Just out of interest does anyone else have to get out of bed two/three/four times a night to let their dog out ?
Please don't let me be the only one standing outside in the cold in the early hours......

yeh, i do they can wait to be honest but i feel if they come and ask to go out its very unfair not to let them.
in the warmer months i sleep with my patio door in my bedroom (live in a bungalow) open so they can come and go as they please.
in fact as it hasnt been too cold ive done it for the past week.

I have to say I have never had to get up to my dogs in the night, not even as puppies unless of course they have been poorly.

One of my dogs is on a high dose of steroids at the moment and was thinking i'd be getting up with her a couple times per night but so far I haven't needed to and she's slept soundly on my bedroom floor with no accidents.

After a certain age there shouldnt be any need to let your dog out in the night, unless there feeling unwell and need too. Eg mason will pant when he has abit of a runny bum and needs the loo, but as soon as he is out does his business straight away. But they are the type of dog that would complain that you turned the light on before 8 oclock. Raise and eyebrow and snore some more.

Mine only ask out if they are desparate. Like a couple of nights ago when we had torrential rain/hail at bedtime. They went out but obviously didn't do everything needed and I was standing in the garden again at 4.30 a.m. Normally once in bed they stay there until time to get up in the morning. The cat, on the other hand, seems to think I am his personal door opener :-) Even if the window is left open for him he 'knocks' on the front door and waits for me to open it. ;-) So I can be up several times during the night if he doesn't want to come in the window. :-(

When i got my TT at 6 months she always asked to go out at about 5am but thankfully she now doesn't wake till at least 6.30am. As for my other two dogs they just stay asleep till i get up whatever time.(although it's never late as my daughter wakes me even if they don't).   

Er NO!! The only time was the night he was castrated and he had me up because he was in a bit of pain/discomfort. Unless they are really ill i dont think they need to get up.

yeh i agree with mine they probably could wait, BUT if there was a time and they did do something i would feel terribly guilty that they had come and asked me to go out.
in fairness i would prefer NOT to wake up with a great dane just mm from my face but it makes me laugh when my oh is terrified when he opens his eyes and there is a giant head in front of him.

Mum's dogs are a bit geriatric now, they were getting her up at all hours in the morning which mum assumed meant they needed the toilet.  HOWEVER, the chancers are just playing on the fact that they are old and have actually been asking for food.  Mum now rolls over and goes back to sleep.  I did pose the question that perhaps they have gone senile and forgotten they have had their dinner.

If mine get me up in the middle of the night then rest assured it is urgent - after several "explosive" accidents I have learned to listen to my boys.  They are never up during the wee hours, but when they are then I need to get them out ASAP.

Just a thought, but has your dog perhaps got a kidney infection?  One of mum's dogs had cystitis and was needing out every couple of hours.

Just to explain - my dog is a spritely 12 year old and this business of wanting to go out in the early hours has gone on for quite a few months now.  Sometimes he needs either a wee or a poo and other times he wants to eat grass. Often, though, it's like he just wants to check that the garden is still in the same place..... 
He sleeps in the bedroom and asks to go out by scratching at the door which is hard to ignore.
I've had him checked at the vets and he's fine apart from a heart murmur which he's had for some time and is on medication for.  Because I'm so tired I find myself being a bit impatient with him which, the next morning, I feel guilty about. 
I have to be up at 6 a.m. every weekday so it's getting to be a real problem .

Perhaps you could sleep with your bedroom door open, he might settle better if he has the run of the house.

My thoughts would be his age.. most of my lot just bed down for the night, and thats it until morning.. More recently though, my old girl has begun to wander.. she beds down with the rest of them.. usually starts on my bed, but then moves to the floor, she gets to hot on top of the duvet.. Over the past few months she has wandered to another room.. sleeps for a while.. then wanders through to the sofa.... and then ends up back in my bedroom again... her joints are now becoming quite stiff.. and like me, needs to move around a little during the night... .

Could this be what your boy is experiencing?

NOPE, never ever and don't plan on doing so.  My 15 year old always was fine in the morning.  Think for many if you start it at puppyhood they'll expect it forever.

No sorry, i just mopped up when they were young, and will do the same when they grow old too. Currently they are all adults who can last perfectly well overnight. :-)

> and is on medication for.

Would that include a diuretic?  Perhaps you could speak to the vet about the best times of day to give the medication to ensure it is most "active" during the day rather than any possibility it is overly filling the bladder at night.

He's on Vetmedin, Isabel. The vet's instructions are to give one tablet twice a day, 12 hours apart, on an empty stomach so I can't really give him the second one much earlier than about 6 p.m. But I would have thought that would be early enough to allow him to empty his bladder sufficiently before bedtime :)

Mine is on Vetmedin too and as you say it is hard enough trying to tie it in with meals and it is a vasodilator so probably does not have a lot of bearing on the waterworks anyway :-)

My elderly dog started wanting to go out in the middle of the night, however he was diagnosed with CRF, which presumably your doesnot have as he has been vet checked.
Because he would wee on the mats by the doors to the garden, I got some puppy pads, put them on the floor and an old towel over the top, I had to put them under the towel as he would shred them to bits otherwise!  He now goes there and I get a good nights sleep!