HELP! How do I stop my puppy from getting up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night?
Question by Tracy B: HELP! How do I stop my puppy from getting up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night?
I feed my 4 month old puppy three times a day, in the early morning, midday and around 530-6pm. When I first got him, I would let him out just before I went to bed (9-930) and he would do his poo and pee and that would be it for the night.
All of a sudden he isn’t going poo before bed and waking me up around midnight to go. I can’t keep getting up in the middle of the night and I really don’t care for crate training.
Thanks in advance.
Best answer:
Answer by Liz
I would recommend a crate, but I see you are not keen on that.
Maybe try feeding him twice a day with the later feeding around 4:00 instead.Could that be possible with your schedule?
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At least he’s waking you up to go!
Make sure he gets LOADS of praise for doing wee and poo whenever you take him out. Try and take him out after every meal – not because he necessarily needs it, but as a chance to positively reinforce going outside.
To have an idea of how long a puppy should be allowed to “hold it” is this…Add 1 to the number of months old the puppy is. This equal the maximum number of hours a puppy should wait before “going” again. So, your 4-month old should be let out at least every 5 hours. That means you will have to get up once in the night. Also remember, making a puppy hold it too long will not only result in accidents in the house, it can also lead to kidney or bladder infections. In a few months the puppy should be able to sleep through the night, but until then, you’ll just have to deal with getting up.
You may have to get up…it’s part of puppy ownership. The dog is too young to be able to hold his bladder all night long (at 4 months old, he should be going out every 4-5 hours). It helps to praise him every time he goes potty outside, and he will eventually relate you being happy to him pottying in the grass. Try scheduling his feeding a little earlier, if time allows, and keep taking him out. If he has to go at midnight, set your alarm for midnight and take him out. As he gets older he will be able to hold it for longer periods of time. Until then, you MUST take him out to avoid bladder-related health problems.
At four months he is old enough to feed twice a day. Feed him in the moring and around 3 in the afternoon. My dog did the same thing and I altered his feeding schedule. He hasn’t done this since.
Your puppies bladder and stomach are very small and still developing. The most important thing is a constant schedule for the first 9 months to a year. I think the problem is the feeding portion of the schedule. I have always fed my dogs one time a day and usally first thing in the morning.This will give him time to digest the meal and at 4 months old he will probably be ready to do his business in about 4 hours. After he’s 6 or7 months old he can hold it for 8 hrs. The reason for crate training is a dog will never pee & poo where he sleeps.Good luck and schedule, schedule, schedule.It’s alot of hassle and hard work now but given time it’s well rewarded with unconditional love !!!