# Help...he doesn't sleep at night!!



## pedirn308 (Dec 13, 2012)

HI....I have a 6 mo old GSD male. He is not crated at night because he wakes us at night when he needs to go out. He was typically going twice a night but then for about 2-3 weeks started sleeping through the night. The past week or so he has been waking like clockwork at around midnight and 4:30 AM. He does pee a decent amount at 12 but at 4:30 not so much and I know he can hold it from 12-6. It's like he just wants everyone else to be awake like him..lol. We are exhausted. Last night I took him out again at 4:30..he did a small pee and came right in...2-3 min later he was jumping on my husband so I took him out again thinking he needed to poo. When I took him he just smelt where he had just peed, looked at me like I was crazy and came back in. He was restless until it was time to get up at 6. I don't think he's sick because he's not showing any signs...I think he just wants to be awake and wants us to be to. Any suggestions to get him to sleep the night again?


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## Zeeva (Aug 10, 2010)

Zeeva wakes me up at 5ish every morning to poo-like you said-like clockwork. I'll be watching this thread as I can't ignore her when she needs to 'go'...sorry I can't help :c.


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## Jag (Jul 27, 2012)

Crate!!! He's old enough to hold it through the night. He's roaming the house and waking you up because he CAN.


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## mandiah89 (Jan 18, 2013)

I have the same problem with my 4 month old, and I am exhausted because of it... last night for instance I took her out at 9pm to do her business and after a half hour of her just sitting at the door and not doing anything I brought her in and I put her to bed and I couldnt fall asleep until around 11 and half hour later she woke up and was whining like usual and not just some little whine like she could probably wake the neighbors with how loud it is which is why I cant just ignore it because she will wake everyone in the house up including my sister and her 10 month old son, anyway, so I let her out again for another 15 - 20mins, still she did nothing, brought her back in tethered her to me and laid down on the couch, she would not settle and kept biting me so I let her out again for another 20 mins and STILL nothing, so by this point im extremely tired and frustrated that she wont go pee or poop and decided to put her back in her xpen. She screamed and screamed and sounded frantic so I took her out AGAIN and when I let her out she did have to go poop... I obviously cant just not take her out but this whole thing in the middle of the night EVERY night since Ive had her is driving me nuts, I will add she only does this at night with the bathroom thing and not going.


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## pedirn308 (Dec 13, 2012)

My husband who has had 2 Shepherds before says they like to roam the house at night and that I should let him do that. He's free in our room but our door is closed. 


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## Nigel (Jul 10, 2012)

Make sure he gets plenty of exercise, keep the area he sleeps cool, and make the last feeding 5pm or early. We noticed with our male, that if we get his last feeding in early, he usually has enough time before going to bed to get all his business taken care of.


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## GatorDog (Aug 17, 2011)

Nigel said:


> Make sure he gets plenty of exercise, keep the area he sleeps cool, and make the last feeding 5pm or early. We noticed with our male, that if we get his last feeding in early, he usually has enough time before going to bed to get all his business taken care of.


:thumbup:

All this. My 11 week old has been sleeping through the night for two weeks now (10pm-7am) because she is exhausted at that point and hasn't had food/water for at least a couple hours before bedtime.


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## martemchik (Nov 23, 2010)

Actually he's learned that if he wakes you up, you'll take him outside. He likes the outside, so he wakes you up to go there.

It's really tricky with male dogs as they'll squeeze something out no matter what. I remember when we got our boy trained to ring a bell when he needed to go...in a few weeks he was just ringing it to go outside as he knew he'd get a walk. To make us happy he'd squeeze some out on a tree and since he was still young we couldn't really not take him out when he rang the bell. Thankfully I realized what he was doing and we stopped with the bell as soon as we knew he could hold it. Now he goes on our schedule.


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## AngelaA6 (Jan 20, 2013)

Our pup was never taken out during the middle of the night (we got him at 4 months) and we have an alarm set so we can't sleep in past 8 on the weekends. He's crated but my husband lets him out during the week before he leaves for work at 5 AM so he gets a potty break after sleeping for 8 hours. He just gets put back in the bedroom with me with the door shut so he can't get into anything else in the house. We don't exactly trust him to leave things alone quite yet. Every time a schedule (Including daylight savings!) was changed it took about a week before Gunther adjusted but you just have to be diligent


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## casenant (Mar 17, 2013)

Please help, I just got a new female yesterday an she is so hyper she literally bounces all over everything, took her out numerous times last night she wouldn't go potty I have a 3 year old male an never had this problem.. I was up all night long with her. Is it the new house or something I am doing?


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## Cassidy's Mom (Mar 30, 2003)

pedirn308 said:


> HI....I have a 6 mo old GSD male. He is not crated at night because he wakes us at night when he needs to go out. He was typically going twice a night but then for about 2-3 weeks started sleeping through the night. The past week or so he has been waking like clockwork at around midnight and 4:30 AM. He does pee a decent amount at 12 but at 4:30 not so much and I know he can hold it from 12-6. It's like he just wants everyone else to be awake like him..lol. We are exhausted. Last night I took him out again at 4:30..he did a small pee and came right in...2-3 min later he was jumping on my husband so I took him out again thinking he needed to poo. When I took him he just smelt where he had just peed, looked at me like I was crazy and came back in. He was restless until it was time to get up at 6. I don't think he's sick because he's not showing any signs...I think he just wants to be awake and wants us to be to. *Any suggestions to get him to sleep the night again?*


Yes, crate him.  If the crate is in your bedroom he will still be able to wake you if he needs to go out, but at 6 months old he should be able to hold it all night. My dogs will sleep in until I get up, which on non-work days can be as late as 8:30 or 9:00 AM. They stay quietly in their crates and don't make a peep until I get up and let them out. If they were loose they'd be jumping on the bed, just like your dog. 



casenant said:


> Please help, I just got a new female yesterday an she is so hyper she literally bounces all over everything, took her out numerous times last night she wouldn't go potty I have a 3 year old male an never had this problem.. I was up all night long with her. Is it the new house or something I am doing?


How old is she? Is she crated at night?


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## CurvyOne (Dec 21, 2012)

Sometimes dogs are restless and act like they want/need something because of anxiety. You may actually find, after the initial adjustment period, that he is more relaxed sleeping in a crate and stays asleep all night. IMO a 6 month old probably needs a bit more sleep than what he's getting. I would try the crate at night. They are like a dog den and provides security for them. My pup will nap outside his crate, but being such an aware dog, he will not full on zonk out unless he's secure in his 'den.' If you really don't want to crate him, maybe just give him a dog house that he can go in and out of as he pleases. If you put a blanket and some of his favorite items in it, after awhile it may become his safe place and help him sleep through the night.


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## CurvyOne (Dec 21, 2012)

Sorry...I didn't see that there were responses in this thread already, I just repeated what everyone else has already said


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