Hi there, we have a 9 month old female staff pup and she is coming along brilliantly she's doing great with her manners, controlling her giddyness and her off leash training. She was susprisingly easy to housetrain and was fully trained more or less within a week....execpt on a night!! She never used to be like this but she used to have toruble eating and would go for days without food because of her stuborness but now that in the last month of so she has started eating properly again I'm wondering if thats was causing the accidents on a night time? How can I stop the accidents on a night please any advice?

(Note: she is let out right before she goes to bed and she is confined to the kitchen she doesn't have full roam of the house)

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Hi there,

Quick question - what time does she have her last meal? It's just that I know if Basil has his tea later than about 7 he will wake me up to go out in the middle of the night!

she has it between 6-7

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Basil is nearly 2 and has always been a bit of a sporadic eater until recently so I know what you mean - as a pup it was a nightmare getting him to eat regularly. We have recently changed his food and he is eating twice a day as soon as it's put down which has made toilet time a bit more predictable!

Now that she's eating regularly, I would try moving her tea forward a bit if possible - perhaps about 5pm? That way she'll have more time to digest it and hopefully 'go' before you go to bed.

What time do you normally go to bed? Does she eat the food as soon as it's put down or is she a bit of a grazer? Sorry for all the questions just trying to get a bit more info so I can help a bit more! I am sure others will be along to help too...

lol its fine asking questions is good, our pup is exactly as you described yours she now eats twice day and normally cleans her bowl as soon as its put down. She doesn't always get fed the same time each day dinner can sometimes be from 12-2 same with tea sometimes between 5-7 normally its roughly half 6ish as i feed her when i'm doing our tea. Should I start feeding her exactly the same time each day so maybe 12.30 for her dinner and 5 for her tea? Would that help then like you said its easier to time?

To answer your other question me and my OH's normal bedtime is about 11pm roxie will normally be let out 10 minutes before but sometimes she's too tired and lazy and will wander back in so maybe i should try keep her out there maybe take her out on the lead so she has to stay out until she has done something?

Sorry for all my questions I just wanna do the right thing

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lol its fine asking questions is good, our pup is exactly as you described yours she now eats twice day and normally cleans her bowl as soon as its put down. She doesn't always get fed the same time each day dinner can sometimes be from 12-2 same with tea sometimes between 5-7 normally its roughly half 6ish as i feed her when i'm doing our tea. Should I start feeding her exactly the same time each day so maybe 12.30 for her dinner and 5 for her tea? Would that help then like you said its easier to time?

(Note: she simply will not eat breakfast no matter what it is so our vet said that normally he would advise breakfast then tea he said its best just to do Roxie dinner and tea then at least she gets her 2 meals will this have something to do with it?)

To answer your other question me and my OH's normal bedtime is about 11pm roxie will normally be let out 10 minutes before but sometimes she's too tired and lazy and will wander back in so maybe i should try keep her out there maybe take her out on the lead so she has to stay out until she has done something?

Sorry for all my questions I just wanna do the right thing

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Definitely make her go out and toilet before you go to bed, (even if it's just for a wee) as it will get her used to going before bedtime anyway which is never a bad thing. If you're going to bed about 11 then she should be able to hold it once she's been out.

The fact that she sometimes has her lunch at 2 and then tea at 6-7 could be the issue - lots of food to digest in a short time - so maybe that has something to do with it, but if she isn't a breakfast girl maybe you could just move it to 10-11am? I think sticking to exact meal times is a good idea for the time being...it will help her body get used to it and also help you to be able to predict her toilet times a bit more. Basil was never a breakfast boy until he started eating regularly, and if you feed her tea earlier in the evening she may be hungry earlier in the morning...as I said none of this is an exact science but I think it's worth a go?

It certainly helped with Basil. When he wasn't eating regularly we used to just leave his food down for him and that's where the problems began, he would eat about 8 or 9pm and need a poo at 3am which wasn't fun for any of us!

Give it a go over the next few days and let us know you get on! And any more questions just yell!



P.S. She's beautiful by the way!

i have two dogs, my border collie was house trained in a week and my mal took bout 9 months before he got the hang of it. When i took him out we used to say go wee wee and he went and that was fine no mess in the morning. Before we used to just let him out and guess that he did but he couldnt of. are you watching to see if shes goin to the toilet? Or is she just avin a sniff and coming back in?

Its hard work but she will get there in the end

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When we first got Chio he wasnt house trained at all and he was 6 months old.

He just used to pee and poo anywhere.

I used to feed him at roughly the same time every morning and evening and then we spent ages with the 'have a wee wee' scenario in the garden. Lots of praise when he did. I even trained him to bark at the door when he wanted to go out.

He got there in the end, although he did have a few set backs along the way.

It will come in the end. I would say he was at least 9 months old before we were totally there. Keep up the good work.

feed her earlier. maybe around 4.00 pm. Take her to the toilet every hour from then and monitor when she goes. She should empty herself before you go to bed.