Why Withholding Water from Your Dog at Night is Dangerous

Does your dog have a lot of peeing accidents in the middle of night? One tactic you may have read online is to take away your dog’s water bowl not long before you go to bed. The idea behind this is to prevent your dog’s bladder from getting full while you are asleep. We, however, wouldn’t recommend this unless it was specific instructions from a vet or other certified animal professionals.

One of the reasons why we wouldn’t recommend withholding water from your dog is due to the fact that peeing accidents can happen for a wide variety of reasons. It could, for example, be due to a medical problem that your dog has developed. Diseases or infections like urinary tract infections (UTI) can cause dogs to urinate excessively. If your dog is suddenly having a lot of pee accidents at night then one recommendation would be to take your dog for a vet check up.

Dogs can also have inappropriate peeing incidents at night due to their diet. For example, dogs that are given a lot of salty treats or salty foods are likely to drink more throughout the day and subsequently need to pee more often. Withholding water from them a few hours before bedtime won’t resolve the issue in such cases.

Potty training is not easy and while it might make sense to withhold water from your pet at night, it’s not the first and only approach you should go with as the peeing accidents may be a result of something that isn’t directly tied to your dog’s drinking behavior.