[acritzer]

So we've gotten different answers on this issue and clearly not every dog is going to be the same. At what age will pups likely sleep through the night without having to go out?
The breeder made it sound like it shouldn't take all that long...but the vet said not until 6 months should she be expected to do so.

Last night, Bailey didn't wake up once. She's only 7 1/2 weeks. Wife let her out around 11:30 and I woke up at 6:00. Did we just get lucky for one night? Or, might she last 6-7 hours at this age...if really tired?

 

[Nicole74]

Bailey didn't stop going out in the middle of the night until she was 10 weeks. Not too long after I brought her home. However, she gets up several times a night and is very restless.

 

[hotel4dogs]

I think it depends on your definition of "through the night", LOL!
By 8-10 weeks old, 6-7 hours isn't unrealistic at all.
During the day, the rule of thumb is one hour for every month old that they are, plus one. So a 3 month old puppy should be able to "hold it" 4 hours.
Just a rule of thumb of course.

 

[tippykayak]

Some pups can do it at 10 weeks, and some pups lag in the bladder development department, and it can be more like 16 weeks. Comet used to wake up in a small puddle in the mornings, and I was really worried about it. At like 16 weeks, though, it suddenly stopped.

Bladder development is important, but so is comfort. When a pup is actually sleeping, all the plumbing slows down, so he can naturally hold it a lot longer. If, however, he's anxious about the crate and spending a lot of the night awake, he's going to produce more urine and have a harder time holding it. Spend some of each day working on making the crate fun and comfortable so he can really relax at bedtime and so he goes right back to sleep when he wakes up at night.

Comet used to doze off around 7PM, so we'd wake him up and play with him periodically all evening so he was still tired when we wanted to go to bed. It seemed to work rather well. A well-exercised pup will sleep longer too.

Some people advocate picking up the water bowl a few hours before bed, but be really careful if you decide to restrict water. Puppies dehydrate easily, and if a pup catches an intestinal bug when he's already slightly dehydrated, he can go downhill fast. It's not common, but I've never felt it's been worth the risk.

 

[Willow52]

Hank's been sleeping through the night (10:30pm-7:30am) for quite a while. I've been told his brother just now is able. I'm sure it differs from pup to pup. Hank is pretty reliable during the day but I still make sure he goes out about every 1/2 hour. When I'm not home he's gated in the laundry room.

 

[Annie08]

We only had to get up with Scout during the night for the first week he was home. Around 8 weeks he was making it through the night. I'm glad the getting up during the night didn't last too long.

 

[iamswiss]

Bailey was sleeping from 11.30am to 5.30am the first two weeks. From week 10 to now she's sleeping until 6.30am/7am in the morning. We never had to get up with her during the night - although 5.30am was kind of in the middle of the night for me....

 

[Traz]

Both Kadence who is now 8 months & our new puppy we picked up 2 weeks ago immediately slept most the night. I am up late (at least 2 am), so about 12MN I would take them out. Usually 8AM or close they would wake up. This little one slept to 9:15 AM last week at 9 weeks. Cage is always dry. Good thing I didn't have to be anywhere that day, I didn't set an alarm because they are like clock work.

 

[NewToGoldens]

We picked up our guy at 8 weeks from the breeder and he came 1) sleeping 11 pm - 7 am and 2) crate trained, although she never did it. He just took to the crate like a duck to water. We followed the suggestions here about creating a nice den atmosphere and he still sleeps there (his choice) at 11 months.

Have I mentioned I LOVE the breeder!

 

[Viopuricky]

Boca managed to sleep through the night from 10pm - 7am in 3days, and he was about 8weeks.

 

[AquaClaraCanines]

I don't think I've had a puppy that didn't sleep through the night at 8 weeks, except ones with bladder infections.

 

[Wyatt's Mom]

Wyatt slept through the night by around 12 or 13 weeks, but we were also under the impression (from books we'd read) that he couldn't hold it all night until he was 5 or 6 months. So... we'd get up any time he stirred and take him out... just to play it safe. We didn't realize he could hold it until he started resisting being taken out at 3 am! Had we left him alone sooner, it would have saved us a lot of lost sleep.