Hi all,

wondered if u could help me, we have a 14 week old staffy and she is the most loving little girl u could ever meet, she seems to have settled really well i think, but the toilet training not going well as she is still going to the toilet in her cage. when i get up in the morning i put her straight outside but she as usually messed in her cage so have to clean that up, then when i put her in her cage while im at work again she messes, the poor thing is having baths on a daily basis as she is lying in it and with her being white its not a good look for her lol! just not sure what to do about it as i was under the impression they didnt mess in their bed space???

Any suggestions welcome

Is she crying or barking to let you know she needs to go out?

Does she like her crate or could she be messing because she's frightened and doesn't truly see it as her place to relax?

By messing - do you mean wee or poop or both?

If it's just wee you could invest in a vetbed (or similar) which drains urine away from the puppy so that the dog doesn't have to lie in it.


Sorry for all the questions

not a brilliant idea but could you put a puppy pad on half of the crate so that she has somewhere to go?

We had this when Elsie was a pup and found out it was because she didnt like the crate door being shut. We ended up putting her in the kitchen with the crate door open and not a problem since. She goes in her crate and sleeps and is perfectly happy.

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maizie0_0 :

A 14 week old pup on 3/4 meals a day, wont have the capacity to hold themselves either urine or feaces wise. The idea of a crate is that a dog will not soil its bed or surrounding area, but as they need to go so often left in the crate for too long periods and with limited capacity they are left with no other choice but to go in there. Crate training is an aid to toilet training nothing more.

When toilet training they need to be taken out every 30/45 minutes. Give it a name when they begin to go (later they associated the name with the action and you can use it as a toilet cue) Praise and reward with a treat when finished. They need to go out as well, after drinking,eating,playing and sleeping. Any accidents dont tell them off as can make them nervous about going in front of you and more likely to try to do it out of site. Make sure you clean up accidents with a special pet cleaner, any smells left can encourage them to keep going in the same places. Watch out for circling,sniffing and even scratching about that is signs they are looking for somewhere to go.

They cant go all night at this age. If they are withing in sight and sound of you take her out every time she wakes or stirs, If not set an alarm and take her out a couple of times in the night. By giving one option ie outside only to go they should soon get the message, constantly taking them out you should see a big improvement in a couple of weeks. with a lot less accidents.

Hope this is of some help.

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Good advice

how long is she in the crate for when you go to work? she is in the crate all night as well she maybe looking at the crate as punishment if she is spending a lot of time in there

not so much advice as encouragement - hang in there! i doubt there's a quick fix, or anything you're necessarily doing "wrong". we had this problem with Flo then it just stopped! i work in the day too and once Flo was clean consistently we then gave him run of the kitchen and dining room. we still have the odd incident but all in all things are moving in the right direction.

Thanks for all your advice, Iunfortunately i work 6 hours a day, but she is out before i go and i put her straight out when i get home! she doesnt seem anxious in the cage and does sleep well there, when she is older and trained i will give her the run of the kitchen but she is a bit of a chewer so use the cage to preserve the furniture

6 hours a day without interaction seems a lot for a fourteen week old puppy...just built up slowly to a couple of hours with Kilo. I understand that you have to work, so might it be possible to have someone pop in to play / walk / interact with your pup halfway through that time?

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