Hi all, Should probably start by saying this post won't be popular with parents as I am about to complain about being tired, and I have no children- this is all about the pup Tatti is about 18 weeks now and has slept through the night since being 9 weeks old- we have not had one problem yet. But I have found that she will wake up 7-7.5 hours after having her last wee before bed. This means that I only get 6-7 hours sleep a night (sometimes less if I have to be up to commute to work on the one day I don't work at home). Now, this is bvioisly enough sleep to survive and certainly not too much different to before the pup but I used to always have one lie in at the weekend. I'm just finding that I am absolutely exhausted all the time at the moment. As I do not want to wait until she cries before getting up I tend to set an alarm for 7.5 hours past her last pee. Often I will have to get up before this when I hear her jumping around in her pen- this is usually the pre crying activity anyway. I daren't leave it longer as I don't want to respond to crying and I'm guessing that expecting her to hold her pee for longer than 7.5 hours is asking a lot. My question is how do others cope with this? Last night we went upstairs at 10:30 (probably getting to sleep for 11:30) and she was very much awake at 5:30 this morning. I should point out that she sleeps downstairs so going back to bed isn't really an option. While she loves her crate- she is very awake in the morning and generally doesn't settle back down again until after her walk and breakfast (07:30 ish). Is this just how it is now and I just need to learn to cope with having less sleep or will she be able to hold on a bit longer if I start pushing the timings? I don't know what is unreasonable to ask of her?? She has never peed in her pen and I'd hate to ruin that now. Sorry this is a bit rambley- I may have been awake for 3 hours but my brain is still very much asleep. Lou
She will slowly begin to be able to hold on a bit more, make sure you do it gradually and all will be fine. By six months old she should be able to go 10:30pm to 7:30am with no problem at all.
With Juno last wee has always been around 11:00 and at 18 weeks went round until we got up somewhere around 7:30 (my husband) or 8:00 for me. Weekends are the same routine. Juno is in no rush for a wee but it's always wee, poo normally, then back in for breakfast. If you gradually increase the overnight time you'll be fine but 18 weeks isn't very old and like human babies they all learn at a different rate
Sorry mr grumpy, I did warn you not to read it if you have kids I know it's only going to get worse when we have kids but I guess if we do that, I won't be working quite the hours I do now. I am wondering what your wife possibly did to make it onto this list though
She will be able to last longer as time goes by. I never used an alarm for mine, just wondering if she has got into the habit of waking as you used to set the alarm? Try each day to lenghten the time you go to her, even if it is only five minutes per day. Puppies are exhausting!
Your situation is similar to mine. I also work mostly from home and no kids. When Eric was a puppy we never felt more tired in our life. It's very hard to change your routine so I understand completely. It will get better, how people have said, after 6 months. Now he goes out for a last wee around 10:00 and in the morning after 9 and occasionally when he is very tired he will sleep until 11:00!!!! In like we get up way before he does those times.
