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.

Have you tried covering the cage with a blanket and leaving a radio turned on?

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I've commented on your intro hi & welcome from us

Hi, we leave the radio on low for him. When I put a blanket over the cage, he went barmy lol. So haven't tried that again since xx

Hello,
Cooper is a real cutie on the pic in your avatar
I am not an expert here but I would say it is all just that he is really little, 10 weeks is a baby...
I think he would not be able to hold his needs whole night yet. People use crtes to speed up the toilet training but I am not sure for how long such a puppy can be actually able to manage.
And he will probably prefer being with you in the garden again because he is small and wants company.
I actually do not leave Stella in the garden on her own unless I can keep an eye on her through the glass door (the garden is secure but still...) and she likes to be there alone maybe for 10 minutes if the Sun is shining but then wants to go back in.
Others will have more suggestions I am sure - this is just my opinion that Cooper is a wee baby and wants to be with people, he will get better when he is older I am sure

Thankyou for replying. Because he empties his bowels before bedtime, I just didnt know how he still has more inside him lol!
Yeah, Cooper just cries up the back door when hes out on his own. When hes tottered off, I try & sneak back in to watch him from the conservatory.

Hes doing really well with his toilet training, wev only had one accident since we got him on Saturday. The man we had him off had him in a flat so he had no garden. Luckily we had nice weather just to keep the doors open for him, although I have just had to stand outside with him in the rain to do his bussiness lol!!

Thankyou for your reply xx

You may have to set your alarm clock for the early hours of the morning to let him outside to do his business, he is still very young and doesn't have full control of his bowels for a few months yet.

Ohh, I don't why I didn't think of doing this. Do you think it would be a bad idea if every time he cried I took him outside? Or do you think he would then think it would be a way to get out the crate?
Im going to get him a puppy comforter so I can warm it up for bedtime, and see if that comforts him a little more, as he does not like being left x

Just try to get him into a routine of going outside every hour and see how that goes. He may just be crying because he wants to be with you, Staffys do love the company of their humans very much.

You might also want to put a ticking clock in his bed which will simulate his mothers heartbeats and comfort him during the night, although this is usually done for very young puppies.

Hi welcome!

Firstly i would stop comparing to your older staffy, as your little mite will never replace the old one. He is a whole new fresh dog

i wouldn't leave a pup his age outside alone anyway, he is too young and very likely to get into trouble.

Secondly, at night what state of mind is he in when you put him in the crate? I mean, is he just back from his walk and still a bit excited and fussed over or is he sleepy? If possible, try to make him as sleepy and relaxed as possible and he is more likely to go to sleep.

He is only little, his bowels just can't hold on that long, so you can either stick it out and wait for him to get a little bigger or you can get up during the night and let him out.

siobhan2790 wrote:Ohh, I don't why I didn't think of doing this. Do you think it would be a bad idea if every time he cried I took him outside? Or do you think he would then think it would be a way to get out the crate?
Im going to get him a puppy comforter so I can warm it up for bedtime, and see if that comforts him a little more, as he does not like being left x

sorry, is he crying at random times in the night or is he crying as soon as he is put in it at night?

no, he doesnt cry straight away. my partner came downstairs last night when he started to cry, & he had soiled his crate. i think im going to set an alarm to get up to take him outside x

That sounds like a good idea, keep us updated on your progress