5 mo puppy suddenly poops at night

[jool92]

Hi everyone, I've been lurking here for a while and since you're all so great with advice I thought maybe you will be able to help me sort out this issue. My almost 5 months old puppy has been having accidents at night (more like early morning even) for the past 3 days. Up till now she has been really good with her potty training and was able to hold it overnight. We feed her 3 times a day, at 7 am, 1 pm and 7 pm. After the last meal she is moderately active for a while and then naps until the last potty break, which we take her for at around 10 pm. Then she goes to bed and sleeps all night no problem. As I've said, up to this point she has been able to hold it overnight until 6, sometimes even 7 am. And that was the case even if she didn't poop during the walk at 10 pm. So now we're really puzzled by that sudden change. The first two days when this happened she didn't poop during her last walk, so we ascribed this morning surprise poo to that. But yesterday, we tried giving her her last meal at 6 pm and she also pooped at 9 pm. However, this morning the poo was there on the floor waiting for us. Do you have any idea what may be the cause of the sudden change? We didn't change her food. Before the first night it happened we gave her a dentastix and we thought she simply had more poo because she ate more than her daily intake. But the next two days seem to show it is not the case. I should also add that the poo looks perfectly normal. We're really at a loss here and any input would be of great help!

Just want to clarify, that we are not really worried about her going in the house, we're just surprised by the change. She is actually doing good with potty training. Obviously not there yet since she's still a baby, but in the day she signals that she has to go and is fine when home alone. But at 5 months old we understand that if she has to go, she has to go (would be nice if she let us know, but maybe she doesn't want to wake us up at night ) and won't really care yet if it's in the house or not.

Oh, and since I'm new to the forum, please meet my Buba

 

[Hceril]

No advice from me but I am sure you will get some shortly!

But welcome and Buba is adoraBull! I love his eyeliner!!

 

[sisters3]

What an adorable face!!!! I'm no expert but I can say what has worked for Joey (4 years old) She has always been fed twice per day, last feeding at 5pm She did not get free run of the house until beyond 7 months and that was only AFTER we spent weeks training her out of the crate to run of the house. I believe that the secret is that you need to catch her in the act OR hear her whining from crate to go outside.

Have you ever crate trained her? In the beginning?

 

[mer55]

Just a couple of thoughts: Is she crated at night? She may have too much room to roam. If she is getting up at night and walking around, it may stimulate the intestines to start moving! Have you had her stool checked for parasites? That too can cause more frequent stools, and not necessarily loose or diarrhea either. If parasites are ruled out, I would go back to basics and contain her at night. Good luck!!

 

[helsonwheels]

[MENTION=19266]jool92[/MENTION] how much you feeding her each meal? What are you feeding her n what’s her treats? Poop can be inside for a few days so not because you fed her one day at 6 her system will change. Takes a few days.... The 1pm, why don’t you feed her at noon instead n supper at 5. For time being, remove water around 7pm. Or/and feed 2x a day 7 n 5. Also she’s only 5months old. Still a puppy n will have accidents.

 

[NicosMom]

I have a 6 month old pup and at 5 months she started sneaking out of bed in the middle of the night and going downstairs to poop on the floor. They were firm poops and she had gone poo before we went to bed. She did this for about a week and then she just stopped. When I cleaned it up in the morning I let her know I wasn't happy (but didn't yell at her, just gave her the stink eye and said no :-)) and she always looked ashamed. It might be happening while their going through a growth spurt or something... I'm not sure but now she's good and hasn't done it for while. We free feed and when she was younger put the bowl away about 7:00p.m.; now she doesn't eat at night even with her food there.

 

[cefe13]

Castor says hi to Buba! Sweet girl!

As you say, she's just a pup. Perhpas she has dreams or there is some noise that wakes her up? Perhaps you could take her out once in the night? Long after Castor was housetrained I set the alarm clock and took him out in the middle of the night just to be on the safe side.

We actually had a weird setback too - Castor suddenly started wetting his bed, and he seemed as surprised as we were every time. I asked for help here on the forum and was advised to check if there was a draught. We actually kept the bedroom window open so we moved Castor's bed outside of the bedroom and away from the draught, and the bedwetting stopped immediately. So it could be such a small detail!

 

[jool92]

Thank you for your replies, everyone!

We're not crating her, never have. It's simply not that popular here in Poland and she's doing perfectly well without it. She only has access to our living room (which is fully puppyproof), she spends all the time here and this is where she has her bed. She still signals when she needs to go out in the day, so it seems to me the problem might be the result of her waking up (due to teething perhaps? or dreams as you said, or there could have been some draught actually!) and maybe being too sleepy to remember about letting us know? Or it could be some weird temporary setback, as some of you experienced. Looks like they happen more than we think!

We'll try modifying her feeding and potty times a bit and see how that goes.

And thank you all for the nice words about my girl!

 

[cefe13]

...We're not crating her, never have. It's simply not that popular here in Poland and she's doing perfectly well without it....

Same thing here - and in Sweden it's even against the law to crate dogs in your house. Good luck with your little girl!

 

[helsonwheels]

Same thing here - and in Sweden it's even against the law to crate dogs in your house. Good luck with your little girl!

When I had only one dog, I never crated any of them. If I left the house the pup was enclosed in a room. But when you have 2 dogs n more, you might think differently. My crate is open 24/7 they love to sleep in it. Like their little safe place. Nyala as most knows she can be bossy. When I got Jake, there was no way I would of trust her alone with him while I’m gone out. They would do that stare..wham...fight! Took a few months to correct both so they can trust n learn to live with one another. I can now leave both together. Also, not easy for young pups or rescues to roam freely in a home that’s not trained to your liking. A crate can also be for their safety. I just read a young pup chewed on an electric cord which zapped his gums n affected his lungs. He needed surgery.

 

[2BullyMama]

Welcome to EBN... You little girl is a cutie pie!

At five months they usually can only hold it for about 6 hours, so try to keep that in mind. But, sometimes, they just have a set back and you have to reinforce the schedule.

Gang gave great advice.... please keep us posted


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[oscarmayer]

Feed 1 cup twice per day(@7:00am & again @ 4:00pm). Crate at night in a smallish crate. I would expect your issue to immediately cease. Try it for one week and report back.

 

[OptimisticBully]

Great advice!

It happens, sometimes.....my boy is 31 months, it still happens sometimes. It’s usually when he eats dinner late.

I’ve realise I’m really lucky! He sleep with me in the bedroom, when he need to “go” just jumps on the bed, it a half jump. Only front paws up. He’ll do it once or twice, sit on the floor near my face, telling he need to go. Ya, he doesn’t care about disturbing my sleep, but I don’t mind it, because there is nothing to clean. He’s been doing this after the first two weeks of housebreaking.

Maybe you should keep Buba with you in the bedroom!

 

[OptimisticBully]

Same here, just like helsonwheels. Crate is open 24/7, he loves to go in for some cozy time. When I go out, I always keep him in my bedroom, which is large.

 

[cefe13]

When I had only one dog, I never crated any of them. If I left the house the pup was enclosed in a room. But when you have 2 dogs n more, you might think differently. My crate is open 24/7 they love to sleep in it. Like their little safe place. Nyala as most knows she can be bossy. When I got Jake, there was no way I would of trust her alone with him while I’m gone out. They would do that stare..wham...fight! Took a few months to correct both so they can trust n learn to live with one another. I can now leave both together. Also, not easy for young pups or rescues to roam freely in a home that’s not trained to your liking. A crate can also be for their safety. I just read a young pup chewed on an electric cord which zapped his gums n affected his lungs. He needed surgery.

I see what you mean, but people here who have several dogs just keep them in separate rooms if needed. Closed crates is simply not an option in Sweden if you follow the law. I see the benefit of a safe space, but to crate a dog to hinder unwanted behaviour usually means that the crate door is closed, and there different countries have different regulations!