A really common litter box challenge is nighttime litter box use.

It’s very common for puppies to poop outside of the litter box at night. For a long time I couldn’t figure this out, why my puppies would so often miss at night.

I found two things really help.

Leave a nightlight on so the puppies can clearly see the toilet zone. Seems simple, but it’s very effective.
Expand the toilet area at night. I know it seems counter intuitive, but to avoid walking in a full litter box many puppies will poop outside the box. My puppies really do not like to walk in poop, or even near poop, in the litter box. So if the box gets even four or five poop piles in it, some of my puppies will simply poop next to the box instead of walking through poop to poop in the box. While I’m happy they are clean, and don’t want to walk near poop, it does make a mess in the morning.

My solution is two fold. Sometimes I put disposable pads down in front of the toilet for overnight, this is very easy to pick up and toss in the morning, and I don’t do this during the day when I can pick up poop regularly.

Another solution is to put down extra trays at night. I do this for large litters by putting bigger trays in the back, and then putting my three 24 x 24 inch trays in front. I scoop them, stack them, and set them aside each morning so they don’t crowd the pen and take up valuable play zone space during the day.

I usually find about week 6 to 7 this nighttime expansion starts to be needed.

At week 9 I start crating overnight and no longer need to worry about it. You can find a photo of the expanded nighttime toilet area in the Unit on the Toilet Zone.

Nighttime Pee/Poop Outside The Litter Box.