house training at night

[razorricky]

After following the advice in Sit, Stay, Fetch, we quickly trained our new puppy. At first he slept in our room with the door closed. He would wake us up to go outside. After learning to go outside during the day, we started leaving the bedroom door open at night. This way he could use his doggy door whenever necessary. The problem is that even though he could go himself, he still wakes my wife to "take him outside". He will not go himself even when we turn on the patio lights. Does anyone have advice on this.

Thanks

[KOPsBecks]

Hey,
Thanks for your post, I just have a few questions:
1) How old is your puppy?
2) What happens if you don't get up and take him outside, if you ignore him long enough he may just go out himself?

Let me know,

Becks

[razorricky]

Hi Becks,

We haven't tried ignoring Ricky at night because he squeals and pulls on the covers. He is just 8 months old today. I suppose we could give it a try.

[LetsPlay]

Hi there,
even if a puppy is house trained and doesn't have any accidents it still takes up to a year for them to learn to go to the door.
6-8 months is the time when you can expect your dog to reliably give you a warning when they need to go (just like your pup does) but making the connection from needing to go and going to the door can take a bit longer.

In saying that though your pup should be able to hold on for the whole night by now.
When does he go to bed and when does he wake you up? How many hours does he sleep for and what breed is he?

Perhaps you should make sure that he doesn't drink a huge amount of water just before he goes to bed. Also his dinner time shouldn't be just before bed time.

If your dog cries you should ignore him at first. See if he is just bored and wants attention or if he really needs to go. If you regularly take him outside of course he will also relieve himself, but he might not wake you up because he desperately needs to go. He might just want some attention.

I'm an advocate for not forcing dogs to have to hold on for too long, even though it's possible it's not comfortable. But you should make sure that your dog is not manipulating you. 5-7 hours at night should be possible for an 8 months old puppy.

Ignore your dog for the first 5 minutes (those 5 minutes might seem like eternity, but you can do it). If he cries louder or starts sniffing the floor take him outside, but if he settles down again don't get up.
Let us know how you get on.
John