# 4.5 month old puppy suddenly can't sleep through the night?



## ErisDyscordia (Dec 14, 2015)

I have a 4.5 month old Hound/Pit mix (most likely, shelter is guessing). I have had her since she was 9 weeks old. At around 3 months old, she started consistantly sleeping through the night. I could put her in her crate around 11pm and she would be fine until at least 7am, often even later.
Starting about 2 weeks ago, she has been waking up between 2:30am and 5am EVERY night needing to go to the bathroom. I tried ignoring her at first, thinking maybe she was just awake and whining to be let out, but when she didn't stop, I let her out, and she ran right to the door to go outside to do her business. She then came back in and goes back to sleep without me even needing to say "Crate" so I know she isn't getting up to try to play or anything.

And that has continued every night since that first one two weeks ago. I am not feeding her or letting her have water any later than usual, and have even started taking it away a bit earlier than I used to in hopes that it would fix the problem but it hasn't.
Aside from 2 super loose poos in the last 2 weeks, she has had only solid poos, and is eating and drinking normally, and not going outside any more often during the day than she usually does (so I know she isn't just having diarrhea and thus needing to go a lot).
Any idea how I can help her start to sleep through the night again? i am getting tired 

Also, she has gotten able to hold it in the crate up to 6 hours, with no accidents, so I know it isn't like she is having more issues holding it or something. I was stuck in traffic the other day, and she was alone 6 hours, rather than like 4.5-5, and she was just fine. She has only had one crate accident ever, and that was one of the 2 times she had loose poo in the last two weeks (figure she was a little sick to her stomach, since it was all liquid, and just couldn't hold it).


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## Amaryllis (Dec 28, 2011)

This isn't uncommon for puppies. They often regress in potty training, ability to hold it, etc. Especially if they are going through a growth cycle. So just stick it out for a while, nothing much else you can do.


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## MysticRealm (May 30, 2007)

Ya things tend to move forward, then regress, then move forward again. My 5 month old suddenly seemed to 'get' outside potty training (he was sorta pad trained by his breeder till 14 weeks) and hadn't had an accident in the last 4 days, now he's had 5 since last night and today! Last night I think he was so interested in his pig ear that I think he didn't realize he had to go till to late. Then today I have started to put him on leash at work to go potty because he's started to run around outside and have fun instead of just going out to potty. He's never pottied on leash before. I took him out twice on leash yesterday and he peed, but I think he's still a bit off about going on leash, plus I got a bit frustrated and scare him this morning so he was even more wary about going so I had to work with him on getting past being a it nervous with lots of praises and yummy treats. His last 2 pees were at work were on leash outside, but at home he peed inside again. So back to being very structured for a bit.


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## hanksimon (Mar 18, 2009)

I agree. Maintain the training. However, once reason for behavioral changes at that age is teething - puppies can lose baby teeth and grow adult teeth at 4 mos, resulting in sore gums.


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## ErisDyscordia (Dec 14, 2015)

Thanks so much, all! I was worried that maybe something was medically wrong since it as a sudden change. So I am glad to hear that this can be normal. I will just ride it out and hope it resolves soon. Luckily she still is houstrained well, and has not had any accidents inside aside from that one diarrhea incident when I wasn't home, so could be worse!


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## rkj__ (Dec 15, 2015)

Amaryllis said:


> This isn't uncommon for puppies. They often regress in potty training, ability to hold it, etc. Especially if they are going through a growth cycle. So just stick it out for a while, nothing much else you can do.


I've seen some progress, regression, progress patterns in my puppy as well. It can be very frustrating, but like you say, there's not much you can do sometimes.


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## Lillith (Feb 16, 2016)

At 6 months old my dog has experienced some regression in crate and potty training as well. Often I think he "forgets" that he has to go to the bathroom, which results in a beeline for the door and an accident. We got him at 5 months old, and he never woke us up at night while in his crate. One night, though, he started barking and whimpering in his crate and I thought he perhaps had an upset stomach so I took him outside, but he didn't do any business. The neighbor has a young puppy that was outside at the same time for a potty break, so I don't know if he heard her or not and wanted to go play. He woke us up twice more, but we ignored him. It was a long, sleepless, frustrating night, but he hasn't done anything like that since.

The best thing you can do is stick with it. It's incredibly frustrating, but when you look back you realize it really wasn't that big of a deal, and its an issue that can be solved with time and your puppy's greater bladder control!


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## MysticRealm (May 30, 2007)

MysticRealm said:


> Ya things tend to move forward, then regress, then move forward again. My 5 month old suddenly seemed to 'get' outside potty training (he was sorta pad trained by his breeder till 14 weeks) and hadn't had an accident in the last 4 days, now he's had 5 since last night and today! Last night I think he was so interested in his pig ear that I think he didn't realize he had to go till to late. Then today I have started to put him on leash at work to go potty because he's started to run around outside and have fun instead of just going out to potty. He's never pottied on leash before. I took him out twice on leash yesterday and he peed, but I think he's still a bit off about going on leash, plus I got a bit frustrated and scare him this morning so he was even more wary about going so I had to work with him on getting past being a it nervous with lots of praises and yummy treats. His last 2 pees were at work were on leash outside, but at home he peed inside again. So back to being very structured for a bit.


My guy is back to being virtually fully potty trained, finally pooping on leash yesterday!
However he lost bed privileges shortly after the above post, when he pooped in my bed 3 nights in a row. He has since had to wake up during the night virtually every single night after probably 3 weeks of sleeping through the night previously. I'm hoping he progresses back to holding it through the night soon!


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