Really confused by peeing issues

[sleepwouldbenice]

Hi all.

Have a couple of different issues with our pup who's 13weeks old

First issue is overnight
We got him at 10 weeks. He slept through for about a week from 12 to 7/8 which was great. Then he started waking anywhere between 5 and 7 and being frantic and weeing in his crate even though we got to him within a minute. This went on several nights so I didn't want a habit and I got up at 3/4 to let him we and then he lasted until 7/7.30 again when people are up anyway. No bed wetting all is ok. Last night tried him at 5. He did a reasonable wee and thankfully popped back in his bed. This morning he was upset at abou 7.30 and had again wet his crate. I just don't understand why he's changed so much and also why he can't last from 5 to 7.30 ??

The other is his daytime wee
He can hold on in restricted circumstances. Eg has never wet the crate in the day and can be in there 1-2 hours if he's tired. A
So can do say 2 hours in the car if need be. Also sometimes he does go an hour between wees when awake. Sometimes his does a big wee. But often he cluster wees. Yesterday he did 2 wees on waking early evening then 2 On a little walk then 2 when he got back. He literally weed one side if the path then walked to the other side and wees there . So that's 6 wees in 40 mins. Sometimes he just can't seem to empty his bladder. This leads to accidents in the house. Again mini squats usually.

He's obviously drinking more with the hot weather esp after walks. The vet has checked for UTIs and crystals all clear

Any thoughts on what to do re overnight or the cluster wees.....

Thanks in advance!!!

Is he active between 5-7:30? Is he getting up and turning about a lot? Because if he is awake he's going to want to pee a lot more than in the middle of the night when he is fast asleep.

As to why he has changed so much is probably a combination of things. Firstly he's growing and a week at that age is a very long time in how they develop. Secondly it's lighter in the morning and just because we think it's still night time they won't. I know for a fact my dog is awake at around 4am and at 19 months he will generally wait for us to get up but as a small puppy they won't.

As for the many pees again at that age I expect lots of little ones until they get the hang of emptying their bladder. I tended to force the issue and would stay out a bit longer after a pee in case he wanted another one soon afterwards.

Looking back at our puppy being that young I realised I treated him too "grown up". 13 weeks is just a few days older than 10 weeks. He's still a baby. There will be progress and regression for a while. It's not a constant improvement curve but a roller-coaster (we learnt).

Our tip was taking he water bowl away two hours before bedtime. Make sure he wees and start training a command "pee" and reward when he does. Take him outside at night right away when he wakes you up. Don't leave it for even a minute, they got absolutely no bladder control at that age.

No playing at during the night. Let him pee and straight back to the crate.

Patience and time will be all you need. :)

P. S. We had a few awful weeks with ours, he'll soon be out of the cluster peeing phase. Give it a few days and see it it improves

Thought you might find the chart on here reassuring:
puppyintraining.com/my-puppy-pees-a-lot-is-it-normal-a-puppy-potty-schedule/

A small puppy will pee a LOT because their bladder and bladder muscles are not developed. As he grows and develops, his toilet habits will change. Long term for the better, but it will also lead to accidents.

What breed is he? That also might shed some light on it.

I have to admit I disagree with the advice about removing water (although I have heard it often). A pup should never be deprived of water, especially in warmer weather. I'd much rather he peed somewhere than risked being dehydrated.

Just another thought - the 6 wees in 40 mins... is that how long his walk is? In which case, forgive me, but that's too much for most 13 weeks olds (again varies slightly on the breed). Rule of thumb is a ratio of five minutes exercise per month of age (up to twice a day) until the puppy is fully grown. Apologies if I've misunderstood.

Hi all. Just to say thanks for your responses. Got a bit of puppy blues with it all I must admit.

Going to try again with 5am.... No idea how much he turns as his crate is covered. But I do sleep lightly and I don't think he would wait patiently for me....... But I know what you mean about restlessness , thanks

He's been a little better today but still a present or two on the floor ... We do the whole praising / deodorising etc so think we are doing what we can.

The 6 wees in 40 mins wasn't all a walk. 2 in the garden after waking. 2 on walk. Another 2 in the garden. It's frustrating to just see him stop mid flow when weeing, you know there's more in there to turn up any time in the next god knows when!

He's a cocker spaniel by the way

Thanks again

Sleep it could be territory marking - they save urine to mark certain spots or boundaries, also when nervous/startled/over-excited. It usually doesn't happen until around 6 months but I read that some breeds start earlier. Also I agree with Hodge please don't take water away, I know some trainers recommend it, but dehydration in puppies is so dangerous and can happen really fast.
If the 'marking' gets much more frequent then it might be worth checking that he doesn't have a bladder infection, in which case providing lots of water even more important.

13 weeks is REALLY young. Buddy was still very unreliable at that age but by 18 weeks was 100% toilet trained. Hang in there, keep praising good behaviour. Regular outside loo breaks.