Im new & need a little bit of help...

Hi
Im new here with my 10 week old white staffy Cooper. Although Cooper is my second staffy (my first sadly passed away in April) I never had any trouble with my first, and need a little help with Cooper!

Cooper is sooooooooo mischievous, which has resulted in having to put him into a cage at night time (something I didn't have to do with my first.)
Firstly, Cooper will go into the cage in the daytime & be fine as long as the door is open. I have given him treats & fed him inside the cage, and he is fine.
However when it comes to night time he doesn't like it all. He has his teddy & bed in with him, but just cries & cries. He will also soil in his cage. He has his last meal around 5pm, and water up until 7pm. He goes on a small walk around 9:30pm and empties his bowels. However he still manages to do more in the cage at night, which is getting very messy!

Obviously when he is crying at night, I don't let him out as I don't want him to learn that if he cries he will get let out. However, I also have two children (4 and 1) and the mess he is making for me to clean up in the morning isn't very nice lol.

Cooper also doesn't like being in the back garden on his own. If I let him out he cries up the back the door to be let back in. However, if I go outside with him he will do his business, but its not practical with my two children.

So anyway, this morning, after his breakfast & going outside, Cooper was going back to sleep. So I put him in the cage and shut the door. Obviously Cooper didn't like it, and cried & cried. I reassured him and he eventually went to sleep & is still sleeping. This is the first time I have done this, and Im not sure if it was the right thing to do?!

So, if youv finished reading this, thankyou lol. Sorry for the eassy!!

Thanks in advance if you have any advice to help me with Cooper!!
xxx

Hello and welcome to the forum

I've personally never used a crate or come across any of these problems so im no help! Someone will be along shortly to answer your problems. You will probably recieve a better response if you post this again in the 'staff training and behaviour' section.

Nikita & Shéara

Oh thankyou Im just trying to work out my way around here lol. So I will copy and paste over there, thankyou xxxxx

Hi &

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Hi & welcome from darcy & me.
So sorry for your loss,
cooper is still very much a baby, so I think patience & persistence is the key, darcy even now at 10 months and even now sometimes doesn't like to go out in the garden on her own I use a trigger word like go do a pee pee & just keep saying it until she's done her business.

As for his crate, they don't usually mess were they sleep, but can't fully control themselves until about 6 months, perhaps you could set an alarm in the night to take him to the toilet? And as you said dont go in whilst he's crying wait for a break in it, it best to clean up any mess without any fuss, because although he knows you make be upset about something he won't know what.

Lots of praise & treats will help him learn in the daytime, we gave darcy a treat if she went to the toilet in the garden. And I promise it will get easier, they just all learn at different speeds.

We would love to see some pics. good luck.

Hi and welcome from Chiquito and I

Hi and welcome to the forum from Rocky and me.

I will reply in the other section

Hi & thankyou x

Hi Welcome from Colin and Me!

Aw, he's beautiful!

Colin is only 2 weeks older. I found that originally getting him in crate with a high value treat, so either a kong with a small but of peanut butter in it and leave the door open.....

I then after a while started closing the door when he was asleep, I never forced him in there and then he didn't feel like it was a punishment. At first his crate was in the kitchen, but his issue was when he couldn't see me, he'd go bananas. I then found when I moved the the crate into the living room, bit by bit, I would close the door, ignore him and stay calm and get on with my housework. I would only leave it about 5 mins to start with and he could always see me, I then started to build it up. I never went to him when he was crying only when he sat and then praised and rewarded that he was so good. Bit by bit I then built it up so that I was going out of sight for a few minutes, but I always came back. I never say goodbye and I ignore him when I first walk in. He now takes himself off to bed at night and is good as gold. It's because he knows that it's his safe place and I will come back but I found I had to build this up over the week. He's now great in there.... good luck, oh and getting up in the night is a must. Colin can go 4 hours and I found he falls asleep at 10, I get up at 2 and then up at 6 and its not very often I have a problem with him. If I do it's my fault because I slept thorugh. I also don't take his water away from him until about 9 and his food up at 8. Hope it helps and good luck x

Hi thankyou so much for your reply.
I think I will try that too thankyou. Hes just got in his crate by himself, so once he is asleep Im going to shut the door. Cooper is exactly the same and cries when he cant see me. Luckily my living room & kitchen is open plan, so hes in the kitchen and can see me now. However, at night Iv put him in the conservatory but going to try the kitchen tonight. See if he feels safer, as that's where the crate is thru the day.
He was asleep earlier in his crate, and I was going to leave him a few minutes after he woke up & then let him out, however whilst taking the ironing upstairs my 4 year old let him out lol! So will have to try again this time & not leave the room till he does wake lol!!
xxx

Hi and welcome from me and Vinnie, Cooper is adorable

Hi and welcome from me and Daisy

Hi and welcome to the forum from me and the zoo xx

hia from me and sasha

Hi and welcome to the forum - Don't loose faith, I remember when we got Otis at 12 weeks for the first 2 weeks every morning I would wake to a lovely steaming poop If I was lucky it was still there if not Otis had eaten it and trampled it all over the kitchen!! My point being is don't despair, this will get better over time with patience and consistency.

Do if you can get up for a toilet break in the night as already mentioned the bladder control won't be there yet and give lots of praise even if you are half asleep

To make the crate more comfortable I don't know if you have considered maybe draping a blanket over the top to make it feel more like a den - from what I have read they sometimes like it.
Something we did with Otis when we first got him was to give him a hot water bottle wrapped in a blanket to make it cosy and resemble warmth of mum.
Also something we did with Otis was that we put his sleeping area in the kitchen where he could see us but separated by a child gate - but gradually we moved the bed the round the corner - so start somewhere where Cooper feels comfortable and move to where the desired sleeping area is...

I reiterate the point made about the mess don't make a fuss as Cooper won't know why you are upset... So just clean it up and keep encouraging him to go outside and lots of praise they love it!!

Sorry for the essay - I hope you find something helpful

Welcome to the forum from the kids and I

welcome

Hello and welcome to the forum from me and the kids

Hi and welcome from Me n Steffi

Hi and welcome from the girlies and me

Hi and welcome to the forum from me and Gwen! I had this problem with Gwen but not at night as she sleeps with us in bed! During the day I would put her in her crate for about 2 hours to get some stuff done around the house. I would take her out right before putting her in the crate to do her business and 10 minutes later she would poop in her crate, then she would dig in it!!! I never experienced this with any of my other dogs in the past! She would be covered in poop and her crate and the floor surrounding the crate would be covered, it was a HUGE mess! Finally we stopped using the crate altogether for a few weeks and then started to slowly introduce it again! Since then it has improved greatly and now at 5 months old she hardly ever messes in her crate! However since your problem is occurring at night this is slightly different! Gwen needed to be taken out once during the night until she was about 3 1/2 months old and we still have the rare occurrence when she needs to be taken out in the middle of the night! I understand you don't want to take her when she is crying/barking but you should set your alarm for like 3AM to take her outside quickly! At this age she is probably not physically able to hold it all night!!! It may seem like a pain but to get up but it is certainly less of a pain to get her out quickly than to wake up and have to clean a huge mess! Good luck! It will get better with time!

Hi and welcome from Blaze and I

I have blaze in kitchen with a stair gate as someone previously said and never had a problem with him crying in the night but i also dont use a crate so cant comment on that.
We take him out around 11pm and then get up between 2 and 3 am to let him out however he does not like leaving his bed at that time so we have to lift him and take him outside and usually in the morning hes out again just after 7 when we get up , my partner still leaves paper by back door just in case and he has used it on 2 occasions which i'm not sure people would advise to still have paper down at this stage or not :S
Blaze is 11 weeks and we have only had him 2 weeks
Meant to also add we wrap him up in a fleece cover at night in his bed also and he seems happy and content that way