Conflicting Info - When can pups sleep through the night?

[wuneyewilly]

I read that a 10wk old should be able to go through the night if water is cut off a couple hours prior...and then I've read they need out every 2-4 hours, or minimally once a night. We typically feed her third meal at 6PM, stop water no later than 8PM and goes to bett btwn 10-11PM. We've been teaching crate/potty training and she's done great, other than seemingly needing out 2-3 times a night, sometimes to pee and sometimes to poo. She's never had an accident in the crate, neither form. At 10 wks and with a history we know of needing out a couple times a night for the past ~10 days, should we start only once a night or continue on? She isnt very vocal for pees, but is for poos. Are we teaching too frequent potty trips in the night or should we start (slowly?) reducing the trips out...perhaps drop to one and then none?

[DJEtzel]

I'd reduce the trips... see if she'll wake you up for them.

I have an almost 9 week old puppy right now who sleeps through the night almost every night just fine, it really depends on the dog, not it's age.

[llombardo]

I didn't have my shepherd at 10 weeks, I got her at 12 weeks and she went out in the middle of the night up until she was about 4 months-I think she was slightly behind because she wasn't trained at all when I got her. If I remember correctly with my golden he was trained completely at 12 weeks...meaning no accidents, but if he had to go out I got up and let him out. Sometimes they just have to go and they kinda wean themselves. If the pup is crying to go out I don't know if you want to take a chance on ignoring it, because it might just go if it has to. I also always had food and water up by 6pm when potty training.

[Cassidy's Mom]

There are no "shoulds". Some puppies need to go out once or twice a night for a few weeks or more, others are sleeping through the night at a young age. Don't worry about what your puppy SHOULD be doing, deal with the puppy you HAVE! I put the crate right next to the bed, and if puppy wakes up and fusses, I can hear it and I immediately take him/her out. If they don't wake up and ask to go out, I don't take them out - pretty simple.

[shaner]

I didn't intentionally wake up in the middle of the night to take Titan out when I first got him at 8 weeks. I put him in a a crate that was just big enough for him to sleep in and move around a little bit. I took the chance that he wouldn't want to mess in his crate (dogs don't like to mess where they sleep) and I was right. He whined in the middle of the night and woke me up. At around 9 weeks, he started sleeping through the night, although the odd time he would need out. Even now, the odd night he'll wake me up to go out.

[PaddyD]

Originally Posted by shaner

I didn't intentionally wake up in the middle of the night to take Titan out when I first got him at 8 weeks. I put him in a a crate that was just big enough for him to sleep in and move around a little bit. I took the chance that he wouldn't want to mess in his crate (dogs don't like to mess where they sleep) and I was right. He whined in the middle of the night and woke me up. At around 9 weeks, he started sleeping through the night, although the odd time he would need out. Even now, the odd night he'll wake me up to go out.

I agree ... and I agree that it depends on the pup. They don't all have the same size tank. Another thing is that dogs tend to adopt a routine so they are likely to want to go out at a given time based on habit rather than need. You can gradually alter that by postponing the going out times for an hour until they are able to go the entire night.

[Ken Clean-Air System]

Dogs will usually do all they can to not mess in their crate so unless you are a very heavy sleeper, or the crate is another room, your dog will wake you up when she needs to go out. I'd let her tell you when it's really time rather than trying to set times to go through the night if possible.

When our girl really needs to go out in the middle of night she really lets us know. She whines and rattles the bars of her crate. Thankfully, the only times she has ever really needed outs through the night was the first few nights after we brought her home when she had a bad case of diarrhea from a sudden change in food (our fault). Those few days we were up every couple hours with her, but otherwise right from the start she's been able to sleep through the night (she was 10 weeks when we brought her home). I kind of consider us lucky though and it really depends on the dog as far as what age they are able to get through the night without needing to eliminate.

[doggiedad]

i think it depends on the dog and it's schedule
for feeding and having access to water. i took
my 9 weeks old pup every 2 hours overnight.
when my dog was 4 months old he would wake
one of us up at 4:am to go out. one of us always
took him out. when he was 8 months old he stopped
the 4:00 am wake up potty break. you have a 10 week old
pup. if he has to go a couple of times a night take him
out. you can slowly cut back on taking him out.

[wuneyewilly]

I do take her but was afraid I might be taking her too much, creating a habit and schedule she'd want to keep. She has never messed her crate (we've been together 11 days though) and I wanted to make sure she never had to. I dont want her upstairs as it is carpeted so we got a baby monitor which is on the crate door. She doesnt whine to go to bed and we've had the one hour per month rule in our minds (rounded at two hrs), so when she starts moving around a bit and it's near the two hour mark, we've taken her out. Maybe we start to ignore the restlessness regardless of time and only cater the whining? She does get vocal when she's gotta go poo (except for about an hour ago, sneaky squirt...literally) so maybe we wait for the whining. She'll pee almost always on command, but is silent when she's gotta pee and found a good spot off cue. Thanks for all the replies...too bad there isnt an en compassing rule book ;p

[Angelina03]

If she is that young, some of the restlessness maybe that she is far away from you. I was getting up with Rocco at least 2-3 times a night. He would wake up and cry even when he didn't have to go (I took him anyway because I didn't know). When we put his crate in the bedroom, he sleep all night long the first night and every night since (except for once in while when he's drank a lot of water).