Sleep...and the lack thereof

[Dolly Dykhouse]

Henry has quickly become the light of my life...and the bane of my ability to get a decent nights sleep. 

I know so many of you have been here, done that with your own furry bundles so I thought that I would ask...did your almost 12 week old doodles get you up every night, not once but sometimes twice? 

We go to bed early; 9pm...our days start at 4:30-5am so by 9pm it's lights out for all of us. Henry goes into his crate without a peep after he has gone out one last time to "get busy" and that almost always includes pee/poop both 99% of the time. By 11:30pm-midnight he barks to get me up and out we go and he goes pee/poop again. Blindly I stumble back to bed and by 4am we repeat; pee/poop. By this time going back to sleep Mon-Fri is pretty much a not going to happen thing, Sat-Sun I try to get a couple more hours and maybe I get one if that. To say that the dark circles under my eyes match his brown curly head...yah, there's that.

In the almost 3 weeks (this Sunday when he turns 12 weeks) that we have had Henry Pooper he has slept through the night maybe 3-4 times (I'm fuzzy on that, wonder why?) and he was getting up once at 2-3am to go pee which I know is normal at this age. But in the past week it's twice and to pee/poop each time. Is THIS normal? 

Henry eats 3 meals a day (3 cups total), gets treats during training (not a lot) and a medium kong filled with a bit of his kibble and topped with yogurt in his crate while I walk for an hour in the morning and I fill his Kong Wobbler with a quarter cup for him and my senior dog to bond over in the afternoon. Dinner is 3 hours before bed. This boy goes poop at least 6 times a day or more! He is growing like a weed, almost 8 pounds in 3 weeks so he is now 11.5 weeks old and 19# as of yesterdays puppy shots. Am I feeding him enough? Too much? He gets as much exercise as possible through play as we can't go out for walks yet. He doesn't sleep much during the day, he is a pretty restless guy, getting up and moving from one spot to another every 10 minutes or so and then might sleep for an hour; repeat several times a day.

Any helpful advice for this pooped momma?

[Caslynn74]

You WILL sleep again. lol  I promise.

Our Beatrice is 9 months old, and its just been the last few months that she finally sleeps solid.  IT was probably Christmas time when she was finally sleeping longer.  Now she goes down about 10pm and she wakes us on the dot at 6am.  The first few nights was GLORIOUS. lol

I also started letting her sleep with me.  That was actually a turning point, I remember the first time was an accident b/c I was SO tired, and fell asleep without putting her in her kennel and she slept thru the night.  I thought it was a fluke, but then the next night we did it on purpose and she did it again.

Now she sleeps under the window beside the bed, she very rarely comes in the bed unless she wants a cuddle.  But we also consider her fully potty trained and she has run of the house (as long as we are home, we don't trust her when we are gone yet, but she still loves her kennel too).

Good luck, and this phase will go by fast for you!!!!

[Dolly Dykhouse]

Thanks so much!

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Ned was about 12 weeks when we got him.  I took him potty at about 11:30 and for a short while he got us up once during the night, then woke us about 5:30.  That didn't last long.  He went from 11:30 to 5:30/6:00 within a couple of weeks.  He never peed or pooped as often as Henry - he might be a mini, but he has a bladder of steel!  We have always fed him grain-free kibble and few treats which is more conducive to less frequent pooping.  We crated him when we were gone and sleeping for his first year.

Some people suggest restricting water after a certain time, so you might try that.  Since your bedtime is so early (to most of us), I would take that into account and set his schedule up so that you feed him dinner earlier.

[Dolly Dykhouse]

Lordy how I wish this guy had a bladder of steel! He is almost fully potty trained, rings the bells to go out and goes straight to his spot to get busy. He holds it while crated for up to 2.5 hrs which is the longest I have ever crated him during the day. But lord have mercy this dog is a pooping machine! We have him on Chicken Soup for the Puppy Lovers Soul which he was on at his breeders and yesterday began the transition to Earthgrains Holistic Puppy Vantage which has really high ratings so we shall see if this helps with the 6-7 BM's a day. Last night he slept through the night from 9-5 woo hoo!

[EJ & Dante]

Dante was 8 weeks old when we brought him home.  While he cried in his cage the first 4 nights, he only got up in the middle of the night once.  We were going to bed when he was small at 11pm, and he'd get up at 5 or 6am.  We took water away a few hours before bed.  I don't think a puppy that size should have to go out so much.  We feed him 3x a day with a good quality food (Fromm Puppy gold), and he only poops when we walk him after each meal, never any other times.  We would go out with him each time (not just letting him in the back yard), so we could be sure he was going potty.

Now, he is 4 months old.  We keep him BUSY during the day, and he crashes at around 9pm while we are still up.  We let him out to pee one last time when we go upstairs, betwen 10:30-11pm.  He sleeps until 7am.  My husband gets up at 6, but he waits for me to get up at 7am.

If it were me, I'd put him to bed later with a final potty break.  I know you get up early, but sounds like you aren't getting much sleep anyways.  At least you'd get more hours in a row than what you are getting now.  I wonder if some of his getting up is habit.

[Dolly Dykhouse]

I'm hoping that the change in food from his breeders choice, which although grain free was just above average to Earthgrains Holistic Puppy Vantage will help with his soft and frequent BM's. if this doesn't work Fromm will be next until we find the best food combo for him. I do go out with him each time for his potty breaks as we have a pool and he needs to be supervised just like a toddler near water and I pick up his poop each time he goes even if it's 2am...Lordy the smell is enough to bowl you over! He's gaining weight and active, no vomiting or finickiness with his food just constant pooping that goes from normal to soft serve sometimes from one movement to the next. I'm going to eliminate his Zukes chicken treats and see if that might be a contributing factor too.

Last night he slept the night through from 9-5! The only thing different was letting him chew on a bully stick for 15 minutes last night ( it was like watching a cat with catnip lol) and not turning on the heartbeat inside his sleepy puppy that goes in his crate each night. Maybe the constant noise from the heartbeat was disruptive to his sleep? He has never made a peep in his crate, even on his first night here and I was attributing that in part to the sleepy puppy stuffed dog and the reassuring heartbeat it makes but maybe not. I play with him often during the day and evening, he is fantastic at fetch and brings it right back to me already! I really looking forward to next month when his puppy shots and waiting period are over and I can take him out for walks and some really good play time!

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Be sure to have him double checked for parasites.  If he doesn't make a peep in his crate, what does he do that makes you think he needs to go potty?  Hooray for last night!!!!

[Dolly Dykhouse]

If Henry needs to go out he will paw at his crate door, I'm such a light sleeper that it usually wakes me immediately. I had his stool checked the first visit the day after he arrived and it was negative. However, all the signs he has given which include pudding stools (now with traces of blood as of yesterday) and they stink to high heaven are all signs of Giardia. So I am off to the vet with another stool sample in hand and as Karen has told me, insist on Panacur. I even ordered it on Amazon yesterday to be prepared.

Friday nights sleep was a gift, both Saturday and last night we were up at 3:30am...sigh. I can deal with a bit of sleep deprivation but my growing puppy needs good rest!

[Lisa & Sunny]

My puppy is a week older than Henry.  She poops two or three times per day typically.  We have reached the point where she will sleep in her crate from roughly 11 pm until 6 am or sometimes later most nights.  Hopefully once you figure out the poop problem, everything else will fall into place.