how long before they should sleep about 8 hours at night???

We take our 2 girls - ages 15 1/2 & 17 weeks out at 10:00 for the night. They eat their dinner at 6pm and last water is around 8:30.
the older puppy gets up at 1:30 and again at 5:00. the younger gets up at 5:00 also to go out. They both pee & poop during the night.
Is there an age where they can go all night or should I just take them out when they wimper until they stop having to go at night. I am afraid it will become a habit that they will want to get up at night, but I dont want them to mess their beds if I try to make them wait until 6am.
Occasionally they have both gone as long as 8 hours, but that is very infrequent.
I have tried taking them out as late as 11:00pm, but they still get up at the same times during the night.
Any ideas??

Lily was doing the same thing. We were up 3x a night. We started letting her sleep with us and she would sleep all night, so we then knew she could hold it all night. We put her back in her crate, and she started the whining again. This time we knew it was so we would let her in bed with us, so we started ignoring her. Over the course of about a week, she stopped whining and now sleeps all night in her crate with no whining. She goes to bed about 10:00 PM. We take her out right before bed. She can not hold it past 7:00 AM. She will start whining then and she immediately poops and pees within 2 mins. of going out.

lily is 15 weeks & we got her at 6 weeks & never up once during the night. She goes into her crate everynight at 9pm & dosent wake us up until any time from 8am. Things change with shifts but ideally she can have around 10 hrs or more..... each dog different though arent they. Hope they sleep better soon.....

should I just let them whine and see what happens?
They havent slept with us as I am afraid they will fall of the bed (it is very high), but when we get from pottying, they are lunging for our bed (their crates are in our room). I think this is probably because we let them snuggle with us a little while before going to sleep at night.

lily said:

lily is 15 weeks & we got her at 6 weeks & never up once during the night. She goes into her crate everynight at 9pm & dosent wake us up until any time from 8am. Things change with shifts but ideally she can have around 10 hrs or more..... each dog different though arent they. Hope they sleep better soon.....

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6 weeks My pups are over 6 weeks old and I can't imagine them leaving. They were "just" weaned. You have shocked me. NONE of my 6 week olds can go through the night without getting up.

Our bed is very high too. Lily also jumped to get on the bed every night. You could try letting them sleep with you one night just to see if they really are just whining to get out of the crates. We put Lily between us and she was fine. If they sleep all night with you with no whining, then you will know they can hold it. She never once whined while sleeping with us. We knew then that she was faking it :lol:

I think it's cruel to insist that a tiny puppy hold it in all night. It's also dangerous to have a young puppy sleep in the bed...there are a lot of stories related to this that do not have good outcomes. I would let them call the shots until about 6 months old...if they whine , and they do have to pee, then they should . It's very unhealthy to make them keep it in.

as a general rule of thumb puppies are supposed to be able to "hold it" as many months as they are old.. for example a 3 month old can hold it for 3 hours, a 4 month old 4 hours etc..

When Kosmo was 4 months I got up once in the middle of the night every single night. My neighbors thought I was nuts as Kos also refused to potty on anywhere other than grass which just happened to be a block away.. :sl*p: So here we come at 2:00 in the morning.. :sl*p: When he was about 6 1/2 months I forgot to set the alarm clock one night and he had slept clear through till morning without needing to go out. I asked my vet about this and she said that he was most likely able to hold it through the night, and he was. I stopped taking him out every single night. I still take him out sometimes at 11 1/2 months, but it's not very often now. If he comes up and "makes out" with me in the middle of the night I know he wants something and I'll get up and let him out.

If you know that the puppy is sleeping all night when sleeping with you with no whining, then I don't think it is cruel to think they can hold it in the crate. I am not suggesting to MAKE a puppy hold it all night if they really have to go. I was suggesting that she could try letting the Pups sleep with them to see if they whined. She would then know if they truly were whining to go out or for attention. I said sleeping with them for one night, not forever. Lily was about 16 or 17 weeks when she was holding all night, until then she was going out once during the night.

So if they pee in the bed then it's for real? not an experiment I'd recommend, also they may tend to expect to sleep in the bed every night after that.

I have never, ever had a puppy or older dog pee in the bed. They will usually give you some indication that they have to go. Throw up yes, tee-tee no. Not saying that it can't happen, but it's never happened to me.

Glad Tucker doesn't pee in his bed, lol he shares it with me !

How long should this guy hold it?


He is over 6 weeks old.

How sweet. Lily didn't hold it all night until she was 16 or 17 weeks old. I have never heard of a puppy 6 weeks old or that little holding it all night.

Hmm 2 hours - OK Sandy I'll do it!! Every 2 hours in the middle of the night.. every half hour (which is what I did with Kosmo until he knew what outside was for) until he got the hang of it.. ..

I want him I want him!!

PS - Love your new avatar.. :lotsaluv:

I got Wesley at 8 weeks and he would sleep through the night without having to go. It's always been that way. He's 12 weeks now and his last meal is at 5pm. Last drink at 6-7pm. Goes to bed at 9-9:30pm and isn't up until 7am to go potty.

7am breakfast - 1/3 cup
Noon lunch - 1/3 cup
5pm dinner - 1/3 cup

And all potties and poops whenever needed in-between. I don't try to make him hold it, but immediately when he wakes from a nap he's taken out. Also immediately after he's done playing with me I take him potty outside. As well as before and after he sleeps. The schedule seems to work really well and the minimal accidents during the day have been my fault for losing track of time. But I've never had a problem with him going in the crate.

Maybe the pups need to have their crates in separate rooms at night so they don't wake eachother and then have to get up and go potty. At least do that until they are trained with no accidents for a good month or so. Cause I sure know if I get up during the night I have to pee, and good luck getting me back to sleep without going.

Wesley's crate has been downstairs and away from our room since the 3rd night here. He was doing so well, I knew it was time for him to be alone so that we don't accidently wake him at night with our tossing and turning. I have a feeling the pups may accidently be waking each other and then deciding they want to potty and maybe even play. Oh, and he poops about 4 times a day if that helps.

Good luck!

If they can hold it all night when they sleep with you, then I'd assume they can hold it all night. I'd put them in the crate, it's safer and put them in a different room. Sounds harsh but even the title of this thread screams, "You need more sleep!"

I agree Pauline. That was the point I was trying to make in my post. If they don't wake up all night to go while in the bed, they should be able to sleep through the night in the crate. This will of course be at a different age for different puppies.

When we got our beloved Charley, he was either 12 or 14 weeks old.

He was crated, in our bedroom at night.

He'd wake up a few times every night, cry and I'd take him outside for a tinkle.

After 3 weeks of this, I called the breeder and asked how long I could expect this to last....

She informed me that he'd been sleeping through the night when I got him!!!!

Then she laughed and told me that pups wake up and just want company.

We then left him to cry a bit, at the breeders suggestion.....he started to sleep through the night when we let him be...he never soiled his crate.

Hope this helps.

Yeah, thankfully my breeder told me Dylan will go to bed at 9pm and sleep through to 7am. I put him to bed later than that at varied times but I get up between 8 and 8:20am and he is fine, but then he never cries in his crate, we have to keep taking a look to see if he is still sleeping or sitting up, you wouldn't know he wanted out.