night time pee breaks

**suzieQ** · 06-15-2011, 03:48 PM

Our youngest lab is 1 year and 8 months old. He still needs to go outside once a night to pee. He's quick about it but I'm kind of tired of waking up at night that extra time.

It could be he got in the habit because I got pregnant about a year ago and was often up in the night to go pee myself, and since then I don't have to but I'm up with my 5 mo. old daughter at least once a night. However the dog doesn't time his trips outside with my wakings, he has separate times.

We let him out for his final pee around 11 pm, and one of us is up around 6 a.m. He often wakes me around 1:30 am.

I know that removing his water dish in the evening could be a solution, but won't work here because the other two dogs need it, especially our senior lab. Also, he's a thirsty dog it seems so I don't want to limit him. I don't really feel concerned about his health with his water intake but maybe I should be?

**hmhershey** · 06-15-2011, 04:44 PM

I would think it is a habit. We all know all dogs are different but bentley has slept thru the night with no potty breaks since he was 12 weeks, I think we got lucky. But I would think that by at least a year he should be able to make it thru the night. I wouldnt think it was something medical. I would wake him up when you are up with the baby and take him out. It may not break him of going at night but might get him on track with your schedule. On a side note, do you make sure he actually goes to the bathroom at 11 when he goes out. Make sure he poops and pees. Maybe he is only doing one at night and needs to do the other at night?

**Tanya** · 06-15-2011, 05:03 PM

this is habit. are you worried he might pee in the house if you ignore him?

I don't even buy this from my 6 month old foster pups after the first week! Make sure your pup pees, maybe take him out at 10:30 then agian at 11 (just before bed) and make sure he pees. Then I would ignore his wake up call. might be easier if you crate him as then the accident will be in teh crate though I would think he may not have an accident at all.

**suzieQ** · 06-15-2011, 09:33 PM

thanks for the suggestions.

When he was younger (up to 5 months?) if we ignored him (he scratches at the door) he would pee on the floor at the door, and we ended up replacing the flooring it happened enough times to cause a stench. I think it's happened once in the last year. But I'm a light sleeper, and he's very persistent so I've not tried ignoring him for a long long time. He gets more persistent and frantic with the scratching and pacing.

I will try going out with him before bed to watch and make sure. I could make sure he goes out when I'm up with baby but he usually is the first to wake, not her

**BigBrownDog** · 06-16-2011, 02:22 PM

The simple solution to this is to crate him after his 11 pm outing.

I have a dog that wakes me up nearly every night - but he is diabetic and really can't hold it. If I take up his water at 8 pm - we usually can get through the whole night - but not always.

**suzieQ** · 06-17-2011, 10:52 AM

I'm going to try the crate again. Thanks for the reminder. we took it out when we needed to make room for baby, but I found a place for it.

**IssuedOnce** · 06-17-2011, 10:54 AM

Originally Posted by BigBrownDog

The simple solution to this is to crate him after his 11 pm outing.

When I first got my puppy he would always get up around 1:30 and want to go out. He did this until about 8 months. We got tired of getting up and taking him out so we crated him for 2 weeks. Ever since then, he makes it through the entire night. I'm sure that it was just a habit he had. We all sleep much better now.