Since a dog peeing late at night when everyone is sleeping or super early in the morning when you might still be in bed or just waking up, we’ll tackle both of these issues together.
Very young
puppies
(under 8 months old) may simply not be able to hold their needs throughout the night and as they mature, things will get easier. With dogs over 8 months old, a couple of adjustments can often solve this issue.
How to Fix This:
1) Adjust dinner time.
This is one of the most effective methods if a Pug goes to the bathroom early in the morning before you are ready to wake up. It works very well if a Pug has a bowel movement early in the morning but also works for peeing. While most dogs receive the bulk of their water via lapping up their
water
dish, hydration also comes from their food (more so for wet food, but to some extent for kibble). And dry food can cause a Pug to drink more after a meal than he would otherwise.
You probably have a set schedule of when you give your Pug dinner; most often when you come home from work or when you eat dinner yourself. However, a dog’s body takes a certain amount of time to process food and water. If a dog is going to the bathroom early in the morning, this means that from the time that he ate to the time that he woke up (10 hours, for example), the food was processed and waste is ready to be expelled.
If you move his last meal up by 1 to 2 hours, the time in the morning will be extended as well. For example, if a Pug keeps waking up at 5 am to pee and poo if you move dinner up by 2 hours, he often won’t need to go to the bathroom until 7 am. If your
Pug is very hungry, offer a light snack so that he can wait to be fed at the later time.
Tip:
Your dog may still may need to pee as soon as he wakes up, however. This is common, since the body is working all night long and as soon as a dog rouses from sleep the bladder is full and the need to pee is strong. Most Pugs will stay sleeping if they don’t have to poo, which means that they will be waking up at a later time that better matches your own schedule.