better if left wherever the centre of activity in the house is - even after you go off to bed yourself.

Second thing I'd suggest is that you set an alarm clock to take him out a couple of times during the night. That way you can be sure that he has adequate potty opportunities and can reasonably safely ignore other crying.

 

[Dugan's mom]

Thank you for the advice! We had the crate in our bedroom for the first week and after that moved it to the living room. He cried at first but had settled down and was sleeping most of the night until this past week. We try to exercise him before bed but maybe he it isn't vigorous enough for him. I'm going to try to tire him out more and see if that helps! My boyfriend took him out a couple of times during the night last night to pee.. but Dugan wouldn't go to the bathroom at all because he has probably peed in the crate 5 minutes before..

 

[Jan]

If he is peeing before you boyfriend took him out, he didn't take him out soon enough. Set the alarm for every 3 hours if necessary. Also pick up the water 2 hours before bedtime.

Good luck!