puppy problem

 Hi and welcome.

There are a few things you can do. Feed him earlier in the evening and be sure he has a good potty before going down for the night. You could set an alarm for yourselves and make sure you wake up before he does (this is the one I would advise). You could get up in the night and take him out. At 18 weeks, he might only be able to hold it for 5 hours, so all night is pushing it. I'm thinking he might be going in the middle of the night instead of right before he wakes you up. Is that possible?

todd725

hello all... my wife and I recently adopted a bulldog puppy. He is currently 18 weeks old and has been with us for about 7 weeks. We both work full time and he is crate trained (we come home at lunch to let him out for about an hour). He is great during the day and in the evenings... he let's us know when he needs to go outside, etc.

 The issue we are having and don't know how to combat is that every morning, he wakes up, poops in his crate, then wakes us up. He knows we come down and clean it. He doesn't quite get the idea of waking us up then going potty. Any suggestions would be very helpful.

 thanks,

 Todd

Likely this started because he was desperate and couldn't hold it any longer, then he made a noise because he was upset at having soiled his bed (which dogs generally do not like to do).  And then you came down and cleaned it up.

You are the adult and the intelligent species, so it's up to you to be proactive and set the scene for how you want this to go. In short, an alarm clock is in order.  YOU wake HIM up to go outside and go potty - not the other way round.  A nighttime toilet break as suggested by FIC would be very very wise at this stage and he would be cleaner at night faster.  It's a drag, but there you go, the joys of puppy ownership....

Praise and reward LIKE CRAZY when he gets it right.  It won't take long to fix.

 I never let Tootsie tell me its time to go out. I tell her its time to potty and that works very well. Shes almost four and hasn't had an accident since she was 12 weeks.