Our boy is 3 &1/2 months old now, he's been sleeping in his crate since day one with us. His last food is at 5 or 5:30, & my husband takes him out for a wee and poo around 11. He's still frequently up 2 or 3 times during the night. Sometimes he does well and will go till 10pm-3am, but others he's up at midnight & 3 & barking. He is up every morning at 430-5. I drew the line and refuse to take him out of his crate before 5. We are clicker training, & I've repeatedly done click for quiet, which he, of course, excells at during the day. But night seems to be a different story. He will yip to be let out, I wait till he's quiet a second, click him and let him out. If I don't go down and let him out, he cries. Sometimes he can self sooth and goes back to sleep. But the majority of the time he will continue to cry. We've let him cry it out in the hopes that it would help & sometimes he will quiet down after a couple minutes. Other times it's a marathon. Mostly, he does have a wee when we take him out at night, so I don't know that I'm being completely played, but it's sure starting to feel that way. Is it reasonable for a pup this age to go most of the night without a wee? Do we just need to give the neighbors some wine and continue let him cry it out? It's not an exercise issue, we have 2 kids and the 3 of them wear theselves out playing every day. Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated! Putting one foot in front of the other. ....
Re: Barking in the crate at night It's really hard at this age to tell the difference between barking for a wee and barking for attention! Another couple of weeks and I think you can assume he will be able to hold his bladder fro 11pm to 6am and risk it. I did that with Tatze at 15 weeks, but then she has always loved her crate. Gypsy, on the other hand, hated it! I put her in a puppy pen at 15 weeks and de-crated her completely at 17 weeks. We were lucky, she's not a chewer! No accidents at all so far, touch wood. Now, at 19 weeks, she goes to bed at 10pm and I get her up at 7am. They are all very different and their bladders mature at different rates, I think it's best to work out what's best for your individual pup.
