Hi -

My 5 month old Lab has always been great about sleeping through the night w/o waking us up to go out to the bathroom - it has maybe happened only 5 times since we brought him home. However, this week he has woken us up every night around 3 am to go outside to have a bowel movement. There isn't anything different about what he has been eating, in fact we don't feed him after 8 pm and he normally has a BM before we put him in his crate for bed.

Is there anything we can do to get him back to his old, nice schedule? Everything I read says that by 5 months his bladder should be able to hold more, not less.

Is the stool normal? If it is bigger and softer than normal, he may have managed to forage something that is causing it. Any strange thing they eat can cause more frequent bowel movements. If so, he may go back to normal soon. Just watch what he gets ahold of.

Something else could be waking him up, and once up and moving, he needs a bowel movement.

What are you feeding him? Newer knowledge says put large breeds on adult chow early. It slows growth and allows strong joints more time to develop. Next time you run low on puppy chow, pick up an adult chow and start working it in until at the end of a week, it is all adult. Try to stick to as close to what you are feeding now as you can. The fewer protein sources when young, the easier to work around any allergies later in life.

Hi,
People have the same issues, too. Sometimes, the normal bathroom routine is changed, for many reasons.
I wouldn't be too concerned that your 5 month old "has to go" sometime on a different schedule. It probably won't be the last time it changes, when it does get back on some kind of schedule.
I do wish you the best with your dog. They are so loving and caring.