Losing Sleep at night

She's pooping 4 times a day?  That seems like a lot.  Mine poop 1-2 times a day unless they are sick, but she doesn't sound sick if this is more of a routine and the poops are firm.  How much is she fed and what type of food does she eat?

I would tweak her feeding schedule and see if that changes when she poops.  I get home from work at 5 and usually all three of my dogs poop.  Then they eat around 6.  They don't always poop in the evening or before bed, depends on if they did poop when I got home from work.  In the morning, Nikon poops but Coke and Kenya don't always (Nikon is still growing and eats twice as much food as them).  If your dog is pooping for the last time at 5:30pm it makes sense she would have to go again before morning.  I'd feed her later and try to get her to poop later or right before bed.

Probably a better quality of food -- 4 times a day isn't normal.

But she's also developed this as HABIT -- and it will be a pain in the butt at first but I would tell her "Nooo, gotta wait a bit!!" and give her a chance to TRY to settle back down and go to sleep. 

Literally try to STRETCH the time a little longer every night until finally she sleeps thru.

You may want to try something (and this works SOOOO well to make *you* fall back to sleep fast) like Heel's "Calming" formula.  It's a homeopathic - will *not* make you feel drugged in the morning.  You pop a tab under your tongue and let it dissolve.  I have a husband who will sleep on the sofa til 4 or 4:30 and then his alarm rings INCESSANTLY between 5 - 6:00 a.m.  Heel's Calming formula keeps my husband alive (i.e., because then I don't kill him! *grin*). 

In fact, when one of the dogs gets riled in the middle of the night I have been known to give THEM one as well (when I know it's just some little thing that woke them up, no big deal). 

But you likely will have to go to a more dense food with less fillers.  4 times a day really is unusual.

Thanks Folks

The morning and 530 poos are big, the noon is a tiny one, and the middle of the night is decent. I thought it excessive as well. She is only 38lbs and she gets a cup and a half of nutro venicen and rice in the am and a cup in the pm. I thought 2 1/2 cups is alot of food for a 38 lb dog, but the vet says she is a high energy dog and is lean, even with the large amt of food. 

I looked up this food formula and it seems very heavy on grains...four of the first five ingredients are rice or rice derivatives (aka-fillers).  This is probably why she's pooping so much.  Her body isn't processing all that rice because she doesn't physiologically need it.  So she's eating and then pooping most of it right out.  So, not only is she pooping more than should be normal, waking you up in the middle of the night, but she's also kinda pooping your money away, lol.  Try switching her to a food that is lower in fillers and has more ingredients she will actually use.  Not only will she poop less, but you'll end up feeding her smaller meals as well.  Take a peek around the Nutrition section for some good ideas, or you can visit www.dogfoodproject.com for a lot of very good information.

Good luck, I hope you get some sleep soon!

 Tootsie, poops once a day and rarely twice, but it has happened.