That's right. We've been wanting to have a dog for a long time so we finally decided to bring one home the other day. She's a 9 week old Puggle [pug and beagle]. She's very cute and loves to play.

I've been reading about house training and was wondering if anyone has tips for an apartment? Our Puggle is very attached to us already and will cry and howl all night. We keep her confined to the kitchen at night and have the entire kitchen floor papered as well as a litter box for her. We put her bed and some toys and blankets with her as well. She does well with tinkling on the paper and she's even started to poo in the litter box. The main problem we have is that she freaks out when we leave her alone in the kitchen and makes huge messes. She poos and then runs through it, tracking it all over the kitechen and onto her bed and toys. Each morning we have to clean everything. I want to be sure I'm not doing something wrong by leaving her in the kitchen. I want her to learn to be quiet when alone and not to make huge messes.

I've considered moving her into our bedroom, but she still cries unless we put her on the bed. Everything I've read tells me not to let her sleep on the bed as a puppy. We don't want her to have access to the family room but we DO want her to have access to her papers, so it is difficult unless we keep her in the kitchen. Any advice would be great, thanks!

You could crate her at night..

My schnauzer has slept in our bed from the get go... I was easier to take her out in the middle of the night when she woke up -- seemed to be a little easier to house break.. Now she owns the bed but she owns everything else too... (couches, chairs, beds even all the kids stuff..)

Good luck

Crate train her at night. She will get used to it and stop howling. I have a puggle, too, and my advice would be to x the litter box. Summer, my puggle, weighs almost 30 lbs...too big to use a litter box. Pottying outside is the way to go, I live in an apartment, too and it is more challenging but it's more effective, imo.

Ah I was hoping for some great advice on the noise! We picked up our almost 3 month old lhasa apso pup on Friday and haven't slept through the night since. The second he is crated or gated in the kitchen the crying and howling begin, he'll stop for maybe 10 minutes then restart. I asked my vet and he says just wait it out but yikes! I can't bring him to bed with us because he hasn't figure out clue one what this whole business about "going" outside is all about. He comes in and pees on the carpet. :(
Last night we tried the radio on, I thought it was working until 1:00am when he started--and didn't stop until we took him out of his crate at the normal time in the morning (6:00) At about 2:00, after all the crying, I wordlessly came out, picked up the crate with him in it and put it into the mudroom and put a big towel over it (blocking light?) seemed to help for a little while--or maybe it was just because he isn't normally in the room. <sigh> I'm exhausted

Kristen, keep your puppy in his crate at night. Maybe halfway through the night take him in the yard to pee and then return him to his crate. Leave him in there, no matter how much he cried. It's hard, I know, but he will get used to it. When he cries and you let him out, that is reinforcing the crying. He is learning that crying will get him attention from you and you don't want to teach him that.

Say a word when you put him in his crate everytime. Like "goodnight" and into the crate. He will begin to learn that "goodnight" means go in your crate. Eventually he will go in there on his own. I say "Crate" to my dogs and they go in their crates now. But it was hard to teach to leave them when they were crying but they do stop, it may take a week or a little longer, but the crying will stop.

Thanks. I'll give it a try. Right now he's in his crate and QUIET! I am shocked, what did I do? I put him in the crate near the little electric heater so it's oscillating keeping him toasty. I havent been giving in to him about coming out of the crate and have been pretty good about only taking him out of the gated kitchen when he's quiet because I don't want him to think "well THAT worked!" It's tough catching him quiet though!
Thing is we have Baxter who just turned 6 months old (he's a bichon frise pup) and Baxter has never cried while in his crate unless he needed to go out to potty--he caught right on to the potty outside thing. Baxter was neutered yesterday so we're really extra exhausted as he couldnt sleep in his crate because the e collar wouldnt fit!
So as easy as Baxter has been I'm afraid it's making Sampson look that much more difficult. I just keep reminding myself it's only been a few days....he's very loving and lovable, and CUTE or course! Maybe he's just chilly, it's been raw and rainy here....
Thanks again. :)

We have been getting her to sleep in her crate and to go to it on her own, but again, when we leave her in her crate all night she goes crazy with the crying and ends up pooing in the crate. In the morning she's all messy. Pretty unpleasant. She just gets all worked up and lets it all out, I think. I do know that dogs tend to not go to the bathroom where they sleep, but it seems that in her frenzies she just lets stuff out.

If she's only 9 weeks old, she probably can't hold it all night. My pup is 7 months old, and sometimes, I still have to get up in the middle of the night (or way early in the morning) to let her out. You should take her out more often so she doesn't have to mess in the crate.

did you get her from a petstore? petstore dogs can be harder to housebreak because their den instinct to not potty where they sleep has been diminished from being in a petstore cage.

or you may need a smaller crate, or a longer walk at night to make sure she has gotten it all out.

instead of using paper, use wee wee pads you get 50 for $4.00 you can purchase them at walt mart general dollar store. i found using paper was to nasty, big mess to clean up.the pee pee pads is really nice they have a dog scent on them, that make's them go right to it.pet store is to high . try kmart too. let her cry she will stop once she see your'e not giving in. teacup did it for almost 3wks.i put all his toys inside his cage,which made him feel safe and not along. after a while he got use to it.every now and then he will still try us. he still cries when it time to go to bed and i tell him go to bed teacup get ms. pooky.his little stuff bear. he will drag ms pooky on into his cage mad as h...but he do it , beleive me i never let him hear me laugh. hope it work for you .