Overnight trips to potty

[Thorny]

I was once told to give puppy's potty breaks based on age in weeks by this formula:
Age in weeks/2=hours between breaks

Gunnar is now 13 weeks and I usually end up waking him up at 4am to pee.

Should I just let him sleep? Or is it cruel to force him to hold it a full 8 hours at this age?

[doggiedad]

i took my pup out every 2 hours over night. from 4 months
to 8 months he would wake one of us at 4:00 am to go out.
i never refused him.

[MaggieRoseLee]

Originally Posted by Thorny

I was once told to give puppy's potty breaks based on age in weeks by this formula:
Age in weeks/2=hours between breaks

Gunnar is now 13 weeks and I usually end up waking him up at 4am to pee.

Should I just let him sleep? Or is it cruel to force him to hold it a full 8 hours at this age?

I kept my pups crate in my bedroom for the first year or so and was able to hear if they were restless and seemed to need something in the middle of the night.

I absolutely set my alarm for the first month or so after getting a young puppy, but around 12 weeks or so would be able to have a better grasp on if they could last all night, or not. By 16 weeks mine could all last in the crate for an 8 hour work day OR thru the night.

[llombardo]

I got mine at 12 weeks and by 16 weeks she was out of her crate at night and sleeping all night. Our problem was during the day, which we fixed and now I look back at that crazy time and laugh.

[Welshy23]

Originally Posted by doggiedad

i took my pup out every 2 hours over night. from 4 months
to 8 months he would wake one of us at 4:00 am to go out.
i never refused him.

LOL screw that! My pup is 9 weeks old and she goes out about 5am or if i go to bed late and let her out before i sleep she can go till 8am.

Around about 8pm stop the water and let her out before you sleep about 3 times. As long as it pee's every time it'll sleep much longer!

[Gilly1331]

Diesel gets up with me about every 2 hours or so...He is 4 months old today. However I am generally the reason he has been getting up I am sure if I didn't have to go every 2 hours or less right now he would be able to sleep the night. But I see that I am up going I might as well let him out. If he goes he goes if not oh well.. Only a few more weeks until I finally POP and hopefully won't be getting up to pee anymore just to feed my new peanut!

[HarleyTheGSD]

When Varick was 8 weeks, I let him out every 2 hours, slowly taking away an hour or two as he got older. Now, he is 18 weeks and I let him out whenever he starts to whine, which is about 1-3 times during the night. Sometimes he doesn't whine during the night, so I don't let him out.

[jae]

I let my dog tell me when he needs to go. set up a bell or wind chime next to the door for him to knock when he needs to go. for the first times take his paw or nose and ring it, letting him out only to relieve himself, then back in, so he doesn't get the idea chime = outside = fun, it should be chime = i need to go!

it worked for my dog. he will knock the chime when he needs to. he's tried doing it to find fun stuff outside, but he learned quickly that it's a "business bell" for the most part.