In the middle of the night

Hi,
I'm posting this in the Behaviour section, as I'm not sure really where it should go. My 14-month old dog normally goes out for a poop first thing in the morning (around 7am), and again late in the day, around dinnertime. A couple of days ago, she had an upset tummy and missed a couple of meals. This had a knock-on effect, and she only had one small poop late the following day, and none that morning. Her appetite returned and I have to admit I may have (slightly) overfed her to make up for the missed meals. I wasn't entirely surprised when she woke me at 4am the next night to go outside. I thought it was a one-off, but she is now waking up every night between 2-4am to go out and poop. Consequently, she doesn't want to go at her normal morning time, and I can't get her back on track.

She's eating normally, and her poops look fine. She saw the vet a few days back for a booster and health check, and he said she was fit and healthy. She's certainly not showing any signs of illness as far as I can see.

Any advice? I'm very tired!

Do you talk to her/give her any attention when you get up to let her out? If so, she might quite like like and will find waking you up rewarding.

I think I would do a few things:

(1) I would start feeding her later in the evening (slowly bringing this forward so you are eventually back to her normal time)

(2) I would tire her out mentally and physically in the evening so that there is more chance of her sleeping right through.

(3) if she still wakes you in the night to be let out, I would not talk to her or even look at her, I'd just let her out to do her stuff and then go straight back to bed.

(4) if none of the above works, I'd be tempted to try leaving it longer before getting up to let her out. This might back fire (no pun intended!) if she really needs to go desperately she may go in the house, but I think I'd delay getting up for say half an hour after she wakes you, then an hour etc . This of course is likely to make you more tired in the short term, but should help to get her back in her routine.

Fit a dog-flap?

Thanks very much for the suggestions. BeBe sleeps in a crate in the bedroom, and our back door isn't suitable for a dog-flap so unfortunately, this isn't really an option.

I think the idea of tiring her out in the evening is a good one. I know that when we've had company and she's running around she always goes to sleep straightaway. I'll try that tonight.

I'll also try leaving her for a little while before I take her out. Only prob with this is that she bangs on her crate, and it's also keeping hubby awake!

I just hope this doesn't become a lifelong habit

Not the right time to teach it over this issue, but my dogs all know 'not yet' or 'in a minute' as meaning that I understand what they want and if they wait patiently they will get it shortly.

I started this when they ask for something (e.g. wanting me to play with them or to go for a walk or for their dinner etc.). I just say 'in a minute' and then ask them to lie down quietly. To begin with almost as soon as they lie down, they get what they want, but after awhile, I make them wait a bit longer....but if I use this command (rather than 'no'), I will always give them what they want providing they wait patiently.

It comes in useful for a host of different situations - it stops them from pestering but lets them know that you do understand what they are after.

When Diesel my staffy started leaving me little presents in his duvet, he was about the same age. I tried all sorts of things to try and curb it and I would have actually preferred it if he had woken me up, but what eventually worked was feeding him once a day in the morning. I did try making his evening meal earlier and earlier until it became a bit pointless and just almalgamated the two.

Unfortunately, BeBe won't eat in the morning. She eats her first meal at about 1pm which is what (used to) come out the next morning! She has dry at midday and wet in the evening, so I've learned to tell her "dry" poo from her "wet" one I haven't changed her feeding times apart from her recent tummy upset.

I had explored the idea before of feeding her one large dry meal at midday and skipping the wet (she won't eat them mixed), but was told it was better to feed at least twice daily, especially as she is a mini breed.

I honestly think if I could get her to go through one whole night then it will be ok. But her "clock" seems to have re-set itself now; I've just got to figure out how to get back to the default setting