Does Your Dog Sleep Through The Night Without An Outside Trip?

[kamuzz]

We have three dogs:

• Coda the GSD who will be 10 this year
  
• Mazda the English Setter who will be 7 this year
  
• Veli the English Setter who is 2
  

They sleep inside, in the kitchen. They have crates but I don't shut them into their crates so they are free to move around the room as they desire.

Dinner time is around 5 - 5:30 pm. Lockup is around 9:30 - 10:00 pm. And I get up at 4:45 am so the door is opened around then.

My problem is that Coda doesn't seem to be able to make it through the night without an outside trip. He has taken to barking for out around 3:00 - 3:30 am, when he will have a drink, a poo and a wee (not necessarily in that order)

It takes me a hour or so to go back to sleep after he has woken me up, by which time is nearly time to get up anyway. And I am so tired....

Should he be able to make it through the night, or is this a consequence of getting older?

(Previously we didn't bother closing the door, but we started doing that this winter so this is a relatively new problem. And I'd like to keep the door closed as I feel safer that way. Even with three "big" dogs in the kitchen!)

[Staff'n'Toller]

You could try changing dinner time to 7pm.

But yes, it may be an aging thing.

[JulesP]

I put mine out to go to the loo before bedtime. Could you try that? Rather than leaving it up to them to go out when they want.

[cowanbree]

I always go outside with the dogs for their last toilet trip, mainly to make sure there is no barking but also to make sure my oldie Bree actually goes to the toilet rather than just wander round. If she doesn't go then it is a middle of the night toilet trip. That said I find the oldies do get to an age where they can't hold all night so at that stage I have to organise a work around so we can all be happy

[LisaCC]

If it's a new thing, it could be ageing, my last dog started needing to go out at night when he got on, but also have you noticed an increase in toileting during the day as well? If so perhaps a vet visit to make sure nothing else going on.

I would also put back dinner an hour or two.

[Pjrt]

The last thing I do before bed is take Gruf out for a wee on command. He knows I won't allow him in until he has given me a wee, even if it is only a squirt.

That is anywhere between 8 and 10.30pm. When at home he comes in from last pees, jumps up on the bed, and doesn't budge until between 5.30 and 7am depending if it's a work day or not. The couple of nights a week we stay away from home for work, he has last pees between 8 and 10 pm and goes in his crate locked in until about 7am. If I wake during the night I will take him out for a pee once. The nights he sleeps on the bed at home he never goes out during the night. So he averages at least 8 or 9 hrs sometimes up to 11 hrs.

I never limit his water , and when locked in his crate, he has a small bowl of water. He is raw fed and gets his bone meal of the day around 7pm.

I'd be wondering if your boys issue is age or health related. Organ dis function, growths putting pressure on organs, nerve damage or pinched nerves the list goes on.

Perhaps a thorough vet check and a visit to the chiropractor.

ETA.....agh bloody predictive text. I give up!

Edited August 9, 2015 by blinkblink

[Two Best Dogs!]

Ah the banes of predictive text, let's see how my post goes.

Thistle holds her bladder worryingly well, to the point of concern.

She has unlimited water. Dinner is dry and meat at about 7:30-8pmish. At about 9:30-9:45 she goes out for one last poop and pee. We don't go inside until she's gone pee, minimum. It hurries her up cause she doesn't like being out there alone XD.

Then she's good to sleep on the floor near my bed until 7am the next day where she gets to go out again before lock up for work. During the day she has a doggie litter tray but at night she doesn't cause different part of house. She's used it once and prefers to go outside.

I have to keep on top of toilet breaks because Thistle will not ask to go out until she's absolutely busting. I'm worried it will damage her bladder so I give her lots of toilet breaks.

It could be an age thing? Maybe gradually make the routine later and later so their waking time is same as yours?

[SarasMum]

My GSD is almost 10 and I put her out for a final wee around 10.30pm every night. She always goes as she knows that it is then bed time. She, without a doubt, will wake me anywhere from 2.30am to 5am for a wee, normally around the 3.30 mark. She comes in to our room, sticks her nose in my face and gives a very quiet whine. I oblige and trot out and open the door. No words are spoken. The staffy who is nearly 11 goes for her final wee at the same time as the GSD but there is no way in hell she is budging from in front of the fire so she goes when the OH wakes at 6.30am and feeds them.

The main problem is that I started also going to the toilet when she woke me and now my body wants to go as soon as I open my eyes!

Up until the last 9 months or so she has always slept through the night and never needed to go so I think it is definitely an age thing.

OH doesn't understand why I sleep in til late on a Sunday. He doesn't realise that I am up through the night for her wee and then because he is not waking at 6.30 for work I am also up letting them both out and feeding them. I then go back to bed and sleep. What I would give for a full nights sleep. I thought it was all over once the kids grew up but nah.

[sandgrubber]

Three Labradors, the oldest (spayed female) just turned 11. I close the doggy door at 8 to 10 pm and open it at 5 to 6 am. Haven't had an accident since the puppy was about 10 weeks old. The old girl shows no interest in going out when the doggy door is opened in the am, and think her latest piddle is generally on or before 5 pm when we go to the mailbox, so I'd say she can hold it for well over 12 hours. The younger dogs go in and out and I can't keep track . . . but a lot of their pee-ing is marking.

p.s. Water is always available to all the dogs.

Edited August 9, 2015 by sandgrubber

[Jemmy]

Our morning routine is very different on a weekend as opposed to during the week. OH starts work around 4, so she is used to getting a wee at about 3:30, then back to bed until I get up at 6:30. So on a weekend when OH doesn't get up for work I will get a soft woof somewhere between 3:30 and 5:30, then back to bed for as long as possible :laugh:

[tdierikx]

I just leave the back door open for mine, and they can come and go as they please through the night...

... except Harper who is crated overnight - but she has no trouble holding on...

T.

[Kirislin]

all my dogs take themselves outside during the night for a toilet break, I hear the dog door go.

[Her Majesty Dogmad]

A couple of mine are much older now and cannot go all night, they drink more these days and pee more as a consequence.

They are 13 and 15 yrs of age and one has Cushings (on meds) and the other has liver issues.

I also have Italian Greyhounds and as a breed they appear unable to go through the night - I've owned and fostered many of this breed and other people often seem to experience the same problem.

It isn't a problem for me with a doggie door however, unless I'm still training them when they are fosters.

You could look at diet - someone told me at the weekend that BARF had made a huge difference to their dog's health. A lot of the cheaper kibble brands contain salt and so do some of the meat rolls etc which of course will make them drink/pee more.

Another friend of mine tries to avoid this issue by feeding her dogs at 7am, they are then outside during the day and then they get a snack in the evening when she gets home. For the most part, this seems to work well generally.

Edited August 9, 2015 by Her Majesty Dogmad

[Taliecat]

Dozer is only 2 so a youngen.

He's given dinner at 5pm and the patio gate is closed between 5pm-6pm depending on how dark and cold it is, might stretch to 7 in summer.

Once the patio gate is closed, it doesn't get opened until morning, usually around 8am, Sometimes earlier if he wakes up in his crate sooking and whining to go out.

If he gets to sleep in the bed, he's refused to get up some mornings until 10am at which point he races outside for a wee.

He hasn't needed a night time wee in ages, and lucky for me he rarely if ever gets an upset tummy for emergency poo time, and that's a very different whine!

Thinking back, he was a dream to toilet train, and rarely made a mess in the house from about 10-12 weeks.

Eta: he's got frequent access to water up until I have my last smoke before I turn in.

Edited August 9, 2015 by Taliecat

[jemappelle]

My nearly 14 year old ACD can hang on for about 10 hours overnight if I sleep in. But I let him out to toilet every two hours from 5.30 pm until I go to bed at usually 9.30 pm. If I forget one of those toilet trips he wakes me up to go out and I slap myself on the side of the head. :)

[Kavik]

Mine are fine over night without toilet trips, apart from the occasional time if one has a funny tummy.

Nitro 2yrs, Kaos 9 yrs, Diesel (GSD) 11 1/2 yrs.

[sheena]

My guys get fed about 8pm, then it's play/trick time, then it's outside for the final pee then into bed about 8.30. They get let back outside about 6am & we go back to bed

Edited August 10, 2015 by sheena

[trifecta]

Previously we didn't bother closing the door, but we started doing that this winter so this is a relatively new problem.

Is it a new problem though? Was the dog going outside in the early hours of the morning without you being aware? Could it now be a habit that he is toiletting at this time?

Also what do your dogs do during the day? Are they sleeping a lot and then becoming restless at night, the time when dogs in the natural state are active?

I agree with the other suggestions posted, play around with meal times and up the exercise and mental stimulation during your waking hours.... which will also help to keep your boy young at heart and keep dementia at bay.

If things do not improve you may have to just accept that with increasing age your Shepherd is losing the ability to remain continent for several hours and, furthermore, investigate the possibility of failing health. Dogs, afterall, just like people, age at different rates..... for example my two are both 11, one is 11 years old, the other is 11 years young!

ETA a couple of Bowen sessions may also make a difference to Coda's continence if he needs some realigning in the spine and rear end assembly! :)

Edited August 10, 2015 by trifecta

[Dame Aussie]

My two will sleep through most of the time. Mosley will ask to go out occasionally but I suspect it's to chase cats and possums rather than actually needing the toilet *rolly eyes*

Other than that unless they have a funny tummy they'll sleep through from about 10.30 to 6.30.

My two are 7yo and almost 7.

Edited August 10, 2015 by Dame Aussie

[*kirty*]

Mine all last through the night. I have a 6yo Greyhound, 4yo Standard Poodle, 3yo Iggy and 7mth old OES. They are inside from about 11pm until 7am.