Toileting at night

[SillyWrong]

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I just posted this in the 'general' forum and then spotted this one!

We rehomed 2 Bichons 3 weeks ago, both adults (5 & 7). They were very clearly well loved and cherished in their previous home, but not looked after properly - they'd never been to the vet and they had no training. Except they are house trained and always ask to go out in to the garden when they need to go.

They are doing really well with us and have learned to respond consistently to commands such as 'sit' and 'get in your bed' and most importantly 'no'!

Problem: Toileting at night. They sleep in our room in their own beds, but tend to get up in the night and toilet either in the bathroom or at the bottom of the stairs. It's almost every night. We can always tell which it was because when we point it out one of them shies away from us. We point and say a stern "No!" and the message gets through, whoever it was will hang their head and skulk off for a while.

We put them out at night before bed and wait for them both to go toilet, and give them lots of praise as they do (it's embarrassing 11 o'clock at night out in the garden squealing "yeeeeeah, Elsie did wee wee's!"!!) ... what else can we do!? How do we stop it? My only idea is to set my alarm and take them to the garden at 2am but that's not practical, how do you teach a dog how to hold it, they've obviously not learned to!

 

[Headie]

You don't state how old they are. It just sounds like bad training or lack there of. I have been pretty lucky in that i have always had atleast 2 dogs at a time over the years. So the new dog has actually been trained by the older dog when it comes to going out as they just follow their cues from the other. There reason i ask how old they are is that from personal experience i have had a much harder time trainer older dogs than i did from training them from pups. Rather than me going into a wall of text here is a link that may be useful for the older dog (non-puppy) toilet training. Hope it helps out a little and good luck http://www.bluecross.org.uk/1958-2786/house-training-an-adult-dog.html

 

[gypsysmum]

As they are adult dogs then they can certainly hold their toilet overnight but may not have learned to do so. You should, however, get a vet to check them over to rule out any problems that might cause incontinence.

To start with I would crate train them so that they can be crated at night. This is not a punishment but a management technique! Introduce the crate as though it is a lovely new toy. Put toys and treats in it and encourage them to enjoy being in the crate with the door open. Over time shut the door for short periods so that they learn to settle in a nice soft bed inside the crate. Once this is achieved the crate can be sited near your bed so that you can hear if they really need to go out. When you take them out be very boring until they toilet when you should, immediately, give a high value treat. They should be in no doubt as to why they got the treat so this will mean you have to approach them and give it as they finish toileting. Go back to being boring as you return them to their crate. You do not want to encourage midnight walks

It is counter productive to scold for toileting indoors. All it teaches a dog to do is to not be around humans when toileting as they get very cross when they see it! This in turn teaches the dog to hold on until the humans are asleep or out before they toilet.

The guilty look you are seeing is just anxiety. Dogs do not have morals and so cannot experience guilt.

If you find a wee or poo just stay neutral and clean it up. The last thing you want is a dog that avoids humans when it wants to toilet.

To prevent over marking - clean the area with biological detergent in a 10% solution. Rinse. Dry, Then agitate some sort of spirit, like surgical spirit or vinegar, into the area to lift the last of the fat deposits that may remain.

Most dogs love their crates as long as they are never used as punishment cells. Just use the crate to contain the dogs until you are absolutely sure that they are fully house trained.

The main thrust is to teach them that tasty treats are on offer for toilets in the garden. It will be easier if you take them out separately.