Dog Community

Bathroom in middle of night????

Posted : 5/13/2008 2:09:40 PM

Our 14 month old girl wakes up every night sometime between 2-5 a.m. and comes to our bed to signal that she wants out. She has no issues with holding her bladder all day while we are at work, sometimes up to 8-10 hours. Our nightly ritual includes a bathroom break before bedtime usually around 10:30 p.m. I never minded getting up with her when she was truly a puppy as I was glad that she was signalling the need to go, however, now I think that she just awakens & is bored? At the same time, I don't want to order her back to bed in case she REALLY has to go... not sure how to handle this? She is healthy (no diabetes or kidney problems) and gets a good amount of exercise everyday, rain or shine!

Thank you for any suggestions you can offer!

j233

cakana

Posted : 5/13/2008 2:17:13 PM

Mine does the same thing and I know she just wants to sniff around outside but I can't take any chances either. Many years ago, I ignored my other dogs nudging me to go out. I woke up in the AM to find that she'd had a really nasty case of diarrhea all over my bedroom Ick!

Jackson233

Posted : 5/13/2008 2:20:02 PM

lol, as I said, I am grateful that she learned so quickly to signal her need to go out... and she is quick about it, she goes out, pees & then comes right back in and falls asleep. Of course, it's easier in the night of day to look kindly upon it... at 0400 it gets to be a pain :-)

FourIsCompany

Posted : 5/13/2008 2:24:26 PM

What would you think about taking her water up at 7 PM or something?

KarissaKS

Posted : 5/13/2008 3:02:05 PM

Could you crate her at night to break the habit -- assuming that there's not a health issue making her have to go?

CoCo Chanel

Posted : 5/13/2008 5:23:46 PM

are you there outside with her when you let her out in the middle of the night?

meaning... are you sure she just goes out and potties then comes right back in?

coco sometimes cries to be let out in the middle of the night...but i'm so good at hearing her different cries/barks/whines etc. that most of the time i know she just wants to go outside to patrol the backyard and NOT for a bathroom break.

Jackson233

Posted : 5/13/2008 7:01:53 PM

Thanks everyone... yes I do go out with her and watch from the deck... she does go pee and then comes back in so perhaps withholding h20 in the evening is worth a try. We crated her up until she was 9 months old... she would often start to cry around 3-4 a.m. so we would let her out then as well.