Izzy at 12 months still does not sleep through the night

[Lisa Mossy]

What are we doing wrong? Izzy spent first 6 months in a crate in my bedroom - and slept through the night. She sleeps outside the crate now in my bedroom. Now she gets restless and moves around from bedroom to bathroom - wants out to potty around midnight and again at 4 am. I refuse the 4 am and she either moves downstairs or into the bathroom and  back to sleep. She is just restless. She gets 3 45 minute walks a day - ball throwing - LOTS of attention. No water before bed. Do Labradoodles just need human contact every 4 hours?!  We are going out of our minds with the constant waking us up.

[Jen W]

Dogs generally don't sleep for long stretches like people do.  Dory gets up and moves around at night, when I wake up she's never in the same room she was in when I went to sleep, but she never wakes me up

Since Izzy doesn't seem to actually have to go potty (assuming that she isn't having accidents when you refuse the 4AM request) maybe it's just become a routine that you need to break?  

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

Thirsty?

My dog did this as a pup. He just moved around. I was aware of him, but he never came over and woke me up.   He moves around  a lot looking for a cool place. He also gets very very thirsty. Maybe he is a mouth breather when he sleeps?  

I provide water and if he can get to it, it calms him way down. I realize you mentioned the 4am bathroom break too but I am just saying  what worked for us.  

If anyone mentions, withhold water, please do not do this to a dog.  Dogs should always have fresh water.

Anyway, Spud's water and him getting a relieving drink, actually makes him sleep longer.  

[F, Calla & Luca]

Calla moves around the bedroom at night,. Luca usually just changes position on the bed. They don't wake me up except for the rare occasion that they are I'll.

[Rosemary (Ro) and Enzo]

Enzo moves around all night. First on her bed, then the cool floor, then the cool floor , 3 ft over, etc. we have to make sure there are no squeaky toys in the room or else, we are bound to hear that. Occasionally, I wake up and she's gnawing on a bone. She doesn't bother us until the sun is up and then I'm liable to get a toy or paw in the face, along with a playful nudge.
Thinking back...I'm not sure we've ever had a dog that slept straight through the night.

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

LOL Rosemary. We call those Squeak Bombs!  It's a setup sometimes, right :)

[Ginny Nightingale]

I agree that she might be thirsty--small pups need water withheld so you are not up every hour, but she should be past that now--try that and maybe return to crating her --she might need the security of the crate to make her feel more comfortable at night--you can keep the crate close by and it will just become her night-time spot...many dogs do wander a bit at night and people sleep thru it, but waking you up is something you want to nip in the bud.

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

In our situation, once we removed the crate, sleeping was better.  He was so frustrated with the stretch and looking for some place COOL.  The excessive panting and frustration he felt would wake me up.     But we are a unique bunch  :)    So that may work for some, just not at all for us with this particular dog

[Stephanie and Ragley]

That's exactly how Ragley was. She just got too hot in the crate and was not able to stretch out so she would express her frustration by pressing her feet up against the sides and causing the crate to "jingle" ALL night. I think she figured out that that would make me wake up. Once I transitioned to allowing her to have free range of the bedroom (including bathroom tile), my nights became much more peaceful!

[BG and Gavin]

Yep we keep the bathroom accessible with the cool tile and that is where we keep a bowl of cold water too for night time thirsties.

[Jennifer and Lily]

Lily moves around a bit, but for awhile she was waking me up every night for a late night potty. It ended up she had a bladder infection. Once we got that cleared up, no more late night trips.

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

Ahh, Bladder infection, especially with female dogs is a very good idea to rule out.  

[Christy&Riley]

Riley move around frequently at night so one of our issues is making sure not to step on her. I also make sure squeaky toys are put away and some curtains are raised so she can look outside. She makes frequent trips to the family room to select different toys to play with in our bedroom. My husband gets up around 4am during the week so Riley gets put in her crate at that point so I can keep sleeping. I had assumed our odd schedule was the reason she was always wide awake by 6am on the weekends, but maybe it is just that dogs don't sleep for as long as we do. Never thought of that. It is funny though. If you turn over, she will come running over and press her nose up on the bed hoping you are getting up. She'll wait there a few seconds to see if you open your eyes. If you don't she'll go lay down again. As long as we don't make eye contact, we can get a few more minutes of sleep. :-)