Taking away water at night
 

I'm trying to teach Layla that she needs to go to the bathroom OUTSIDE all the time. She really doesn't have much of a problem with it now, unless we aren't around to let her out she'll just do her thing on the floor :( On Monday night, determined to let her out every time, I kept my bedroom door closed overnight so she wouldn't be able to pee on the living room floor like she has been doing. Well, I was up FOUR times overnight with her because she whined at my door. I let her out each time, and the first time (midnight) she just drank water from her bowl, the second time (2 am) she went outside and didn't do anything, the third time (3:30 am) she peed, and the last time (5 am) again she didn't do anything.
Last night I thought I'm going to take away her water so she won't need to pee! At about 8:30 she was drinking a lot of water, and I took it up and she peed at 10:00 and we went to bed. Again, my boyfriend and I took turns getting up all night because she just would not stop whining! Each time she went outside she didn't do anything! She would just come inside and stand where her water bowl used to be. Finally at 4 am I was fed up so I just put her water bowl down and she drank like she hadn't drank in days!
She will not pee in my room, so keeping her in there seems logical overnight, but the whining is terrible. I tried ignoring it for almost an hour before getting up last night. It just wouldn't stop and I'm losing sleep. I know a lot of people don't let their dogs have access to water after bedtime, so I don't understand why it's so hard for Layla! Last night she was SO thirsty!

Sugar sleeps in my (high) bed...so she's stuck without water unless we potty...but usually she just sleeps :p

Roscoe dosen't have water at night either. Maybe after she sees she dosen't get it at night, she will stop whining.

I know how you feel. Harley has always slept in his kennel and had access to water. Recently he started barking during the night so I tried letting him sleep with me. He whined some but also got down during the night to go get water. Got down a 2nd time to use the bathroom on the CARPET!!! I tried this for 3 nights and just decided I had had enough and put him back in his kennel. He can't seem to get through the night without water either. When he is in his kennel he can hold it all night but not if he is in bed with me.

Victoria Stilwell recommends leaving ice cubes down during the evening so dogs can let a little bit of a water at a time. Is that a possibility?

I could leave ice cubes down, but it gets so hot in my house they would be melted in about a minute :(

Last night was the worst night yet. Despite her whining, I did not let her out of my room. She will not pee in my room so I felt safe with that. Finally I couldn't take her whining and made her sit right beside me on the bed until my alarm went off. Well, if she wasn't whining, she was licking me. I got a total of 3 hours of sleep all night :(

As soon as my alarm went off, I let her outside to pee and it was the biggest puddle of pee I've ever seen come out of her! She came inside and I gave her praise and a treat, filled her water and food bowls, and went to wash my face. I got out and she had already pooped right in the middle of the living room. I cleaned that and went back to bed. Half an hour later my boyfriend got up and there was ANOTHER huge puddle of pee on the living room floor. She did go outside to pee and poop again before I left for work. That's two poops and three pees in just over an hour. :(

Now I'm worried something is wrong with her. She is currently on medication for an upper respiratory infection and I'm not sure if that might be part of the issue or not.

I do this with one of mine that is still in potty training. It works wonderfully., we've not had any overnight accidents or pee trips in the middle of the night. I also did it with my other two that are 100% trained now. I will be getting Bandit & Peanut soon and I will do it with them too. When we go to bed, she has a potty break and then into her area with one ice cube, in case she gets parched during the night. I read in one of my yorkie books, the average yorkie needs only 2 oz of water in a 24 hr period.

wow 2 oz??? This morning after letting Layla out to pee the first time (and she hadn't had water all night) she drank half her bowl of water :( I went back to sleep briefly and woke up to her barking for more water because the bowl was bone-dry.
The vet suggested she may have a hormonal problem from the dark patches on her tummy, and asked if she was drinking more than usual, but I never noticed it until I've been trying to get her to pee outside exclusively. I guess now I'm just more aware of what's going into her and what's coming out. But I'm sure she never peed this much even before. She can't seem to go a night without water though.

I don't let Ellie have access to water at night only because she doesn't drink it then.

IMO, it is not okay to take it up overnight if the dog is truly thirsty or if it is hot.
Unless she is drinking out of boredom, the vet may have been on the right track.

Thanks! She actually seemed to be doing better before she was on her pills for her infection, but maybe I just wasn't monitoring that well. But usually throughout a whole day she'd have maybe 2 or 3 pee spots on her pad, so the 3 times just this morning was completely out of character. I think I will continue to keep a pad inside for her and keep my bedroom door open for the next week until I can ask the vet at her next appointment.

If she only eats dry food, you can measure her water intake to see if it is around the normal range. Most dogs drink about an ounce per pound per day give or take a bit. So if you just put a cup (8 ounces) down in the am, then measure it the next am, you will know exactly what she is drinking.

Thanks for the tip! I will try that starting tomorrow :)

LOL!!! Loki is an overachiever. I'm lucky if his 64oz bowl isn't empty by the end of the day :) (He has a medical condition, this is NOT normal) I actually have to interrupt him when he is drinking so he can catch his breath and realize he has had enough to drink, otherwise he drinks so much it makes him sick!

Sammy will go hours without drinking and then drink a bunch. If I offer her water (like if we are out in the car) she will maybe take 2 licks. But man if that bowl is empty when she wants some she gets really mad, at Loki, LOL!

I keep a bowl upstairs for the same reason - otherwise they cry for water at night. When I let them out of the room in the morning to go downstairs and go outside, the first thing they do is get a drink. Can you try just leaving a tiny bit of water in a bowl next to the bed, then if she whines reach over and pour a little more?

You know, that may work. I can use her extra bowl in my room for water, and then when she's whining to get out of my room, at least I'd know for sure she wants out to go potty and not just to have a drink of water.