Hello everyone, I wonder if you might be able to help us with something... We have a lovely 6 month Labrador puppy, but... We have a bit of a challenge at the moment in that he is waking us up several times at night to either a) go to the toilet outside or b) to ask for food. We put him to bed at around 10pm, then he tends to wake us at 2am for the toilet and 4.30am for food usually, though we take him out for a wee first but he doesn’t go, then we don’t give him food and he goes back to sleep. Our house is terraced and so we don’t want to disturb our neighbours so when he barks we go to him but we never fuss him. We simply go outside to the toilet with him and don’t give him food. He will then wake up at 6am for his breakfast, which is the time we give it to him. He has a large crate under the worktop in the kitchen but we have never closed the door as the room is enclosed so there was no need. He is very happy in his crate in the day and he nevers cries at night when we put him to bed. He seems very happy in there. So, my main question really for this thread is, I am wondering if closing the door might help us to restrict his waking at might as I feel bladder can probably handle a night now? I close the door accoasionslly when I mop the kitchen floor and he doesn’t mind it, plus yesterday I tried it for his daytime naps and he seemed ok. In terms of poo, we last feed him at 6pm and he almost always has a poo before bed. I’m considering changing his last meal to 4pm so that he definitely poos before bed. I’m wondering if the waking is a) habit, b) for attention. My husband and I differ on opinion re. closing the door. He would prefer not to, but I’d like to give it a try. We’ve recently lost our first child and so sleeping through the night would particularly help us at the moment as we are very tired through grief alone. We expected to get up with the dog for a while, but by 6 months I thought we should all be sleeping through. Any advice from experienced folk would be gratefully received. Thank you, Lucy
Welcome Lucy to the site. And very sorry to hear about your child. Unfortunately just going to him may be sufficient to reinforce the behaviour. Buy a box of chocolates for the neighbours and inform them that you will have to do some training during the night re a small barking issue. If you are absolutely his bladder is empty, then ignore the barking There are three reasons for closing the gate. 1. You want to prevent the dog from getting into something he shouldn't. 2. You are preparing for the possibility that should he have to go to a vet that he will remain calm should the gate be closed. 3. It helps with toilet training. Dogs will not normally urinate on the bedding they are sleeping on. Dogs, like us, go into deep and low level sleep phases during the night.. In the past he has barked and you have paid him attention. He now figures that he can bark and you will come. If you are certain that he is not barking to go out to the toilet then ignore him. Good luck
Really sorry to hear about your loss, thoughts go out to you and your husband. We had exactly the same with our puppy at similar age, she would whine in early hours as well. Same situation as we are also mid terrace house. Unfortunately the more you go when they make a noise the more they will make noise!, took us two weeks of "ignoring" our pup but she did learn and now at 8 months she's quiet throughout the night. She actually wanders off to her crate during the day for a nap or bit of peace and quiet. Maybe a bottle of wine and a chat with the neighbours, it gets better but takes a bit of will power.
Thank you for your replies @Michael A Brooks & @Keithmac We will speak to the neighbours I think and offer chocolates/wine - thank you for that advice. Since I posted we have closed the crate at night which he seems comfortable with. The first two nights he woke up at 4am for wee/poo then 6am for breakfast, so that was better. But since he has plenty up at 2:30am, 4am, and 6am. The last two nights the 2:30 and the 4 he has done both a wee and a poo. We also changed his meal times from 6am, 12pm, 5pm (to ensure he’d pooed before bed, but he seemed starving in the night), to 6am, 3pm, 10pm (again ensuring he pooed before bed, but he is less hungry in the night, but still Waking for poo!) If he is, as has seemed for the past two nights, needing a wee/poo in the night, so we continue to let him out? It seems mean to ignore him at night if that is what he needs? Or maybe we revert back to old feeding times and then ignore him, so we know he’s unlikely to need a poo, and restrict his water a little at the end of the evening? Thank you everyone - so sleepy! Lucy
Hi Lucy, Bit late to this thread. Did you manage to solve this issue in the end. Our 6 month lab is waking us at random times in the night. Again he usually needs a toilet if we do wake him although he doesn't rush to go out. I have started leaving him to whine and bark and he eventually sleeps but then wakes again an hour later. I've only been leaving him to bark for the past week. Please tell me it gets better Thanks Ash
