Going Out In The Middle Of The Night

[Guest jessicaksu125]

Lately Gigi and Pulitzer have been waking me up in the middle of the night to go outside. Last night we were up at 3 and 6.

 

Anyone have any tips to discourage this? They have access to water anytime they want. I feed them at 8 and 8, but they tend to choose random times to actually eat.

 

I think part of it is the cold. Sometimes on our last "out" of the night they just want to run out, pee and run back in.

[Burpdog]

I wouldn't worry about it until it gets warmer. Better they ask to go out than go in the house. You might try letting them out after dinner, then before bedtime.

 

And, no, do not restrict water

[NancyB]

Ramm has been doing this to me for 4 long years He can hold his pee really long and doesn't always pee when he's out for last pee call before bed.

 

I don't know how you would discourage it if they really have to go.

[Guest jessicaksu125]

See, for the longest time they didn't though!

 

And yes, asking in the middle of the night is way better than going in the house.

[Guest Greyt_dog_lover]

Apparently you free-feed. Well, maybe stop the free-feeding. Put the food down for 15 minutes, then take it away. After a day or so, they will get the idea. Then when they do, their need to eliminate will become more consistent as well. You could also pull the water bowl up about 2-3 hours before you go to bed, that could also help. Good luck.

[Guest lanielovesgreys]

Laika does this in the wintertime because she's getting less exercise. I mean, if it's 20 degrees with 30mph winds, she just gets shorter walks. But then I have to let her out at 3am. In the summer when she gets enough exercise she sleeps through the night.

[Guest TeddysMom]

I give Teddy about 1/2 cup kibble right before we go to bed and then take him for a pretty long walk otherwise he wakes me up either for food or potty. I try to tire him out so he will sleep better.

[Guest Energy11]

Mine always go out in the middle of the night. We haven't had a straight night's sleep since leaving our house and doggie door in Florida.

 

Here, even though we feel we have a safely fenced turnout yard, there are too many wild animals up here. One of us always goes out with, or watches from the door.

 

Good Luck!

[Guest Greyt_dog_lover]

The more I think about the question the more I think that the hounds have trained the people to take them out in the middle of the night. With the exception of a medical reason, all racing greyhounds should be used to sleeping through the night and not being let out. I seriously doubt there were any trainers that went to the kennels in the middle of the night to turn out the hounds. How do you stop it, dont take your hound out. Make them go back to sleep. When I have fosters, they sometimes get antsy for the first few nights they are in our house, I simply ignore them or if it gets out of hand, use sound aversion to correct the issue. I have not had an accident in my bedroom yet. Of course the fosters are baby-gated to one side of the bed and dont have free run of the bedroom. That would be the one thing you would want to do is not allow them to have free run of the house otherwise they could sneak off to have an "accident". Keep them in the room with you, and if possible keep them closed in to a side of the bed and they probably wont eliminate where they are sleeping.

 

Chad

[Burpdog]

I'll disagree Most dogs will sleep the night if they don't have to go. There is nothing worse than having to go and not being able to. If you have to go in the middle of the night, no one makes you hold it

 

Don't kid yourself: there are wet crates at the track at times. When you got to go, you got to go!!!

[Guest Swifthounds]

Apparently you free-feed. Well, maybe stop the free-feeding. Put the food down for 15 minutes, then take it away. After a day or so, they will get the idea. Then when they do, their need to eliminate will become more consistent as well. You could also pull the water bowl up about 2-3 hours before you go to bed, that could also help. Good luck.

 

My thoughts exactly. Hounds that don't have a set eating, drinking or sleeping schedule are more apt to have no set sleeping schedule.

 

 

The more I think about the question the more I think that the hounds have trained the people to take them out in the middle of the night. With the exception of a medical reason, all racing greyhounds should be used to sleeping through the night and not being let out. I seriously doubt there were any trainers that went to the kennels in the middle of the night to turn out the hounds.

 

The hounds have done a good job of training people, and apparently not just the OP.

 

 

I'll disagree Most dogs will sleep the night if they don't have to go. There is nothing worse than having to go and not being able to. If you have to go in the middle of the night, no one makes you hold it :lolDon't kid yourself: there are wet crates at the track at times. When you got to go, you got to go!!!

 

 

Most dogs when not required to hold their bladders, won't. Ask anyone who has ever tried to housebreak a puppymill rescue that has never been housetrained. Sure, there are the occasional wet crates at the track, but a dog that wakes you every night to go out either 1) has a medical problem, or 2) has learned he/she is not expected to sleep through the night and hold his/her bladder for 6-8 hours.

 

Everything you do with your hounds trains them, and if they think you expect them to get you up at 3 am for some attention and a potty trip, that's what they'll do.

[Guest GreyFan09]

Comet started doing this in January as well after always sleeping through the night. I think it was due to a change in his schedule because of the holidays. He started waking up at 2:00 am barking and carrying on until he got some food then he would run back up to bed. No one was getting any sleep and it was very stressful. The vet recommended giving him a 3mg. Melatonin before bedtime to relax him. So I incorporated that along with a half scoop of his kibble right before bed and he has been sleeping through the night for the past 2 weeks. WooHoo!

[Guest jessicaksu125]

Thanks for all the greyt responses. They got some more activity tonight, I got each of them a new toy and after a half hour of tossing the bad cuz to pulitzer she was still going and I was exhausted. Gigi destuffed her toy (which was advertised as super tough) in about the same time frame. That's in addition to their normal walks, so we'll see what happens!

[Guest LindsaySF]

Try doing set feeding times and see if it helps. Hopefully the extra exercise helps too. Good luck.

[macoduck]

Jessica, I feed mine at 6:30am and 4pm. I dare not serve them later!

My mutt girlie Pudge is the worst for wanting to go out in the middle of the night.

At bedtime she'll pee but won't poop without a cheerleader. If I don't cheer her on during the last call potty, she definitely wants to go out again at 2am.

So maybe feeding the girls earlier might help?

[Wonder]

I always get up in the middle of the night to let them out

Do I love it NO but I don't bitch about it and besides I pee at the same time (inside though )

[Guest FrostyBottoms]

Frosty & Vinny got in this habit last spring when there was a bunny nest under the blue spruce.....UGH! They still get up about 2-3 nights a week @3am.

[NancyB]

I have to add that mine are on a feeding schedule and I would never not let Ramm out, he is 11 1/2 years old.

[Batmom]

When Joseph first came home, it took a couple weeks to teach him when we got up. I set the alarm for @ when *he* was getting up and gradually set it later.

 

Last winter, he started getting up in the middle of the night again. Turned out he had a mild UTI, *and* his food was rather high in sodium. Treated the UTI, changed his food, bingo! back to a reasonable wakeup time.

 

This winter, he's apt to wake up a little early. Less apt if I make sure he pees more than once at last call.

 

YMMV, but those are some things that have worked well for us.

[Guest jessicaksu125]

The more I think about the question the more I think that the hounds have trained the people to take them out in the middle of the night. With the exception of a medical reason, all racing greyhounds should be used to sleeping through the night and not being let out. I seriously doubt there were any trainers that went to the kennels in the middle of the night to turn out the hounds. How do you stop it, dont take your hound out. Make them go back to sleep. When I have fosters, they sometimes get antsy for the first few nights they are in our house, I simply ignore them or if it gets out of hand, use sound aversion to correct the issue. I have not had an accident in my bedroom yet. Of course the fosters are baby-gated to one side of the bed and dont have free run of the bedroom. That would be the one thing you would want to do is not allow them to have free run of the house otherwise they could sneak off to have an "accident". Keep them in the room with you, and if possible keep them closed in to a side of the bed and they probably wont eliminate where they are sleeping.

 

Chad

 

I've tried this. The crying just gets louder and louder.

 

Jessica, I feed mine at 6:30am and 4pm. I dare not serve them later!

My mutt girlie Pudge is the worst for wanting to go out in the middle of the night.

At bedtime she'll pee but won't poop without a cheerleader. If I don't cheer her on during the last call potty, she definitely wants to go out again at 2am.

So maybe feeding the girls earlier might help?

 

I'll try that too, thanks!

[GeorgeofNE]

That's a tough one.

 

If I were sure that neither one of them had a UTI (and if this is new behavior, it's not out of the realm of possibility) which was making it impossible to hold it, I'd personally put a stop to this. I'm with Chad. There is no reason you should have to take the dogs out in the middle of the night. If there are those of you out there who don't MIND, well, dandy. My mother, in fact, is in the habit of letting her dogs out any time they want, night or day. They're going to be in for a nasty surprise when she moves to assisted living and no longer has a fenced in yard! But I digress...

 

I get up at 5:20, so George's last "out" is 7 PM, and it's a very rare night when he needs to go out again before 5:20 AM. If he can hold it while I'm at work, he can hold it while I sleep! He gets out five times every day when I'm neither sleeping or working, so please don't feel he's in any way deprived of the opportunity to pee 1,000 times a day! But there is nothing wrong with a schedule.

 

Just because they WANT to go out doesn't mean you have to indulge them! Make sure you know the difference in their "it would be nice to go out, "and "I GOTTA GO NOW" whines, and if it's the latter, I'd tell 'em to go lie down and stop bugging me.

[Guest LolaNLucy]

I'm with Susan and Chad on this too. My girls will whine if they want out but will bark at me if they need out. Not that I've trained this behavior but it works out well. Most of the time when they whine I tuck them back in and they go back to sleep without complaint and will sleep until 8am. So to me the 3am whining wasn't a desperate need to pee if they then sleep for another 5hrs. I've never had an accident in the bedroom but I do keep the door closed to they don't get free roam of the house.

[Trudy]

Since ryan was put on meds for his seizures, he goes out around 3am. Yeah, I pee when I let him out when the dog door is closed off (poop eating dog!), but I still hate getting up to let him out. But I do it when I know he really has to go.

 

He wakes me up by staring at me. Unless I don't wake up quick enough with the staring and then he will whine or a little bark to let me know he's been standing by the end of the bed forever an a day looking at me trying to pass me the message.

 

If I tell him to go back to bed and he does, he' just wants to go out and walk around for a bit because he woke up and was bored. If he doesn't go back to bed... he really does have to go out to pee/poop.

 

 

With our 23 days on the road on the way here, very rarely did I have to get up in the middle of the night to take him out. So I know he CAN make it through the night, but for some reason... not always.

[Guest PhillyPups]

I don't remember the last time I did not have to let one or more out in the middle of the night, though I have mostly seniors. I am just thankful they wake me up to go out.

[Guest Greyt_dog_lover]

What type of sound aversion did you try? What I find works very well is a metal can with some nuts and bolts in it. Shake it really hard, and it usually startles the hound into being quiet. If that doesnt work, well you could try a squirt gun and spray once or twice. That should work pretty well also.

 

Chad