Potty in the middle of the night, everynight!
 

HELP!! My yorkie has to go potty in the middle of the night, every single night since we got him. I was hoping he would grow out of it, but he is four months old now. We keep him in a crate during the day, letting him out for at least an hour during lunch, and letting him out for the night at 5pm when we get home from work. He sleeps in the bed with us at night. We have been taking his water up at about 8:00 hoping that would help, but it hasn't. We leave his food out until bedtime at 10:00pm. I know this is probably the culprit, but since he does not get to eat during the day because he is in his crate, I like to leave his food out at night so he will get enough to eat. We ALWAYS take him out before bed around 10:00, but he wakes up anytime from 1:30am - 4:00am having to go potty. I have also found that when he comes back inside from his mid-night potty breaks, he likes to chow down on food. That is another reason why I feel that he is not getting enough to eat during the day, and am hesitant about taking his food up. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Last night was the last straw...he woke up at 1:30am and went #1, and woke up again at 3:30am having to go #2. I guess the only upside to this is that he doesn't go in the bed!!!

If he does'nt get food during the day I would'nt take his food up at night, he needs to eat. A yorkie is like a baby and they are small and are going to require middle of the night outtings untill they are well past a year. I have a 11 week old and she goes out twice a night, however I have a two yr old daughter and she got me up till she was a year, it was hard adjusting to getting up again, but excellent practice because I am 5 1/2 mths preganant.. I had a yorkie for 8 years and he got up once a night till he was 2 then he stopped. Having a furbaby is like having a baby. Good luck!

I would think your yorkie would "need" to eat during the day.... I have always free fed my yorkies (food out all the time)... But I don't sleep with them... and they are pee pad trained....

He's still a baby... so it could be awhile until he is fully potty trained (if ever!)

Good luck! :)

He's a furbaby, when you gotta go, you go. The good news is he's letting you know he has to go. You could be waking up to a mess every morning. Princess will be three next month, and I still let her out at night. Yorkies are just like kids.
It's bad for them to hold it, and like I said at least he's letting you know. :)
Good Luck

That's what I love about wee wee pads! Toto just gets up and goes pee or poop when she needs to. She has steps so I don't have to worry about her getting hurt. Most nights she just sleeps all night but if she has to go ... she's on her own! ;)

I also worry about him eating in the mornings and during our lunch hour because I don't want him to go to the bathroom in his crate. We have the smallest crate we could find, but he is so little that if he has to go, he has no problem going in his crate in a corner. I have never heard of a dog going potty in their crate!! He is fully potty-trained when he is out and about in the house...he gets our attention and runs to the door everytime he needs to go potty outside. I guess he just still has a really small bladder, and going potty in his crate will just have to be something else that he will have to grow out of. :confused:

Just a suggestion rather than leaving him in a crate during the day maybe let him stay in the kitchen with a gate up, then during lunch feed him and if there is any accidents it will be easy to clean up. Yorkies aren't like other dogs when they have to go they have to go. I have a boxer as well that won't go outside when it rains instead she will hold it, but Georgie (my Yorkie) can't do that. I am amazed and fall more in love with Georgie everyday because he is such a little baby and I love it. I am glad when he wakes me up to go potty at night, because that just shows me that he is such a smart boy :D

My yorkie, Hobbs, is such a stinker. I cannot get over how smart they are!! He has always gone potty in his crate if he has to go. So, after about a month of pottying in his crate, we tried keeping him in our bathroom with a baby gate up. It worked perfectly for about a week. Then we came home one day and discovered that he had somehow got out of the bathroom. We investigated and found out that he had chewed a small hole in the babygate and gotten out!! So, we pushed an ottoman up to the gate so he could not chew on it anymore. We came home the next day and he was out of the bathroom, again!!!! We guessed that he had jumped or climbed over the gate to get out! So, its back to the crate he goes!!!!!!! I completely agree with you about having these little babies....I don't mind taking him in the middle of the night if it is necessary, I just wanted to make sure that there wasn't something different that I could do to prevent these middle-of-the-night outings we have. At least he is smart enough to know that he is supposed to go outside, and not in the bed!!

My Rowdy woke me up in the middle of the night till he was about 4-5 months old, then it just stopped one night, I don't know why - but he just started sleeping through the night. He's a year old now and he will occasionally wake me up to go out, but not very often. I have a 12 year old schnauzer who has gone through periods in his life where he would wake me up EVERY night to go out - when he was 4, 7, 10 years old - it didn't matter. It seemed like it was a habit for a week or two, then he would stop.

I think your baby will grow out of it, he's still pretty little, but if he's going potty in the crate, I'd say that he has a very small bladder or is more sensitive to the sensation and it may take him a little longer than usual.

If he's hungry that late at night you need to re-evaluate your schedule etc. so he can go potty enough and eat throughout the day. If you feed him in the a.m. and take him potty and then repeat that when you get home from work that should be enough...that's what I do for my Kelsey and she does fine. Good luck.

Maybe trying a play pen instead of crate through the day where you can put a pee pad , water, food, toys would work for the both of you. Also I free feed Cassie too!!

I got my baby when she was just over 4 months old, the guy that sold her to us had all the puppies in a kennel. She has never lived in a house until now, it's a nightmare trying to get her to TELL me she wants to go in the night. I have had to just put paper down (can't get pee pads here) and she goes on that. But she is getting better slowly. She has little tell tale signs I can read during the day time, so we get outside in time (mostly!) Its slow going though. But we'll get there!

Alfie gets up to potty at around 4am every morning , But Lottie who is the baby holds it all night till about 7.30am then gets up we take her outside and she does her bussiness then comes ack to bed. LOl

Thanks so much for all the replys! Mr. Hobbs is just a little baby and obviously just has a small bladder. As long as he needs to get up in the middle of the night to go potty, I will be there to take him out! He is always anxious to come back in and get back in the bed. So, I am just thankful that he is smart enough to wake me up and not go in the bed! He is only 4 months, so he has a while to grow out of it. Thanks again! :D