crate barking

any gentle methods out there for stopping a puppy from barking all night in his crate?

jack tends to sleep soundly for about 3 hours, at which point i take him out (before he barks so he doesnt associate barking and getting out) but once i put him back in his crate he barks for about 3 hours. non-stop.

obviously, i'd like to sleep as much as i'd like jack to sleep.

is there any method that will get him to stop, but not scare him too much (he is still just a young'un)

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Do you think he still needs to be taken out in the middle of the night? Perhaps try a later bedtime and let him stay in there through the night. How old is he now? With Dancer she held it through the entire night from 8 weeks on. I restricted her water in the evening, took her out before bed, around 11pm-12am, and she'd hold it till 6 am at first, then gradually longer and longer.

Just a thought...maybe try a soft radio (talk show, classical?)?

Depending on his age, he probably will have to out at some point during the night.

I spent the first two weeks with my new guy sleeping on the floor right next to his crate so he could see me. Was able to stick a finger through the crate for him to smell if he started to whimper. This seemed to stop his whining/barking and slowly but surely I was able to spend an entire night in my own bed!

And when I leave for work in the morning, as Ron suggested above, I put the radio on Smooth Jazz. He seems to like it more than some of the "louder" music I listen to, but he doesn't like Kenny G (al least that is what I am telling myself!).

Hi Ed, Someone else had this problem and found that putting a cover over the crate worked. It is like with a bird you cover the cage and they go to bed. If you can tolerate the barking I would let the puppy bark. If he gets to come out of the crate for barking he won't stop doing it. Kids have been known to do this as well, one of mine did and we hung in there and each night the crying got less and one night when we said good night to her she laid down and went to sleep. Head phones and ear plugs will help. Good Luck!

Hello,

Your post didn't say if the crate was in your bedroom or not, if not maybe bringing the crate beside your bed would make Jack more comfortable at night. I have also heard of covering the crate with a cover, like Shaggydog suggested.
When Jack and Annabelle were in potty training we always took the food and water up at 9pm, and they went to bed at 11pm. When they woke up at 7 am they would go to the bathroom and have their food and water put back down for them.
Hope one of us helped. What is Jack's full name. My Jack is Jackson Wiggle. LOL Stormi and co.

it is in my room.
funny add-on to the story:
last night i did nothing different for jack, no water past 8, out at 11, bed shortly after, but last night he slept like a baby (who snores) until 5 am with only one trip out last night. this is a far cry from what he did the night before, waking up at 12 and not going back to bed, just barking for 4 hours in his crate.

thanks all,
Ed

this info is GOOD i will try this with Cosmo since i find myself in the middle of the night going outside everyday at various time i wasn't sure if i should take the water away or not since he drinks so much water but i am going to try this tonight thank's so much this forum is the BEST!

Great news Ed!

And Dora, restricting water intake in the evenings really does help, and helps prevent accidents as well, which leads to more positive reinforcement.

I recommend putting a sheet over the crate. It creates a cacoon / cave-like place for them and prevents them from seeing anything going on outside of the crate.

He's at the stage where he's testing you - don't give in - that's what he's hoping for!

Depending on his age - he could go all night without needing to go out - so you may want to try not taking him out (as long as you know he's old enough to hold it) - and he'll probably settle back down quicker.

Actually, you may find with the sheet - that he doesn't wake up during the night at all!

Kristen

tried the sheet a few weeks ago.

he pulled it off the crate and proceeded to eat it.....it turns out, sheets are dry, so he gagged a little and in spite of my best efforts to leave him alone so he'd sleep, i wouldn't allow him to choke, so i had to nix that idea.

ed wrote:

He's a bugger! You may want to move the crate out of your room then. I would try that route and see if it helps. If not - I saw in another one of your posts he's 40 lbs - and I would think at that size he'd be able to hold it all night - so I wouldn't take him out when he wakes up during the night - instead tell him Quiet (or ignore him) and see if he settles back down.

well, before the barking fiasco (and last night) he only stirs to get out.

he will actually just roll over a few times within a few minutes, im a light sleeper so i hear him and get him out knowing he has to go.

i dont mind waking up as long as he goes back to bed after wetting, 10 minutes of lost sleep is a drop in the bucket. its when he barks whines and howls for 5 hours that bugs me

Ed, When we used the crate it was in the bedroom and I always put the TV on when I went to sleep. Maybe the voices and small light from it kept my guys company when they were young. We would leave on a radio(Ron suggested) or a TV when leaving the dog at home in his crate. I stopped water around 7 and did the last potty around 10:30 and that helped to keep the dog sleeping through the night. Good Luck!

Someone PLEASE help with my 12 week old Dachshaund barking in his crate. We got him about a week ago and I have left him alone in the crate during the day for an hour a couple times to get him use to it. He usually barks til I can't take it anymore, so, I let him out and he snuggles up to me on the floor where I don't hear a peep out of him throughout the night but find messes all over the floor in the morning. Taking his water up at 8 or so and taking him out to go to the bathroom as late as I can stay awake. I will try the blanket or sheet over the crate and see if that helps. Thank you for your suggestions

Shaggydog wrote:

At what age did you let your kids out of the crate at night?? lol

Dakota wrote:

Oooh... I've had Dachshunds before... I know your pain with the barking. Bring him into your room (with his crate) and put your hand in there for him to smell so he is calm.

Dachshunds are very social and will NEVER shut up unless someone is there with them. They can bark all day and night. :lol:

If that doesn't work - you can always try to get him another Dachshund friend to play with. Two are always better than one when it comes to those dogs. :lol:

You can also try to litter box train him if he wants to sleep with you. Get a box and put it in your room for him. When he is about to do his buisness pick him up and put him inside and praise him like crazy with a food treat. Dachshunds are very food motivated as I'm sure you've already found out. Tell us what happens.

Dakota wrote:

Thanks for the help.... at this point I'll try anything, but another companion is out of the question. I tried the cover over the crate last night and it didn't phase him. My parents always sprayed their dogs in the face with water, does that sound right? He barked for about an hour and a half. He is a really good pup other than the crate barking at night. I know it is going to take some time. He sleeps fine on the living room floor, do you think that we should eliminate the crate at night altogether and just buy a carpet cleaner? Just kidding.

Since a companion is out of the question - I would try the litter box. Don't cut the crate out completely - just make sure that if you need to use it that it's in a place where they can see you. Also - when he is out keep an eye on him and make sure you keep up the litter box training.

Also - make sure that if he does go to the bathroom that you don't get angry at him or give him any attention for doing something bad.

When he is more reliable with the litter box - make sure you have one in the room he sleeps in (living room or your room) and put a nightlight next to it so he can see it.

I hope it works out. :lol:

Dachshunds are great dogs - love them to death - but the crate barking... whoah... it never ends unless you have your hand in there with them. :lol:

P.S. Make sure that you Dachshund has pleanty of snuggly blankets and stuff to snuggle into - he might be cold or want something warm to be next too. Age has a lot to do with it as well. How old is he?

Oh Duh! You said his age in your post!

Sorry! Since he is young he is probably also missing his mama and siblings. Definitly needs something to snuggle with and have someone close by. He is probably a little afraid at night.

Thanks for the support, but a litter box? Isn't that degrading to a dog? I have put his food and water up at 7:00 as suggested and keep reinforcing the positive. I think that his problem with the crate at night is being alone. I heard that a clock in the bedding is a good tip for puppies when they sleep. I appreciate your help and suggestions.

[In my opinion] Dogs aren't made to be in a crate away from the pack. He is just expressing his natural instincts being the dog he is and are probably scared , barking his lungs out for the pack to come and be with him and release him into safety of the tribe. I would put the crate in the garbage and put him as close to me as I can. Why go the hard way and cage him up all alone when there's a nice, warm and instinctual right way for the dog?
Can you please tell me one good reason to have him in a cage?

1 good reason: Clean carpets.

Another good reason, safety for the dog and the home. Another good reason, speeding up housetraining allowing positive reinforcement to reign instead of scolding for mistakes.

jsmarcus wrote:

1 good reason: Clean carpets.

Heehee..true! Though the nice thing about my family is that my dad has a carpet cleaning business. Even if Odin has a mistake on the carpet we have plenty of animal and people safe cleaning products to get it up, and the mats in his playpens are cleaned every few days.

But I agree, they have to be contained sometimes for these reasons and there really is no way around it.

Well I wouldn't say there is "no" way around it... I know lots of people who have never used a crate and have the best behaved dogs. I have only used the crate training method myself in the last ten years, and I have never been able to properly house train a dog using this method.
I often wish I had never used crate training for Dancer and Sky, if I could do it again, I would have done it the old fashioned way, paper training. I never had a problem training a pup that way. However, because I work full time, I felt I had no choice. Now I have a 15 mnth old and a 9 month old who are not housetrained. They probably never will be.

True, true. People that work at home would be able to paper train etc, without crate training but that's not the case for us and most others. Most of the dogs we've had weren't crate trained. If I remember correctly our German Shepherd Caesar was crate trained as a puppy cause I remember his crying and whimpering at night. But other than that, our other dogs weren't and didn't have accidents in the house, just the one Samoyed we had, but that was for spite! He was one naughty dog.

This puzzles me even more; do you mean that you let the dog pee in the crate as part of becoming housebroken :?:

Then about the safety. I do no really get that one either. There are millions of dogs who are safe in a home without a crate and it all comes down to you as the owner. I have had dogs for many years and there's no problem to train them into being housebroken and to make the home safe and into their own nest.
And if they start to chew on the furniture it's about them feeling stressed or underactivated or not being able to relax or/and stressed about being alone from the pack etc. and then it's up to me to make it ok for them. I would never lock them in a crate with the problems caged for themself to carry so to speak. Dogs are born free and I can't stand going to a zoo either and I would rather clean carpets than to teach my dogs that they aren't free! My home are theire safe nest and heaven!

Ps. Ron. Why did you insert "In my opinion" in my post? I thought everyone was stating their point of view in their personal post.

Fnissa wrote:

Ps. Ron. Why did you insert "In my opinion" in my post? I thought everyone was stating their point of view in their personal post.

Actually I didn't do that, another moderator did, but only because I didn't get to it first!

Yes we are all expressing ourselves here, but when we type we can be expressing fact or opinion. Modifying phrases such as "I think" or "In my opinion" help to separate the two, and generally tend to soften the post.

Soften? Does my beliefs need to soften? :?:

Fnissa wrote:

Soften? Does my beliefs need to soften? :?:

Nope, just the delivery sometimes!

It's something I have to work on myself, all the time!

I just try to remember to post the same way I'd talk sitting at my kitchen table, sharing a cup of tea with a neighbor who I didn't know very well.

All opinion is welcome!

Ed this thread has been running for some time. Maybe its too late to add my experience. Barney has never been happy about going into his crate. Maybe its because his first experience was riding home in one, without any gentle intro to it. The breeder did not crate the pups. I would have to push him in. Generally he accepted it, but eventually got to barking. Finally after barking for a solid 45 min. on night while I was trying to go to sleep, I was at my wit's end and posed the question to the lady who was conducting Obedience class at the time. She suggested that without saying a word I simply get up, walk over to the cage (which is in my bedroom, slap the door good and hard with my hand, walk away and go to bed with out saying anything. I tried it, and it was like turning off a radio. He quit barking and I've had no trouble since.

However, now that he is 6 months and weighs over 60 lbs. It's almost impossible for me to push him into his cage. I've had good success leaving him sleep outside the cage at night, and during the day (I work 40 hrs) I been leaving him outside. I think part of the problem now is that the cage is not big enough. Moreover he associates being crated with my leaving him all day. I'm trying to break that association by feeding him and giving him treats in the cage, but as soon as I get near the cage he backs out. So I'm open to suggestions on how to get him to like the cage; but as to the barking problem, the hard slap of the cage sure worked for me.

okay, I'm having the same issues. We have a 12 week old lab who barks constantly while in his crate. He was doing better and would actuall spend several hours at a time during the day with no problems but seems to be regressing. I've tried ignoring, sometimes it works, sometimes he gets hysterical. I've tried reprimanding, saying "quiet" and then rewarding. Last night he got up 5 times during the night and then barked in between. Any suggestions?? I am going on almost 3 weeks with little sleep.

Do you keep his crate in your room? Are you actually getting up with him all five times?

I remember those first few weeks with no sleep... hard to believe that both the dog and I survived! It will get better, I promise! One thing that helped was putting blankets over one end of the crate to give it that "den" feeling. We kept our crate in the kitchen and if I had it to do over I would have put the crate in our bedroom. You have to just stop responding to the barking, as hard as that is. Let him bark, eventually he'll tire himself out and go back to sleep. Of course, you're going to hear a lot of funny howling, whining and barking before the sleeping starts. At 12 weeks you may need to plan one outing per night for a potty break but try to do it when he's not barking so that he doesn't associate barking with you coming to the crate. Good luck!

SKy slept throguh at 8 weeks? Wowo Morgan (10 weeks) gets up at least once in the 6 hours I usually sleep - some nights Marley wants to go out too (16 weeks) and on the odd evening Chloe (12 yrs!) joins them LOL

So since my Merlin is 12wks...should I just get up once with him during the night?

The schedule is like this: he eats and drinks last water at 6:30 -7:00 pm
We take him out at 9:00pm and then at 11:00. Do you think he can hold it from 11 until 6:00 am?? Because he does start wiggling through the night and every time I take him, he goes. But I guess the point is to get him used to "holding it" longer and longer..right?

I just don't want him to pee in his crate (it's his travel kennel until we get his crate, crate

) because that will be a huge mess, and then he will learn to go in his crate. Which will be a bigger problem.

Hmm...

kerry wrote:

Both Sky and Dancer both slept through with no midnight trips to potty, and no accidents in the night, from the day they came home.
Accidents during the day were another story entirely! LOL :roll:

Holy cow, thanks for all your good advice. I just bought a new puppy (teddybear, cute and small but oh my goodness is she noisy at night), and i'm listening to everyones opinion about house training and crate training. The cries are getting less and less at night, I'm into night number 6 now. Started with 4 hours, then 3 1/2, then just less than 3, and now we're down to about an hour before she passes out. hopefully by next week we'll be at 5 mins, because I'm running out of concealer and foundation to cover my dark circles and bags (ontop of the dog, I have 2 small children - icks!).

Hi Everyone,

I am so excited to be getting an oes puppy at the end of November! I already have a lab/retriever mix who is not crate trained. Is it possible to crate train a puppy when our other dog is not?

Thanks!

Welcome to the community!

Anything is possible!

Be sure to join the forum (Membership is free, safe and we usually don't bite) and being logged in as a member enables a few features.

Dakota wrote:

I also have a 12 week old dachshund boy and a 5 year old. The older one goes into his crate to get away and the little one barks like mad all day and night! if I have to go out to the store for an hour or two he barks the entire time I'm gone. Not only do I feel bad because it's obviously awful for him, but I also worry about the neighbors. i've tried sheets over the crate. treats in the crate. toys, my old shirt, EVERYTHING!!! His crate is literally against his older brothers! WHAT DO I DO?????

Any help would be awesome!

After reading suggestions on keeping dogs from waking up several times a night, I am very happy to say that doing the following things have really worked for me.
1) limiting the water they drink 2 hours before bedtime
2) taking them out before putting them in their crate for the night
and 3) covering their crates with a blanket.
I tried 1 and 2 without success. It wasn't until I started covering their crates
with a blanket that I found that they now don't wake up during the night.
Sounds simple and works like a charm.

my oes seemingly loves his crate, went straight in there when i brought him home, which was 2 nights ago. i shut the gate on it today, wow, he went mad! barking and knawing at the bars. i waited until he caught his breath then opened the door. he stopped and went to sleep!! i could of course just leave him with the door open, but i need to limit his wandering and night accidents.

it dont mind his barking but i think my neighbours might.

charlysez wrote:

He needs to realize that you are in charge. If you say the door needs to be closed, then he needs to abide by that. It may take awhile but working at in in little steps, perhaps giving him a small treat & praise when he finally is quiet for a minute with the door closed & ignoring him when he is throwing his tantrum should eventually sink in. At some point in his life, if you were to take him to dog show or an obedience trial where he needs to be crated (or even in a vehicle) you would have major problems.

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