Sleeping at night

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Permalink Reply by Megan, Andrea, & Douglas on February 11, 2011 at 8:16am

This sounds like our little guy.  We didn't allow him to sleep out of his crate at night until he was 10 months (he's 11 months now), but right around 6 months he would randomly start whining in his crate in the middle of the night, and we assumed he had to go out.  Sometimes he would whine only 2 hours after we went to bed.

We soon realized he wasn't whining because he couldn't hold it, he was just being a pain, probably wanted attention, or like your guy, was wide awake.  After about 3 nights of this behavior, if he whined and didn't stop on his own, we'd firmly tell him "No, go to sleep" and then ignore him.  After about 2 nights, this behavior stopped because he realized we weren't going to take him outside anymore for a nighttime "joy ride" just because he whined.

Now at 11 months, he climbs on to my head to wake me up and just this morning at 3:45am decided to wake me up to whine.  Knowing that he did all of his business last night before bed, I knew he didn't need to go out, so again, I told him no and he settled back down.

I think our pups just like to push the boundaries and see what they can get away with...

 

 

Permalink Reply by Jaime and Barley Barker on February 11, 2011 at 9:07am

Hi Beth,

 

I had a similar situation with Barley. Barley's problem was that he was too hot. His first grate was an enclosed airline plastic crate and I had put a fleece bed inside for what I thought would be his comfort. He was restless and his paws were sweaty each time I let him out. I got him a new wire crate so he has air circulation now. I also replaced his fleece bed with an orthopedic bed with a twill cover. He's a lot cooler and happier now. 

Permalink Reply by Suzann, Rosey & Bandit on February 11, 2011 at 9:19am

It would be good to know more about his routine.  How much is he sleeping during the day?  How much activity level does he have?  I don't know about moving his crate, I think you would want to be able to monitor him.  He may become upset if you isolate him.

Permalink Reply by Lynda Kamrath on February 11, 2011 at 11:13am

It may be a problem with being too warm.  Both of my doodles like to sleep on the tiles in the bathroom.  They will put their heads on the rugs, but their bodies are on the tiles.  Also, they sleep on the tiles in the kitchen and around the firebox instead of on the rugs.  I call them my "hot dogs".  Also, the plastic in the crate may be annoying.  If he is thoroughly house trained, you may give him another chance to be free in your bedroom along with his sister.  This was a new experience for him and he may not have selected a suitable sleeping place.  If you take him out to potty just before going to bed, then expect him to wait until morning.  He should be fine with 8 hours and just put him out first thing in the morning.  If he wants to visit during the night, just firmly tell him "No, go to sleep" and let him be.

For us, if we get up during the night, we always take the dogs out for a quick pee, but they never ask to go out unless they have a real emergency.  Our older dog stands by our head and shakes his collar and we know he needs out.  The younger dog will come up next to our heads and "clear his throat".  It's funny how they found their own way of communicating an emergency situation. 

Good luck.  Everyone needs to have sufficient sleep and dogs and babies can be interrupt your sleep so easily.

Permalink Reply by Betsy & Ridley on February 11, 2011 at 11:41am

Ridley was up in the middle of the night last night too!!!  Next time I'll send him to your house because I know your up :)

 

I hope this isn't the start of something...I'm very tired today & I gave up coffee!!!!

Permalink Reply by Eileen and Pretzel on February 13, 2011 at 7:53pm

We have consistently been challenged with Pretzel during the night.  Much of it has been due to the fact that he has colitis and really does need to go outside when he's not feeling well.  But then he quickly gets into the habit of wanting to go outside.  One thing that seems to work for him is to leash him to my nightstand so that he can be near me without being crated, and he then follows my lead for nighttime activities.  Lights out and time to go "night-night" and he'll just lay down next to the bed and go right to sleep.  He does sense when I'm waking up and wants me to get up, sometimes a bit before I'm ready to get moving, but he does wait till he hears me stirring to start grumbling to wake up.

Permalink Reply by Lisa Ortmann on February 16, 2011 at 5:02am

I feel your pain!  Oscar (who is also from the Paw Pad and born right around your baby!) is about 5 months and all of a sudden whining off and on throughout the night.  He was not waking up at all until about a week ago and now he is driving us nuts!   I keep thinking he must have a bathroom emergency, only to find that we go outside and he walks around checking things out and will go to the bathroom eventually but is certainly not in any hurry!  There has been an occasional time time we brought him home that he really needed to go so now I am worried about ignoring him.  He woke me up twice last night to go out and neither were necessary.  Ahhh!  He isn't hot, our house is freezing, but I think he is bored...  It seems to be worse on nights that we are gone for a few hours and he has been his crate some.  He needs to get out his energy or something!

Permalink Reply by Beth Burris on February 16, 2011 at 6:07am

Lisa, your response made me smile - it sounds exactly like our house! My niece has a brother of Amos and he has decided not to sleep either after months of sleeping all night. We moved Amos and his sister Annabel's crates to the bedroom across from ours and that has really helped. It's easier to ignore any barking, plus I think they sleep better if I'm not in the same room. We did have his haircut but that didn't seem to matter. Good luck