Are you up in the night with your Dood?

[Sandy]

Toby sleeps in a crate in our room.  Always has.  He's just over 20 months old.  In the last month or two, he has randomly wanted to get up at night.  The first time it happened he was panting and panting, so I assumed he was too hot.  From then on we started sleeping with the window cracked open.  That worked for a bit.  Then once he whined, which he never does.  He had to pee and poo.  Reasonable to ask to go out then, so he went out, did his thing, came back up, landed on our bed, and slept till morning.  That was okay.  A couple other times he needed to go out, I let him out, he came back up, never settled down, had to go out again (upset tummy or something), and then I crashed on the couch, and he was perfectly fine for the rest of the night on the living room floor. 

 

As long as it's not all the time, I can deal with it.  I can't leave him out of his crate all night, because I would have no idea if he needed to go out.  Our bedroom is upstairs, and he makes NO noise when he needs to go out, just stands at the door, or stares at me.  :)  I'm just surprised that it's happening now, when it never did when he was a puppy.  Am I alone, or can I think or some of you out there, up in the night, when I'm laying awake on the couch?  :)

[Lucy & AnnaBelle's Mom]

We played this game with our girls for probably close to a year. They sleep in their room at night so they aren't crated but are confined to one room, however, they do bark/whine to go out to potty. We were getting a bark or whine anywhere from 1-4 times a night, consistently. Every time I took them out, they would potty....so I continued getting up to let them out whenever they would whine. However, one night (I guess maybe my mood wasn't as in check as normal) I just said go back to sleep ..... low and behold, they did. From then on the rule I used was the 1st bark or whine I just yelled for them to go back to sleep, if I got another whine/bark, then I got up and took them out. I'd say in the year since I've probably gotten up in the middle of the night once, maybe twice.

There are a couple things I see in your comments above. One is when he whined he really did have to pee and poo ... so you know he will whine if he really has to go out. The other is that when he comes back in, you are letting him either get in bed, or you slept on the couch with him with you ...... he is going to learn if he gets out in the middle of the night he is going to get to stay out .... you are setting yourself up here .... they are very cleaver you know.

[Sandy]

I see your point. I did try recrating him the first couple of times, but he had to "go" again, so it seemed silly. In the living room he doesn't get on the couch with me - he just stretches out on the floor, not even within my reach. He's actually only come back upstairs onto our bed once or twice.

[Lee Seidman]

Any chance of a pet door...we created a small run and installed a pet door...When Lexi needs to go our, she does her business and is back in her bed. She does have the run of the house tho.

[Sandy]

The door he goes out into the fenced yard is a sliding glass patio door, so I don't think so. That's an excellent idea, though. I've often wondered - if she has free run, and it's raining or snowing or muddy, does she bring in a lot of moisture or dirt with her?

[Nancie & Gracie Doodle]

We have had a doggie door in our sliding glass door for years. Our Lab before Gracie Doodle used it. We bought it either at Pet Co or Pet Smart or Home Depot. You might have to order it. Basically it screws in to the end of your frame and then you close the sliding door up to the frame of the inserted dog door frame. There is a lock set up that you install. I just Googled "sliding glass door pet doors" and there are tons of links. I just grabbed this one so you could see what it looks like. Also, when you see the extra large dog size you are going to think...no way my big Dood can make it through that small opening! Wrong, they make it through just fine...in fact, they can even run through it!!!!

http://www.petdoors.com/panel-pet-door-info.html

[Sandy]

That's exactly it! I don't want to risk NOT getting up because every time I've had to let him out, he's gone to the bathroom. It's not every night, but he's definitely more restless than he used to be. I wonder if, even though his crate is definitely big enough, he just wants the freedom to stretch out. Or find somewhere cooler. I don't know.

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

I'll bet you're right about that. Recently Guinness has decided that he needs to protect us and the house too. He doesn't cry or bark at night, but sometimes I hear him when he's doing his "patrol" run through the house. If he knows I'm sleeping, I think he goes into his "guard" mode. This is a pretty new thing for Guinness, and I have no idea what triggered it, but he sounds a lot like Noah. I hope he doesn't start with the "whining". I still have a puppy who is up for the day at 6:00, so I hate the thought of middle of the night potty runs with Guinness.

[Lisa and Summer]

We have recently started running the ceiling fan at night (on low) and Summer seems to sleep a lot better. She doesn't whine at night but she would go from our bed to her crate (we leave it open at night) to the floor several times during the night. With the fan on she pretty much stays in one spot most of the night (our bed which is under the fan).

[Nugget's Family]

When Nugget was a pup, she slept in her crate right outside our bedroom doors. (We all leave our bedroom doors open at night, so she knew where we all were.) When she got to be about nine or ten months old, she started whining in her crate in the middle of the night, so my husband or I would take her outside. She would relieve herself, but it certainly didn't seem to be an emergency....but she would always complain about going back in her crate. So, we abandoned the crate idea at night. (She still likes going in there with the door open to nap, but always with the door open.) She, like other doods here, goes on patrol at night. She checks all of the rooms a few times a night and settles in different places to sleep. She hardly ever needs to go out in the middle of the night to relieve herself...I mean maybe once or twice a year...really. She's fine having the run of the house at night and I like knowing she's "on guard". (She's got a fearsome bark when she needs it and has actually used it to our advantage on a couple of occasions when raccoons or coyotes were causing trouble outside. She puts her front paws up on the windowsill closest to a noise she hears outside and BARKS!) Then my husband gets to go and investigate....of course I expect a full report when he returns :-)

[BG and Gavin]

I know alot of problems go back to this same question...but is she getting alot of exercise during the day? I know if our guy has had enough activity during the day and hasn't been left alone too much (I believe he sleeps while we are out of the house) he settles into one spot and barely stirs all night. At 8.5 months of age he will sleep up to 10 hours with no need to go out. If he has not had enough exercise and stimulation during the day however, he will wander a bit and "chew his cud" at night.

[Stella]

Hi Sandy!!
We have begun having this problem with Chase since moving. Well, I have been having this problem. I think that when Dave is away during the week, he has appointed himself guard dog!! When we moved, I gave in and allowed the dogs to come upstairs and sleep in our bedroom. But, Chase is up and barking and growling at every noise outside during the night. It is very frustrating to keep being woken up, and so hard to get him to relax and lie back down to sleep again. It is worse because there is a window in the room that is low enough for him to see out of, so he stands there barking at whatever is outside - deer, coyote etc.
Maybe Toby is waking up and wants attention? It is so hard, because you do worry that they actually need the bathroom. When you have taken him out, he might just be squeezing something out because he knows that is what you are expecting. It could be that he could actually hold it until the morning if he wanted to! Maybe try a quick pet and tell him to settle and wait it out to see if he really needs to go. They for sure do get into bad habits really quickly, and you don't want him to get into the routine of getting up during the night all the time.
Hope he settles down for you soon, I am a person that needs my sleep and can appreciate how you are feeling!!

[Sandy]

Toby seems to be doing this about once a week. I usually wake up because he's panting hard. To me that says he is too hot. So I wonder - is it time to let him sleep out of his crate? If I did, I know he'd be up on the bed. Also, I'd need to keep my door shut, because otherwise I wouldn't know if/when he was wandering, needing to go out. I've had two good night's sleep in a row. :) His crate is beside the window, and it's been plenty warm enough to have it open, so he's getting fresh air. We'll see what happens when summer comes, I guess.

Do Chase and Hartley stay on the floor willingly?