Dog keeps waking in the night for toilet!

[Aria20]

Argh for the couple of weeks my nearly 4yo dog has started waking at some point between 2-4am to go out for a wee and poo! The first night I was so surprised to hear her bark in the middle of night and she wouldn't resettle so I let her out thinking she must need to go and sure enough she did and I though ok it's a one off but clearly not! She has not done this before - she has generally slept through the night since before she was 1.

She is usually a lazy dog, she sleeps in with teen son, so wakes on school days around 6.15 but weekends she won't get up until 8.30ish!

Why does she suddenly keep barking to go out in the night? It's like she's made a new pattern and I want it to stop!! Her food hasn't changed - her poos are still firm/normal so it's not an upset tummy. She normally goes for last wee at around 9.30pm and sometimes if it's raining she won't even go out and has always held it all night without issue - until now!

Her area of garden for toileting is not exciting and is fenced off from rest of garden so it's not like she's trying to get out to play either and I'm not encouraging or engaging with her just let her out and straight back to bed but it is driving me mad!

So wise dog experts any ideas why she has started doing this and any suggestions for how to stop her?!

I’d be walking her before bed, to get the smells to encourage her to poo then, not just put her in the garden.

I’d speak to the vet in case there could be a medical reason for it. This sort of behaviour doesn’t usually start for no reason.
Is the dog drinking more than usual ?

Also, re the last pee before bed. You need to take her for a short walk to encourage her to pee. They usually do this in response to other dog smells.

It's not always possible to go for a walk later as I have a younger child asleep in bed so can't always leave the house. Teen is 13 and doesn't like to walk alone at night either so can't even send him.

She has a short walk around 6.30pm where she sometimes does a poo but not always as she's been earlier in the day and it's not been a problem until now! Last night she had plenty of exercise and opportunity to poo again early evening but didn't seem to need to! Argh!

If the 13yo is home to listen out for your younger DC I'd personally be taking the dog for a walk, even if only for 15-20 minutes.

@Roastitcheese no doesn't seem to be drinking more than usual. Diet or quantity of food hasn't changed either. She normally had such a good routine and was pretty predictable of when she'd go for a poo as I work from home so it is always me who takes her out etc. She seems her usual self in general, but I guess vets will have to be next week as I can't keep having this every night!

Was going to suggest this too. Short walk like this might solve the problem completely.

I'll try taking her around the block before bed but I expect she'll only do a wee as she never used to need a poo later. Just seems odd this is a new thing when for years her routine hasn't changed!

Ours has phases where she does this for a few days then she settles back to normal. Longest run has been 5 days and we were concerned too. Then it just stopped and she goes right through the night again. I hope it's this for you too.

Must be something in the air, ours has wanted a 3am poo the last few nights. They've tagged teamed early morning vomits as well this week so it's not been a restful time!

I hope so @scullie! Was there a noticeable trigger that started your dog waking? I genuinely can't think of anything that's changed as her routine is the same!

The only external change I guess is it's much colder now but she normally hops in the bed with son during the night so I don't think it's cos she's waking cold.... I'm not sure if there's a noise she can hear outside at that time that's disturbing her sleep and then she decides she needs to go toilet while she's up!

She's still asleep now after waking me up at 2am last night!

@tizwozliz - argh 2 of them must be even more of a pain! Bad enough the dog up in the night and kid up at 6 haha!

We've had phases of it before, it normally just resolves itself. Fiddling around with walk timings and meal times makes little difference.

Ours has an hour long walk around 9 last night and still didn't 💩 before bed.

Do you feed her before her evening walk? Ideally you want to feed her an hour before to maximise the chances of a poo.

She eats her dinner around 5/5.30pm always has - I don't think she'd eat it earlier as she usually doesn't eat it straight away unless we are also eating then she seems to wait for us to eat.

She goes for a 20/30 min walk around 6.30/7pm and she rarely poos at this time - maybe 2 times in 10 but she does wee and then she will wee again at around 9.30/10pm but again never poos that late.

She has always done her poos morning like 7am and then mid morning/lunchtime walk! It's just odd. I hope it stops soon!

Try moving her food later. It worked for our dog (now gets fed at 7.30)

Thinking about it, the phases for us often seem to coincide with changes in the weather. Last time it was when it was very hot, now there's snow on the ground.

My dog does this. A walk before bed and let the 13 yo know. You won't be far if there is an issue. I assume he has a phone.
You say they never do a late night poo, but they've never woken at 2 before either.
After a few days they forget their new habit.
Mine sometimes barks at foxes so I do also wait a few minutes to see if they go back to bed.

can you show her the poo bag
let her in the garden for a poo

urinary infection

I think it becomes a habit for them. They do it once, get the attention, and then continue to do it.
If you can delay her last walk / wee.
If you are happy that she is not ill, then go back to house training rules.

Middle of the night , go out, she does what she needs to do, comes in. No rewards , pats or fuss though; don't be angry of course but keep things very blank.

She will get fed up when there is no reward.

Our dog did and we moved to feeding them once a day in the morning.
They got used to it very quickly and actually some studies is showing that it's better for their health to be fed once a day.

Not so good for large breed dogs though and can increase the risk of bloat.

That can be true. But the research coming out is pretty positive for most dogs.

Can't the teen watch the child?

I'd have the vet assess the dog for kidney problems.

@Dearg yes I fear it is becoming a habit. She is certainly getting no fuss at all! I quickly get her from son's room take her downstairs open the door to her very boring area for toileting, she does her business and straight back to bed no interaction at all!

I will try popping out for a later walk tonight but thinking back earlier this week she did do a poo one of the evenings she went out at 7ish and she still woke in night for it!! So not sure it will make a difference but I can only hope!