[Viv]

Hi. I have a miniature pinscher. She's been with me for 3 years. Sadly I have not done much to properly housebreak her. Her and I have only recently begun to do so. Overall I feel that it's going well. I am taking her out first thing in the morning and immediately when I get home from work. I am watching her closely and keeping her close by to avoid any unwanted eliminating in the apartment. When she does have an accident I am stopping it as it happens and quickly taking her outside and cleaning the area. Overall there have been minimal accidents throughout the day. It is at night and overnight that we're struggling. She won't pee in the afternoons and evenings when I take her out. She's not peeing in the house during the evenings so there are no accidents there, but she is peeing overnight. She sleeps in her crate with a dog blanket and in the mornings I find that she'd peed on her blanket. I am immediately cleaning up in hopes that she'll learn that she shouldn't pee there, yet each night it's happening. What else should I be doing? Can anyone help us out a bit?

 

[Rain]

Overall everything you are doing is exactly right.

How big is her crate? For housetraining purposes the crate should only be big enough for her to stand up, turn around, and lay down in.

Have you tried taking the bedding out of the crate and just letting her sleep on the crate floor? Some dogs will potty on the nice soft absorbent bedding but will not potty in the crate if the bedding isn't available to absorb the accident.

Where is her crate located? If you don't have it by your bed try putting it there. Once the bedding is out the crate she may be less likely to pee in there or at least get a little whiny before doing so and the whining may wake you up.

Have you tried getting up at least once during the night to take her out to potty? That's like treating her like a 12 week old puppy, puppies that young cannot hold it all night so they need to be taken out at least once during the night.

Washing the bedding and cleaning the crate is not going to help her realize not to potty in there, for that you have to prevent the accidents from happening. The more she potties in the crate the more likely she is to continue and the harder it will be to break the habit. Housetraining is about habit. The dog forms the habit of pottying where we want them to and are very unlikely to want to potty anywhere else.

Is there a reason that she's reluctant to pee in the evening and at night? If there is and you can figure out what it is then work on getting her O.K. with it that may help with the housetraining at night. It could be something like the noise of crickets and frogs, the dark, thick dew on the grass.

Try taking her out in the evenings, sit out there with her for 10 min, feed her a very small piece of a treat or two then bring her back in. Wait 30 min Do that over and over till she potties for you. When she does potty throw a potty party, give her lots of treats as soon as her butt starts lifting from the ground, tell her that she's such a great dog, do whatever she likes. Basically act like she is the best dog ever and she just discovered the cure for all diseases.

 

[Viv]

Hi Rain! Thank you for your response. Her crate is definitely the right size for her. She has just enough room to stand, turn and lay down. It's located in the kitchen which is right off my bedroom. Last night I actually did as you suggested and removed the bedding. B/c she was peeing on it overnight, during the days she's been w/o it as I been having to clean it. She really isn't accustom to being w/o bedding to lie on. She'll stand for long periods, waiting and looking for it. B/c of that I've been hesitant to have her go w/o some form of bedding overnight but I did it yesterday as you suggested. We had no accidents overnight. YAY! Last night she also finally did pee outside at night before we went to bed. I am not sure why it's difficult for her to pee outside later into the evenings. She doesn't appear distressed but I will keep at it. Maybe the fact that she finally managed to go last night is a good sign.

Now I'm wondering, about how long I should leave her w/o bedding? Also once you return bedding into the crate will she want to eliminate on it again?


Again thank you for your input. Yesterday my stress level was on the high end and I was feeling very discouraged. Today I'm feeling optimistic again.