Boxer puppy advice

[FlossyB]

Hi everyone I currently have an 8 month old male boxer (had them before) who is house trained, however he has started messing during the night, not every night tho and he's eating it. He has 2 feeds, morning and evening with the last feed at 5pm, he has two toliet breaks before bed 8pm and between 10-10:30pm and does do his business.
He sleeps in a crate with the door open as he has a bit of seperation anxiety when we leave him and seems calmer when the doors open, he happily goes in his crate etc.
Any advice on why he's doing this or anything I can try to prevent it from happening.
Thanks

 

[JoanneF]

Some dogs do seem to regress at about that age.

For a change to toilet habits, a vet check is always a good idea.

After that, maybe revisit the basics. Are you still rewarding him for outside toilets? If not, go back to that and remember the reward has to be immediate so that it is clear that it is for toileting and not for anything else.

You could also look at adjusting his meal times do he doesn't need to toilet overnight. Add a few kernels of cooked sweetcorn to one meal, then you will know which one he is passing overnight. Make it an hour or two earlier or (more likely) later and he may find it easier to last all night.

And importantly, never scold him - that can make dogs reluctant to toilet when you are there so they wait for an opportunity to do it when you are not around, like in bed.

 

[Hemlock]

Do you take him out and make sure he has emptied himself, or do you put him out and assume he has?

 

[FlossyB]

Some dogs do seem to regress at about that age.

For a change to toilet habits, a vet check is always a good idea.

After that, maybe revisit the basics. Are you still rewarding him for outside toilets? If not, go back to that and remember the reward has to be immediate so that it is clear that it is for toileting and not for anything else.

You could also look at adjusting his meal times do he doesn't need to toilet overnight. Add a few kernels of cooked sweetcorn to one meal, then you will know which one he is passing overnight. Make it an hour or two earlier or (more likely) later and he may find it easier to last all night.

And importantly, never scold him - that can make dogs reluctant to toilet when you are there so they wait for an opportunity to do it when you are not around, like in bed.

Some dogs do seem to regress at about that age.

For a change to toilet habits, a vet check is always a good idea.

After that, maybe revisit the basics. Are you still rewarding him for outside toilets? If not, go back to that and remember the reward has to be immediate so that it is clear that it is for toileting and not for anything else.

You could also look at adjusting his meal times do he doesn't need to toilet overnight. Add a few kernels of cooked sweetcorn to one meal, then you will know which one he is passing overnight. Make it an hour or two earlier or (more likely) later and he may find it easier to last all night.

And importantly, never scold him - that can make dogs reluctant to toilet when you are there so they wait for an opportunity to do it when you are not around, like in bed.

Thanks for the info.

Some dogs do seem to regress at about that age.

For a change to toilet habits, a vet check is always a good idea.

After that, maybe revisit the basics. Are you still rewarding him for outside toilets? If not, go back to that and remember the reward has to be immediate so that it is clear that it is for toileting and not for anything else.

You could also look at adjusting his meal times do he doesn't need to toilet overnight. Add a few kernels of cooked sweetcorn to one meal, then you will know which one he is passing overnight. Make it an hour or two earlier or (more likely) later and he may find it easier to last all night.

And importantly, never scold him - that can make dogs reluctant to toilet when you are there so they wait for an opportunity to do it when you are not around, like in bed.

 

[FlossyB]

Thanks for the information, I'll give it a whirl.

 

[FlossyB]

Do you take him out and make sure he has emptied himself, or do you put him out and assume he has?

Hi
I always go with him nad wait till he does his business so I know he's been?

 

[FlossyB]

I always go with him so I know he's done his business.

 

[merlina]

All good advice so far - only other thing I can think of is any changes to his/your lifestyle? Change for dogs often equals stress- even good changes. (I've heard it's not an uncommon problem with guide dogs- a lovely volunteer told me they thought it might be the responsibility!) Of course though it is horrible to us, to dogs this is just another food item....doesn't seem to harm in any way. Unless they take in worms of course. Having recently watched the consumption of a maggoty rabbit hind quarters, I'm a bit casual about anything that goes down.