3am Poop???

[Moe]

My goldendoodle is 13 weeks old. She has been sleeping through the night 8:30 (can't keep her up any later, she just can't make it) to about 5:30-6am since we got her at 8 weeks. The last few nights she has been getting up at 3am to poop. I feed her at 8am, 12pm and 5-5:30pm. I take away the food and water at 6pm. She was getting puppy chow when we got her, I waited two weeks before switching to Orijen puppy food. Right now she is getting 1/2 of each. I'm planning on cutting back the puppy chow to 1/4 this week. She has been doing great with the Orijen.

I read in a few dog books that dogs metabolism shuts down while they are sleeping and they will not go in the middle of the night. So much for the dog books. She is in a crate in the family room. When she wakes up she barks / cries til I take her out. She gets right to business then goes pretty much right back to sleep. I'm usually up for an hour or so after that. :(

My question is, am I feeding her at the wrong times or something? Should I try feeding her later or just wait it out and hope these nocturnal potty breaks just stop on their own. What time did you guys feed your puppies when they were 13 weeks?

[Moe]

We are clicking right away as she is going. I've been treating when she gets back in. I guess I could leave some treats next to the door and bring them out with me.

[Carol Brand]

You need to click and treat as soon as she potties.   The click needs to happen right after the behavior that you want to mark and the treat needs to follow immediately.   By 11 weeks my dogs are pretty much in a crate over night from 11:00p.m. to 6:00a.m.    Even in the beginning (8 weeks), I don't take puppies out in the middle of the night. 

[Carol Brand]

From what I can tell, the matching is relatively painless.  Plus, it is good training for later in life when you may have to take a dog's temperature.   FYI... when a bitch is getting ready to whelp, we take her temperature a couple of times a day for a week.

Again... I find that KY Jelly is your best friend.

[Butz + Daniela]

Already a lot of advice, I will share my experience too. Butz also had these night potty breaks when he was somewhere between 10 and 20 weeks. Last food time was always 6 pm, both our dogs are on raw. Although I took him for a walk every evening at around 10 he sometimes did it on this evening walk and we still needed to go out into the garden at night. It slowly became better, i.e. he did hold longer and at some point it just stopped and he is now able to hold all through the night without any probs. Honestly, I think it is just the age, they still need to go more often and can not yet control it perfectly. But for sure your cute puppy will learn it soon!

With regards to poop on demand. Great, guys, if you achieved that! Still it is in the dog's nature 1) to walk and 2) to potty in a certain distance from their home ground. 

[Rhonda, Marabelle & Jeriki]

I'm luky I guess Marabelle has never gone poo in the evening. She is a am kinda girl maybe sometimes in the afternoon if the mood strikes her. Mara is crate trained though, it probably makes a difference. She sleeps in crate from 10:30-11:00 pm till 7:15 am on the nose.

 

Rhonda  

[Jennifer and Jack]

Jack is going to be three in March, he still has to go potty in the middle of the night sometimes, so do I am a lot older then 3 even if I don't act it.

 

While I don't think it is abuse to match your dog, I don't agree with it. I was really glad no one matched me when I was out of it for a week.. Geeze ...

 

I think if you match a dog, just like when you stick a thermometer in a babies bottom to stimulate a BM it could lead to a dependence on that to go.

 

I find the whole thing funny but I am not always appropiate in my humor.. I say free pooping when the urge hits.. but I live in SC and Jack escorts himself out to potty. If I had to leash him up I still would not match the poor fellow.

[Carol Brand]

FYI....  I have NEVER heard of a dog becoming dependent on matching.

[Jarka, Monty & Auggie]

I think it's the age. She is only 11 weeks old so you need to expect her to wake you up in the middle of the night to do her business. We just spent a night of getting up every two hours since Monty had a diarrhea. My theory is: no matter how tiring it is to the human, we should be happy and amazed that the poor animal has the witts to ask to go out. On a normal day, Monty eats his dinner around 5pm, gets a walk around pm and does his business right there. During winter, when it gets dark so soon, we usually walk around 3pm, poop, eat dinner at 5pm and are done with the poop business until morning.  I'm surprised that with a puppy this age, she does not eliminate right after eating her dinner. But, I guess, whatever works for her. She will grow into the routine. :-)

[Jane, Rooney & Stuart]

Rooney was trained by his breeder to "get busy" on command.  We have used this with Stuart also but because we live where they must be on leash - it isn't effective any longer.  I hopeful that once we have a house with a fency that we'll be able to get this command back on track.

[Sue, Murphy and Bella ()*o*()]

Moe, at 11 weeks this sounds like normal behavior in light of a food change as well. Maybe you can give more at the first 2 feedings and less at the dinner time for a few days and see if that helps. She is adorable and so smart to let you know she wants out to go potty and for that reason only. Some like to wake us in the middle of the night thinking it's time to play!

Mine are 17 months and 3 yrs and still occassionally need to go out in the middle of the night. Granted it's not frequent and usually if diarrhea is involved, but yeah for those pups that let us know before letting loose!

[Moe]

Yesterday, I fed her a little earlier 4pm. Woke her up at 10 to go out. She peed but after about 15 minutes gave up and came back inside. She wanted to play for a while then but I got her back to sleep by about 11. She got up at 4 to poop. I'm not going to wake her up again. I'm just going to chalk it up to her being so young and wait it out. If it continues in a after a few months I'll probably try changing her food again. Hopefully it won't come to that. She is doing great on Orijen. Thanks for all your suggestions including the matching. It is good to know all your options, even if you don't use them. :)

[Sue, Murphy and Bella ()*o*()]

Like I tell the new mommies I work with everyday....."This too shall pass" Good luck and enjoy your sweet puppy.