My pup does not bark, poops on my carpet during the night.?

Question

I have a 4 month old female boston terrier. She is the sweetest, loving, healthy, happy dog I have ever seen. I have heard her bark twice since we have had her. My friends say she does not bark because she never has a reason to. I want to train her to bark when she needs to go outside to relieve herself. Currently I have to sleep light and keep an eye on her to make sure she doesn't poop on my carpet. She has a nice bed on the floor right next to my bed. I will see her sneak off and sit at the foot of the stairs looking to see if I am awake then run downstairs to poop. I will get up and try to stop her and take her out but I don't always catch her. When I do catch her she knows she was naughty, I don't have to say anything and her ears tuck back and she looks at me with her sad eyes. During the day she is great and I have no problems with her messing inside unless I am gone for hours. Any suggestions on ways to train her to let me know when she need to poop?

I really don't like the idea of locking her up at night. She has already gotten into a routine with us and suddenly locking her up would cause more harm then good. She is pretty much housebroken pup except for the night time poop antics. I use "good outside" and praise the heck out of her when she does her stuff She is almost the perfect pup housebroken, I just hope she can break the night time poop escapades. Like I said, I have no problems during the day just at night. I guess I will either cage her, clean up poop or set an alarm to go off twice during the night. If anyone would like to see pictures of her when I first brought her home check out this link: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=96773841

Answer 1

I see you have many references to crate training.. I have never been a proponent of crate training, unless their are extreme circumstances...and I have many good reasons..I have house-trained over 300 puppies, and have never had to use a crate..

The user who recommended feeding earlier is right on..and walk with her UNTIL she poops.. dogs love to settle into Routine, so making it a daily, same-time habit will help.
It is normal for dogs to stay quiet until thy are mature..so the barking isn't a problem...
Can you hear a bell from downstairs? A small bell hung from the banister, or on the door knob would help, if you get one you can hear from upstairs..EVERY time that you take her outside, ring the bell..and say, "good girl! bell!"and soon she will be ringing it herself when she wants to go outside...The first few days, make a game of it... ring bell..go out...over and over...dogs normally need 14 repetitions to learn a new task..

Edit: Put a night light near the door.

Answer 2

Did you assert 2 days historic... certainly you ought to imply you've got had her for 2 days, however she's over 8 weeks correct? If she's 2 days historic and now not with the mummy, she won't most probably are living, and to have any risk in any respect you want a Vet to support you asap. On the opposite hand, if she is 8 weeks historic, sure the recommendation is right, near the door, and forget about the puppy, in any other case you're coaching the puppy that it may possibly get it is means through elevating a ruckus. I love to support the dog out a bit of, on day one I'll crate a dog for fifteen mins or so, then move permit it out and play, then a even as later I'll do it once more for part an hour, and for the period of the day I'll transfer the dog to the crate whilst it naps, (on this case I go away the door open), Then whilst night time comes the dog has a few familiarity with the crate and a few inspiration that it isn't a everlasting obstacle. Typically the dog will quit the ruckus in a night time or 2, and through the tip of every week or so will probably be going to the crate to nap on its possess.

Answer 3

I have never been thrilled with crating a dog either, but in my home, it is a must for puppies until they are able to acheive potty training and know what is chewable and what isn't.

I have a 4 month old Border Collie that we began with crate training. She whined at nite to let us know she needed to go out and I would get up at 2 or 3 am to take her to go potty. I hate crating and the first couple times are terrible cuz that crying seems so pitiful. But since as a general rule, a puppy will not soil where they sleep, a crate will help her learn not to potty at nite. At 4 months, she's getting close to being able to hold it thru the nite, but why should she if she can just go when she feels like it?

Now that our Border Collie is 4 months, she is able to hold hers until morning and no longer uses the crate at nite time. The use of the crate I think helped her learn to hold it at nite time.

Crating is not pleasant for humans, especially those first few nites, but it's certainly a good way to teach your pup to either 1. let you know when it's time, instead of sneaking off OR 2. Teach her to hold the water until morning.

Try it for a week and then see how your pup does on the first nite of freedom. If your pup can realize that not relieving in the house means she doesn't need to crate, that might be insentive enuf for her to get there.

Edit: the bell idea is great too! We taught our BC that one in a day and it's proven very beneficial and greatly reduced the accidents as it gave her a way to tell us when she needed to go out.

Answer 4

If you are feeding her at night, that could be the problem. You may want to feed her earlier in the evening around 4-5pm or if its easier you can feed her in the am. Normally it takes 30 min to 1 1/2 hours for the food to pass thru the system. With a smaller dog the smaller amount of time. I would feed her and about 30 min later take her outside and pick a "key " word Pottie poppie etc and keep saying it to her, when she does go praise her and say good _____ (insert key word). As far as getting her to bark to say let me out, you need to train her to speak first, then you can train her to speak when her needs to go out to do her business. She is still young and still a puppy you you need to be patient. And please if anyone tells you to rub her nose in it and throw her outside Dont do it. I dont think any of our Mothers rubbed our noses in our pants when we had an accident, so its not the correct thing to do for your puppy. Good Luck and have patience she will learn.

Answer 5

dogs are never fully able to hold themselves until they are 6 months. You may not like the idea of crate training but if she is left alone for a while or during the night it is your best bet. other wise her house training may relapse. I have a dog thats 1 yr and a half and she still stays in her kennel at night and during the day. Get one big enough so she can move around, a few toys, and water and she'll be fine. even my 8 month old lab has a crate and she likes it because its her "room". dogs like to have a space for privacy too. try it atleast, and good luck. house training is never fun.

Answer 6

I had the same situation when my puppy was about 2 months old. She is now 4 months, and like your dog she does NOT bark, and she's a Chihuahua!!! She only barks when she is indoors and need to go outside to do her business.

How did I do it>?
1. I always fed her dinner(her last meal of the day) no later than 6PM. I don't know if this prevented her from getting more of an urge to go during the night, but it did help.
2. I began to crate train her. Because of the fact that dogs(wolfs, dingos, etc) live in dens and because they do not like to sleep in their own poo/pee, they will go to the bathroom elsewhere. You can apply this concept to your own dog. Buy a crate, and introduce the crate. After intoduction, make your dog sleep in the crate nightly. If the dog needs to go, it will "notify you" that it needs to go.
3. Buy puppy training pads and use postive reinforcement when it goes to the bathroom outside. Place a training pad in your yard and keep a close eye on your dog. When you see that it is showing sign that it needs to go, quickly take it outside to the pad and let it do its business. Then reward the dog verbally and with a treat.
4. Use a "key" word when your dog is doing its business. I started using the word "quickly" when ever my dog started to go poo/pee. This allows your dog to associate the key word with going to the bathroom and is essential in the next rule (rule #5).
5. The MOST IMPORTANT rule- Right before you go to bed, whether its 10PM or 1AM, wake your dog up (if it's sleeping), and take it outside. Once outside do NOT speak or play with it. Take it to where it usually does its business, and say your key word (See rule #4). Once it has finished, say "good dog" in a positve way and take it directly to your room. Then turn off the lights and go to sleep. This method obviously will make your dog less likely to wake up in the middle of the night wanting to go pee/poo.

You can't MAKE your dog bark, but once you crate train, it will have no other choice; it's either make a noise or sleep in pee. Also, close the door to your bedroom when you sleep.

I hope this helps. If I did it with my Chihuahua, then you can definitly do it with your dog.

Good luck!!!

PS- email me if you have any futher questions.
[e-mail]

Answer 7

The problem is that you let her roam around during the night. Dogs wont poop/pee where they sleep (in general.) Until she is trained to sleep through the night, or to hold it in through the night, she should be caged at night. I am not talking about a small cage, but one big enough for the dog to move around, but not big enough that they could find a corner to go in and still have enough room to move away from theor pee/poop.

Also, make sure you get the dog into a routine when you are going to walk her. My dog knows 11:00 pm I walk him, every night. Then after that it is bed time. He knows it and has learned to not have to go during the night (occasional rare accidents asside.)

Answer 8

Crate training is best, she will most likely cry when you put her in there at night, but she will learn to accept it. Most dogs dont want to poop where they are sleeping, that is why most people have great success with this method of training. Put some towels or a blanket in there with her, and she should settle down after a bit.

Good luck

Answer 9

you can get up in the middle of the night. thats what we do with our 14 week old. i have to leave form my boyfriends house to go to my house at 4 am, so i get up and let her out. she hasnt had many accidents except on the nights when i didnt get up at that time and let her out. but she's getting to the point where she doesnt WANT to get up and go out now, which would be good, cause i could use that extra 15 minutes! so i'm thinking within the next month or 2 that will be the deal. but if you dont want to wake up, i would suggest the crate. she's going to cry, but you'll have to make her stay in there if you really dont trust her. or... lock her in the bedroom with you. maybe she wont go if she thinks you're watching her

Answer 10

What you need to do is cage her at night . Get a big enough cage where she cant go to the bathroom on one side and sleep on the other side. Dogs will not go to the bathroom where they sleep at. She is still a young thing so caging her at night will proabably be your only solution. I did that with my dog till I could fully trust him about 6-8 hrs without going outside .