Dry through the night?
 

I wonder if you could give me some advice please?
I'm having a real problem getting my little 9 month old to be dry through the night.
She's more or less completely house trained during the day, only have the occassional accident sometimes if the door is shut, as she hasn't quite got round to asking to go out, though always does when the door's open.

It's overnight that's the problem & I don't understand why. I have other dogs & don't think I'm doing anything different. When I collected her from the breeder, at 10 weeks old, he had a little dog there that he'd been planning to show but at 5 months had decided he wasn't quite small enough. He looked so forlorn that we bought him as well. Once he'd settled in he was clean overnight straight away, and my bigger breed dogs have always been the same by about 5 months.

But not Ellie, & it isn't even as though she has to go ages in her bed. I have an old Yorkie who, because of a heart problem, is on diuretics. She always wakes me to go out for a wee at 2 or 3 am, so I let Ellie out as well but she's already wet her bed, so I change it. She has a wee outside & often does her dirt as well. Then I'm up again at 6am with the other dogs & Ellie has wet her bed again.

I think part of the problem is that when I take her outside before bed she just plays about. She's great at going out when she needs but, unless she feels a real urge, won't have a wee "just in case" when I let her out, like the other dogs do.
She's been to the vets & there's no physical reason for it, they said she was very healthy.
Is it anything to do with her being smaller? Do the very small ones take longer to mature? She just tips the scales at 4 lb, immediately after a meal :)

Can anyone offer me any advice please?

As there's been no replies, I'm just bumping this up in the hope that some one who hasn't read it yet can offer me some advice :)

Well, maybe you can try pee pads during the night. We trained Meka w/ pee pads and when we take her outside, she does her business as well. We have her "cross trained" so to say. Meka's 8 mo's and she still uses the bathroom during the night. Near her bed is a pee pad and she has no problems using it. I bought an additional spray for the pee pad, thats suppose to help her know where to go and shes rarely has accidents. Hope this helps :)

Second on the pee pads. I can't seem to stop the behavior, but at least I can prevent my carpet from getting ruined.

Now if only Demi could learn to aim a little better.

Thank you so much.
I must admit, I hadn't thought of using those with her going outside during the day, but will get some now.

And if yours aren't clean yet overnight then it's obviously too early to expect her to be, which is reasuring that it isn't just me having given her the wrong idea. It must just be harder for her, being so little.

perhaps limit the last time she can drink water???

Yes, that would probably help. You could stop giving water a few hours before bedtime...and then take her out one more time before you put her up for the night. Stay out there until she does something...walk her around...take her to where she peed last...do WHATEVER you have to do to get her to pee. The smaller ones just CAN'T hold it...but you can help somewhat. Mine wake me up around 6AM if I go to bed around 11 or 12...and Maddie is 5 lbs, Sophie is 3 lbs (and the two bigger girls can always hold theirs anyways). Neither ever has an accident. Also, diapers can help. When Sophie was a little younger I always put a diaper on her at night...and pretty soon if they wet their diaper they realize it's uncomfortable...and then eventually it merely serves as a reminder to hold it. She's done great ever since...and now she sleeps in my bed with me all night and has never had an accident there.

I would just keep peepads around