4 Month old Puppy up at 3am to poop!

[Anonymous]

^ 4 months

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is no need to change feeding time. I foster puppies. They can all hold it in, poo-wise, through the night, from 8 weeks on. Reliably. Yours just decided to mess with you because you let her. Your puppy needs to be crated, in a crate small enough that she'll be dissuaded from pooping in a corner. Crate her until she remembers that nightime is for sleeping, not pooping. It should not take long. She'll whine a bit the first night, and then she'll probably get it.

Op here - she doesn’t poop in her crate. She poops outside.

That's my point.
Do not let her out at 3am. She needs to stay in her crate so she doesn't poo at 3am anywhere, inside or outside. The crate needs to be small enough that she doesn't get any ideas about pooping in her crate (which some dogs will do when they're desperate, especially if the crate is large and they do in a corner, then sleep in the other).

Op - yes I agree she has got conditioned to pooping at 3am. What I don’t know what to do is either a) change when I feed her, b) change how much I feed her or c) how to get her to poop at night before bed instead of needing to go in the middle of the night. Do I take her for a walk?

I wouldn't change anything except for a longer walk at night. Do NOT let her out of her crate. She doesn't need to poop at 3am. She wants to poop at 3am. Big difference. She's the kid, you're the parent. Enforce the rules. She will get it. At 3 months, there is really no excuse.

I don't think it works that way, especially if it is a small breed. You'll wake up to a poop covered dog. I'd consider doing more to get her to poop before bed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is no need to change feeding time. I foster puppies. They can all hold it in, poo-wise, through the night, from 8 weeks on. Reliably. Yours just decided to mess with you because you let her. Your puppy needs to be crated, in a crate small enough that she'll be dissuaded from pooping in a corner. Crate her until she remembers that nightime is for sleeping, not pooping. It should not take long. She'll whine a bit the first night, and then she'll probably get it.

Op here - she doesn’t poop in her crate. She poops outside.

That's my point.
Do not let her out at 3am. She needs to stay in her crate so she doesn't poo at 3am anywhere, inside or outside. The crate needs to be small enough that she doesn't get any ideas about pooping in her crate (which some dogs will do when they're desperate, especially if the crate is large and they do in a corner, then sleep in the other).

Op - yes I agree she has got conditioned to pooping at 3am. What I don’t know what to do is either a) change when I feed her, b) change how much I feed her or c) how to get her to poop at night before bed instead of needing to go in the middle of the night. Do I take her for a walk?

I wouldn't change anything except for a longer walk at night. Do NOT let her out of her crate. She doesn't need to poop at 3am. She wants to poop at 3am. Big difference. She's the kid, you're the parent. Enforce the rules. She will get it. At 3 months, there is really no excuse.

I don't think it works that way, especially if it is a small breed. You'll wake up to a poop covered dog. I'd consider doing more to get her to poop before bed.

It does work that way. It's not a small breed, and the dog isn't 4 weeks, it's 4 months. If OP is really worried, she can skip or move the last meal for a few days, but the reality is that the dog just has to switch BM schedules on her own. If the crate is small enough, the dog is developmentally capable of holding it in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is no need to change feeding time. I foster puppies. They can all hold it in, poo-wise, through the night, from 8 weeks on. Reliably. Yours just decided to mess with you because you let her. Your puppy needs to be crated, in a crate small enough that she'll be dissuaded from pooping in a corner. Crate her until she remembers that nightime is for sleeping, not pooping. It should not take long. She'll whine a bit the first night, and then she'll probably get it.

Op here - she doesn’t poop in her crate. She poops outside.

That's my point.
Do not let her out at 3am. She needs to stay in her crate so she doesn't poo at 3am anywhere, inside or outside. The crate needs to be small enough that she doesn't get any ideas about pooping in her crate (which some dogs will do when they're desperate, especially if the crate is large and they do in a corner, then sleep in the other).

Op - yes I agree she has got conditioned to pooping at 3am. What I don’t know what to do is either a) change when I feed her, b) change how much I feed her or c) how to get her to poop at night before bed instead of needing to go in the middle of the night. Do I take her for a walk?

I wouldn't change anything except for a longer walk at night. Do NOT let her out of her crate. She doesn't need to poop at 3am. She wants to poop at 3am. Big difference. She's the kid, you're the parent. Enforce the rules. She will get it. At 3 months, there is really no excuse.

I don't think it works that way, especially if it is a small breed. You'll wake up to a poop covered dog. I'd consider doing more to get her to poop before bed.

It does work that way. It's not a small breed, and the dog isn't 4 weeks, it's 4 months. If OP is really worried, she can skip or move the last meal for a few days, but the reality is that the dog just has to switch BM schedules on her own. If the crate is small enough, the dog is developmentally capable of holding it in.

The one time we ignored it, it was a hot mess. You sound pretty neglectful. Most people and dogs cannot poop on schedule.

[Anonymous]

She’s only 4 months. The rule of thumb is one hour per month to potty train. You need to take her out to potty for another few months.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:She’s only 4 months. The rule of thumb is one hour per month to potty train. You need to take her out to potty for another few months.

Not for a large breed. They do not need to be up at 3 am unless they ate something bad and have diarrhea or are vomiting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our dog always has to poop like that. I wouldn't force them to hold it. That's cruel.

You get up at 3 am every day to let your dog out? We are on our 4th dog, by 2 months old they have all been fine overnight.

[Anonymous]

Do an evening walk, not a yard quickie. Movement loosens the bowels and will help encourage pooping. Just like people, dogs get “regular”.

Don’t ignore her in the crate. She has to go. This is a physical need. She is being woken up by her bowels, not because she wants to play or is lonely or bored or whatever valid reasons there might be to keep her crated.

[Anonymous]

Omg this is happening for my puppy of the same age…. It’s like sleep regression! Yesterday was 2 am and 4 am, right now is almost midnight and she cried to be let out. I see her sprint out to poop so it’s clear she really has to go but what the heck, she’s been sleeping through the night since 9 weeks on her own!

[Anonymous]

Holy crap there's a lot of really bad advice on this thread. Don't force a puppy who has to go to the bathroom to hold it for 3 hrs, wtf. Great way to breed an anxious stressed untrusting dog.

Their stretch is 8:30-3am. Eventually this will probably shift on its on, but in the meantime, feeding at 5pm might help (where they're still active after), going for an even8ng walk, or adding a little pumpkin to the meal (to help move things along). My dog pooped in the early am for quite awhile, but I peepad trained as back up so I didn't have to get up. Now they hold it 8-12hrs no problem.

[Anonymous]

I think you can move up dinner (I was told between 5-6pm) and do a walk before bed AND attempt to ignore the 3am wake up. The compromise is to not take her out right at 3 when she starts whining, but wait 15 minutes the first night, 30 minutes the second and so on until the dog can hold it until a more reasonable time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is no need to change feeding time. I foster puppies. They can all hold it in, poo-wise, through the night, from 8 weeks on. Reliably. Yours just decided to mess with you because you let her. Your puppy needs to be crated, in a crate small enough that she'll be dissuaded from pooping in a corner. Crate her until she remembers that nightime is for sleeping, not pooping. It should not take long. She'll whine a bit the first night, and then she'll probably get it.

Op here - she doesn’t poop in her crate. She poops outside.

That's my point.
Do not let her out at 3am. She needs to stay in her crate so she doesn't poo at 3am anywhere, inside or outside. The crate needs to be small enough that she doesn't get any ideas about pooping in her crate (which some dogs will do when they're desperate, especially if the crate is large and they do in a corner, then sleep in the other).

Op - yes I agree she has got conditioned to pooping at 3am. What I don’t know what to do is either a) change when I feed her, b) change how much I feed her or c) how to get her to poop at night before bed instead of needing to go in the middle of the night. Do I take her for a walk?

I wouldn't change anything except for a longer walk at night. Do NOT let her out of her crate. She doesn't need to poop at 3am. She wants to poop at 3am. Big difference. She's the kid, you're the parent. Enforce the rules. She will get it. At 3 months, there is really no excuse.

I don't think it works that way, especially if it is a small breed. You'll wake up to a poop covered dog. I'd consider doing more to get her to poop before bed.

It does work that way. It's not a small breed, and the dog isn't 4 weeks, it's 4 months. If OP is really worried, she can skip or move the last meal for a few days, but the reality is that the dog just has to switch BM schedules on her own. If the crate is small enough, the dog is developmentally capable of holding it in.

The one time we ignored it, it was a hot mess. You sound pretty neglectful. Most people and dogs cannot poop on schedule.

I work with dogs. A 4 month old can very definitely hold it in overnight. This is obvious and any vet will tell you the same. We're not talking about a schedule. We're talking about "nights are for sleeping".

Stop distorting people's words and don't weigh in when you clearly know nothing about the subject.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Holy crap there's a lot of really bad advice on this thread. Don't force a puppy who has to go to the bathroom to hold it for 3 hrs, wtf. Great way to breed an anxious stressed untrusting dog.

Their stretch is 8:30-3am. Eventually this will probably shift on its on, but in the meantime, feeding at 5pm might help (where they're still active after), going for an even8ng walk, or adding a little pumpkin to the meal (to help move things along). My dog pooped in the early am for quite awhile, but I peepad trained as back up so I didn't have to get up. Now they hold it 8-12hrs no problem.

Yeah... no. Trust your dog to behave in an age-appropriate manner. Having boundaries never created stress in a dog. OP's puppy can go through the night, but she needs encouragement to do so.

[Anonymous]

Op here - well the advice here has ran the spectrum.

I think the problem has been that I am feeding too much after 12pm. Many times I forget to feed her lunch until 1pm and then we do dinner at 6pm. So in the later half of the day she is getting 2/3 of her food.

I am going to try and move to 2 feedings a day. She will be 5 months in April.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our dog always has to poop like that. I wouldn't force them to hold it. That's cruel.

You get up at 3 am every day to let your dog out? We are on our 4th dog, by 2 months old they have all been fine overnight.

No, I wake up my husband and tell him to do it and he does.