We just got a 4 year old doberman who lives inside with us. She is housebroken, the only problem is she wakes us up every night to go outside. We've already taken away her water and food around 5pm, but it doesn't seem to help. How can I break this dog of her problem?
What happens if you DON'T take her outside? Does she have an accident? This could be a case of her having learned she can do this. Sleeping through the night can be taught.
In the past, I've had success with leaving the dog out, but when he/she asked to go outside I'd crate them for the rest of the night. Assuming there's no medical reason she CAN'T hold it, then this should work. I suppose it's possible they would learn to just not wake you up, but I have had this work with no less than 7 dogs in my past (and currently working on 2 of the 3 I have now) and that hasn't happened.
Every once in awhile I can tell her to go back to bed and she will, other times she'll stand at our bed and cry until we finally cave in and take her out. We've also tried to leave her outside but she makes so much noise (barking/crying/etc) that we haven't done that again.
Hi Sarah - going back to what IMO is an important point in Jennifer's post - HAVE you ruled out a medical problem? I personally would rule that out (or in) first...
Wendy Lefebvre Webboard User Reg: 12-08-2005
Posts: 1271
Loc: Stoney Creek , Ontario, Canada
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How long have you had her?
When you take her out does she actually go to the washroom, or is she just nosing around?
Like other people suggested, first rule out anything medical.
If when you take her out and she sometimes goes pee and sometimes doesn't do anything I would think its a habit she's come to have. I would start to NOT cave in to her when she whines. What you've taught her now is that whining equals getting what I want. It will be hard to ignore, but you should do it (again, after ruling out its nothing medical)and see what happens. Actually thats another question, have you EVER not given in and just let her whine? If you have, what happened?
Sarah:
Given that she comes to wake you up one might presume she's not crate trained. A wise woman would put this very near the top of her list of things to do.
Do you give her any positive attention when she wakes you to take her outside at O' dark-thirty?
Do you exercise her regularly? I don't mean a light walk, I mean exercise that's age and breed appropriate to make her digestive tract function like it should and give her a reason to sleep.
If the P/O left her out at night she may not have learned to hold her waste and you'll have to slowly increase the time. Crate training will aid this.
If there are no underlying health problems with your girl, I would start crate training her asap(IMO). Also, (you probably already do this) let her outside right before you go to bed, not 10-20 minutes before(I've learned this the hard way) because somehow the dog will have to go just as your heading into dreamland. She may whine or cry for a while in the crate, but if you throw a blanket over the crate and give her a favorite chew toy, it shouldn't take long before you're both able to sleep through the night! Good luck!
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