Puppy poopy everywhere

[ignatiusdidache]

I’m on day 8 of owning a puppy. He’s a 9 week old Boston terrier and I love him to death.

As I say that, it’s 8am and there is poop on my bed, and he just went poo on my hardwood floor right next to it, even though we JUST came back inside from potty-ing (the reason I haven’t been able to clean the bed poop yet) I know he doesn’t do it to spite me but it sure feels like it sometimes

The reason he sleeps in my bed at night is he HATES the crate. I mean LOATHES. I’ve tried feeding there and toys and treats, and the second I close the door and take 2 steps back it’s shrieking and crying ripping/biting at the doors. We were doing okay in the bed for the other 7 nights up to now. I swear to god things were going pretty well but what a Saturday morning. He’s currently laying with his head on top of my foot like he hasn’t done a single thing…..I just want a nap.

UPDATE: I took a lot of people’s advice and tried real hard to feed/play/treat in the crate this afternoon and he’s now fallen asleep in there for a nap! He even noticed me walk away to sit on the couch about 6 feet away and just settled back down. That’s the first time he’s ever been that chill, I can’t thank y’all enough. I’m definitely going to take y’all’s advice for tonight’s bedtime routine

 

[ernestcop]

@ignatiusdidache Your puppy is a baby and you’ve only had him for 8 days. He’s not going to be crate trained or potty trained. That’s why you have to continue to work on it! It’s going to take a while.

 

[birdiie]

@ernestcop A looooonnnngggg while!!

 

[petronela]

@birdiie If only puppies came potty trained! lmao

 

[jacquesr]

@ernestcop This is why I love adopting seniors, all the joys of a dog minus the extensive potty/crate training. And I get to give them a loving home in their last few years

 

[msoule4]

@ignatiusdidache If you are willing to give the crate another go, I suggest putting it on your nightstand. I did that with my puppy, put him I right before I actually sleep. And then I lay down in the bed, with my head just a foot or so away from his and pretend to start sleeping. The crying normally only lasts a minute before he gets comfy and falls asleep too. When I crate trained my first dog, I had the crate on the floor where he couldn't see me and he cried for hours the first few nights.

 

[birdiie]

@msoule4 I swear by crate training! So far in my lifetime I’ve crate trained 3 different pups, a golden, a lab and now a pittie… all 3 got the idea pretty well around 4 mos- pretty much no one in the house slept for the first 3-3.5 mos!!

 

[ignatiusdidache]

@msoule4 Thank you! I think I might try this, I’m thinking about going all in on crate training this weekend to see if I can get him to chill out a bit more about it

 

[thewingsoftruth]

@ignatiusdidache Keep trying! At this age his instincts are telling him that he will die if he can’t get to you. This is totally normal. He’ll eventually learn that it’s okay to be alone and that he’s not in danger.

 

[randy3]

@ignatiusdidache My pup would cry the first few nights/weeks in her crate. So I’d lay right outside of it where she could see me. Then after a while I’d go to bed. She’s 8 months old now and still hates her crate, it’s a struggle sometimes to get her almost 50lbs in it but once in she manages.

Thankfully from early on she was good about making it through most of the night. Whenever I heard her cry I would take her out which in my house is quite a bit from the crate to the yard and if I didn’t carry her she’d pee before we made it outside. Now she’s really good about not going inside the house but if I hear her whimpering or barking I know it’s because she really needs to go.

 

[person721]

@msoule4 Man, where was the advice 2 months ago. I slept next to the crate on the floor for the first few days. The nightstand would have been easier

 

[jonathanf24]

@ignatiusdidache Welcome to puppyhood, especially with a Boston! I swear it gets better, you just need to stick with it. Mine also hated the crate and now she has two that we regularly put her in for either calm time, sleep time, or when we need to leave the house. They're also notoriously stubborn about potty time (sorry, it's true) and the only advice I have is to keep an eye on them and watch for cues. When mine has to poop, she starts to sniff a lot, roam, and run downstairs or to her favorite spots inside. This is where I pick her up and send her outside. She's gotten better at going to the door but she's not great at making noise yet to alert us lol, we're getting there.

This is my second Boston terrier and I promise it gets better with due time. It's so worth it. They're incredible little clown dogs but despite what they're a mix of easy and hard to train at the same time. They're very clever and stubborn.

 

[imagebeastmarkbeast]

@ignatiusdidache How frequently are you taking him out through the night?

 

[ignatiusdidache]

@imagebeastmarkbeast We’ve been doing every 2 hours with mostly success (last call at midnight and up at 6ish but the trips have sometimes been cut short if he decides to play outside instead, which is when the indoor accidents tend to happen when we come back in. I get I should stay out longer if it’s not happening, it’s just been bad timing of when my meetings are (I work from home.)

This is the first morning accident of me not getting him out in time in the morning, most likely bc it was Saturday and sleeping in my past the alarm.

 

[nobillis]

@ignatiusdidache If he’s having accidents with a potty break every two hours, take him out more frequently. I would suggest even every 30 mins if you can. Just give him the option. He won’t go potty every time but he will get it much faster and be less likely to have accidents inside since you aren’t letting that happen as much. He’s a baby and you have to be on top of it for the first few weeks until he figures things out.

 

[anviet212]

@ignatiusdidache He is 9 weeks old and cannot hold it from midnight to 6am. We were doing midnight, 2am, 4am, and 6am until my puppy was 12 weeks old. At that point we switched to 11pm, 3am, 7am until he was 14 weeks. Then we gradually pushed the middle of the night potty from 3am to 4am to 5am until we were able to remove the middle of the night potty altogether around 4.5 months old.

It’s better to be safe than sorry, not only to not have to clean up accidents but also to not give your puppy the opportunity to go potty inside and have them associate going potty inside with something they’re allowed to do.

 

[brownie]

@anviet212 I just crated at night beside my bed. He woke me up when he needed to go by whining, I scooped him up and carried him out, he pees and/ or poops, he goes back in the crate. But yeah, interrupted sleep until he was about 5 or 6 months

 

[rohith]

@anviet212 This is the way. They are like babies you gotta cater to them when there young but it will pay off so much when he’s older and can hold it for longer

 

[rpwolfgang]

@anviet212 We did exactly the same thing. And now at 5 months she sleeps from 9pm-7am in the crate with my husband taking her out around 12-1am before he goes to bed.
Also what reinforced pottying outside is treats. Always go out on a leash and with a treat and I stay at one spot and say “Go potty” and when she goes I mark it “yes!” and treat her as soon as she’s done going. Same with the poop except I say “go poopoo potty.” Now she knows to only go outside and she barks at the door when she needs to go. I still treat her once in a while but now I don’t need the treats all the time.

 

[birdiie]

@rpwolfgang I’ve had about the same routine with the same verbiage!! We are also at 5 mos… no accidents x 6 weeks!