How long till sleeping through night?

[Boworld]

Hi,

Well Jackson came home last Thursday and he is perfect in just about every way. He doesn't seem to bad with SA, he is happy for us to leave the room and we went for a 30 minute walk yesterday whilst he was in his crate and he seemed okay when when we got back.
The only real problem is that he is waking up twice in the night to go out. We are crating him and he is sleeping downstairs in the kitchen. I know he may be better if we had him upstairs but it is not an option. My husband is asmathic and the hair in the bedroom would affect him. We take him out for about 15 minutes in the garden before he goes to bed at about 10pm, he then wakes at 12am and cries/barks till one of us go down to let him out. He will then wake again at about 5am and cry till we go and let him out. Sometimes he has peed in the crate when we go down at 5am but we just clean it up and let him out. We don't play with him when we get up and we leave the radio on, he has a blanket from his mum and a ticking clock. We have also tried ignoring the crying but he will just keep going (we let him cry for 2 hours on the 2nd night - it was awful) I understand that he is a puppy and will be unable to hold his bladder all the way through the night, but at what stage may that start to happen? I just want to check that we are doing everything right and not making it harder for him.
Sorry it's so long winded! We love our puppy so much and just want him to settle in well.
Thanks for reading.

[gmacleod]

I would hope he doesn't have SA at this age! SA is not just not liking to be left alone (understandable for a baby), but an actual psychological disorder that doesn't usually manifest until several months of age (and is more common with pups removed from their mothers too early). It's not normal by any stretch of imagination though: it's a disorder requiring treatment, and should not be confused with the normal protestations by babies at being alone at night

As for the waking thing though - that's to be expected. I think you could reasonably bet on him sleeping though the night by about 15 weeks, if not sooner. That's fairly normal/average.

It's fair to say that it would probably happen sooner if he were in the same room as you at night. That's just because he'd probably sleep more soundly. And in turn, that would mean he produced less urine (bodily functions like urine production slow down during deep sleep) and hence wake less often requiring to pee. But that's just semantics. If it isn't possible to have him in the same room, you just have to accept that the payoff is that he'll probably require night-time potty trips a little more frequently or for a little longer. Just like any other baby

What you might find useful though, is - instead of waiting for him to cry because he's messed his crate - to set yourself an alarm (or two) during the night to take him out. If he usually cries at 5, for example, because he's had to pee - do yourself a favour and set that alarm for 4am or for 4.30 (i.e. sooner than the limit of his bladder). Take him out to potty (if you have to wake him to go out, all the better - he'll go more easily back to sleep), and then put him back in his bed for the last hour. As time goes on, and his bladder size grows, gradually adjust the timing of that potty stop until you reach "normal" getting up time and the potty stop is, in fact, eliminated.

What's good about this method is that it's you setting the schedule, rather than responding to his cries. If he has to go, he has to go - you're getting up one way or the other (or else dealing with a screaming pup covered in his own urine). So it might as well be by your own timing. More importantly though, it will mean that he doesn't get the idea that you respond to crying (so he won't cry for just getting-out-of-crate purposes) AND if he was asleep when you arrived to take him out, he'll probably go back to sleep after his potty stop with far less fuss (not having fully woken up) than if he'd woken himself, pee'd and then been screaming about it for 5 minutes till you arrived. Make some sense?

In any event, it shouldn't be too long before he's capable of lasting all night asleep without a potty stop. If you're really lucky, that might even be within 2-3 weeks. But figuring on him being 15 weeks old is very reasonable. I think most pups can manage to sleep through by that age.

[Boworld]

Thanks gmacleod, that's fantastic advice and makes an awful lot of sense.
We are going to give the alarm idea a go and will let you know how we get on - thanks again.
Thanks also for the info on SA. He is very good, we have done two 30 minute walks over the last 3 days and this morning we had to go out for an hour and a half. When we got back he was quiet and relaxed in his crate but his toys were all over the place like he had been throwing them around. We gave him heaps of praise and cuddles when we got in and he has been fine since.