wees and poos over night at 8 1/2 months normal?

Hi all our boy had a spell of being almost dry and poo free for a period of time a couple of months ago but we've noticed he's been wet and/or pooey most mornings Is this normal/expected for a dog of this age still? He has a good walk and run every day although not at the same time of day due to work commitments etc, but everything else is in the same routine he's fed 7.00am and 6.30pm (BARF) the same time every day and let out first thing just before 7am everyday the same time and last thing at night 10.30/11pm when we go to bed. Would going down to food once a day help or is he still too young at 8 1/2 months?

Any thoughts welcome

At his age and with that routine I would think he shouldn't have nay problem. I'm not an expert but have you taken him to the vet to see if he has a medical condition that would be preventing him from holding it overnight?

how many time are you taking him out?

what about taking him out for a hour before you goto bed?

is he in a cage? I used to put newspapers down for billy in his cage and he would go everynight, then i decided he was old enough, so i took out the newspapers and everything is fine. If you make a place for them to go in doors to go to the toilet they will, if you dont they wont, unless they are desperate.

If that does not work then maybe a trip to the vets, just in case

Maybe feed his last feed earlier, worked for me when I was having problems

Thanks all, I spoke to a mum at the school today who has a puppy 2 months younger who is dry etc at night !! No, I personally wouldn't want to use a crate. His room is our kitchen when we are out otherwise it's free run downstairs and outside. He was at night having newspaper down when we first got him at 4 months and as he became mostly dry/clean in the mornings we took it away and all was fine but we seem to have gone backwards without really realising we were. That said he was left alone for 6 hours tuesday due to us being a funeral and had no walk :0/ and yet was dry and clean then yesterday he was alone 9-4 until my dad came home with my children and was dry, had no walk again as I was on a rare 9-9 shift and hubby isn't home until 8 ish and was dry and clean last night again. Having no walk is a rarety and not having a walk for 2 days has never happened yet the boy did good lol! Just writing this post was enought to rectify the problem

Sometimes they do go backwards whilst learning, just takes tim to get back on track, there learning more than you think

Walks are so important though. They really need them to get structure and routine. Even if has to be a short one, it'll do them good in the long run Xx

I agree with Janey, one walk a day really isn't enough. Maybe you could try walking him, as Steve sugests, at about 10pm for about 45 minutes or an hour.

Some dogs do have a period of going backwards in their training for a while, and maybe that's it, but I would hazzard a guess and say he needs a later and more routine walk.

Crates can help with overnight toilet problems. You don't have to lock them up in the day (although he'll probably use it as his daytime bed anyway), just at night. They really don't like to mess their beds.

Hi, wet and pooey this morning!

He has an absolute minimum of 45 minutes exercise a day off of the lead, so he runs, plays, swims etc we play hide and seek too lol!! If I dont get to walk him until after school or if we walk him at the weekend the kids and all of us spend a couple of hours or more out walking, playing, stopping whilst we picnic or the climbing group are busy up a tree or in a play park I believe he is getting enough exercise and stimulation, that said an evening walk to the grassy area up the road on a flexi lead may be the way forward to combat this. I think putting him in a cage overnight at his age wouldn't be fair or am I wrong? x

crate's are in no way cruel, so putting him in a crate wouldnt have a bad effect on him what so ever .. he will come to love his own little space.
my rescue wasn't crated and just slept on his bed in the kitchen and he was fine, vinnie wasnt crated only when he was neutered did we get one as he didnt care he would just dart around the room so we needed to keep him calm for a bit. .. but he sleeps in the kitchen on his bed with skye
Skye is crated purely because we didn't want to leave them together over night un-attended, and she loves her crate she takes herself off and sits in there and falls asleep, i have caught many times them both sat snoozing in there lol.

Skye is now 6months old and has been dry all night for a little while now .. she has her last meal at 6pm then if the weather is good, theyre both in the garden playing till dark, we bring them in and then 10mins before bed we let them out to go to the loo and they go to bed.

Hmmm I dont know...dry this morning lol!!

He thanks for reply, I don't think crates are cruel if used correctly but we don't have one, don't really want to buy one lol and I just wondered if it would be entirely fair to introduce this after not having had one all this time plus it's ridiculous but we said no between ourselves because he came from a concrete,caged rescue kennel (soft-I know, I know!!) When we let him out into the garden last thing we tell him to go and do a wee and he mooches about finds a spot and hey presto!! Maybe he's a bit slower overnight to be 'potty trained' like my children ha ha!! They were all dry in the day by 2 but it took until they were 4 1/2 the big two to be dry overnight!