I have a 3 month old pit bull who seems to like to play with her puppy pads when my back is turned. It wouldn't be so bad if she'd do it when it was clean but she'll do it after she uses it. She'll drag her mass around her "room". We can't figure out the problem to this. She has a 4x10 area in the kitchen I keep her in. I try to separate the puppy pad as far off to the side as I can but she'll just drag it over to her play area and get everything messy. I can't keep a constant eye on her and I live by myself. Any suggestions on how to get her to stop?

One more problem. She howls. All throughout the night she'll pick random times to start barking and howling. I can't let her keep doing this b/c I live in an apartment and my neighbors are getting mad. I've tried the whole ignoring her thing but it got worse.I tried the whole running her and playing with her thing too and it didn't help. I came home one night and heard her all the way out in the parking lot. Any suggestions for that too?

***Edited By: Treefrog2525 on 1/23/2009 12:19:48 AM***
Reason: puppy plays with puppy pad

I will start by saying that the only experience I have is with my own 2 puppies, and things I did with them was just based on following my heart and common sense, so I don't have any "professional" advice.

That being said, I believe a puppy doesn't really know something is wrong unless you tell them. If you never catch them doing the bad thing and never have the opportunity to tell them "no" they don't know it bothers you and is wrong.

You have to make sure you catch them doing the bad thing. Otherwise, the only other solution is to try and change the situation so they can't do the "bad" thing anymore.

That means tape down the wee wee pad, or spray it with bitter apple spray... If you catch the puppy trying to pull it, you say "no!"

When my puppies were babies, the boy started pulling the pad. I would tape it to the floor, and if I was in the other room, and heard him pulling at it, I would run right in and say "NO"

The key for me was supervision. That being said, my puppies have a few bad habits I have had a hard time breaking, since they only do it when I am at work and NEVER do it in front of me...


About the night time crying: The puppy probably is either bored, lonely, wants to play, wants your attention...

The way you handle it depends on how you want sleeping arrangements to be. Is it possible for the puppy to have a place to sleep in your room, so it can see you during the night? If not, maybe you can call out to it, so it knows you are nearby, and say "no."


My pups' playpen is near my bed. They went through a phase, that in the morning (5 AM) every time I would move a finger, or roll over in bed, they though it was time to come out to play, and they would start barking and whining. I would say "NO" and they learned to be quiet.



Flash forward a year, and they are both sleeping on my bed all night...but that's a different story and my own doing...

one last thing: they make trays so you can snap the wee wee pads in, and the puppies can't drag the pads around. they can still pull it out of the tray if they so desire ;) but if you also spray the pad with bitter apply, they usually leave it alone.

I have never really used the pads so I can't help you there. I can offer some advice on the crying at night. I got my husband a pit bull puppy for his birthday and she had a problem with crying at night. We kennel trained her and she would just start crying when it was time for bed, we would go down to her kennel and tell her "no", everytime she even started to whine. It took a few days and some patience but she learned quickly not to cry out. Good luck with yours.

I like the idea of taping the mat to the floor... hadn't thought of that one. As for the howling I agree with putting the cage closer to you. It was wierd but Lucy (bully) did well when my bedroom door was open and she could see what I was doing. It didn't take her long to figure out that when I was sleeping she should be sleeping. I also put her fav toys/blankies in her crate as well as covered the top and sides with an old sheet. Kind of like a big cave. Now she's a big ol' sofa/bed hog =) but she does occassionally walk into her Great Dane size crate and take a nap in there as well.

First off I'd like to thank you guys for your advice. She has stopped crying at night, but she still chews up her puppy pads. I tried the bitter spray. At first I tried just misting it and today I pretty much drowned the puppy pad in bitter spray, but she still chewed it up. I'm really getting tired of having to scrape poo off my floors. Any idea of why she might be doing this? Is it too early to crate her?

I'd say she's chewing the puppy pads because that's what puppies do! LOL How much longer are the puppy pads going to be around, anyway? Once she is trained to potty outside you can ditch them.

So what worked for you to stop the howling?

I'm actually not quite sure why she stopped howling at night. a couple nights after I posted she just stopped. As for the puppy pad she'll have to be on them for a little longer. The place I'm at doesn't allow Pits and my landlords office is right next to my place. Hopefully April is when I can get a small place with a yard, but until then its the puppy pads. I often see her sleeping on them after she chews them up. You think she's doing it in attempt to make the floor warmer? I give her a couple towels every night though.

It's definately not too early to crate train her, as a matter of fact the earlier the better. She'll cry for the first few nights, but you have to tough it out and just let her work through it. Otherwise, you'll end up with a dog that will never be properly crate trained. Even if you don't plan on having her stay in the crate all the time (like a sleeping place) it's always a good idea to have them trained so that way in the even that you must use one they don't freak out!