About a month ago, my girlfriend and I got a Dachshund from the shelter. He’s two years old and a great little dog, well behaved and very friendly with people. The only really bad (for me anyway) habit he has is needing to go to the bathroom in the early morning hours (usually 3 or 4 in the morning). Because he sleeps in the bed with us it’s difficult to ignore this habit. Any suggestions on how to break him of this habit that’s making it difficult for me at work and school?
Patience is going to help you a lot, and you need to keep in mind that, no matter what you do, it may take some time to fix this problem. My suggestion would be to get him on a scheduled feeding, feed ones in the morning, once in the early afternoon, depending on how much he eats. This will help regulate his bathroom schedule to more convenient timing for you. Also, about two hours before you go to bed, remove all food and water from his access. Make sure you take him out to go potty RIGHT before you go to bed. You could also try crate training him, making sure you have a properly sized crate, as dogs wont normally use the restroom in their own personal space.
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Either crate him at night….(problem solved).
OR, deal with it….At least he wakes you up, he could just wee all over your bed ya know.
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crate train him. Then later on he can sleep in your bed once he gets the idea that he is to hold it all night. Let him out as soon as u get up tho.
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if the dog has to go potty its got to go potty whether you like it or not. I am sure if you got up and took the dog outside to potty and let it back in you could sleep well. I have done it and I am sure many dog owners have too. Why not have your Girlfriend take the dog out if you can’t.
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Patience is going to help you a lot, and you need to keep in mind that, no matter what you do, it may take some time to fix this problem. My suggestion would be to get him on a scheduled feeding, feed ones in the morning, once in the early afternoon, depending on how much he eats. This will help regulate his bathroom schedule to more convenient timing for you. Also, about two hours before you go to bed, remove all food and water from his access. Make sure you take him out to go potty RIGHT before you go to bed. You could also try crate training him, making sure you have a properly sized crate, as dogs wont normally use the restroom in their own personal space.
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Be sure to take him out to go to the bathroom right before bed, literally.
And try waiting a bit instead of getting up right away. It’ll be hard at first, but it should work, because if you wait a bit longer each day, he will get used to waiting, and eventually not want to go so early at all.
Think of it like house training a puppy; their bladders have to be trained to wait the whole night. It’s pretty much the same concept.
Also try to remember smaller dogs tend to have smaller bladders..so try not to get frustrated if there are some accidents when you attempt to wait. You’ll get the timing right eventually
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trained WAY too many pets.
Discourage him from drinking much water starting an hour before bed and make sure you walk him right before you go to bed.
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You have to ask yourself if the alternative is better which is that he doesn’t wake you in the night when he has to go potty. It may just take him some time to adjust to the new environment and new people. You could try taking his water up after eight so that he can’t drink a lot near bed time. Ultimately you have to understand that he may always have to go potty once during the night no matter what you do. At least he’s letting you know instead of pottying in the house (or worse in your bed).
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I agree with crating, but he also might have a bladder infection. This might make him feel the need to go more than, normal. So, take him to the vet and have a urinalysis done. Antibiotics would take care of this, should have happen to have an infection. You would also avoid him getting stones.
Also, I understand the idea of with-holding water in the evening, but if you allow him to become dehydrated, you increas the risk of additional bladder infections.
If he is also having any accidents or needing to go out frequently, more reasons for a check-up. You can also ask for anbitiotics, even if no signs.
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I think your dog must be the long lost sibling of mine – LOL. I have a 9 month old Beagle-Jack Russell mix and he was doing the same thing — waking me up at crazy hours to go potty (1am, 3am, 5am).
What we’ve started doing is taking the water away at 9pm and make sure I walk him just before I go to bed about 10pm. I also do my very best to make sure he’s TIRED when we go to bed — that means lots of play in the evening — the days he goes to Doggie Daycare are great because he really is tired and ready for bed at the end of the day.
He still does wake me up in the middle of the night to go potty — and that’s way better than the alternative of him peeing somewhere he shouldn’t — and I deal with it, but most nights he wakes up within 1/2 hour of when my alarm would be going off anyway so I just get up with him.
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