I'm at my wits end! Stew keeps getting me up every night at 4 am.

[Jess & Stewart]

I've been away from apt for the past month, living at my dad's. Mostly due to the holidays but also because my classes I was taking are over & I'm still unemployed.

Stew has started waking me up practically every night at 4 am to go out. I try to ignore him every night until he's quiet but inevitably end up taking him out. Just now I ignored the whining for 15 minutes & he stopped whining, went back to sleep. Of course now I'm up & thinking "hell I'll just take him out" so I get up, try to get his attention & fail. So I just leave my bedroom & go downstairs to get his leash & shoes while trying to get him to come. Of course a minute later when I'm looking through the fridge getting a piece of cheese to lure him downstairs, I hear him come downstairs. I walk to the door, he follows, sits, harness goes out & we go out. I'm pretty pissed at this point. He pees then walks around & snifs the air a few time but just stands around so I bring him back in bc it's cold & I'm not waiting for him to find a spot to poop. I bring him in & he lays back down. Then sits up and stares at me until I say "free" to release him to his spot on the bed.

(I'm trying desperately to keep him off my bed & we've gotten him trained too well to sit & wait for s command bc he will sit and stare at you without wavering until you say free instead of just giving the hell up & laying back down)

Stew eats breakfast & dinner usually at normal times although some days I've given him his whole meal 1x/day at 6 pm. I give unlimited water too but he usually does drink much after 10pm. I always take him out every night around 11:30-12. Some nights he goes (1&2) and I think he won't need to go at 4 but he wakes me up anyway to go (usually 1, sometimes 2). Other nights he ends up holding it all night when he didn't go a final time before bed. I DONT want this to start happening when I go back to my apt especially bc it's cold out & Stew doesn't go on command & I live in Philly alone & really hate being out with him later.

(I also am sure a trainer would tell me I'm not handling him right but I usually don't want him to think I give in to the whining bc he's got issues with that & I've got to be creative to get his damn attention, another issue).

Geez, sorry I wrote a novel. You can tell I'm tired & sick of this & getting annoyed with the little things that keep adding up about Stew. I can't wait until it's warm enough so I can walk (have no car) to training classes so I can have help getting a handle on how to handle Stew. Sometimes, I get so annoyed with the little things I begin to think I've been a horrible owner & Stew should know how to be more attentive to me.

[Jennifer Tramell]

I've noticed several of my dogs try this - usually between 9 months and 1 1/2 yrs old.  It's like they get bored and lonely.  After several days of dutifully rising from my slumber and stumbling out to let them go potty, I realize that they don't usually actually HAVE to go potty.  I think they like the power of calling me on a whim, I break the monotony of the night.

If I'm having issues, I do take the water away around 9 pm.  Once I realize that I'm being manipulated, I give them negative attention instead of positive attention.  I grouchily tell them "NO!"  and send them back to their sleeping quarters.  It may take a couple days for them to accept the rebuff and sleep the night, but soon there is no more late night potty calls.

My dogs have never slept in our bedroom.  We let them in during the day but they know it is "our space".  I think it helps establish authority if the dogs have a different sleeping arrangement than the people, especially since the dog "looks down" on people when they are on your bed.  My dogs jump up on the bed on a lazy Saturday morning and I often wonder what they think as they stare down at me :-)

[Ginny Nightingale]

One of my doodles got banned from the bedroom because every time we let her sleep up there (on the floor) she would wake up at 4 am (what is it about 4 am?) and walk back and forth across our bed! A year or so later, she was allowed back up and now she sleeps all night as do my other two--I think he is just bugging you because he wakes up and thinks you should too--I agree with Adina--tell him to knock it off.

[Melanie, Wookie and Dr. Watson]

Wookie went through a period a few times where she would start waking us up in the middle of the night to go out.  She didn't seem distressed, just wanted to go out.  When she would pee, it didn't seem like she had to go a lot, so at first we thought she was just bored in the middle of the night.  But the first time this happened we mentioned it to the vet and he came back and told us she had a urinary tract infection.  It was a shock because I hadn't seen any other symptom - she didn't seem in pain, she didn't seem to be going more frequently during the day or drinking more.  The second and third times I took a guess and brought in a urine sample right away - sure enough, that was it.  No clue why she's gotten them a few times now.

[Wendy and Myla]

That's a thought!  Myla was the opposite - she could sleep all night, but during the day, she would go outside and then as soon as she came in, she would go to her bed and pee - I washed that bed so many times and sprayed it because I thought it was the smell - it turned out she had a UTI - I thought it was so strange that she could go all night but not during the day!  She was only 12 weeks old at the time and has never had another UTI but it is definitely something you might want to rule out - and I agree, the symptoms were weird!

[Jess & Stewart]

Weird question- but what did you use to collect a urine sample? 

[Wendy and Myla]

we used a clean yogurt container - she didn't like it though :)

[Lynda Kamrath]

I just looked at your page and he is still pretty young, and changes in schedule get them rather confused.  I would really work on getting him trained to pee and poop on command.  One of my doodles was excellent at that and he always went poop right after eating and would pee whenever I took him out and told him to pee.  I think he associated it with getting to go in the car and when I told him to go pee-pee, he would squeeze out whatever he had.  But he could also hold it all night.  He would never wake me up but my other dogs would if they had to go outside.  I am the one who wakes up and has to use the bathroom about 4:00 a.m. so I offer the dogs a trip outside and they are usually anxious to take me up on it.  You can get his schedule figured out and I would suggest a pee right before turning in at night and first thing in the morning.

[Wynnie & Jim]

Jess, I have refrained from offering suggestions because every doodle is different but your tale of woe has fascinated me. So for what it is worth, some words of advice.

Stew clearly loves you, wants attention and loves to cuddle. But, you need to decide when that happens and not Stew. Our girl recently started to whine when I put her in her crate before bedtime at 11:00. She has been out to do her business so I knew that she was just looking for attention. I ignored her and the behavior stopped. I also recognize the difference between a bark that says "I have to go out" and a whine that says "I want a cuddle."

Our 14 month old puppy is fed at 5:30 pm and her food Honest Kitchen has 1/2 cup of water. She drinks a bit more water at 8:00 but that is it for her. As I indicated earlier, she does her pee and sometimes a poop at 10:30 or 11:00 pm and sleeps until we wake her up at 6:30 or 7:30 or even 8:00am. My wife who is a late sleeper when she doesn't have early meetings loves Wynnie's sleep ability on they days when DW wants to sleep in.

Wynnie also does not sleep in bed with us. She sleeps in her crate next to our bed with her snuggle puppy. The bed is our space and we only allow Wynnie on the bed when my DW or me decides that it is time for either one of us to get up. Our girl views the action to jump on the bed and lick our face as a BIG treat. I would recommend that you use the crate and tolerate Stew's whining for a few nights until the 4:00 am habit is broken. Yes, you will be miserable for a couple of days but the habit will end and you will be better off in the long run.

Finally, you should remember that Stew is a big boy now, and if you take him out to do his business in the late evening, he has the bladder capacity to make it through the night. Our Wynnie at 8 weeks was able to make it through the night. Stew needs to do the same. I would tell Stew," if Wynnie the girl can do it so can you."

PS. As someone who lives in the frigid/freezing north, I sympathize with you. Winter is definitely too long when you have a puppy. But, that's the deal that you bargained for when you adopted Stew so you just have to make the best of it.

Anyway, good luck...stick with Stew, he sounds like a good friend to you and be patient...this too will pass.

Read more here: http://www.doodlekisses.com/forum/topics/i-m-at-my-wits-end-stew-ke...

[Christy&Riley]

I had the same thought...if he can hold it during the day he can hold it at night. If anything, he should hold it better since no running around to stir it up. LOL

I think Stew is just testing boundaries. Riley sits and stares at me hoping I get up some mornings and I just turn over. She either eventually lays down or wanders off and tries again later.

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

Is it time to start letting him sleep with you?   Closer to you?

Maybe, in a different house, he is checking to see if you are there  

He is about that age.  Close to door to the bedroom and cuddle in  warm and toasty

[Jess & Stewart]

Stew is a year and 4 months, so he's not really young, but not out of the 2 year puppy threshold yet. He's slept in my bedroom with me out of his crate since 6-7 months old and has slept through the night since he was much younger. He was never allowed on the bed until one night I woke up and he was sleeping in a ball at the end of the bed on the opposite side from me. He mostly sleeps by my side of the bed on the floor. He's trained pretty well for the "free" command so usually if he whines at night, I wait for him to be quiet then let him up on the bed. He stays in his spot (end of bed, opposite side) and is no issue. I've just recently thought that if I want to start really training him better, he shouldn't be on the bed. We try to keep him off the furniture too but will let him up at night when we're watching TV. He's finally started to get more affectionate and lays by your side wanting to be pet. 

Lynda Kamrath- I thought I had him trained to pee/poop on command; he was potty trained in 2 weeks. It was ridiculously easy. A few months ago he stopped going in his normal spot and now requires a walk up & down my street to a few spots before he'll poop. He pees on command 85% of the time. Most of the time, if he doesn't poop within 5 minutes, I bring him back in and try again. I ALWAYS give him a treat and praise when he pees and poops. Unless I don't say the command at the correct moment, I don't know why he doesn't do it consistently. 

Wynnie & Jim: I got Stew last year before Thanksgiving and he was potty trained outside in the horrible PA December we had within 2 weeks. That I could deal with because he really WAS a puppy. I don't live in the best part of Philly so when I'm in for the night, I don't like to go back out. Especially at 3-4 am. Just to give you an idea of Stew's steel bladder & bowls, he peed/pooped last night at midnight, then peed again at the dreaded 4 am, then got up with me at 10 am, ate breakfast, peed/pooped, then didn't pee or poop until 4 pm., ate dinner at 6, peed again around 8:30, peed again at 12:45-1 am. Now he's asleep on the floor by the foot of my bed. I know he can hold it, he's even went 12+ hours without peeing or pooping if he didn't go before I went to bed. 

Wendy/Myla: I'm wondering now if he does have a UTI. When he drinks, he'll drink A LOT even though he has water out all day. I'm keeping a list of things to ask the vet when I see him Friday. 

[Wynnie & Jim]

Jess: thank you for the clarification. I could tell by your previous posts that Stew was well trained by you. Your comment confirms this. Perhaps, Stew does have a UTI or another issue. I am glad that you are going to the vet. Let's hope that he/she can shed some light on the issue. Keep us posted.

BTW, I brought Wynnie home in January last year and we had cold unrelenting temperature until the end of March, so I know what you went through. But, the effort was worth it as we both have lovable doodles.