Night trips!

[Swingle]

My mongrel dog, Swingle has always had a slightly sensitive stomach, and asks to go out at night when she needs to. In her first year she had three or four stomach infections due to grazing on anything dead. Since she was last wormed, (which caused diarrhea, this has been become more frequent, and I can't make out if this is a habit or a deeper problem, she does need to do a poop! I can't stand the sleep deprivation either. It happens 3-4 nights a week. From feeding, its 18 to 20 hours to her night trips, and she poops up to twice a day. I'm not sure if this is related to morning feeding or the snacks- which are small. She eats grass as a delight! The vet advised a change of food, so she has a duck and potato tin food, which made no difference. I wonder if she has a deeper problem with her gut. Today we put her in a Canine dry mix for digestive care, thinking the complete change may break the cycle She does get small treats and snacks during the day.She is fed in the morning, between 7 and 8. I've thought of feeding her at lunchtime, but when she is left, we always leave her with a few snacks from the feed. It might make her anxious too for my return and we've worked a lot on her being happy at home alone. Maybe evenings, but when she was a pup, this caused more trips in the night. If we shut her out of the room, she would scratch and wake us any way. Shouting may make her just do it in the hall - maybe I could handle that if I could sleep! She is two and was neutered at six months, she is exercised twice a day, and has play buddies she lets rip with a couple of times a week. When she goes out in the night, we do not speak to her or encourage her, and I always supervise her last garden trip that she goes!! HELP!!!!!!!!

[JudyN]

I'm not sure of the solution, but here are some slightly random thoughts...

Ideally, when you switch foods you should do it gradually, over around a week - changing suddenly can cause stomach upsets. So if this does happen, it might not be because the new food doesn't suit her. (The exception is when changing from commercial dog food to raw feeding, which should be done all at once.)

Feeding twice a day is usually considered better than feeding once a day. You could try very gradually reducing her breakfast and feeding the rest in the evening - if she still wakes you in the night you might then be able to continue until she just gets a tiny breakfast and main meal in the evening. Taking it very slowly will hopefully avoid making her stressed about being left, but you would want to monitor this (as in my opinion it's better to have a dog who is happy at being left but wakes in the night than one who sleeps through but hates being left).

Or, if she is alone for the whole day, could someone, maybe a professional dog walker, pop in at lunchtime to feed her and break her day? Or if they walked her, this could also get her digestion going and could alter her timing.

What are her poos like now? Are they firm and formed, or soft? If you tell us exactly what brand/variety of food she was on and what she's on now, we might be able to advise as to whether it's a good one or not.

Re worming: if the treatment upsets her digestion, a different medication might suit her better. However, there is another alternative: you can send poo samples off to be screened for worms every 3-6 months and then only need to treat if worms are found. I've done this for about three-four years now and haven't had to worm my dog once. I use a service in the UK, hopefully there will be a similar one in Austria.

Finally: if she wakes you once a night, goes out, does her business and comes straight back in again, I would say it's possible to live with this - any parent would tell you the same As I'm sure you know, shouting at her won't help at all - she doesn't have a choice in this and she's been a good girl waking you up. And letting it annoy you will make it harder to get back to sleep after.

[Shalista]

I was in the same boat as you but with peeing. He'd get me up three times a night to go out to pee. I adjusted when i was feeding him and so far it's been pretty good!

Also like Judy said, there are worse things than the dog getting you up. Eventually my eyes kind of glazed over and I'd almost sleep walk to take him out couldn't even remember in the morning if i had taken him out or not, i just wasn't awake enough to remember

[Swingle]

Hi Judy and Shalista

Thanks for your kind comments! We changed her food and it worked for three days, and she tolerates the dry food well and likes it, then it all went down the pan! Her stools are completely normal. So we have now put her onto evening feeding, at about 5 p.m, and so far so good, we'll see how she goes this week! Re worming, vets in Austria are still a bit in the dark ages. I expected my vet to offer a blood test to check she was ok re worning and all as I was concerned, but didn't cross his mind! The issue is with the night trips is that I've just gone back to work, and trying to teach with only one of my two brain cells working isn't good!

[Swingle]

Swingle on evening feeds, so far six nights undisturbed sleep ! Fantastic

[JudyN]

Brilliant news! Well done!

[Nettle]

Well done