Dry by night?

Bruce is 28 weeks old now but he still wee's inside most nights. He sleeps down stairs in the utility room. The flooring is vinyl so easy to clean and disinfect etc. I always leave his water bowl down for him as I personally think it's not fair to expect a dog to go all night without a drink.
Bruce never wee's in the house during the day.

Should I just take his bowl up? Should he be able to go through the night without having an 'accident'. I obviously always take him in the garden before he is put to bed.

Am I expecting to much? Maybe it's quite normal for a dog of his age to be still having accidents?

I would have expected him to be dry overnight by now.....

Does he actually drink the water you leave for him at night?

H e should be dry by now. Is he crated? I always crate my pups and they quickly learn to be dry.

Hi, yes he does drink the water, this morning his bowl was completely empty.
And no he isn't crated and has never been. He is very clean in the day and will sit by the door asking to go out for the toilet.
His last walk is around 9pm and he goes to bed anywhere between 9.30 and 11pm, depending on what time I am going to bed myself. He is always put in the garden for a last wee before bed and he always goes.

Tonight I will let him have a drink after his last walk and then take his bowl up and see how it goes.

Thanks for your replies!

Hi Cathapman Bruce really should be clean by now, does he need to pee a lot during the day too (I know you say he is clean inside) , if so he may have a urinary tract infection that requires a trip to the vet.

Dogs should have access to water all the times unless advised to do otherwise by a vet. This is particularly important if they are fed on a dry complete food. Removal of water as well as being unpleasant for a dog can cause concentrated urine and this in turn can aggravate the bladder making a dog urinate more not less. Restricting water can also contribute to other medical conditions.

I would guess Bruce has never really become properly house trained, I would revert to taking him out at frequent regular intervals during the day and praising him when he relieves himself then making sure he goes out as late as possible last thing at night. I would take him for a short walk rather then just letting him go in the garden, sniffing areas frequented by other dogs and the short exercise will stimulate him to relieve himself/scent mark then you can be sure he is empty before bed. Don't forget to give lots of praise.

It is also important to throughly clean previously soiled areas with a none ammonia based cleaner like biological washing powder to remove every trace of the scent.

I agree with Mini I also would probably take him out once in the middle of the night and praise him. Then in a couple of weeks slowly withdraw that one until he can go all night.

Hi Catchapman
My first action wold be a vet check for Bruce to eliminate the possibility of a UTI or other medical condition and I certainly would not withold water. If you can get a sample to take with you all the better.

While allowing a house trained adult dog to go in and out freely is fine (some people leave the door open) if you do this with a puppy you are not training its bladder to wait to go out . Far better to take a puppy out at regular intervals (first thing in the morning/last thing at night/after sleep/play/excitement/food and every hour for a small puppy -a couple of hours after it last went out for an older one ) and praise it for going to reinforce the behaviour.

That really is quite early for a last trip out for a puppy particularly a young one, if you have always done this Bruce may have got into the habit of soiling because he simply couldn't wait to go out. I have puppies with me during the night and get up to take them out. Most puppies don't even begin to get control of their bodily functions until 16 weeks old.
Putting him out is not the best thing, you need to take him out as described in the post above.

This is not something I would do for the reasons described above.

House training puppies really is not very difficult, it does take a bit of time and effort for a few weeks to get things right though but it is well worth it.

Ok, I will leave his bowl down as usual. And I will try walking him at 10pm.
I do go with him in to the garden and he will pretty much wee on command.
When he wee's at night it is always in the same spot so I will try the washing powder tip and see if that works. I did know not to use bleach and have been using zoflora disinfectant.
Bruce does occasionally go right through the night without an accident.
I will give it a try tonight and tomorrow and if no different book him into vet just incase he does have a urine infection.

Thanks all!

By the sounds of it;
You need to let him the very last thing at night and watch him go to the toilet. Louie didnt go to bed until we went to bed and was always took to the toilet before then.

Clean up using some bio-chemical stuff that some people on here have suggested before - this uses enzymes that break up the smell in the particles.

And it could be that he is drinking all his water at night because he is too hot, so maybe turn the heating down a smidgen.

Also try waking up half an hour early to let him out. We started off with Louie by waking up at 6, then a couple of weeks after we woke up at 7 and now we can wake up at 9 and he will have held it.

A crate may be useful also.
Our Louie is now 6 months and was fully housetrained at 12 weeks with the help of a crate..so they work. You can expect the odd accident but I shouldnt think every night classes as odd lol.

As Minihaha has said, vet check him to rule out anything medical

Hi Delos yes once a medical condition has been eliminated this is one technique. Again it involves a little inconvenience for a short time to sort things out properly.

To do this take the puppy out a short walk as late as possible and establish a 'last time out' routine,
Next set an alarm and get up say three hours later and take the puppy out. If it has already soiled get up earlier the next night, if not take it out quietly no fuss or games then back to bed. Do this for a few nights then gradually set the alarm for a little later each night so eventually the puppy should learn to wait to go out.

It really is well worth a few weeks of inconvenience to get things right