Why has our dog started peeing in the night! 😱

3 years old Jack Russell – has had free run of the house since a pup. He’s been fine since puppy training but about six months ago he started going downstairs and doing a little pee. Once/twice a week at first now seemingly every night. Never in the day. Not always in the same place.

It’s doing our head in now and there’s no reason for it. He gets 3 walks a day, spends hours in the garden and we make sure he goes outside for a pee before we go to bed. And if it’s raining he’ll spend hours inside upside down in his bed and go for hours without one.

Think the crate is coming out tonight and we’ll see how he goes with that. He used to a crate in the car.

sounds like he’s got into a routine with it, so breaking the routine is likely best option – crate could be a good solution, though you may be back to square 1 on night time crate training, which can be quite stressful.

Our 3 yr old cockapoo sleeps in a closed and covered crate in our bedroom every night, he runs into it with excitement around 11pm after his last pee and doesn’t make a peep until we open the covers anytime between 645 on a weekday to 830 on a weekend.  He sees it as his safe destressing space i think, and even when we are away on hols in a cottage etc we take the crate and he sticks to same routine, thankfully

First up. Pay the tax.

We had a rough time with Lola wanting out for a slash in the middle of the night. Nothing we tried would stop her.

Someone suggested giving her supper.

So every night I take a handful of bugbakes down to the garden. She eats it and goes for a slash.

I think she was waking up because she was a bit peckish then nature tells her to go for a slash. Now she doesn’t wake up hungry she doesn’t want to go for a piss.

Molehound for you edification.

Ours won’t do it in the house, but recently she’s been waking us up in the middle of the night to be let out. I did wonder if it was something like a bladder infection, but just as likely to be a habit. Quite exciting I’m sure to sniff around in the garden looking for stuff.

A change in a dog’s ‘normal’ routine/behaviour can be a sign of something else going on, so may be worth a vet’s trip.

Yep, seconded. Any change like that (esp in a dog who likes to sleep) i’d be popping to the vets for a check. Could be all sorts, behavioural to kidneys an many things in between.

In the short term, try some large puppy pads and see if he will go on them, at least that should stop too much clearing up in the morning.

What IHN said, sudden change in behaviour will need to be checked ideally.

I’ve got to book him in for his vaccinations this week so will get him checked out then too.

Someone suggested giving her supper.

He gets supper – this was at vets suggestion due to him doing small bile sicks in the middle of the night!! Seems we’ve fixed that problem and gained another.

Jack Russells are meant to be sturdy dogs – but our previous Border Terrier was ‘nails’ compared to this thing! 🙂

Seeing as we’re on a roll with dog threads, thought I’d update this!

Vet gave him a clean bill of health, so all good there.

We tried him in the cage, but he went loopy. Whining, barking, scratching to get out.

Tried just shutting him in the utility/kitchen. And this has worked a treat, he’s very settled in there and we don’t hear a noise from him all night. No accidents either.

I’m guessing having free-reign gave him too many distractions and reasons to mooch about in the night. He can’t hear the road or neighbours at the back of the house.

Glad it was nothing serious. One of our cat’s started piddling on the door mat or door runner. Ended up binning them, and replaced with a puppy pad and a washable mat (we had two sets in rotation). Usually would happen once a day. This went on for weeks and weeks, and she’s back to ‘normal’ now. They are house cat’s and we’ve added a load of bark chippings to their cat run, so she seems happier. They have a litter tray, so will either go out, then come back in for the loo, or go in their ‘run’.

It can sometimes be the smell where ever they pee makes them go again – try cleaning up the area and then sprinkling some baking soda over the area and leave for an hour before tidying up – seems to help neutralise the area where they last had a pee

I know you have a solution at the moment but regarding the crate I’d suggest leaving it set up, door open and each day spend some time with him next to the crate, throw treats and toys in in so it becomes a nice safe place with no stress.

Then perhaps try him sleeping in it but not until he is really happy with it’s presence.

Our dog has free run of the house when we’re home, but just the kitchen when we go out. Seems smaller spaces help her settle.

As for the crate, make it cosy, blanket over the top and just leave it until he chooses to go in there. Don’t fuss him, make it his space and his only, where he can go to escape people and activity. He’ll soon have no issues with being crated.

“we make sure he goes outside for a pee before we go to bed.”

Have you checked that it is actually peeing in the garden before bed ? For the first few years our dog was quite happy to go out in the garden before bedtime then we started having little ‘leaks’ in the night. We did get some medication from the vets but I noticed that she had become really reluctant to do any toilet in the garden. I started taking her on a later walk and the problem went away.