Nighttime training

I'm getting a puppy in the next two weeks and have some questions about training him at night. I'm unclear about some things. Am I supposed to get up even in the middle of the night and take him outside? If he's sleeping do I just leave him? Is there any alternative to taking him outside in the middle of the night? I live in a very rural area and other than a yard light on the side of the house, it's pitch dark outside, and I also have to worry about snakes. The potty area I have chosen is the opposite direction of the light. Would it be okay if I set up a potty area on the porch just for the middle of the night? Or would that be harmful to his training. Should I just find a spot closer to the light source. Any advice is welcome.

Don't confuse the dog with two different areas. Could you get a large torch or add an extra light? If you take the dog out last thing before you go to bed and then get up as early as possible to put the dog out, it should soon get into a routine.

Hi Tak,

I live in a pretty rural area as well and encountered a similar problem when we brought home our first puppy. The first few nights she would cry a lot and I would assume she needed to go outside, but she wouldn't go (she was scared and just wanted the attention). Like Kernow said, the best thing we did was to take her out immediately before we went to bed and put her in her crate and then the first thing we did the next morning was take her out again. It was hard to ignore the crying at first, but that only lasted another night or two and she only had 1 accident in her crate over night. She worked herself into that routine quite quickly.

It really depends on how old your new puppy is. Puppies generally begin to be able to control their bladder and bowels between 8-12 weeks of age. A puppy younger than that still doesn't have control over their bladder and bowels. Assuming that the puppy is old enough to hold their bladder and bowels they should be able to hold their potty anywhere between 4-6 hours. If the puppy is younger and cannot control their bladder and bowels try to let them out every 2 hours, and expect that they will have some accidents. Once you have had your puppy for a couple of days you can watch for signals that they are needing to use the restroom (circling, sniffing etc.) If you can try to feed your puppy at certain times during the day so that you can calculate when your puppy needs to empty their bowels. Crates work wonders when you are house-training a puppy because they generally won't eliminate in their "den" area. I would invest in a flashlight and don't confuse the puppy with two places to potty. I hope this helps and good luck!!!!:)