Night Time Potty Training
Hi everyone,
I know there are a lot of posts on here about potty training (I've read many of them) but what I'm looking for here is more feedback on all of your experience.
We've been struggling with getting our 3.5 month old pup, Jerry to last consistent intervals through the night. Daytime potty training is what it is. Don't take your eye off or ELSE! And crate training is going well in helping with regulating accidents during the day. Same goes at night. He's relaxed and sleeping fine in his crate. No accidents unless we can't get from our bed to his crate fast enough.
We take him out and have him do his business without any fanfare. Unless there's a really distracting leaf or sound, it's quick and painless. Back in his crate he goes, and as long as I know he's "empty" I don't pay attention to his momentary whining when he'd much rather be playing. He goes back to sleep in a few minutes anyway.
Where we're struggling is timing. Since we've had him, we've been working to increase the number of hours between bathroom breaks. So far we've cycled from 2-4 up and down a few times, with no real consistency. 2 steps forward, 1 step back kind of thing.
We finally made it up to 4 hours again, when he decided he couldn't last until 6am (morning wake up). Then I tried adjusting the timing so he had less time before 6am, but now he's been waking up at 12am (2 hours after "bed time") a few nights in a row. He doesn't cry and make as fuss, but I can hear him shake and move around around which means "I have to go!"
What I'm curious about is, how long does the average 3.5 month old corgi puppy last around that age? 3-4 hours? All night? Is there a way we can improve our methods? What have your experiences been? I'm not expecting miracles for my puppy (he already knows how to shake, what more could I ask for??) but I'm REALLY curious if our issues are normal, abnormal for his age.
Thanks so much for your feedback!
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Michelle Cox on
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My Ringo finally got it at 4 months old. He just started ringing the bell to tell me he needed to go out and lasting all night without the need to go. Don't worry it will happen each dog is different but has he gets bigger so does his bladder
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Permalink Reply by Marina Holshevnikoff on
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Great, thanks for the response! That's mostly what I figured, but I wanted to make sure I wasn't alone :)
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Permalink Reply by Beth on
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By that age he should make it MOST nights through the night with an occasional accident. If that is not happening, some things to check:
Is water being removed about 2 hours before bed?
Is last feeding about 4 hours or so before bed?
Is there a blanket or something over the crate so he is not disturbed?
Are there some noises or distractions that might be waking him and making him move around, and therefore have to go?
Good luck!
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Thanks Beth,
Water yes. Dinner between 6-7, official bedtime is ~10 so yes. No blanket, but he's in a dark room by himself. I'll give it a try.
We live in the city, so it's possible various sirens and noises can be waking him up. We also have a raccoon problem on the street so that's a possible cause.
Do you think it would be worth trying more of a "tough love" scenario, wherein we don't go in when we hear him wake up, in hopes that he'll settle back down or sleep through it? Wean him into staying quiet all night?
I'm concerned that if I tell the vet, she'll just say it's a UTI, which I've been watching for. He's not showing any noticeable signs or discomfort so I'm hoping not.
Thanks for your feedback!
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Permalink Reply by Anna Morelli on
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Daytime habits sound normal, time-wise. At night, between 3 and 4 months of age he should be able to hold it through the night (approximately 8 hrs), if you restrict water 2 hours after feeding as you say you do. (No need to do this when he is older and housebroken) If it was me, I would put the crate in my bedroom and tell him "quiet" if he starts whining. He may settle more easily being near you. UTI s are infrequent in male dogs, I would not worry about it.
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I would not get up if I heard the puppy whimpering slightly in the middle of the night; he needs to learn to comfort himself and go back to sleep. I would get up if he sounded frantic or if he'd had some tummy troubles over the day or got into something where I thought he might have loose stools and urgently need to go.
Otherwise, puppies will occasionally wet the crate a bit. I used a towel as the liner (this is not safe for all puppies) so it could be easily washed.
I don't like to develop the habit of midnight potty breaks. :-) Tiny puppies under 10 weeks old of course are a different story; they can't make it through the night.
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Jerry is good with towels in his crate (For now. I'm knocking on wood with his polite chewing habits at the moment) so we usually do that.
Last night WE slept like babies and let him sweat it out. Messy crate, but we're more than happy to let him get in the habit of comforting himself.
My mentality before was that we were slowly getting him used to holding it for longer periods but it looks like he grew smart enough to manipulate us before that ended up working. ;) Haha.
Thanks for all of your feedback guys! Hoping to get this dude on the full-night schedule ASAP!
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Permalink Reply by Eevee88 on
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Seems like in comparison to other members I may have gotten the easy pup. Eevee is 10 weeks, and she has already gotten the grasp of her routine. We feed her dinner at around 5PM, and we don't actually restrict her water before bedtime--she is usually napping anywhere from 7-8:30PM, out to use the bathroom a few times before bed at 10:30 and sleeps through the night without accidents or whining until 5:30AM, when we wake up/take her out. First week was a learning experience, but in all she has only made two accidents in her crate the whole time we've had her and makes very rare accidents in the house with us.
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Permalink Reply by Anya Q. on
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We got Maxen at 10 weeks old and he was already able to sleep through the night. He's 17 weeks now and has only woken us up in the middle of the night twice, but that was on hotter days when I knew he had more water than usual.
We hear him wake up and move in the crate sometimes but unless he starts whining, we just ignore him and he goes back to sleep within a few minutes.
So from my current experience, I would suggest ignoring him unless you're 100% certain that he has to go. He might whine the first couple of nights out of habit, he might just be waking you up because he's bored and has figured out a way to make you get him out of the crate by pretending to have to go.
Good luck!
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Since people are commenting and this is showing up on recent posts, I figure I should update.
After all of your suggestions when I first posted this, we immediately kept Jerry in the crate all night. There were 3-4 days with messy towels in the morning, but he would only leave one puddle when he woke up in the morning. Not at night.
Since then, we've had no problems. He has an occasional accident when he wakes up too early and we're still asleep, but other than that it's great. I don't know that he ever woke up and whine/barked when we starting doing this. Aside from his bladder control, he's been a real star with the crate.
Thanks so much for all your helpful advice! We're moving on from this issue and on to the next :)
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Haha, sorry, we should all check the dates bc the site doesn't sort posts properly :)
Glad it's working out better!
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Permalink Reply by Vicky Hay on
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When I whined about Ruby the Corgi Puppy's stealth peeing, commenter after commenter suggested having her checked for a UTI. It may be worth asking the vet about that. Apparently this breed is prone to urinary problems.
Ruby is now about 14 weeks old. She DOES last through the night (unless she wakes at 3 in the morning and demands to be let out...this occurs when she knows I'm dead tired and think i'm gunna die if i don't get at least six hours of uninterrupted nap). But one thing is clear: she does last from six to eight hours at night (not by daylight, though).
The best I can suggest is this:
Feed around 5 or 6 p.m. Provide plenty of water. Between then and about 9 p.m., get yourself and the dawg out the door and go for a walk (allow an hour or so for digestion!). Exercise the hound (you have an ulterior motive) and exercise yourself (God and your doctor say this is good for you). Bring Pup back into the house and provide plenty of water to drink. Wait an hour or two. Wring pup out in the yard. Then crate and go to bed.
In the two steps forward, one step backward department: I'd say Ruby is on the same boat.
The combination of exercise relatively early in the evening ("relative" to a habitual bed-time of 10 p.m. to midnight) and crating seems to advance the number of hours pup (and you) will snooze.
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