Dog that wakes you up every night - Advise Please

Ginger Bear

Ginger Bear

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I rehomed a Bichon Frise in Feb, a really lovely little dog..was originally a bitch at a breeding centre & had been through quite a few homes since they got rid of her. She's 4 & was a complete nervous wreck when I got her but is now a pretty perfect little dog...except for one thing.. Have recently fully house trained her, (don't think she had ever been totally house trained) she now doesn't have any accidents at all but she wakes me up every night about 3am to go out to do a wee & a poo.. any ideas how to stop this? Or is this normal behavior? She's let out about 11-11.30 pm before bed & at 7 in the morning.. any ideas, a whole night sleep once in a while would be nice, I just don't want to undo any of the house training that she has finally got the hang of..
 
Does she still have her water with her when she goes to bed?

It was suggested when I had the problem to only leave a small amount of water.

My GSP's have been waking through the night for about a year now but removing the water didn't work, nor did feeding them at different times.

We've had to up their walks so they are too tired to think about toileting. This more often than not works.

Failing that get a dog flap :).
 
What time are you feeding her, and how many meals a day does she get? As a suggestion, if she gets an evening meal, this is why she needs to go out at 3am?

Perhaps if it is possible change her feeding time(s), and give her more in the morning than the evening.

Also what are you feeding her on, some foods can go through the system quicker than others. I don't claim to be an expert on feeding, but I am sure one of the others on here will be able to advise you.

What a good girl to be so house trained now, at an older age. It is also possible that her body clock has got into this routine, but changing her feeding regime might help.

Hope this helps.
 
Agreed with the above, change feed to early as poss, so if one meal, breakfast only, if 2 meals then no later than 4pm for last meal, where does she sleep to wake u like this? you are going to need to try and settle her, someof my boarders try their luck for a stupid am toielt and I say "no way ho sayyyy" and they settled back down when told, it could be she is getting into a routine now.
 
Thanks guys..all very helpful suggestions.. she has 2 meals, (i split the recommended ammount into to meals) the first at about 7.30 & the 2nd at about 6-7pm so yes maybe earlier would work. Sometimes she has IAMS dry food & sometimes tinned dog food or when I'm cooking dinner I will leave her some chicken or fish or something like that (spoilt girlie).. She doesn't have her water through thenight..She gets a lot of exercise, she's at the yard with me most days so gets a long field walk & I usually take her out for a 15 minute walk before bed..which sometimes makes her sleep the whole way through but yesterday she was out for the whole day with me & still got me up at 3.. I am guilty to say that she sleeps next to my bed on the floor in her bed..I know that may be naughty but she does get in bed when I do & not jump on the bed or anything but it's just the wake up in the middle of the night, as soon as she's been she gets back in bed & sleeps through to the morning. My worry is obviously now being house trained I din't want to say no when she really wants to go & confuse her, because if she does it in the house she'll get in a stress..
 
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I took your advise & fed her at 5 last night & she went straight through the night.. I have no idea why I didn;t think of this.. What a div..lol..but thanks guys I slept like a log..
 
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