# 11 week golden retriever peeing issue at night in crate



## vinfigs (May 17, 2013)

I've had a golden puppy for a week now and I've had some struggles with having her NOT pee in the crate over night. It seems the only nights she didn't pee we had to take her out a couple hours after we went to bed around midnight and than another few hours later for a 2nd time before we woke up at 530am. 

I've read alot about people saying they can't hold thier urine that long at this young of an age and you may have to do this until she can learn to hold it. Is this true?

We crate train her now and it has a divider in it so the crate is small enough to just fit her to lie down. It's only been 6 nights so far, but as I said the only successful nights came with waking up two times during the night. We also tried taking water away 2 hours before bed time. 

Anything will help . Thanks


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## SDRRanger (May 2, 2013)

I believe puppies can hold their bladders for as many month as they are old plus one (meaning a two month old can hold 3 hours, etc). Unfortunately, until your puppy is old enough to hold its bladder through the night you're in for broken sleep and set alarms. 

Good luck, they do grow up


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## ireth0 (Feb 11, 2013)

Yep, getting up through the night to let the puppy out is something you'll just need to do for a while to prevent her soiling her crate. (which you really don't want her to get used to doing). Gradually you'll be able to let her go longer and longer between when you take her out, until eventually she can go all night.

They just physically can't hold it that long.


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## HollowHeaven (Feb 5, 2012)

If she can't hold it she can't hold it.
Everything slows down during then night but getting up at least once, maybe twice, during the night to take her is normal and something you will have to do if she needs it done.

Take water away about an hour before bedtime and make play and potty time the very last thing you do. That may help you out.


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## elrohwen (Nov 10, 2011)

Have you tried waking up only once over night?

I would set an alarm and get up at a certain time every night. If you have to do it twice a night at first, then that's what she needs. In a couple months she will be able to sleep through the night, but right now I would set her up for success and take her out as often as needed to keep her from peeing in the crate.


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## vinfigs (May 17, 2013)

Thank you. Yea we were tyring to hear her bark to get our attention to take her outside around 3-330 am, but last night when we heard her at 3 am she already peed and was soaked. We played with her alot before bed time and had her pee right before bed as well at 10pm. The two nights this week that we woke up 2-3 hours after we put her down around 1230 and 330 is when we had success. I never had a dog so I assumed maybee only once was good, but it's looking like thats not the case. This week during the day she did pretty good lasting from 7am-12 and 1230-5 with no accidents but one really. I guess it will take time and I have to deal with the frustration of losing a good night of sleep for a while. 


We have a cage crate with a divider and it's not covered? Do you reccommend covering it with a blanket or keeping the cage uncovered? We also didn't put a blanket in there cause the first couple nights we did she actually peed on them, but we also let her sleep the entire night those nights. So right now she sleeps on the bottom of the crate.


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## ireth0 (Feb 11, 2013)

vinfigs said:


> Thank you. Yea we were tyring to hear her bark to get our attention to take her outside around 3-330 am, but last night when we heard her at 3 am she already peed and was soaked. We played with her alot before bed time and had her pee right before bed as well at 10pm. The two nights this week that we woke up 2-3 hours after we put her down around 1230 and 330 is when we had success. I never had a dog so I assumed maybee only once was good, but it's looking like thats not the case. This week during the day she did pretty good lasting from 7am-12 and 1230-5 with no accidents but one really. I guess it will take time and I have to deal with the frustration of losing a good night of sleep for a while.
> 
> 
> We have a cage crate with a divider and it's not covered? Do you reccommend covering it with a blanket or keeping the cage uncovered? We also didn't put a blanket in there cause the first couple nights we did she actually peed on them, but we also let her sleep the entire night those nights. So right now she sleeps on the bottom of the crate.


Sometimes covering it with a blanket can help the pup relax and be more at ease in the crate by making it more 'den' like. But if she's not having issues with the crate itself you don't need to.

I would go without the blankets in the crate for now because if she does pee on them, they'll absorb the liquid and make it easier for her to get away from the pee. Also make sure to use an enzymatic cleaner when she does pee! Regular cleaners may get rid of the smell to us, but dogs can typically still smell it unless you use an enzymatic cleaner.


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## elrohwen (Nov 10, 2011)

You don't need to cover the crate, but you can try it and see if she settles better. My pup just got frustrated and pulled the cover into the crate to chew on it.


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## Kyllobernese (Feb 5, 2008)

When I got my Doberman puppy, she was 11 weeks old and I got up with her at least a couple of times during the night. I had the crate beside my bed and when I heard her starting to move around, I took her outside to pee. She has never had an accident in her crate and by 14 weeks, usually sleeps right through the night, depending on when she last drank water. She has always been quiet in her crate at night so if she fusses, I know for sure she has to go out.


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## megs2219 (Feb 23, 2013)

I would try covering the crate. It really helped my pup keep sleeping longer and I think if they are asleep they are less likely to pee. I think that the crate covers made for the crates (i got mine from amazon, it's made out of canvas and covers the crate with little windows on each side and the end with the door that you can roll up or roll down for complete coverage) are better than just towels. A lot of dogs play with the towels and trying to get them off is like a game, the cover is on there securely and they can't get it off. I think though if the pup is that young you just have to take him/her out twice. Like other's said it's about 1 hr per month of life so if she's about 3 months old 3-4 hours is doing good for them. It's a pain (I treasure my sleep) but they will eventually get better. I got lucky, my pup started sleeping thru the night for 8 hours without a problem at about 4 months.


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## seaboxador (Sep 23, 2012)

It's not a matter of the puppy learning to hold it, it's the matter of the size of the puppy's bladder. Set an alarm for mid-way through the night and take it out for the next few weeks. They can hold it for the number of hours that they are months old. Overnight, there are hormones that stop them from wanting to go to the bathroom, but they can only do so much.


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## vinfigs (May 17, 2013)

So after almost a week of trying to wake up twice to take her out in the middle of the night, that seems to be the best method. I tried waiting from 930pm to 3-4am and she peed in her crate two seperarate nights. It seems the best method was waking her up 3-4 hours in her sleep than waiting to hear her bark around 3-4am, which is about 3 hours after the 1am wake up call. It sucks with losing sleep, but hopefully it changes later...


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## packetsmom (Mar 21, 2013)

You might try moving her crate into your room until she's sleeping through the night. That will make it easier to hear her sooner when she needs out and avoid accidents. You can always move it back after she's got sleeping through down.


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## Flaming (Feb 2, 2013)

elrohwen said:


> You don't need to cover the crate, but you can try it and see if she settles better. My pup just got frustrated and pulled the cover into the crate to chew on it.


We have holey blankets because us humans didn't learn fast enough. 

up until 6 months old Manna has had to go at least once during the night. but we went from 3-4 times a night at first until where we are now.


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## BlueDiamond (Mar 18, 2013)

The more you take her out, the faster she will be house trained.


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