Alfie is an 8 month Shih Tzu, who has been with me since he was 7/8 weeks old. He was housetrained by about 3-4 months and since then has slept in my bedroom on the floor. All was well until a couple of weeks ago, when he suddenly started needing to go out in the garden 2 or 3 times every night. he whines at the door until I take him out and then usually both wees and poos each time he goes out. This is all getting quite exhausting. He doesnt seem to drink an excessive amount.
When I go to work for a few hours during the day he manages to hold on then. Any ideas on what to do please?

Think it has become a habit, try using a cage, or shutting him in the kitchen and buying some ear plugs till he accepts being separated from you. He can't need to go 3 times in the night if he can manage all dog but that may be the problem if he is not getting out enough during the day (exercise usually causes a dog to have a poo) then may be he does need to go at night. Try changing his day around to make sure he gets more exercise during the day.

he does get two walks a day, for between 30-45 mins each. But maybe ear plugs are the answer!

Does he do pees and poos when he is out for his walks, and 30 mins at a time is plenty, may be 3, 20 min ones would work better. Try to make a habit of saying something to label his action when he does go, I say "be quick" for a pee and "do a big job" for a poo, you can chose for yourself but make sure you can say it in public because you want to make sure he will go when you ask. When this is learned you should be able to make sure that when you take him out last thing at night that he has been and then you can ignore any please he makes during the night.

If it makes you feel any better I have a 12 month old Rott who up until last month was completely clean in the house (and was for quite some time).  Then he started to poop in the mornings.  I get up at 7.00am feed and let them out to be clean which he always does both then.  However, if I leave him in the kitchen and then go away - this could just be in the shower or sometimes I go to the gym so am only away about 1 hr - by the time I come back he will have pooped again.[:(]

This is very frustrating as at night when he is with us in the lounge after he has been fed at 5.00pm it can be 10.00ish before he needs to go to the toilet!  So I KNOW he can hold it longer than the hour he is left in the morning and it's driving me nuts.  So I know the frustration you are feeling believe me!!

My theory and that of some others I have talked to is that it is a form of separation anxiety. He only does this when I am not present and he is left alone in the mornings which is the puzzle.  I can actually leave him in the afternoons for longer with no ill effects - dogs really test you huh?

when my westie was about 6 months I returned to work and he pooed the minute I went away.  My husband would come back to a mess 15 minutes later.  I noticed he only done it when I had my work clothes on if I was dropping them off at school he didn't bother i think he knew i would be back. I started putting him in his cage and it stopped although I had visitors a few nights back their kids are not sure of dogs so I put him in the kitchen he was there for 5 mins and he peed and ignored me for ages his way of paying me back.

When is the last feeding, is the poo solid or runny? That can have alot to do with it.

If you are confident that there's no medical reason for him wanting to go out during the night, you could try moving his meal time to see if that makes a difference. Wonder if you are getting any visitors in your garden at night? maybe that's why he wants to go out, to remark his territory.

Maybe he was getting cold and that is what woke him up. It has been colder of late and if your heating is off and you are under a duvet you wont notice the change but young dogs, I think can do. Maybe covering the crate so that his body warmth stays in might help:)

I dont believe there is any medical problem, as he seems happy and healthy, and he has a nice warm bed so I dont think the cold is waking him. Two nights ago i decided to ignore his requests. He both wee'd and poo'd on the floor. Last night he got out of my room and did it in my daughters room and also right in my trainer. Tonight I shall keep him in his bed in a crate type arrangement and see what happens. thank you for all your suggestions though!! I will try and get him to slepp downstairs soon, but doing things one step at a time. Anyway I quite like having him upstairs, or i would if he would go back to his earlier ways!