# 12 week old up every 2 hours during night?



## lydiaful (Feb 15, 2013)

Hi everyone!

Just need a bit of advise!!
Our 12 week old pup Wilson has in the last 2 weeks started waking every 2 hours during the night. 
He is in our bedroom in a crate, and i have been getting up to him, taking out for a wee and then putting him back in the crate, all with not talking to him or anything as i know this is not good practice! 
He does do a wee but doesnt seem desperate or anything! i have tried leaving him a couple of times to see if he goes back to sleep before getting up with him but his barking becomes more intense the longer left?
I also have a bit of an issue with the neighbour who complained about our 6 year old weimaranar when she was a pup and barked, to the point where the neighbour complained to the council!! I would leave him to cry longer if i thought he didnt need the loo, should i try it or am i not encouraging him to tell me when he needs to toilet??

During the day he seems fine and we take him out every hour or so, after play time or meal times etc and he seems to be doing well during the day, its just not so good at night!

When he first came to us a just a little before 8 weeks he only got up once throught the night, which lasted for about 2 weeks, but now we are up very 2 hours??
I understand that i will be up during the night and this is not a problem, but it just seems 2 hours is a bit excessive!!!

Any ideas welcome....

Thanks 
Lydia and Wilson


----------



## Nelly (Feb 7, 2013)

Hello Lydia and Wilson! 

Welcome to the forum, there really is so much invaluable advice here for our V's.

I am still very much a V novice but had a similar problem with our girl Nelly who is now 13 weeks. She has only just started to settle down during the night when previously she was waking up 6 or 7 times and making a terrible racket - we were also worried about neighbours.

Someone on here had suggested taking a bottle of wine round to the neighbours and possibly some ear plugs (!) until everything had settled down.

http://www.vizslaforums.com/index.php/topic,7414.msg56953.html#msg56953

That was my original thread re night time etc and I had so many useful replies - also searching crate training was helpful. We were advised by a few people that a 12 week old pup should only need to go out maybe once (maybe twice) a night. 

Nelly can now hold it until 7am - pee - back to sleep until maybe 9am, although this will probably change when she has finished this particular growth spurt. We started off by not going through to her (she is not in our bedroom) and instead calling through something like 'good girl, go to bed' and she would eventually settle. Now we don't even need to do that and she settles herself. 

I wish i could give you some giant, info-filled explanation as to how this happened but really it was all down to her realising that we won't come to her at 5am to play ball!

I really think they know us better than ourselves, even at this young age they very quickly pick up signals, habits etc. You also need your sleep so that you can both have fun-filled and happy days with each other. 

Since getting Nelly settled at night time we have had much better day times. A good, solid routine helped Nelly as well.

Hope this helps and good luck!


----------



## mlwindc (Feb 8, 2013)

Lydia, we have a 19 week old V named Wilson - welcome to the club! I don't have any advice about your evening situation because luckily, our guy was sleeping from 11pm - 5am when we brought him home at 11 weeks. He now sleeps from 10:30pm or so until 7 am, so we are very lucky. We have him in the living room (where we spend most of our time) instead of in the bedroom, so maybe that helps a bit because he knows whining won't get him anywhere.


----------



## Ollywebb1 (Feb 6, 2013)

Lydia,

I posted something very similar on here last week about Radley (12 weeks). I thought I was doing right because I was taking him out for a wee every time he woke and barked in the night. Which was literally every two hours. I would then spend half an hour trying to settle him again. 

I was advised by many of the more experienced owners that a 12 week old should be able to go all night with maybe just the one toilet. I was told that what they actually want is attention and everytime you go to them they are getting what they want and you are reinforcing their behaviour. If you take them out they will wee but this isn't why they are barking. I hope that makes sense. 

The problem is that As Nelly said, you need sleep too or the whole experience will be an unhappy one. The only solution is to make sure you take them out before bed and then plug your ears and give it some tough love! 

Radley also sleeps in a crate in the living room, which helps with ignoring the barking. I only slept downstairs with him on the first night. I suppose it depends how long you've had Wilson and if you are intending on keeping him in the bedroom permanently, but if not then the sooner you move him the better I guess. They are fast learners. I have been leaving Radley for the last 3 nights and its made a massive difference. He has already slept from 10 pm to 6:30 am without waking at all.

Stick at it and try really hard to ignore the barking. You will probably find that Wilson will settle after 10 mins or so. 

Also I think neighbours would prefer one episode of 10 minute barking once a night than 6 episodes of barking for 2 mins a night.

Sorry its a long post ???


----------



## Kay92 (Oct 19, 2012)

Keep in mind that a puppy/dog does NOT have complete control over his or her bladder until 6 months old. The general rule we used in our house is this:

If you know that he has been fed, he has gone potty recently, if he has had water.....then he is probably fine. 

He just has to get used to everything.


----------



## lyra (Nov 2, 2012)

Why do you feel a dog doesn't have full bladder control until six months? That is certainly not my experience.


----------



## lydiaful (Feb 15, 2013)

Thank you for you comments and advice everyone!

Wilson is now sleeping from 10.00pm to 4.00am, outside for a quick wee and then back to bed for another couple of hours! Really impressed with how quickly he picked this up, he is such a clever boy!

Thank you again

Lydia


----------



## candi30 (Jan 2, 2013)

You'll be surprised. It's almost instant.
Our girl is now 12 weeks and sleeps through the night.
But it was like for the first couple weeks we were getting up twice a night, a couple days later is was once a night, and a few days after that she was sleeping through the night. Pretty awesome!


----------



## Kay92 (Oct 19, 2012)

Lyra, it's just a comment based on what I've been told from several people (including people on here). But every dog is different.


----------

