# 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?


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## 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.


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## 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.


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## 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.


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## 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.


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## PaddyD

shaner said:


> 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.


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## 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.


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## 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.


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## 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


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## 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).


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## Cassidy's Mom

wuneyewilly said:


> Thanks for all the replies...too bad there isnt an en compassing rule book ;p


Wouldn't THAT be awesome? :wild: 

You really don't need to worry about creating a habit. When she is able to hold it and sleep through the night, she will. 

Paddy is so right about the different sized tanks - we got Dena at 9 weeks old and she woke me up to let her out exactly 3 times before sleeping through the night. Keefer whined and fussed and had to go out once or twice a night for a couple of weeks. If I pulled up the water too early in the evening he fussed and wouldn't go to sleep because he was thirsty. If I let him drink before bed he had to pee during the night - Catch 22. Now he can hold it 12 hours or more. 

Halo was even worse. Her puppy nickname was "Little Miss Pee-pants", lol! She took about 3 months to housebreak and she got me up to go out a LOT, and she also peed in her crate a few times because I wasn't fast enough. If she fussed she had to go out RIGHT NOW as in RIGHT THIS VERY SECOND!!!!


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## Jo_in_TX

My kids began sleeping through the night at various ages, so I would think that it's the same thing with pups. 

My ten week old German Shepherd pup has her last meal around 6:30, goes down at around 10:00 and sleeps until 4:30 when I wake her up to take her out. Because my husband gets up around then to get ready for work, the noise would be waking her up anyway.


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## doggiedad

there is an en compassing book. every dog writes one.
you have to learn how to read a dog, they'll
tell what they need.



wuneyewilly said:


> too bad there isnt an en compassing rule book ;p


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## Jazmeena

I agree with the others, it mostly depends on the puppy! We got Angel at 7 wks (rescue) and we did not set a timer, but every time she got restless, we took her out (about 2 to 4 times a night at first). After a week or so, we got to know her sleepy wimpers from her needing out banging on crate!! We could tell this because when we went to let her out and she needed to go, she would come right out. If she didnt need to go, she would still lay in the crate and just look at us, as if to say "what??"! Probably after about 3 weeks (10 wks old), she would sleep till around 4 - then probably another 2 weeks after that (13 wks), she got to where she would sleep through the night.

She still has some restless nights now and then (just over 4 months old), but we just listen for a bit - if she settles back down, we all go back to sleep, if she bangs on the door a few times at once, then we take her out, but thats only happened a couple of times!


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## doggiedad

you should read "When a Dog Speaks" by A. Barker.



doggiedad said:


> there is an en compassing book. every dog writes one.
> you have to learn how to read a dog, they'll
> tell what they need.


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## lrodptl

Your pup should be taken out at least every 4 hours til approx 12-16 weeks old. Asking a pup to do any more than that is unfair to the pup. Proper care and training is not easy but housebreaking can be easiest of all. It shouldn't be missed as an opportunity to imbed elimination trigger commands.

http://www.thehousebreakingbible.com/training/commandment6.htm


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## wuneyewilly

She slept through the night!!!

So last night I set the baby monitor at about half sensitivity, had fed at 6PM, no more water past 8PM and bed was 11PM. She let out a small whine just as I started heading down stairs to let her out at 6AM and then we raced out of the house for a medium-big pee. I think I was keying in too much on her restlessness timed to 2 hrs. and would take her out, yawning and stumble-sleeping. 

If you don’t have them in your bedroom like us, I can’t rave enough about the "Angelcare Baby Sound Monitor, White" we got off Amazon for $55. It shows the temp of the crate (kinda cool), gives and out of range alert, low battery alert, has a nitelite you can toggle, etc. My upstairs is carpeted and I have mild allergies so I don’t want hair and doggy upstairs...downstairs is all tile and wood so free range puppy.

I really appreciate your comments and guidance. I realize she may still need out some nights and we'll accommodate but I think a lot of our nighttime potty breaks were us instilling the same daytime frequency which she didn’t need.

While we're awake, we stick to the ~2hr pee rule.


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## doggiedad

1>>> the going out schedule is very flexible and it
really depends on the individual pup. i think asking
a 10 week old pup to hold it 4 hours is a little much.
my dog is 4.5 yrs old and he's out every 3 to 4 hours.
if we're gone all day my neighbor comes in and lets
him out every 3 to 4 hours. i know he can hold
it longer but i like my dog being comfortable and i
don't see the need to make him hold it.

2>>> proper care and training is so easy. there's 
nothing hard about raising a pup. all it takes is
consistency and being consistent isn't hard
to do.

(the OP's)


lrodptl said:


> 1>>> Your pup should be taken out at least every 4 hours til approx 12-16 weeks old. Asking a pup to do any more than that is unfair to the pup.
> 
> 2>>> Proper care and training is not easy but housebreaking can be easiest of all. It shouldn't be missed as an opportunity to imbed elimination trigger commands.
> 
> Housetraining Basics - The Ten Commandments of Housebreaking - #6


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## crackem

lrodptl said:


> Your pup should be taken out at least every 4 hours til approx 12-16 weeks old. Asking a pup to do any more than that is unfair to the pup. Proper care and training is not easy but housebreaking can be easiest of all. It shouldn't be missed as an opportunity to imbed elimination trigger commands.
> 
> Housetraining Basics - The Ten Commandments of Housebreaking - #6


 a 4 month old GSD puppy every 4 hours? Sorry, mine were sleeping thru the night by 10 -12 weeks no problems at all. 8 hours is nothing for a 4 month old.


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## lrodptl

crackem said:


> a 4 month old GSD puppy every 4 hours? Sorry, mine were sleeping thru the night by 10 -12 weeks no problems at all. 8 hours is nothing for a 4 month old.


Read it again,it means 4 months old 8 hours. 13 weeks old 5 hours,14 weeks 6 hours 15 weeks 7 hours 16 weeks 8 hours. Asking a 10-12 week old pup to hold it for 8 hours is like asking you to hold it for 20,an unreasonable request of a young puppy. 8 hours is about the longest we ask our 2 year old to hold it. Can he do it? Of course.


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## kiya

It really depends on the dog. I brought Lakota home at 8 wks old. From day 1 she slept thru the night (10pm - 5am). I do not with hold water. I never heard a peep from her, her crate was right next to my bed. I wake up several times during the night and toss & turn so I would definately have heard her. By the time she was about 5 months old she was holding it 8 hours, the girl has a bladder of steel.


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## WendyDsMom

Pups, like human babies, sleep through the night when THEY are ready. With crate training you can teach them to wait for longer periods - gradually - but there is no GSD standard for the timing of the all nighter.


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## MaggieRoseLee

Cassidy's Mom said:


> 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.


Perfectly said.

Generally I get my pups around 9 -10 weeks and for the first few weeks only set my alarm clock for ONCE in the middle of my sleep to snag the puppy out of the crate for a quick visit outdoors. Then everyone sleeps until morning.

Having the crate in the bedroom beside the bed is a huge help to comfort the puppy so they sleep all night long.

Plus lots of daily exercise and car rides to visit new places all help to tire them out so they sleep thru the night.


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## JoMichelle

My puppy is 4 months old exactly and has her last toilet break at around 10pm, she will sleep through the night and wake up at 6:30am for the toilet.


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## vinsojoja

we let our 9 week old let us know when he needs to go out.. And that he does..


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