Wake up pup for a wee in the night or wait for them to tell me?

[Birchwoods]

We're due to bring our lab puppy home in a few weeks when he will be eight weeks old.

I've been reading up to prepare in advance of him coming home and most of the books say to set your alarm and wake the puppy up at intervals during the night and take them out for a wee, but a lot of people seem to just wait for the pup to wake up and tell them they need a wee.

I'm happy to set my alarm and take him out; is this the best way to do it and then gradually increase the amount of time between wees until he can wait until the morning? Or should I wait for him to whine and let me know he needs to go? I can see that the latter might lead to more accidents and also him learning that if he whines I'll go to him?

Maybe we were just lucky but DPup slept right through the night, no accidents in her crate from the beginning. I’d put her to bed with last toilet time around midnight and just take her out into the garden first thing at 5:30/6am. Personally would never wake a sleeping puppy!

How exciting OP! I wouldn't leave it more than 4-5hours over night without taking Dpup out for the first few days at least. The problem with waiting for pup to wake up/whine is by the time you actually get to him/her and get them outside it's probably too late but if you are waking them and taking them straight outside they're more likely to go outside so will probably speed up the toilet training a little.

We alternated sleeping downstairs with our baby pup so someone else as always with him.
it meant that we were right there when he showed he wanted a pee and were able to get him outside at double quick speed.
it was exhausting but meant his need were being met.

personally wouldn’t have expected him to stick to a timetable while so young.

being there 24-7 is essential for the first few months.

ask yourself if yous have left your baby to cry it out or expect them to stick to a routine from day one, then you have your answer.

expect many sleepless nights 😝

I'm in the Let Sleeping Dogs Lie camp!

Our puppy slept in our room and woke us up when he needed a wee. He never had a single accident overnight.

I wouldn't be waking a puppy up - you're ingraining that 'mum wakes me up for wees.' Bigger dogs often can hold their bladders overnight, or at least 6-7 hours, from about 8-9 weeks. Most of my pups go home sleeping through the night (Goldies).

You want a dog to tell you when it needs to go out, so not sure why you wouldn't want them to? It's not like training them to be alone when returning when they cry is bad...a dog knowing what to do to alert a human that they need the toilet is crucial.

I slept on the sofa with mine, he woke me up when he needed to pee. He'd cracked it within a fortnight and good nights sleeps resumed 😄
Good luck op, I was frazzled for a while with a new pup. However, the difficult time passed v v quickly

We’re one week into a new puppy - trying to let her sleep through and going mostly OK so far. Couple of accidents, but mostly she’s holding it till the morning, letting us know she’s ready quite vocally. Crated at night, well away from our slightly pissed off cat…

I'm also team "wait for them to wake up", otherwise they get used to it and then it takes ages to get the dog out of the routine. It only took ours two weeks to sleep through the night.

I would have the puppy with you (whether that's in your room or you sleep downstairs) overnight - then you would wake up. I think the setting an alarm thing is if you didn't have the pup with you.

I forgot to add I will of course be sleeping downstairs with him until he's settled in. I couldn't leave my children to cry so don't stand much chance of leaving a ridiculously cute puppy to cry! Not that I'd want to.

Maybe that's the answer then. Don't wake him but sleep close enough that I can whip him outside as soon as he tells me he needs a wee.

This is what we did and it worked well. For about a month we slept right next to where she was on a sofa bed. She didn’t “wake us up” as such, she was actually very silent until much older. The sound of her getting up and pottering around the kitchen woke us up. Then after a month we moved upstairs and set the alarm for about 10mins before her usual wake up time and gradually lengthened the time.

good luck and enjoy 😃

I slept alongside the puppy and waited for them to whine to be let out. I either slept downstairs with them or had their cage upstairs by my bed. I always carried them outside, so they didn't wee on the way to the door.

I’ve always slept downstairs close to the crate for the first week or so and taken them out when they whinge in the night, and they’ve all been sleeping through within a week or so (say from 11-6)

I've had two lab puppies. We slept close initially and waited for them to wake us. Neither of them had any accidents overnight. I think they both only woke once overnight between 11pm and 6 am for the first couple of weeks and after that would sleep through.

My pup slept in my room in her crate. I would take her out as soon as she woke and whined. She had a few accidents but was sleeping through after a week.

They sleep in my room and I wake up when they begin to stir

I never let mine out of their crate when they’re moaning because I don’t want to teach them to moan to get out of their crate so if you wait for that, you could have a problem. Maybe stop by testing if they can get through the night and if not start waking them for the second night then try again 10 days or so later.

My dog was left in his sleeping room from day 1, mopable floor, puppy pad down. He coped just fine