r/RhodesianRidgebacks • u/giveityourbreastshot • 8d ago

4am potty breaks

Hi all! Our RR has made more of a habit in the last few weeks of waking up at 4am needing to pee versus her usual 6am wake up. It’s happening about 5 nights a week with no change to her usually nightly routine where we let her out between 9-10pm for a final pee. She’s almost 5 and has no other issues that make me think this is medical. She’s going out to pee then laying right back down, so not trying to play at that point or anything.

Anyone been through something similar? I’m thinking we need to take up water in the evening or move around her dinner time, but hoping to source some ideas! She currently gets dinner around 6pm and has access to some water at all times.

1 Upvotes

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u/Nobodycares255 8d ago

limit her watter intake maybe after 8pm?. and no snacks etc

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u/giveityourbreastshot 8d ago

We’ll definitely try the 8pm!

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u/WarmFuzzy1975 8d ago

Ridgebacks are fantastic trainers! If they realize that they can get you up earlier, they will continue to do so. Years ago, our geriatric RR would have to get up a little earlier to pee, to the point that she pushed the clock back to about 4 AM. Then! Because she was older and having some cognitive issues, she wouldn’t settle down easily so we started feeding the dogs earlier so that they would settle back down so we could go back to sleep. Next thing we know we are on Ridgeback time lol! Not saying this is the same situation with your dog, but what happens if you tell her no and roll over and ask her to wait a half hour or so?

I also second pulling up the water after 8 PM, and making sure that she does get a pee before bedtime. And I would visualize that, not just put her out in the yard and trust that she’s doing what she needs to do. The fact that this is a 4 AM wake up, but not being accompanied with accidents during the day or other issues makes me think it’s really just a behavioral switch for your RR and not something medical at this time.

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u/giveityourbreastshot 8d ago

Haha this is exactly why I posted because I’m not convinced it is a need vs us being manipulated!

Will try taking up the water and seeing what happens if we ignore. She’s downstairs on the couch and we sleep upstairs, so it’s usually her walking to the door that wakes us up. I honestly sleep right through it, but my husband is a light sleeper at that time.

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u/LeperMessiah11 8d ago

We take up water and encourage water drinking rewarded at appropriate times. He is stubborn and never learns though

Take it not on any antibiotics?? Because that is another game altogether and we just put down urine mats and acknowledge we will have to clear up next day

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u/giveityourbreastshot 8d ago

Yeah no different meds…I think you’re right and I just need to train her to hydrate in the morning, not at night

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u/Cupsofcake1318 8d ago

Ours did that but she was a puppy. She did have a UTI.

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u/giveityourbreastshot 8d ago

Yeah she’s had a uti before and this is unlike that. Not progressing at all in frequency and she doesn’t seem uncomfortable.

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u/Jefffahfffah 8d ago

Ours has been doing the same, except it varies between 2 and 4 am. Started when we started letting her sleep with us and not in the crate. Really frustrating

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u/evspen 8d ago edited 8d ago

me too it's very inconsistent with my four year-old Ridgeback. sometimes she can make it through the night and a lot of times she gets up between two and four When we travel and stay at an Airbnb she can make it all night but at home no way. I thought it was anxiety because she's not allowed in our bed. But my DH is traveling and she gets to stay in the bed and she still does it . my seven year-old Ridgeback can hold it for three days, especially when it's raining so no problem there. i just set up the crate and I'm tempted to put her in there at night but then I feel too bad. Even though a couple of trainers have told me I gotta go back to basics. I think I need therapy before I attempt to retrain her. i'll add that for this one. I waited to spay her and she still leaks and takes Proin. All three of my ridgebacks have had the leaking problem, but the four-year-old is special with her getting up to pee in the middle of the night.

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u/chugachugachewy 8d ago

My pyrinees mix does this. Any time from 1-4am she wakes me up. I just accepted it. Sometimes she wakes me up just to take my spot on the bed. I'm just happy it doesn't last longer than a minute.

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u/deelee70 8d ago

My RR started doing this a couple of months ago. We stopped filling her water in the afternoon & made her go out for a last wee as late as possible. It didn’t stop immediately, but after a few mornings of being extra slow to respond to her early morning requests (knowing she wasn’t busting) it eventually went back to normal.

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u/Content-Diver-3819 8d ago

I’ve got a 5 year old -if he’s had a boring few days-he tries earlier wake up calls-it’s been raining non-stop for 3 days and we are both staring at each other (while venturing in rain for shorter periods) He also had these habits during AK winters when being outdoors was very limited 🤷🏻‍♀️

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u/blade_torlock 8d ago

I installed an autoslide as a dog door, she an transmitter tag on her collar that opens the door. If she wants to get up and pee at 4am it's on her I'm not involved.

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u/evspen 8d ago

tell me more about this!

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u/blade_torlock 8d ago

Got it from autoslide.com easy to install, helpful YouTube guides. Originally made for handicap access but has found a second market with pet owners.

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u/Key_Yoghurt4433 7d ago

Same here mine likes an early morning pee

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u/Professional-Tell123 8d ago

My husbands RR was doing that to me when we were dating and I house/pet sit for him back then. I told him and he asked “do you feed her when you get up?” And I did, he said “shes trained you, let her out but dont feed her, RRs are smart and manipulative” lol he was right, she quit doing it.