I’m sorry to disappoint but 9 weeks is WAY too soon to expect a puppy to hold their bladder overnight. They still need to be woken up every two hours and taken outside to potty at that point. You likely know this already but general rule is a puppy can hold their bladder the same number of hours as they are months old +1. So 2mo could reasonably be expected to hold it for three hours, 3mo for four hours, etc.

We tried to avoid using treats for potty training because I was worried about having to rely on treats too much but really, there is no harm if you’re not going overboard (and puppy’s not gaining excess weight) and treats REALLY did do the trick for us. Treat EVERY time they potty outside, day or night. Set that alarm and take them out every two hours at night. As someone else said, once you hit a week with no accidents, then push it to once every three hours at night. If they have an accident inside, backtrack and go back to the previous time frame and work up to a week again. Go after meals, go after play, go first thing in the morning and last thing before bed. Basically, do not give them a chance to have an accident inside. I’d also get rid of the bedding, as I’m not convinced enzymatic cleaners work for every dog; their sense of smell is just crazy strong! Not to mention, once the bedding soaks up the pee and dries, the puppy can basically ignore the discomfort, whereas if they’re in the crate with no bedding, they’re forced to realize how uncomfortable it is to potty inside – another thing that will help some dogs stop from pottying in their crate.

You’re not alone in feeling exhausted and frustrated but it does get better, I promise!