finally got my puppy...

[megbug]

got my new little boy a week and a half ago at 7 weeks, i know ul probably tell me its a bit early but iv got time off work and thought it would be the best time to help him settle in! will post pics soon, already posted pic of little girl i was going to get, but for various reasons we took her big brother, who was definately the alpha male of the litter as he was about twice the size of the others! (slight exaggeration!).

he'd been really good so far, and learnt to sit on the 2nd day! about 80% of the time he goes to the door to go outside for the toilet, but still has accidents when he's sleepy or excited.

the first few nights we had him in the bedroom, but then moved him to a puppy pen in the kitchen. he now doesnt bother us from when we put him to bed until we get whimpering about 7 in the morning! only thing is though, because he's not waking us for the toilet he goes in the pen, which i fine except he then runs through it, spreading it all over bed, toys etc! There's probbaly not a lot we can do..but any advice? puppy covered in poo isnt nice to wake up to, especially as he wants cuddles first thing!

[supaspaniel]

baby wipes! washable toys only in the pen over night and towels as bedding

I quickly clean Aidees paws with a baby wipe as he comes out of his cage if he does anything in there. He has taken to waking me up about 5am now tho to let me know he needs to go out better than a mess and I get up at 5.30 anyhow so we just get half an hour cuddle on the settee before I take them for their walk

Harmy took months before he was clean, but Aidee is catching on quite quickly and Linus did too

[DennyK]

I had a massive crate (German Shepherd/Lab sized) borrowed from a friend and also had the "poo in it, then run through it" problem.  I moved Paddy's bedding to the front of the crate and the newspaper layers to the back of it - then if he did go in the crate, he'd toddle to the back of it, do his stuff but poddle clean back to his bed at the front.  Is there any way you can set your little boy's pen up like that too? 

He'll get clean fast enough.

Denise

[michelle123]

It does take a little bit of time for them to be clean overnight, but it happens soon enough.  I know you might not agree, but setting your alarm in the middle of the night, a quick trip outside, without fuss, wait for him to "perform" praise him and then straight back to bed - you can then start to set your alarm slightly later and later until before you know it he will go straight through. 

Hope this helps. 

By the way, photos of new pup are mandatory 

[Shelley]

We had that problem at first too, so you have my sympathy!

What we did was make a pen in front of the crate out of a couple of old nursery fireguards which we will never need again ! We still had to be quick in the mornings to grab the dog before she bounced in anything though

[Janice-Dylan]

Is it an option to open pen? Dylan loves his pen but had free run of the kitchen so he could go on the newspaper at the door. He's fifteen weeks now. He came out of pen and weed/pood on papers for a couple of weeks. During the day we took  him out every hour, then increased to every couple of hours making a huge fuss and gving treats when he went. Gradually he became dry all night and today he cried to get out for the first time and hasn't had any accidents at all. This will only work I suppose if he's used to going on paper, we started him off on paper until he had his jags.
I'm surprised how quick it's all been. Good luck!

[megbug]

thanks everyone, think im gonna try rearranging the pen like you suggested. have been considering opening it up but its a rented house and he is a chew-machine! to begin with i was trying to go down to let hime out every few hours but, to be honest, im weak and couldnt manage the whole 'no fuss, just outside then back to bed' thing. once he started howling i couldnt sleep at all, and its a godsend now that hes quiet at night cos i think i was going mad with sleep deprivation!

will post pics at weekend!