Oh Ellie Mae......how you drive me up the walls sometimes...

[spork3127]

So basically, Ellie has been quite the odd bully the past few weeks. She was having some stomach issues off and on for the previous 6 months and then passed a large chunk of rubber that looked like a door stopper on a wall or a rubber foot on an appliance. Since then she has been waking up between 4:00 and 5:30 a.m. barking. I'll take her to potty and she'll do her business only to expect to be fed immediately after since her normal routine is waking up around 6:30 a.m, go potty, then eat. Well the past couple of nights, I've thrown in a couple of extra potty breaks outside of the normal routine to try and make sure she has an empty bladder before going to bed. On those nights, she's decided to wake up and 3:30 and 2:15 a.m!! Here's our typical daily routine...

6:30 a.m. - Wake up, potty, eat.
7:15a.m. - Potty again if she didn't poop, then crate for the day while we're at work.
4:45/5:00 p.m. - Potty, eat, run of the house until bedtime.
6:00 p.m. - Potty again if she didn't poop.
7:30 p.m. - Potty.
10:00/10:30 p.m. - Potty and then bed.

I don't know what's happened to cause her to all of a sudden need to go potty in the wee hours of the morning. I'm glad that she'll bark to let us know so that we don't wake up to a mess, but what is probably the most frustrating is that if we don't feed her afterwards, she'll continuously bark until we do. We've tried "waiting it out," only to give up after an hour. She's going on 2 years old and hasn't had any issues holding it since she was potty trained around 6 months. Any suggestions as to what could be going on?

 

[2BullyMama]

She has trained you on her new scheduled!!

Seriously, has anything else in the household changed or could she be in some type of pain? Other than barking, is she panting or pacing?

 

[spork3127]

She has trained you on her new scheduled!!

Seriously, has anything else in the household changed or could she be in some type of pain? Other than barking, is she panting or pacing?

I really do think that she has turned the tables! But no, nothing new other than passing that chunk of rubber a few weeks ago prior to all of this starting. The vet did xrays after she passed it and everything looked intact and clear. She's been her typical Ellie self outside of this new quirk. No panting or pacing that I've seen and she hasn't shown any signs of being in pain.

 

[2BullyMama]

She is crated then?

 

[spork3127]

Yes...crated at night. She has a habit of suckling/chewing things until they become a snack, so we opt to play it safe and avoid unnecessary vet bills. :D

 

[2BullyMama]

Yes...crated at night. She has a habit of suckling/chewing things until they become a snack, so we opt to play it safe and avoid unnecessary vet bills. :D

good decision, I have to say ;D So, gotta go back toher training you on a new schedule -- have to tried the water bottle spray to the side of face with a firm NO?

 

[spork3127]

we have. it seems to work for a couple of minutes and then back to the barking. iI'm sure you can imagine that it gets quite tiring getting up and down every few minutes in the early hours.

 

[spork3127]

Just an update, but I said the hell with it last night after she woke up the kiddo with her barking. I was up until about 1:00 a.m. squirting her every few minutes until she finally quieted down. Ellie started back up about 3:00 and received quite a few squirts off and on until it was time to get up at 6:30. The wife was pissy because I kept getting up, but I was determined that she is not going to dictate our nights. This quirk has never been present before and it's worn out its welcome. On the bright side, I probably won't have to give Ellie a bath any time soon.

 

[bella100]

We love Ms Ellie Mae!!!

 

[Baxter Tiberius]

Is it possible she needs more exercise?

Being crated from 730am until 430pm is a long ... long ... long time in a crate.

I would be up all night too. Even if she's never done this before, its possible she's just evolving into this new schedule.

That's 9 hours in her crate all day long. Nothing to do but sleep.

Maybe she's evolved into a "Sleep all day, not tired at night" situation ....

Run of the house in English Bulldog terms means waddling around a bit. Definitely not the type of running and frolicking and wrestling that would wear them out for an entire night.

I take bax to a doggy daycare 2 days a week for this very reason. I work at home and he will sleep all day otherwise. This gets him necessary exercise for at least 5-6 hours a day, and he's knocked out until morning.

 

[Texas Carol]

Has she been checked for bacteria in her urine? Thinking the rubber thingy
may have created a silent UTI or other internal infection?

Can you hire a high schooler/college kid to walk her a couple times a day?