# Advice on crating please



## 1968toot (Oct 31, 2013)

We have had our beautiful puppy Alfie for 2 days now and he is 8 weeks old. The breeder advised us to use a 3f x 2f crate with half bed/half puppy pad. The problem is that when we go to him (from any time after 5.30) we discover he has pood on his puppy pad but walked/smeared it all over (sorry if you're eating breakfast!). We do have a playpen attached to the crate. Would we be better off putting puppypad in playpen and leaving crate door open during night so he has free run of pen and can poo on puppypad outside crate during night. Just worried that this isn't getting him used to being in his crate alone as we won't have playpen attached forever. Many thanks for any advice.


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## Mazzapoo (Jul 28, 2013)

Congratulations! Would it be worth getting up in the middle of the night and taking him out for a poo? It wouldn't be forever and would give you the opportunity to praise him for toileting outside too. We didn't get Poppy this young though, so others will probably have better advice, good luck xxx


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## Marzi (Sep 17, 2012)

2 days. Everything is still so very new. You must be exhausted new puppy, excessive washing/cleaning and Christmas.
Don't worry, it does get better.
Are Alfie's poos very messy? It is not unusual for new pups to have upset tummies when they first come home what with the stress and having been wormed etc.
I'm with Mazzapoo. I'd get up for a couple of nighs and let him out.
What is you evening routine? I would give him his last meal, make him out put him to bed wake him at 10, have a gentle cuddle and play make sure he has done both a wee and a poo before you put him back to bed.
Then either use a baby alarm so you can hear him if he starts moving around (what I did) or set you alarm for 3.5 hours after you put him to bed and go and pop him out. Mine were all clean and dry overnight within the first week.
I only used a crate with Dot, smaller size than yours. No pee pad inside, just vet bed and snuggly toy.
Good luck.


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## tessybear (May 1, 2011)

I never used puppy pads with mine. I used one once and Dexter shredded it into a thousand pieces. I crated them with no pad at night. I went to bed as late as I could at midnight, and got up at 5am to let them out. They never once had a messy crate.


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## susanb (Jan 19, 2012)

We had this problem with Gisgo and it was very upsetting. Almost every morning I would end up on my hands and knees cleaning a dirty crate and washing pooey vet bed. We choose not to go down the "get up in the night" route and he would never poo on his last visit into the garden which would have been some time after midnight. 

We used the crate with half vet bed and half paper approach as we didn't really have the space for a puppy pen as well as the crate.

We tried all sorts of things - but I think what sorted it out eventually was a combination of moving him from Royal Canin onto Barking Heads and him just getting older.

So I'm offering sympathy more than advice....and saying that it will get better but perhaps not for a couple of weeks. Hang in there and one of these days you will suddenly realise that you haven't had a dirty crate for ages!


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## dio.ren (Jan 18, 2013)

I never had a pad in Molly's crate. I would go to bed at 10pm and she would sleep in her crate in my room. I would get up after 4-5 hours and take her to pee and poo and then put her back in until I got up. She never had an accident in her crate. In no time she would last from 10pm to 5am so I would get her up to do her job.


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## Grove (Oct 17, 2012)

The half pad half bed worked well for us, but Gandhi never pooed at night, only wee.

I think it's a good idea to have the half and half at that age because if they do need a wee they aren't going on the bed and it is difficult to predict when in the night they would need to go. After a couple of weeks Gandhi stopped weeing at night and held it and then we replaced the pad with the other half of vet bed. 

I think both ideas of getting up in the night and also the pad in the pen could be things to try. If when you go down to him he has already had the poo at least you can clear it up before it gets even more smeared around.

But the pad in the pen is good because he'll be pooing further from his sleeping area.

I would probably try getting up first keeping the pad where it is and if you find he has often already pooed then try the pad further away in the pen as well.

It's not ideal for there to be poo that is sitting there either way incase he eats it


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## Cat 53 (Aug 26, 2012)

Not a problem I ever had to face as I don't crate. Basket and paper on the floor worked for me. No getting up in the night and easy to just roll up and bin the paper, then mop the floor. Took Max about 2 weeks to be clean and dry at night.


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## DB1 (Jan 20, 2012)

1968toot said:


> We have had our beautiful puppy Alfie for 2 days now and he is 8 weeks old. The breeder advised us to use a 3f x 2f crate with half bed/half puppy pad. The problem is that when we go to him (from any time after 5.30) we discover he has pood on his puppy pad but walked/smeared it all over (sorry if you're eating breakfast!). We do have a playpen attached to the crate. Would we be better off putting puppypad in playpen and leaving crate door open during night so he has free run of pen and can poo on puppypad outside crate during night. Just worried that this isn't getting him used to being in his crate alone as we won't have playpen attached forever. Many thanks for any advice.


I would do this, and make his crate smaller by putting a box or something that is half the size in it, he should then just sleep in the crate and come outside to poo/wee. I had a tiny space that I managed to block off for him outside of the crate and He went out for his wee's, I was lucky that he never poo'd during the night, after about 3 nights I noticed he had stopped weeing too so I shut the crate then. Alternatively you could do what others have done and set your alarm to wake up in the night to let him outside to go.


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## AliAlfie (Jul 29, 2013)

Congratulations on your new pup, we too have an Alfie, ours is black (developing a brindle appearance.) 

We also blocked off half the crate and had just their bed on the side where they slept, as we were advised that even as small pups they will hold their toilets as they don't like to soil their bed. We had a baby monitor and found that for the first 3 nights they woke around 3am so we took them out for the toilet, they went, and settled straight back to sleep again, then woke around 7am. We only ever had one 'accident' in the crate, and after 3 nights they were going through from 10.30pm til around 6.30am. 

Once we were sure they could hold it through the night, without any discomfort (the baby monitor was brilliant, we could sleep easy knowing that if they woke and cried or even whimpered we would hear them and pop down to take them out.) It really only took a very short while before we gave them the whole crate with their bed, and we NEVER used pads (they just did what Tess' Dexter did, and ripped it to shreds anyway!) as we didn't want them to pee or poop in their crate from day 1, and for us, it worked. Good luck, I am sure he will soon be dry and clean in his crate overnight, but be prepared for true toilet-training to take quite a while longer!!!


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## claire64 (Nov 25, 2013)

Hi we have Quinn who is nine weeks tomorrow & has been with us for a week now. I set the alarm for 3am then get up at 630am for work. we have never had a mess in the crate  when I get up at 3am its little lights on, no fuss just out side, praise when he goes to toilet then straight back in crate. I have never used puppy pads because was always frightened of giving the message that its ok to mess in crate but everyone is different.


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## 1968toot (Oct 31, 2013)

Thanks everyone for your great advice. The last couple of nights have been much better - no poos in the crate. What we've done differently is stayed up as late as possible so that we can take him out for last time before bed as late as possible (about 12.30) and getting up with an alarm at 4 or getting up as soon as we hear him to take him out. So far, so good, thanks very much. Just changed his food today. He came from the breeders with Naturediet so we've started adding kibble 50:50. Found I had to moisten the kibble with some warm water though as when he first tried it seemed difficult for his tiny teeth to get through. At 8 weeks, is this normal?


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## Grove (Oct 17, 2012)

Yes, we were feeding the kibble the breeder fed at the beginning and they said to add a little warm water to it. 

Pleased to hear he is doing well


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## 1968toot (Oct 31, 2013)

(I thought I'd posted a reply but can't see it here so appologised for any repetition). Thanks so much for the great advice. We have had a good few nights with no poos in the crate. Reason for this being that we're staying up as late as possible to try and get him to do one before settling for the night (12.30 to 1am) then getting up to take him out as soon as we hear him at about 4. Still keeping crate as it is for now but will see how it goes and keep an open mind. Thanks again everyone for help. I'm sure I'll be on asking for more advice about something soon. Ruth(1968toot)


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## Mazzapoo (Jul 28, 2013)

Well done! It's such a boost to feel like you're doing the right thing and getting results, it's a big old hill to climb


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## Jet (Jan 13, 2013)

V

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## 1968toot (Oct 31, 2013)

I've tried to post a reply twice already but it's not showing that it's posted so appologised for any repetition. Thanks heaps for all fab advice. We've decided to try and go a bit longer before reducing size of crate but have had a few really good nights with taking him out as late as poss before going to bed and getting up around 4 or when he whimpers to go out. So far so good. Thanks again.


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