# Crate training, overnight and water quickies



## Orroo (Jul 20, 2012)

Hi guys,
I have a few questions about my shiny new (ten week old) GSD puppy. He is my first dog. 

Things are going really well with him - I just had a couple of misc questions that I can't seem to find straight answers (or good information) on.

We were very lucky with Hurley - when we bought him home, he looked for a nice hidey hole and his crate was the first place he found. We've never had a problem chucking him in there since. Instant crate training FTW! I wouldn't say he LOVED his crate - he much prefers sleeping on our cold, wooden floor, but he has no issues being in there during the day (work hours) or overnight.

Anyway, just a couple of queries:

Water overnight:
At ten weeks old, we are taking him out once per night for the toilet. He currently has free access to water right up until bed time, but there is no water in his crate overnight. When I take him out overnight (3am or so, usually), he bolts straight for his water bowl before going out to the toilet. It is fairly muggy in the UK at the moment and I quite often wake up to the sound of him panting heavily, and worry that he's not getting enough water. On the other hand, I would love to get him to go all night without needing to go out.

Basically - I am torn between the advice of removing his water bowl an hour or two before bed time to help him go the night, and providing him more access to water overnight to stop him melting. Thoughts? What do/did you guys do with your pups water wise overnight?

Crating/Not Crating overnight
At night time, I take his (very large) crate upstairs and he sleeps in his crate in the bedroom overnight. In the morning I bring the crate downstairs and he is crated in there during the day on work days (he has a couple of visitors throughout the day). It's slightly inconvenient for me, but more importantly, my girlfriend can't carry the crate up/down the stairs which means I need to be around every morning/evening to do it for her, which isn't great long term.

I would like to move to a system where I can leave the crate downstairs and at night time he can sleep in the bedroom, perhaps on a comfy bed on the floor, and still have him crated downstairs during the day.

I don't want to interfere with his toilet training (he is good, maybe an accident every few days at the moment - usually my fault!), and I don't want him to take issue to sleeping in his crate during the day because he is free at night. So yea, I'd like some advice on whether moving to this system is a good idea, and how I might go about doing it. I don't trust him to not toilet in the bedroom just yet, but hopefully soon.

Thanks!


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## Elaine (Sep 10, 2006)

I would continue to provide free access to water except in his crate, especially as you say it's hot there.. There are people that take it up hours before bedtime, but I'm not one of them. I figure my puppy's health and comfort come before my comfort and if that means I have to get up a couple of times in the night to potty him, then so be it. He will be sleeping through the night before you know it. 

I would leave the crate in your bedroom all the time or get a second one for the downstairs.


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## Orroo (Jul 20, 2012)

Thanks for the response. 

Yea, I don't really feel comfortable removing fluff ball's water before bed time, so I think we'll keep that how it is. Starting to get used to getting up at 3am anyway!

With regards to the crate in the bedroom, I'd rather not crate him upstairs during the day when I'm not around. The bedroom gets hot during the day, and the lounge is the centre of the house and he can see pretty much the whole of downstairs from the crate. A second crate isn't really an option either - cant get into my wardrobes with the crate there. 

I think maybe we'll just carry on as we are for now, until he can be trusted to go overnight in the bedroom without any accidents. Then we'll get a stair gate on the bedroom door or something.


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