# night time pee...when does it end?



## cbrett (Dec 26, 2009)

Charlie is doing SO well! He had a couple of accidents on the first day/2 that were our fault...still getting to understand his signals for "gotta go", and since then has been completely potty trained! He is good with his commands, and he is gentle, and soo sooo sweet!!!!! His night time routine is actually pretty great, but we are wondering when that middle of the night pee will not be needed any more. Right now he pees around 10 before going in his crate for the night. He is up for a pee btwn 2 and 3am, and then up for good and a pee btwn 6:15-7. So cerainly this is not a schedule to complain about for a 12 week old puppy, but it just so happens that my DH and I are both people who cannot get back to sleep once woken, so although CHARLIE is doing great, WE are totally sleep deprived. We don't want to leave him when he gets up at this point because I'm concerned it's too soon, and he will have an accident. Any suggestions on how to tell when it WILL be ok to leave him? He may just stop waking for that pee, but my guess is he'll wake for it even after he doesn't need it based on his personality, as he still likes to be reassured we are here when he is in his crate.


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## Jamm (Mar 28, 2010)

hmm, i dont know about that one. Joey started sleeping through the night a week after we brought him home at 8weeks. Now his last pee is inbetween 9-10 and he gets up between 730-8. Hes 20weeks now though lol.


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## GNmom (Jun 15, 2010)

Every puppy is different. I envy puppies housetrained in a few days. 

Nemo's my first pet. I go slowly. In order for Nemo to better adjust to my sleeping schedule. I wake him up at 11:30pm to pee outside. I slept on the couch nearby to better observe him during the night. The first few days, he woke up around 4-5am. I let him out even though he didn't cry out. After a few days, I tried to wait longer and longer after hearing him up. Around 11 weeks, I wait till 7. Everytime he's just quietly waiting. After a few days of 11:30pm, 7am schedule without any accident, I finally went back to my bed upstairs.


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## Willow52 (Aug 14, 2009)

Have you tried limiting his water in the evening? I never needed to do that but many seem to think it helps with the middle of the night need to go out.


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## iansgran (May 29, 2010)

Jaro is 20 weeks and was doing well going from 10 until 5, until last night when DH woke up and went to bathroom then Jaro had to go outside too. If he gets up before 5 I now take him out then put him in the downstairs crate with a kong instead of bringing him upstairs since I too want to sleep.


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## Elisabeth Kazup (Aug 23, 2008)

I think I did it wrong but it never occurred to me to take her out at night...probably mostly because I'm afraid of the dark. But, having said that, Penny went out at about 10 or 11 and then went straight through until 5 or 6, when I got up. This was at 7 1/2 weeks.


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## Bender (Dec 30, 2008)

Take up the water around six in the evening, if he seems really thirsty you can give him small amounts, but don't let him drink a bucketful.

Then, start making him wait till 3 before he goes out for a potty break - if he wakes at 2:30 just tell him to hush or ignore him if you can, till that 3 am mark (if he's really freaking out, then make it 2:30 to start). Do that for a few nights, then make the time 3:15, and so on till he's sleeping through the night. 

If he's not eating or drinking anything in the evening he shouldn't need to go out in the middle of the night as much. When you do take him out, put him on leash, go outside and stand there for a minute or so, then back into the crate, no talking, no treats, no praise. It's 'here's your short window to pee outside' and then get back to sleep.

The less of an event you make the night potty breaks (and the shorter) the better, he'll figure out it's not worth it eventually (other than to actually pee if he has to).

Lana


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## younggtx (Jan 30, 2009)

Well said BENDER 

We always take Bodhi to his litter box before his bedtime (9:00pm), and one more time before we go to bed (11:00pm), and he's good til the morning (7:00am). Also one important to remember, we stopped his water intake at 7:00pm. Every puppy body system is different, and only you know your puppy better than anyone. 

When Bodhi first got home (8 Weeks), we both take turn getting up every two hours to let him out to pee since he's at early stage and can only hold 2-3 hrs max, we know how crate and potty training are very important for us. Between Week 10-12 Bodhi can hold up til 4-5 hrs, and once he turned 3 months all of sudden it's like adult biological clock switch in. Now he's slept all night till whenever we get up.

Here is a *general* guideline for your puppy/dog bladder control can hold and limit for crate time.
Adjust with your puppy:

Week 6 - 8: Bladder can hold 30 minutes to 1 hr, crate time - 30 minutes to 1 hr. 
Week 9-12: Bladder can hold 2-3 hrs; crate time - every 2-3 hrs at night until morning. 
Week 13-16: Bladder can hold 3-4 hrs; crate time - every 4 hrs at night until morning. 
Week 17-20: Bladder control should be able to hold all night.


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## nolefan (Nov 6, 2009)

Ask your vet to check for sure, but your puppy should be physically capable of going on the overnight schedule you described if you follow Bender's advice and take up the water after 7 p.m. I sympathize, because I was a sucker for this also and realized a habit had developed and I needed to put a stop to it. I am pretty sure it was about the same age as your pup. I was doing it in February and it wasn't much fun!
Good Luck and BE STRONG! He may need to be crated away from your sleeping area for a night or two to break the habit.


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## Lilliam (Apr 28, 2010)

Max went out the first night, the second night he slept for about five hours and then surprised the the third night by going eight whole hours. One day when he was maybe about twelve weeks I was called to go to work on an emergency and because of bad traffic he was stuck in his crate at home for a whole ten hours. I hadn't intended to be gone that long, it was an emergency.
He holds it every night, hasn't had one single accident overnight. Plenty of outside accidents, but none in the crate. Also, not one single poop accident.

I think puppies vary. He sleeps right next to me and I'm a very light sleeper. If he cried I would hear him. But no sound at all.


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## boomers_dawn (Sep 20, 2009)

Isn't the formula something like their age in months + 1 is how many hours they should be able to hold it?

I heard males "get it" before females too and from my own experience I would agree.

I think Boomer started holding it all night when he was about 4 months, and Gladys about 6 months.

Picking the water up in the evening is a good idea too, so long as it isn't too hot or there isn't too much activity. 

Good luck. One magical morning soon you'll wake up and realize you never got woken up the night before.


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## cbrett (Dec 26, 2009)

Thanks everyone. So, since Charlie is only 12 1/2 months, and sleeping from 9:30/10-6ish with one pee break, maybe this is normal and I shouldn't push it? Sometimes the pee is closer to midnight, so only 2 hrs after he's last peed...so it's possible he IS also using it as an attention thing, but he DOES ALWAYS pee when we take him out for that pee. We are already taking the water up at 7, which makes us feel so guilty when he then goes over to where his dish is looking for water!!!! I don't think it's a bladder issue or anything like that because he's certainly in the realm of normal for his age. I just want that last pee to be gone so he'll just sleep thru

He had 2 accidents in his crate at night when we first brought him home (divider wasn't in to make the space small enough), but since we fixed the divider it hasn't happened....but I think we are afraid that when we hear him awake and moving around in his crate in the middle of the night (and since he DOES pee every time we take him out at that time), that if we try and push him a little longer he'll pee in his crate.


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## boomers_dawn (Sep 20, 2009)

cbrett said:


> Thanks everyone. So, since Charlie is only 12 1/2 months, and sleeping from 9:30/10-6ish with one pee break, maybe this is normal and I shouldn't push it?


This says 12 1/2 months but that's a typo, you mean weeks, right? I thought the first post said weeks. If that's the case, I agree that's normal. 

I wondered the same thing when Gladys was growing up, if she was waking me up at the same time every night because she had me "trained" to get up and pay attention to her and take her outside.

But one day the night time wakeups magically stopped. I think what you're going through is normal. Sounds like you're doing a great job too!


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