Toilet Trainning

[Mu-Shu]

Hi there, all I want to know is, should I leave food and water during the night when trying to toilet train my Shih Tzu? He is 8 weeks old and is pretty much toilet trained for day time, now I need help for the night time business please(Past 1am, when I'm asleep is the night time I'm talking about till about 7am).

All constructive input welcome! )

[The Spotted Devil]

Hi Mu Shu

Personally, I have always left water with my pup, from the day he came home at 8 weeks. After 3 nights of wee on the provided newspaper, he has never done it again. I feed him at around 5pm or 6pm, he's in bed by 7pm and goes out for 'quick, quicks!' at around 10.30pm, then back to bed with a few biscuits in a Kong and a chicken neck to help him settle. But, Zig is a large dog and I have heard that smaller dogs can be a little more difficult to toilet train....I'm sure someone else will pop along with some more experience. Good luck with your puppy...they bring so much joy!

[Mu-Shu]

Thanks for your reply, I have so far left him with his food and water, he only does a couple small wees while I'm asleep, but wish that he would let me know so I could take him out even if its 3am )

[The Spotted Devil]

I just had another thought....IF your pup is crate trained, you can have the crate in your room at night...attach a bell to his collar....and IF you are a light sleeper you will wake up when he gets restless and probably wants to toilet. Just don't let him think that toilet time is equal to play time....otherwise you'll never hear the end of it!

[Mu-Shu]

No he isn't crate trained. We have a gate that block access to all other room of the house.(he is in the garage that we have transform into a 'study room', where we are most of the time). So this is where he sleeps through the night. The collar with a bell is a great idea, as he is a very quiet pup. Will give that a try, lets hope I'll hear it!

[The Spotted Devil]

Perhaps get a baby monitor and put the receive near your ear! I'm sure you could pick up a cheap one on the internet!

[Luke GSP]

We have never "strictly" crate trained our dogs but there beds were in crates so they would go to bed late ie23:00hrs and we let them out early 05:30hrs as dogs hate deficating in their beds I believe that this gets them in to a cycle. IMHO it also helps them develop better bladder/bowel control as they are trying to hold it . Obviously once they get past the chewing the sofa while you are asleep stage we let them sleep in a normal dog bed but still in the same place /position as where there crate used to be. I try and discourage the urge to begin Toilet duty at my dogs beck and call as you could be making a rod for your own back IMHO.

[Poodle wrangler]

I wouldn't leave food out overnight- pup doesn't need 24 hour access and I found it attracts ants and rodents at our place. More potential for mess, also . Leaving him with a chicken wing to settle is different as he's likely to gobble it up and not leave it there.

I'd just leave a small bowl of water.

You've done well if he's pretty much trained for daytime .

[Mu-Shu]

Thanks to all your replies

I'll not leave any food out at night, since I do this, he poohs before I wake up in the morning ...also I use to leave him in our garage(which we have transform into a study area), would it be best if he was refine to a much smaller room, like the laundry? I think that this way he will probably wake me if he has to go??