I adopted a puppy a few weeks ago. I obviously did loads of research for months beforehand to make sure I was ready to welcome him in the best possible conditions! I've read pretty much everywhere that you have to get up during the night to take them out so they learn to be house-trained more quickly.
I wanted to ask today if this process is actually useful or even necessary? My pup (11 weeks old) seems to have a very tiny bladder: he wees every 45 minutes to an hour during the day, and the longest he's held it at night is 2 hours...
I’ve been getting up every 2 hours to take him out since day one, just like I was advised. I also read that puppies should soon be able to hold it for a bit longer at night and that these night-time wake-ups would only be needed for a few days or weeks.
My puppy is still doing just as many wees and can only hold it for 2 hours max at night; even then, most of the time when I come downstairs, he’s already had an accident in the living room (poos as well...). He’s starting to understand really well that he needs to go outside, because as soon as I take him out (day or night), he goes straight away in the garden. So, we're on the right track!
I’m starting to get really tired from such broken sleep. Getting up every 2 hours is becoming harder and harder to manage for my own wellbeing and exhaustion levels, and I can’t even imagine what it’ll be like when I start my classes again next week!
That’s why I was wondering if I really need to keep getting up to train him, or if it isn't actually essential in the end. I obviously know what I signed up for when I adopted my little one, so if this is truly necessary for house-training, I’ll keep doing it, no problem!
Thanks in advance for your replies 🙂
Translated from French
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I never got up unless the dog asked, obviously.
The only one I’ve had from a puppy was house-trained straight away... I got him at 10 weeks, and by 12 weeks, the problem was solved.
The others were all rescues who’d spent months in a shelter – the last one was even kept in a kennel 24/7, only being let out once a fortnight! He was house-trained in two nights (though the first night was a total disaster!).
And I did absolutely nothing to achieve that!
I think that, barring any psychological or physiological issues, it’s just natural for a dog – much like a cat using their litter tray or going outside.
Mind you, I do take them out a lot (off-lead in the woods, obviously) and before I go to bed, I open the door and announce: "Outside, last wee!"
I often think that if the neighbours can hear me, they must think I’m a total nutter 🤪
Yeah, I’d heard that too, but it doesn't seem right to me. Both Léon and Basile had full bladder control by the time they were 3 months old and were able to hold it for about 7 hours at night and 3-5 hours during the day without any issues, depending on what they were up to. Mind you, from what I remember, Basile still leaked a few drops for about a month when he got excited—like when he’d make a real fuss of us in the evening.
I suppose there's a lot of variation in how quickly they mature depending on the individual, or even just the breed!
Mind you, I’ve always heard that puppies don’t really have full control over their sphincters until they’re about 4 or 5 months old, though there are always exceptions.
At the end of the day, it’s not a competition to see who can get their puppy house-trained the fastest; it’s really not the end of the world if a pup is house-trained at four months rather than three.
The point is more about avoiding long-term "house-training issues", like having a dog that still isn't fully trained at a year old, which actually happened to me... and believe me, cleaning up pee and sh*t for a whole year is incredibly frustrating, especially since it ends up completely ruining the floor (we had parquet).
I reckon the best way to avoid that is to set the dog up for success, allowing them to follow their natural instincts as much as possible :)
That’s not to say that every dog without that kind of structure will still be having accidents at a year old, but I think you’re taking a bit of a gamble otherwise.
Also, since I work during the day and can’t manage their routine perfectly then, it makes sense to make the most of the night-time to work on it ^^
Not at all, don't be daft! To each their own! We're on a forum to swap ideas and keep things friendly and upbeat! 👌
Plus, you see, you're on the same page as me about taking the water away at night.
Mind you, I used to take the water away at night too. But quite late! Say, last meal at 11 pm, last drink at midnight, last toilet break at 12:30 am (plus any night-time trips), then waking up with the water bowl back down at 7 am. Bear in mind that my dogs aren't on kibble but on a raw diet, so they drink less anyway.
I know this shocks some people, but I honestly find it a bit extreme to get so worked up over it ^^' Wild animals or street dogs don't have access to water 24/7, and neither do people in some countries. At the end of the day, it’s a bit of a luxury to always have a water bottle on you and refuse to feel thirsty for more than five minutes. Thirst aside, a puppy that’s had a good drink in the evening isn’t thirsty during the night; they’re just sleeping. It’s just about getting them into the habit of drinking well in the evening so they can then settle down for the night.
It's like being out for a walk; I don't always have water on me, for the humans or the dogs, as long as we aren't going on a massive hike and it’s not 40 degrees out. So sometimes we’re thirsty for an hour or two—it’s not the end of the world, lol!
Earlier than one of my previous dogs, who wasn't fully house-trained until he was a year old, anyway! ^^
I’ve just looked back at my 'records': I got Basile when he was 2 months old and I considered him fully house-trained by 3 months. By that, I mean he could hold it all night and there were no more accidents during the day, considering that on the days I worked I paid a pet sitter to drop by twice a day so he could be let out every 3-4 hours or so.
That’s two months earlier than one of his brothers from a previous litter. I’d chatted with his owner about it and she explained that she didn’t get up during the night but just left him in a room that was easy to clean (the bathroom).
Mind you, Basile’s house-training might have been delayed slightly because of starting him on a BARF diet, which gave him some nasty diarrhoea; even with me getting up in the night, there were still accidents. Without that, I think he would have been house-trained when it came to poos almost immediately.
