# taking water away at night?



## bklantz

My 10 month basset still isn't sleeping though the night without getting up to pee at least once. Normally I keep water out all the time but the other night she drank like a whole bowl before bed and I just think well duh of course she has to pee she just drank like 2 gallons of water!

So I was thinking of putting the water up so she wasn't drinking before bed but I have no clue when to put it up! She eats around 8ish and we go to bed around 10:30 or 11. 

Also, I'm in Iowa so it can get pretty hot and muggy so I'm not sure if maybe I shouldn't since she will get warm? We don't have central air, just a window unit but that is in the living room so our room just has the windows open but the room is actually usually cooler than the rest of the house somehow.

Any ideas would be great!


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## Bordermom

I would take it away at dinnertime, after she's eaten. You may want to start by only giving her a smaller amount than she has at first, and then working towards no water after dinner. If she's really uncomfortable she'll let you know. It may take her a few days to figure it out, but she'll soon get the idea to drink in the morning. 

Lana


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## Dog_Shrink

My general rule of thumb IF the dog has no medical reasons for excessive drinking such as kidney infection/disease, UTI, etc. then we usually take water away from pups 2 hours before we go to bed so that we know the 2 or 3 trips out before bed they will be empty. If you have a play session you can quench thirst with a few ice cubes. Enuff to kill the thirst but not enuff to fill the bladder. I don't know how big your basset is yet but for a 70 pound dog they don't need to consume any more than 2 liters of water a day which comes to about a cup-ish of water an hour (not including sleep time at night). The drinking an entire bowl of water (in my house a bowl in almost 12 inches in diameter and 4 inches deep for our water bowls) is kinda odd IMO. There is actually a medical term for excessive drinking called POLYDIPSIA. If you think she is drinking excessively then talk to your vet about it. There are several medical reasons that will have a side effect of polydipsia.


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## KBLover

bklantz said:


> So I was thinking of putting the water up so she wasn't drinking before bed but I have no clue when to put it up! She eats around 8ish and we go to bed around 10:30 or 11.


I take up Wally's water just before I take him out for the last time. That way he's "peed out" and no worries. 

Wally's bed time is usually (usually) around 12 AM.


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## Maliraptor

Yep. We take up Aedan's water at 8pm, bedtime is 10pm. He gets water back at 6-7am when he gets out of his crate.


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## healthdawg415

I would never take water away from a dog, they cannot get up during the night and go to the sink and pour water into a cup like we can. Not to sound mean or offensive I would call this being lazy on your part. It is annoying to have to get up to take the dog out but we love them and we do it...I would hate to see how you would react to the dog once he gets older and has to go more. Try taking the dog out to pee before you go to bed and maybe the dog will be fine throughout the night. Just keep in mind that the dog has a disadvantage over humans they cannot just get up for water or just get up to use the restroom. Don't take the most important thing for them and put it out of their reach because he has to pee again during the night.- Allison


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## Robrowe

Some dogs will exhibit this behavoir of excessive drinking. Have him checked out to make sure there are no helath issues first. I went through the same thing with Murphy for awhile. He was a pee factory and I was convinced he learned from a shampoo bottle, drink...pee...repeat. I was out the door every 20 minutes all day and half the night. I had to limit it during the day too. I always picked up his water about an hour before bed time. It was a phase he went through and after checking with the vet there was no reason for him to be consuming this much water and was told by both the vet and trainer to pick it up.


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## Maliraptor

healthdawg415 said:


> I would never take water away from a dog, they cannot get up during the night and go to the sink and pour water into a cup like we can. Not to sound mean or offensive I would call this being lazy on your part. It is annoying to have to get up to take the dog out but we love them and we do it...I would hate to see how you would react to the dog once he gets older and has to go more. Try taking the dog out to pee before you go to bed and maybe the dog will be fine throughout the night. Just keep in mind that the dog has a disadvantage over humans they cannot just get up for water or just get up to use the restroom. Don't take the most important thing for them and put it out of their reach because he has to pee again during the night.- Allison


My dogs are crated at night, so I'm sure that's pretty lazy to you also, since they cannot get up and get water whenever they feel like it, or destroy couches, hurt themselves by ingesting things they should not, etc, etc. Shame on me for not staying up 24/7 to watch them.

It has nothing to do with being lazy, it has to do with helping to housebreak/potty train a dog, and setting him/her up for success instead of failure by peeing in a crate, or next to or ON the owner's bed. Not every puppy will make a noise to go out when the owner is asleep. In fact, few do. If my puppy whines, I get up and take him out.

Also- dogs do not go to the bathroom more as they turn into adults, the reverse is true.


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## MegaMuttMom

I stopped getting my kids drinks of water at night when I figured out they were just wanting company. They also stopped needing diapers at night when they stopped tanking up at bedtime. I never wake up to drink at night. If I did, I would think about whether I consume enough water during the day. Sleeping is meant to be just that, sleep. The last thing I want to do is drink a big glass of water before bed, I will surely have to pee around 4AM. No fun! Dogs do not have to drink in the night.


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## Dog_Shrink

healthdawg415 said:


> I would never take water away from a dog, they cannot get up during the night and go to the sink and pour water into a cup like we can. Not to sound mean or offensive I would call this being lazy on your part. It is annoying to have to get up to take the dog out but we love them and we do it...I would hate to see how you would react to the dog once he gets older and has to go more. Try taking the dog out to pee before you go to bed and maybe the dog will be fine throughout the night. Just keep in mind that the dog has a disadvantage over humans they cannot just get up for water or just get up to use the restroom. Don't take the most important thing for them and put it out of their reach because he has to pee again during the night.- Allison


It's not cruel to take water up from a dog that is in potty training and ANY vet will tell you that taking a dog's water up at night is NOT harmful, lazy or cruel... it's LOGICAL. While my pup Luna was in her potty training phase she didn't have water at night (until just this last month. I was finally willing to leave the bowl down for her at night and guess what... she doesn't touch it), and when Ollie my senior boxer/am. bull went thru his kidney issue and his polydypsia it was more HARMFUL than helpful to let him drink all he wanted. Regulating water is no different than regulating food or play time IMO. Saying it's taking away thier life's blood is a HUGE misconception on your part and by no means lazy on the part of owners who do it.


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## SethAndToken

I too take away water about two hours before I am going to go to bed for the night, even with puppies. By controlling when it goes in I control when it comes out, to an extent. If they don't have the water intake they wont be peeing it out at 3 am when I am sleeping! Also Token will drink water until he throws up if I leave it out 24/7. I fill his bowl of water ever couple of hours for that reason and take it away at night.


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## Papilove

I also pick up water at 8 pm, and we go to bed at 10.


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## bklantz

Well seems the general consensus thinks this is a good idea  

I don't think I'm being lazy either, if she keeps getting up I'm just afraid it will become routine for her and even if she doesn't have to go she will want to go out just because she is so use to getting up every single night. I will probably still leave water out if it is really hot out though, it gets really humid here sometimes and it's pretty bad to sleep in and I'm not even covered in fur 

I took her water up at 9 last night and she ended up getting up at 3am to poop, go figure  she didn't pee so I think that's a good sign!

Thanks for everyone's input!


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## Dog_Shrink

Don't feed her for at least 2-3 hours before you put her to be either. Something like a small cookie for good potty is ok but nothing major and I would say no mroe than 2-3 small cookies. If you think that she'll be thirsty during the night leave a bowl of about 8 ice cubes out for her, as they melt she can drink the water or eat teh cubes. Either way the thirst is dealt with and you're controling the amount of water she takes in during the night. Believe me she's not going to dehydrate over night in 90 degree weather with 80% humidity. If my kidney dog is ok I think she'll be fine. Like you said... the point right now is to AVOID getting in the habit of her getting up in the middle of the night.


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## sassafras

Another vote for "it's ok". We don't purposefully take up the water at night, but the dogs sleep in the bedroom with us with the door shut (the cats aren't allowed in at night, a whole 'nother story) so they can't get to it.


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