[shelbied]

My husband and I decided to travel so we live in an RV. We both grew up with Bostons so we decided a Boston would be perfect for our RV. She did awesome with crate training and stopped having accidents but we still put her in her crate at night. She is almost a year old and her crate takes up a lot of room in our RV so we decided to let her out at night and get rid of the crate. Now every night we let her sleep out she poos and pees. She is doing it in the middle of the night and we get up early around 6 so i know its not that we arent letting her out early enough. We have tried discipline, taking her water away after 8 (we dont feed her past 6), letting her use the restroom before bed, and ignoring it and just cleaning it up. We don't know what to do! PLEASE help us.

[Todd]

Well, unless you catch her in the act (which I doubt you do in the middle of the night) it will do no good whatsoever to scold her after the fact. I guess this the problem some people have with crate training. It may be more successful in the short term however if you ever wish for your dog to sleep outside of the crate you may be in for some problems along the way. First things first, make sure you clean the car where she relieves herself with an odar neutralizer made specifically for dogs. Nothing else will completely eliminate the smell for the dog at least. You can certainly correct her if you catch her in the act but don't forget the positive reinforcement when she obeys your commands. I suggest trying paper training while only in the car but this would probably confuse the little guy more than anything else. Does he have loose stool? Does he act nervious in the car? This could cause him to go in the car and not be able to hold it. Could the dog be getting car sick??? Does it show any signs of discomfort?

This situation is tuff because it contradicts the crate training methods. Do you plan on having the dog sleep in the crate at home forever or eventually sleep out of the crate?

[Lara's mom]

Keep in mind that she's a small little dog. My 2 shorty JRT's can't hold it all night. They have paper if they should need to go in the dead of night. My Border Collie X has also utilized the paper when she has the runs and knows that she won't make it outside in time. We live on the 22nd floor of a hi-rise. Paper has been a life saver for me!

[Yogi]

This is not uncommon, the dog holds it in the crate do to the fact that is where it sleeps. Simply let the dog sleep in its crate at night. Nearly all of mine prefer their crate to sleeping on the bed with me, thank god with 25 dogs there would not be room for me but in your case it appears obvious that is where the dog is most comfortable when sleeping as most dogs will avoid defecating where they sleep.

[Todd]

Originally Posted by Yogi

This is not uncommon, the dog holds it in the crate do to the fact that is where it sleeps. Simply let the dog sleep in its crate at night. Nearly all of mine prefer their crate to sleeping on the bed with me, thank god with 25 dogs there would not be room for me but in your case it appears obvious that is where the dog is most comfortable when sleeping as most dogs will avoid defecating where they sleep.

Imagine 25 dogs going to the bathroom in your bedroom! You wake up and think you were swimming in the Mississippi River or something!

[unstresst]

If possible, find a baby-gate or simular device and keep the dog confined to a small area during the night.
Small enough that there's not more than a few inches extra
If that works, you could experiment......each week expand the size of the confinement space.

[Todd]

Originally Posted by unstresst

If possible, find a baby-gate or simular device and keep the dog confined to a small area during the night.
Small enough that there's not more than a few inches extra
If that works, you could experiment......each week expand the size of the confinement space.

Her main issue is the dog going in the car though. At home she sleeps in a crate.

[Yogi]

Actually the live in an RV..the reason for crate removal was it was taking up space which is why a gate would probably not suffice as hard to put one up or find a small contained area in an RV outside of putting it in the bathroom all night. If the dog is comfortable sleeping in its crate than let it. If the issues is room for the crate, how large is the crate?

[Todd]

Originally Posted by Yogi

Actually the live in an RV..the reason for crate removal was it was taking up space which is why a gate would probably not suffice as hard to put one up or find a small contained area in an RV outside of putting it in the bathroom all night. If the dog is comfortable sleeping in its crate than let it. If the issues is room for the crate, how large is the crate?

Yes, how big is the crate? A crate should only be large enough for a dog to stand up and reposition itself. A fairly tight fit otherwise. No room to mill around. If the crate is the correct size their shouldn't be too much of a problem finding space for it.

[Ward9320]

I would say to get the create back. Put it up somewhere out of the way during the day and bring it out at night.

[Nerodia]

We had good luck tethering our Aussie pup so that she couldn't get far enough away from her bed to be tempted to soil it. And we let her out right before we went to bed ourselves. She learned to whine to let us know it was time to go out.

Good luck!