Making it through the night

[Zoey's Mommy]

Zoey is 6 months old and is doing well at her housebreaking. As long as we catch her standing at the door she will hold it. She doesn't verbally let us know yet, so if we're in another room she has been known to go on the couch or blanket. My question is how long until she can make it though the night. She sleeps in a crate by our bed and usually starts whinning anywhere from 12:00-3:00 in the morning. She stays crated during the day for up to 7 hours and can hold it then.
Thanks

[Shay]

i don't know if there is a magical age that they sleep all nite without whining, or become completely trained. we have a 2.5 yr old, Jasmine that is mostly trained, but will pee on the couch in defiance and she whines in her crate if she feels like there is a good chance i will give in and let her out. and sometimes i do. and no that isn't being consistent, but i could never let my human baby lie in bed and cry either. maybe if you get her out at 3am, and if she doesn't go "potty", put her back in and don't offer any praise or treats. only out to do business. and eventually maybe the whining will only come when it really needs to go out. be sure to praise or treat for the good behavior. that is so important to these sweet little poochies. we also have a 2 month old, Ginger, that is doing well with going out, she will whine at the door. BUT if unattended or if her whining is ignored even for a minute, she will pee or poop wherever she happens to be. and that includes the crate. good luck with the training, and be patient when they have accidents, sometimes even after years of complete training, they'll just start peeing somewhere......sometimes there is a real reason and sometimes it's because they want to. gotta love em tho!!!

[OwnedByChaucer]

I don't know how big Zooey is, but if she's super-tiny, you may have to deal with this alot.

both my pups are housebroken, and both sleep with us. Chaucer, at 20 lbs could hold it for a year. He pretty muhc always sleeps through the night.

My Gidget however, weighs less than 8 pounds, and she has a VERY hard time sometimes. she's almost a year old now--Mommy gets up a lot to take her potty, and she always goes right away. She's fine on nights when mommy sleep 6-7 hours or less, but she has trouble after that, whether she's in her crate or in the bed. She's rarely home alone more than 7 hours, as my hubby telecommutes part of each day....she does seem to be getting better at making it 8-9 hours on the rare occassions she is alone that long now....but she's just a tiny thing so I suspect she'll never be able to go like Chaucer, who now can manage with peeing only 2x a day....

[Snorodent]

We are in the process of house breaking Opal now... She is 17 weeks. Two weeks ago I started leaving her in her crate all night, from 12:00 am till 7:00am. I was expecting to see an accident but didnt. I think this is due to us putting her in her crate one to two hours a day since the time we got her even if we were home. The secret to not whining and yelping I think is we put her in her crate down stairs in the kitchen say good night and thats that. Two nights she yelped a while, but with in a few days she is now silent at night. She will cry in there in the morning when its time to go pee thats for sure!
Sometimes it works if you use your crate as an added housebreaking tool. With Opal she is crated or gated in our kichen unless she has just been out to do her business. SHe knows if she pees and poops, she gets an hour to run silly in the whole house and a cookie. The first few accidents resulted in getting a stern talkign to and put in her crate so she avoids that now. We went from 4 to 5 peeing accidents a day to less than one a day and its always on the kitchen floor. Get up, walk, feed, then walk for poop, crate, then uncrate, walk, feed, play, crate..... It really works to have a schedule. Hang in there, and hold onto that Sanity!

Stacy and Opal
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[Krista]

We got Roscoe at 15 weeks old and he NEVER had an accident in his crate. He could hold it for 7 hours at night. Rudy might have had a few accidents in his crate, but not very many.

I would think by 6 months of age, most pups should be able to hold it through the night. I would try leaving her in her crate for a minimum of 6 hours, whether she cries or not for a few days. She may just be lonely and wants out of bed, rather than not being able to hold it. If you make it a practice to let her out at 3am she will continue to want out at that time as her internal clock will be set by her schedule.

Personally, our breeder suggested not letting them out during the night from 16 weeks on. I did 6 hours a night at first and then increased to 7 hours after 6 months of age.

*Knock on Wood* but I am happy to say that Rudy has not had an accident in well over a year and Roscoe hasn't had one (besides when he was sick) in over 4 months. Rudy will be two on 6/22 and Roscoe turned one 4/8.

[Oscar's Mom]

Oscar was 4 months when he started sleeping thru the night. About how many hours is it when she wakes up? She could have just formed a habit of it and trained you in the process.