7 month mini labradoodle HELP!

[MiniRif]

I'm new to the boards!!! My Fiance and I brought home an adorable mini labradoodle about 3 months ago. He is now 7 months old. We did buy him from a pet store (and are now, in hindsight, strong advocates agains puppy mills). Since bringing Taxi home, we've tried very hard to keep a consistent schedule (we are routine people!) and at 7 months his routine now looks like this.

6:00am - awake, walk, food
7:45am - goes into crate
Noon - out of crate, walk, play
1:30pm - goes back into crate
4:00pm - out of crate, walk, dog park for 1 hour or more
6:00pm - food
7:00pm - long walk (about 2 miles)
10:00pm - short walk
10:30pm - sleep

However...

Now Taxi refuses to sleep at night. He goes for his 10:00pm walk and comes back inside hyper, awake and running around. We live in a 3rd floor apartment so we do have to respect our neighbors. He stays "wired" and awake until about 1:00am when he howls to go "potty" outside. But we know he can hold it for 8 hours (he's gone all night since we've gotten him...this 1:00am thing is very recent). If we don't take him outside at 1:00am, he goes potty on the carpet. We've tried crating him the past few nights, but he whines, barks and howels (which is hard to ignore in an apartment). He typically falls asleep around 3:30am and sleeps soundly until we wake up at 6:00am. He has water all day/evening and we pick up his water bowl around 9:00pm at night. But there are times he'll whine and bark JUST because he wants water (around 11:00pm).

Any suggestions? We are exhausted and frustrated. He is currently in an 8-week obedience class and he does ok. We haven't had a lot of problems with him chewing (just a few minor instances of destruction). He gets LOTS of socialization (dog park almost every single day, 2 times a day on weekends, goes to my niece's soccer & baseball games, walks, obedience class etc.) But how do we get him to sleep at night and hold his "potty" through the night???

Thanks!

[lindamarie]

WOW!
You appear to be doing everything right so I'm having a hard time picking on something that's NOT right about this.

Yet, since this is so recent and he HAS to go....meaning it doesn't look like he's wantng attention........my first thought is a UTI!
You might want to catch a little while he's going and take it in for a sample to the vet.
I have had to do this before and it's not as difficult as it seems. Just stand near him when he's peeing and catch a bit in a plastic container.......then take it in. That is ALL I can come up with!

[Daisy'sMom]

I agree with Linda, you have a fantastic routine that the only thing I can think of is UTI. I agree, I would call your vet and tell them what's up and see if you can drop off a urine sample, to at least rule that out. If a plastic container doesn't work, you can also use a clean/disposable pie pan/plate to catch it. Good luck, I hope everything improves soon because yes, that sounds exhausting!

[deepnite10]

if there s no urinary infection..then your looking at a behavioral
situation..

our s uses the doggie doors..however, we do have a older dog
which does have accidents if we don t personally take her out around
4am..

it s not uncommon for us to wake up in the middle of the night to potty..so i would nt expect anything less from the dogs..

inconvient but, necessary..when we take the dogs on vacation with us, the wife and i take turn s letting the dogs out at night..

if he s having a problem with sleep at night..check to see if he s napping during the time he s in the crate..i know if i take even a power nap, i have a difficult time getting to sleep in the evening..

[M&Tdoodles]

HI Minirif,
By the schedule , this puppy is left in his crate for 6 hours and 45 mins. This is almost 7 hours, which I assume he is napping. He is staying awake at night because he has gotten plenty of sleep throughout the day.
Maybee you should consider a dog sitter come in at noon and run him around for a few hours.
Pups have energy sometimes it takes skill in deeling with this.
Some breeders breed for excellent teperaments , so people so not have to deal with these situations.
By the trouble you are having at night this pup needs more awake time & much more activity during the daylight hours.
Good luck ..

[MiniRif]

Thanks for the replies!

Things have gotten a little bit better - we crated him at night for about 2 weeks to try to "break" him of the habit. It's been working pretty well. But when he's not in the crate, it's almost as if he refuses to "hold" his potty. He gets our attention to go out every 2 hours or so. And if we don't take him out, he goes inside.

We had him neutered last week and no problems as far as UTI or anything.

And he gets tons of exercise - I take him for a walk at noon and my fiance takes him to the dog park at least once a day! But he does probably sleep in the crate which makes him less likely to sleep at night.

We'll keep working!!!

[lindamarie]

We'll keep working!!!

YAY!!!!!! Sometimes it just does take some time! I'm happy things are better and can only GET BETTER!