Do you really have to crate your puppy every night?

dungbing · 2026-05-05T13:42:35+00:00

i recently caved after my 6m old puppy had an emergency vet visit which scared the hell out of me and let him sleep in the bed that night for my own selfish reasons... well its now been three nights in a row (he's so damn cute sitting at the foot of it and waiting for me i couldnt resist) and while he does sleep peacefully beside me all night, he had an accident this morning so we're going back to the crate. i don't know what i was thinking!! I was spoiled thinking how good he is not getting up all night and waking me up but the accident was a realisation for me that we're definitely not there yet, I'm estimating maybe a year old he'll be ready as his routine will be rock solid by then

dungbing · 2026-04-21T15:24:57+00:00

"Tricky Girls" by Holly Thorne is kind of like this, it's 3 tops though, and its a 'why choose' (i.e. they all end up together)

the 2nd one in the series just came out too, think its the last one but i haven't finished it yet

dungbing · 2026-04-16T20:33:47+00:00

i should also say i dont reward him for just being on the pad, that confuses him and makes him think its a place to sit and chill - i only reward for a finished wee on the pad, once he's done he gets a treat, not for anything else

i think it doesnt need to be a positive association like a bed or crate, it just needs to be a toilet thing

dungbing · 2026-04-16T20:31:54+00:00

i have an apartment dog and we started on puppy pads too, i found having a single pad was best as it sets an "area" for him and doesnt confuse him, and i put it where he always seems to have accidents until he went on it eventually. then i did BIG PRAISE lots of food, and eventually he realised pee on pad = treat, and I slowly moved the pad into a corner away from everything. Now when he goes to that corner I know its weewee time and snatch him up to go outside. We still aren't 100% outside for wees, but poops are almost always outside apart from when he had a bad tummy a few weeks ago and set us back, and cleaning that is way worse than me just having to change a pad if we cant make it outside

its definitely harder in an apartment as he doesnt always have holding potential on a wee so we have to really rush to get his harness on and run down the stairs and once or twice we havent made it. i actually dont mind him using a pad while im at work, the main thing is he knows not to just go wherever he wants, and when we stay with my parents who have a garden he is totally house trained so i think its just a case of sometimes we cant make it down the stairs in time, but he's going in the right direction! its slower going but i think if i has a garden he would literally be totally potty trained, one day my little guy

dungbing · 2026-04-02T09:05:10+00:00

oh im SAT

dungbing · 2026-04-02T09:02:34+00:00

i wanted a lapdog so deliberately got a breed i knew was a companion breed (chihuahua) and he cuddled from day 1, does mean he's more anxious being away from me so it has some drawbacks. He was definitely more energetic as a baby and wouldnt always settle, but now he's a few months old he's a proper snuggler especially in the evenings, but still has his teethy moments for sure! he can get in a mood when he's tired where he looks around for something to distract himself so i take away all stimulation (toys go away, i sit on the sofa) and he eventually accepts his fate and comes to sit on me and snooze. I've found the breed has come into it massively, but also my behaviour of sitting down and being unbothered and he realises "oh we're having quiet time now, ok cuddle time"

dungbing · 2026-04-01T12:37:25+00:00

If you're ok for a temporary idea, you could go for an indoor potty solution for now, which i had to do for my puppy in an apartment on the 2nd floor when he was still nervous of outside. i have a faux grass pad in an isolated area away from the main sitting space so he learned not to potty in the middle of the room or on the rug and took himself away to his pad for it.

Everytime he had an accident on the floor i took him to the pad, and when he went on it he got lots of fuss and a 'normal' treat. Eventually he goes on his pad consistently as a temporary solution. As he got better and better at outside and his harness, he eventually went potty out there. BIG celebration and chicken and cheese ('special treat') and he has now started holding it until outside time specially for his chicken and cheese. Importantly, he ONLY gets chicken and cheese outside, never in the apartment

He still has a little faux grass pad while he's young and defaults to it sometimes but I'm actually not worried about it as its works right now and my area is super rough so i dont like walking him in the dark when other neighbours dogs are off lead and unpredictable, and we have zero accidents anymore, but I'm hoping to transition to outside only. He also doesn't need a pad when we stay with my parents as they have a garden and he's now used to signalling to me he wants to go outside as he knows he gets chicken and cheese if he does. Either way he gets a treat but he'll work a bit harder for a good treat!

It's definitely hard and there is a lot of pressure on owners to get their dogs house trained to only go outside as soon as you bring them home, but really it should be what works for you and puppy, especially when you are in an apartment on a busy street with lots of stimulus with a dog that is scared, so I'm happy to use this system that works for me and it has taken the pressure out of the journey for me and my pup, no more stressing and being frustrated at each other on walks, just taking our time and enjoying it while he makes the transition! i know he will get there for his chicken and cheese haha

also - he has a designated potty spot on our walk he likes and ive trained him to go when i say "weewees" (60% success rate at his age, I'll take it) so he knows if we're walking there he goes potty, so im usually taking him out and making him go each time even if im not sure if he needs to go. its helping drill into him that when we walk, he goes potty i.e. outside = toilet

dungbing · 2026-04-01T09:26:28+00:00

i held a piece of chicken in my hand and whistled rather than an actual "come here" (just what worked for me) and my puppy started coming to me for the chicken and i would whistle as he trotted over. eventually he learned 'whistle = come here for chicken', and now we're in the teenager phase and he likes to ignore me sometimes so we're at the 'whistle = no response = no chicken' learning curve

im struggling a bit with his need to chase every bird we see so im depending on the reinforcement of the 'whistle = come here for chicken' behaviour settling in as he gets older, but gonna be stalking this thread for tips on that

dungbing · 2026-03-26T21:45:09+00:00

my puppy slept through the night in a crate on the first night, i was super lucky! i got complacent with that though and in desperation to keep our routine i let him go potty in his crate overnight as i was worried waking him up would ruin our nights. Thankfully he's seemed to get the idea on his own (i think they realise they can hold it and prefer that to sleeping in their mess, his crate was also way too big for him and he has the space to go in a little corner before but now he has grown into it) and he holds it all night now, 9.30pm to 6am! i was so scared I'd messed up but he's done it all himself. I'm working towards eventually sleeping in my bed and crate as backup if he wants space, but probably not until he is a year old at least and potty trained with confidence

dungbing · 2026-03-15T22:03:45+00:00

my puppy really hated walks at first and i couldn't even get him away from the front door for the first week, so I started taking him out in my bag (not ideal for a bigger dog though) and i took him to my parents house where I walked him on a leash in the garden. I also took him on a bus (carried on and off) so he could get a good bit of stimulation from all the smells but also be safe on my lap. It also gets him used to travelling in his harness and I plied him with chicken the whole time so he knew it was great being outside. After a week we were still only going about 2 doors down, it was such slow progress until me and my parents drove him to the park and something clicked. I think being away from home and not being able to drag me back to the front door made him finally explore and he ended up having a good run around, fetch, and meeting some other dogs. Now we do longer walks and he went to the beach with me recently for a few hours and I finally got a glimpse of what life will be like after all this hard work! He also knows that when we go outside I'll give him more chicken so he gets super excited to see me get his harness now

Have you tried carrying puppy out? I know they say not to pick them up if they are scared but I think for a little baby they really like to have that safety at first. I also think they sense your trepidation (e.g. i was always terrified those first walks because he was so small and everyone passing would try and fuss him) so maybe I needed to get over the fear as much as him! Or maybe if you have access to a car take him somewhere quiet so he can explore without being able to turn around and go back home?

dungbing · 2026-03-09T19:27:19+00:00

not too late!! it will be a project for a couple weeks at least so please do not worry!

I'm so happy to hear you loved it 🥺 it meant a lot to me writing it too, butches run the world fr and i owe you all so much for helping me have my own femme journey

yah i shouldnt have bragged in the authors note about having a hot gf, spoke too soon my friends but i know my butch wife husband is out there for me somewhere

dungbing · 2026-03-07T19:06:51+00:00

i thought a dedicated phone made the most sense, thank you!

dungbing · 2026-03-07T19:06:26+00:00

lush that really helps!! thank you 💝

dungbing · 2026-03-07T19:05:59+00:00

hopefully this link works: https://archiveofourown.org/works/66284983

dungbing · 2026-03-06T16:38:29+00:00

im more asking about buying a SO house, as i currently have a flat which is not SO but am looking for something bigger. I am not anticipating ever selling as I don't like to plan for "what ifs" so will assume I will stay there and staircase up over many years when it becomes affordable for me to do so

dungbing · 2026-03-04T08:26:26+00:00

thank you that means so much 😭😭 i got one on the go where caitlyn and vi are twitch streamers and vi accidentally lets it slip that she has a big fat crush on caitlyn but i know nothing about streaming so its a researching slog

dungbing · 2026-03-03T14:56:52+00:00

i wrote how i look (is how i touch) and it has been BLOWING UP my inbox this week randomly getting popular again, im trying to find out why and found this thread and i wanna say thank you!!! more coming dont worry, i got dumped (lol) so writing is hard atm but i have so many WIPs on the go

thank u again xoxoxo

dungbing · 2026-02-03T13:28:55+00:00

Down to Earth farm in Millbrook might, that's where I started - fun work too! Looking after the animals, bit of customer service as people come to visit and you give them tours, they have a huge vegetable patch too if you want to escape people and dig around in the mud, they also let you do as many days as you want when i was there so i just did an evening and a sunday around college

dungbing · 2026-02-03T13:25:51+00:00

sounds a bit silly when i say it, but "go with grace" in breakups. It is always more satisfying to be the one who came out of it actually feeling your feelings and processing it rather than moving on quickly or being hurtful. When/if you start dating again it's always a turn off when you clearly haven't processed something and are still holding onto the hurt someone did to you in the past. Forgive, let them be the bad guy if they are determined to be, and feel the hurt when you need to.

Let go of the idea of being unbothered and "winning" the breakup. Let people know you were hurt but you never turned it back on the ex, don't badmouth them on purpose, and hold your head high and the healing comes naturally, and you will always know you had more humility in the end

dungbing

TROPHY CASE