When will he sleep through the night?

[Max's Mom in ME]

I am a pround new parent (have had my doxie for 7 weeks) of a great little 4 1/2 mo old miniture long-haired Dachshund named Max. I haven't been through "puppyhood" for 13 years and I've never owned a Dachshund. My little fella goes out before bed at 8pm, gets up at 11pm, 2am, my husband lets him out at 4am when he gets up, and I let him out at 7am when I get up. Is this normal for a 4 1/2 mo old. He sleeps in his crate (or with us) and pees in his crate if we don't get downstairs in time (he never poops in his crate). His crate size is the next size up from the smallest. I have a few other questions - 1) Do I need to make his crate smaller and how (it's a plastic pet carrier type), 2) When will he ask for the door and 3) How do you train a doxie to ask for the door? He is great at going outside, but pees in his crate during the day when we're at work (I go home at lunch to let him out daily). Any guidance for this new mother would be appreciated.

[Rusty's mom]

Sounds like your little guy is a true dashie - we have 3 and none of them have ever 'asked for the door.' They will 'go to it' and if you're not on your toes they 'go by it.' I've heard that some people have trained their dashies to ring a bell that is place by the door. Ours were about 7 months old before they slept thru the night - but not all take that long. Yes, they can be extremely difficult to housebreak. I would recommend the book "Dachshunds for Dummies" as it really have a lot of great information in it. You also might want to read back thru the postings in this section for more information. And congratulations on your little one.

Kathy - mom to Rusty, Duffer and Hobbs

[Belle71901]

I would Suggest Reading: How to housebreak your dog in 7 days. By Shirlee Kalstone. It covers pretty much everything to do with Housebreaking(Asking to be let out, ect.) It was a big help to me. Belle was the same way for the first couple weeks after we got her..... Puppys will go in thier crate if it is to big..... I have the plastic pet carrier/crate also as those kennels for housebreaking are much to big for Belle. The crate should only be big enough for him to easly turn around in. Belle is only 6 lbs. and 6 in. tall so her kennel is the smallest size.
Good Luck!!! :) I hope I have helped some:)
Christina and :angel: "Princess Belle"

[Meemoo]

Don't give pupper water past 7pm, otherwise she won't be able to hold it all night. If you feel she needs a drink, give an icecube.

[Max's Mom in ME]

I will pick that up. Like I said, he always goes right away when I bring him out, cries at night for me to take him out, etc. What's killing me is the sleep deprivation because he gets me up 2 - 4 times a night. Ugh. Should I bring him to the vet again to see if he has a urinary problem or is that just normal for miniature doxies?

[Max's Mom in ME]

I do pick up his water dish 2 -3 hrs before bedtime. I've tried everything and he still gets me up 2 - 4 times a night. I'm looking forward to a full night's sleep again and was just wondering a) is this normal for a 5 month old miniture Dachshund? and b) if not, what could the problem be? and if so, c) when can I expect him to go the whole night without asking to go out?

[Mark]

Yes, be sure to take him to the Vet just to be sure. :) If that is clear . . . then it's housebreaking, housebreaking, housebreaking. :D

As far as "when he will go the whole night" . . . every Dachsie is different. Maybe next month . . . maybe in a year.

[shannonr]

Hi-We are new to doxies (our other 2 dogs are mixed breeds and 7/8 yrs old.) We had forgotten about puppies and them getting up at night. What we did with ours was first, get him on a schedule. This is a bit easier because I take him to work with me but do the best you can. We try and feed him as close to the same times each day. That means the last meal is at no later than 6 pm. Then, we take him out the LAST thing before we go to bed. Sometimes if I am up late watching the news, I'll even take him out one more time. Then, he goes in his crate, which goes in the kitchen by the fridge. For some reason, the cycling of the fridge has always been a noise he has liked (I guess similar to the clicking clock type thing.) So, if he is in the kitchen, it's pretty hard for us to hear him at first. The first night or 2 we tried this, I treated it like a 6 or 8 month old baby and used positive reinforcement. To start with, I would not jump out of bed at the first cry, I went a little longer each night and I would say after night 3, he was sleeping through the night. But when I did go, I tried to get him to calm down and stop crying before I got him out of the crate (try no to reinforce the crying by giving him the reward of taking him out.)And if it was 2 or 4 or even 6 am and he needed to go, we got out, went potty, and went right back in. I did not make it into any sort of play or fun time. I know he peed in the crate a few times but that has all but dissappeared. Now, he sleeps totally through the night and is actually up AFTER I get up!
I think the most important thing though is to set up some type of schedule/routine if you can, and try and stretch out the time periods before you jump up and go to him at night, and maybe put him a little further away from you right now so you dont hear the first whimper. I'm trying to figure out how people who work and dont bring their dogs with them to work get through this!

Shannon

[My baby Angus]

Originally posted by Meemoo
Don't give pupper water past 7pm, otherwise she won't be able to hold it all night. If you feel she needs a drink, give an icecube.

Angus had his first ice cube this week, and just loved it! I had no idea dogs liked ice. I guess it probably feels good when they're teething too.