Night time potty training

Question

Hi,

I have a lab that is 4 month old now. Over the past few weeks, she has become potty trained during the day i.e. knows that she needs to go out to relieve herself. If she wants to go out and the door is closed, she jumps/tries to attract our attention in some way to make us let her go.

The problem is her night-time routine. She poops and sometimes pees in the middle of the night.

Here is her feed schedule:
- 6.30/7am
-12.30/1pm
- 6.30/7pm

She sleeps by 8/9pm. BEfore she sleeps or even after she's flopped down, at around 9.30/10pm I take her out. Mostly she pees and settles down to sleep. But when I come to check on her at 5.30/6am, she has messed up the floor - sometimes only pooped at other times peed too.

Very occassionally she does a proper poop in the evening, but on many days she does a proper poop in the morning (before I wake up!) and then either nothing or a very small one sometime during the day.

For 2/3 nights I tried waking up every hour from midnight till 5am (when I can keep the back door open for her to go at her will). When I do this, most of the times she is too sleepy to even get up/look up. And then she gets up only around 5ish to relieve herself. BUT when I don't do this regular checking up routine and come to check on her at 5am (thinking that it is time to let her go), I discover that sometime in the night she has done the deed.

Tonight for example, I checked on her at midnight - she was fast asleep. Then when I checked at 3am, she had already done one poop. After cleaning that up, I checked on her at 4am and then 4.30am. She didn't want to get up or go out. Then when I come down at 5.15am, she has messed up the floor!!!

I'm pretty frustrated on how to train her to hold herself from 10pm to 6am.

I have a few older labs living around, that only do potty twice a day and only when taken for a walk. My dog still does her potty/peeing in our yard, which I don't mind at all. But this night-time pees/poops are driving me mad!

I've tried altering her night time feed pattern. Tried feeding her at 6pm, hoping that she'd do a poop by 10pm and then hold on till 6am. Then I tried feeding her later at 8pm, hoping that she'd hold till 6am, but neither works. After her lunch at 12.30/1pm, she is very hungry by 6pm. So I HAVE to give her dinner latest by 7pm and she's ready for sleep by 9pm.  

- What schedule should I try on her?
- Some people suggest that one should get up 2/3 times a night with puppies. But supposing I get up everyday at 2.30am to let her go out, will she not get into the habit of letting go at that time and then it would be a problem to get her to move her potty schedule to a 6am?
- If one day she lets go at 3am and the next day I take her out at 3am and she doesn't then what? Should I keep trying at 15mins/30mins intervals?!
- When can I expect her to learn to stay put from 10pm to 6am?

Would much appreciate your suggestions.

Answer
Activity stimulates elimination.  Rest delays it.  When you take her out at 10 PM, make her walk around.  the more she walks, the more likely she is to empty her bowels.  

Then put her in a crate for the night.  She may be more active than you think.  Being in a crate will both restrict her activity and make her hold it to avoid fouling her sleeping place.  

It is only natural that a puppy resists its crate at first. What the puppy wants more than anything else is to be others, you, anyone else in the household, and any other pets. In our modern society, even if we are home, other things distract us from the attention an uncrated puppy must have. The only real solution is to crate the dog when you aren't around. The dog may be happier in its den than loose in the house. It relaxes, it feels safe in its den. It rests, the body slows down reducing the need for water and relieving its self. Dogs that have been crated all along do very well. Many of them will rest in their crates even when the door is open. I think the plastic ones give the dog more of a safe, enclosed den feeling. Metal ones can be put in a corner or covered with something the dog can't pull in and chew. Select a crate just big enough for the full grown dog to stretch out in.

Leave it some toys. Perhaps a Kong filled with peanut butter. Don't leave anything in the crate the dog might chew up. It will do fine without even any bedding. You will come home to a safe dog and a house you can enjoy.

A dog that has not been crated since it was little, may take some work. Start out just putting its toys and treats in the crate. Praise it for going in. Feed it in the crate. This is also an easy way to maintain order at feeding time for more than one dog.