# Poops Indoors When I'm Sleeping!



## plumcrazy (Sep 11, 2009)

Can you crate him at night? I'd keep the crate in my bedroom, next to my bed, so he still feels close to you. Since he is a rescue/adoption there's no way to know if his original house-training was done in such a way to be a success. Maybe he's never been properly house-trained and you need to start at the begining. It's possible that he's waking you at 5 AM because he feels the urge to go - since you don't take him outside, he gives in to his urge. If he were crated, chances are he'd just hold it until you were ready to take him out in the morning...

Good luck!

Barb


----------



## fjm (Jun 4, 2010)

Sounds to me as if he needs to go out at 5 am! Poppy still needs to go out in the early hours sometimes - especially if we are away from home and her routine is disrupted. She bounces around for a few minutes to get my attention, I take her down and let her out, she does the needful, and is back up in my bed before I have finished locking the door. A crate would probably help, and would be a useful skill for visiting your family, but in the meantime I would invest in a long, thick dressing gown and warm slip on boots, and take him out when he says he needs to go.


----------



## PaddleAddict (Feb 9, 2010)

How old is your dog? 

It sounds like he has free roam of the house? I would never let my dog free roam at any age, especially while I am asleep. Imagine the trouble he could get into, yes, including potty accidents.

Dogs are not born housetrained--you need to teach them. 

The crate is an excellent tool. I would look up crate training and housetraining and go back to the basics.

Edited to add: I just went read your introductory post and I see that your mini poodle is an adult. Since he's obviously not housetrained, I would treat him exactly like a puppy. Buy him a crate to sleep in at night and when you can watch him like a hawk. When you're gone at school, consider confining him to a small area like the kitchen or laundry room. When you are home, pay attention to his potty needs. If he drinks a big bowl of water, he will need to go out about an hour later. Take him out often (every few hours) on a leash to give him the chance to potty. Take him to the same spot in your yard (still on a leash) everytime to he learns that this is a potty spot. Don't yell or punish if he has a mistake, just pick him up immediately and go right out to the potty spot. If you yell, he will become nervous and sneak off to find a dark corner to potty in where you won't see him.

Remember, every time he has the opportunity to go potty in the house, it sets your potty training back. Every time he goes inside, he learns that it's okay to go inside. Try not to let him have mistakes.

Finally, when you go to your dad's house, keep this boy on a leash at all times. Don't let him wander around. Take him out every few hours to have the opportunity to potty and put him in his crate at night (if you're staying over). 

Potty training is really hard. You have to watch your dog like a hawk and always think when was the last time it went out? Dogs don't know that going potty inside is wrong. It's our job to teach them the right place to go.


----------



## Skye (Feb 19, 2010)

Crate, crate, crate. Lift his food and water around dinner time. Get up early with him and let him out. Never leave him where you cannot watch him while you are training, even if you have to tether him to you.


----------



## PaddleAddict (Feb 9, 2010)

Soleil said:


> Do y'all know why he might be doing this? He poops in the afternoon and at last call so I don't know where he gets all this other extra poop. I only feed him a quarter of a cup per meal.


If you feed him on a schedule, he should poop on a schedule. Worms and other intestinal parasites can cause excess pooping. Did the vet check for parasites when he was in?


----------



## Olie (Oct 10, 2009)

5AM is morning and it seems he needs to go out. I am sure if you take him out when he wakes you he will stop doing his business in the house. Go back to sleep afterwards. Its hard to get a dog to let you know he has to go out and your dog is doing that. Its not an issue - its a good thing.

I agree, crate and tether.


----------



## Skye (Feb 19, 2010)

My boy will still poop in the middle of the night if I let him out. I let him out late, 11-12 for a pee, and then he poops first thing and pees in the morning, between 7-8. But, if I get up with my kids in the middle of the night, and take him out, he'll poop. I think crating will solve this for you.


----------



## Lilah+Jasper (May 13, 2010)

Olie said:


> Its hard to get a dog to let you know he has to go out and your dog is doing that. Its not an issue - its a good thing.
> 
> I agree, crate and tether.


Oh how I wish Jasper would give me a sign *sigh*


----------



## Jennifer J (Apr 22, 2010)

I agree wholeheartedly with crating him at night. And if he wakes you up, you need to take him outside. You are very fortunate to have a dog that alerts you, take advantage. For now, it seems that he isn't able to go all night without going potty. He can probably learn to go longer in time, but if he wan't properly potty trained to begin with, he has probably not had to "hold it" for the overnight time before. As with puppies, he will probably get better about this after a while, but he really needs to be crated at night for now. Good luck and let us know how he does.


----------



## bigpoodleperson (Jul 14, 2009)

Wait. You have only had him for 1 week, and he has free unsupervised roam of the whole house at night??!! He needs to go out at 5am! I hate to say it, but its your own fault he is doing this if you wont get out of bed and take him out! CRATE HIM!!


----------



## Olie (Oct 10, 2009)

:dito:

I just read in another post that Charlie is on meds for kennel cough. This could also be adding to his need to go out.

Bottom line - he seems to be doing very well and you must be patient. I never allow my dogs to wait several hours after waking me - thats not healthy either.

When they are crate trained they will rarely poo in the spot they rest.


----------



## Soleil (Dec 4, 2010)

Thanks for all the advice y'all. A lot of it was very helpful!

I forgot to mention something crucial - I don't have a crate for him yet, which is why he has free roam of my (very small) apartment. Otherwise I would be putting him in there. I'm waiting for a paycheck (law student = poor) to get him a nice one. 

The reason I asked why he poops at night is because I'll be gone sometimes 8 or 9 hours for school and errands and he'll be a complete angel. As soon as I get home, I let him out and again several times throughout the day. He goes at night before bed. So why couldn't he wait 8 hours again while I'm sleeping? Could it be separation anxiety?

He has all his vaccines, shots, etc and all his tests were negative. I'm also giving him heart worm prevention chewies. Neither the vet at the shelter or my own vet found anything wrong with him besides his broken paw.

Either way, I knew I wanted to crate him when I got him, but that'll have to wait. I was just puzzled at his potty patterns. :confused3:


Edited: I guess I wasn't clear earlier, but he never goes inside the house whether I'm here or not. Just at night for some reason. I still watch him the whole time I'm here but he's never even so much as popped a squat - the only time there was an accident was the first day. He never leaves my side anyway, he's a bit of a mama's boy. 

Also, there have been some nights where he wakes me and he doesn't poop or pee. When I take him out later, he still doesn't poo or pee. So his signs aren't indicative of much, IMO. Either way, I'll be testing this tomorrow morning and seeing if his jumping around is "Potty time!" or "Play time!" Because he LOVES to jump around when playing, broken leg and all.


----------



## schpeckie (Jun 29, 2010)

My girls are crated when I am not at home and also at night time. They love their crate and their is no mess to worry about. Roaming free in the house isnot the best idea for this little fellow. If getting a crate is a problem - check the wanted ads, for something suitable for the time being. Oh ya, we love to see more pictures!


----------



## Soleil (Dec 4, 2010)

I keep forgetting to post pictures! Most of them are from my phone so I'll have to take the time to get some with my camera.  

I checked craigslist and most of the crates were really nasty looking. Yeck! I'm just going to tough it out. I should be able to get him one soon, maybe within the week. Yayyy!


----------



## pudlemom (Apr 16, 2010)

Soleil said:


> I'm just going to tough it out. I should be able to get him one soon, maybe within the week. Yayyy!


Maybe in the mean time you could put him in the bathroom over night or make a makeshift kennel in a corner, anything would be better than letting this behavior get reinforced any further.


----------



## Soleil (Dec 4, 2010)

pudlemom said:


> Maybe in the mean time you could put him in the bathroom over night or make a makeshift kennel in a corner, anything would be better than letting this behavior get reinforced any further.


I agree, I'll dog-proof my bathroom tonight and see how that works out.


----------



## bigpoodleperson (Jul 14, 2009)

If he is a mammas boy then you could either let him in the bed, or hook a leash to one of your bed posts and teether him next to you. I think he would like being in the room with you instead of alone in the bathroom.


----------



## JE-UK (Mar 10, 2010)

Ditto what everyone else said. If his housebreaking isn't 100%, then the puppy advice is still valid. Housebreaking is housebreaking, no matter what age.

Mine went through a stage of waking me up in the middle of the night, hoping for a game. I was just utterly consistent ... if he woke me, I took him straight outside, then straight back to bed. If he woke me 1/2 an hour later, same routine. You'll have one or two bad nights, but he will get the message, that waking you gets a pee break, but no games, no attention, no treats. 

I wouldn't stop him waking you, as that is a valuable message!


----------



## Lilah+Jasper (May 13, 2010)

bigpoodleperson said:


> If he is a mammas boy then you could either let him in the bed, or hook a leash to one of your bed posts and teether him next to you. I think he would like being in the room with you instead of alone in the bathroom.


This is excellent. I did this with Sasha (RIP sweet girl) & Lilah until they could be fully trusted. Jasper never needed the extra precaution.

I actually hooked the leash to my hand so that I could make sure that no harm came to the spoo while sleeping tethered to me. This also kept them from waking up DH. It really worked out well.

Good luck!


----------

