its 3:00 AM.AGAIN!!!!!!!!
Heart has never been an all night sleeper but recently she has become worse. She gets up at between 2-4am..I am getting tired of this and I really don't know what to do. Here is the scene every (early) morning--- First off, I wear earplugs due to hubby snoring so maybe she is waking up earlier and I'm just not hearing her. But as soon as I hear that high pitched puppy bark and its a continous stream with no breaths in between I get up and go to her fully enclosed night crate (during the day she is in a wire crate so she can see) CAN THIS BE THE PROBLEM? Her face is wet --probably from her barking and being so upset (this is the part that concerns me most)...and most times she has pees in the crate (2nd most concern).. she goes out, wets comes in takes a drink, another drink --throws up the water she just drunk, goes into her night crate for the bone I always put in, comes out and starts her day. Today, I did not let the other dogs out when I got up...opened her crate, she went pee tried to put her back in her crate and she yiped, waiting for a quiet moment, let her out and she is now happily chewing on a bone...I have not said one word to her-- Questions: How can I get her to sleep longer? She goes down at 11-11:30. Why the wet face? At night, she goes willingly into her night crate and will go in there from time to time during the day. Is she just spoiled? Telling me what to do? Should I ignore her completely until a decent hour? Should I just try to leave her free in our room where the others sleep? I have tried putting the crate in our room..she gets up every time one of the dogs or humans get up or turn. I really need some advice..don't want to be getting up at 2 every morning for the rest of my life.....ANY thoughts, suggestions, comments would be so appreciated you wouldn't believe!!!! Thanks in advance!!!! |
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| Can she stay out of her crate at night but still be in an area that keeps her safe?
She might be streesing because the others are free and she isn't? George came into our room at 11 weeks old and he was free (ish) to roam around the bedroom and bathroom. he settled quickly (has gone through a stage of getting up in the middle of the night for a while but we ignored him and it stopped) and sleeps on his bed throughout the night now. I hope that you can sort cause theres nothing worse than disturbed sleep. good luck |
| My advice may not be good, or what you want to hear but I had the same problem with Ty, my maltese. He would wake me up every morning between 3 and 4 to go out. So I took him out, then he would (usually) go back to sleep. He was well over a year before he would sleep later. Even now he is up and needs to go out at 5AM EVERY morning.
I've just gotten so I can take him out for a quick potty trip then settle back to sleep. Ignoring him NEVER worked (he could outlast me). |
| Ginny--I have tried..not saying anything, taking her out, and putting her back in the crate and she begins to yap as soon as I leave the room. Maybe I need to try it again....
(She is sleeping, peacefully, as I am typing...) Vicki--What you have suggested may be my only alternative..try her free in our room and seel what happens.. I just know I can't keep doing this, getting up so early. thanks for the suggesstions....I am willing to try anything at this point...Ambient....???? (for HER...not me..they say it lasts 12 hours.)  |
| Tucker was the exact same way. When he was really young he used to sleep in his crate in our room and he was fine with it. He would whine a few times a night when he had to pee and that was it.
Then one day when he was maybe 3 months old, he decided he would no longer sleep in his crate. Evn after he had just peed, pooped, and everything else he could have possibly needed, he would just whine and whine and whine and whine and whine...and whine....and NOTHING would make him stop. I eventually just opened his crate door, he walked out two feet and went to sleep. That was it! We barricaded the door so he had to stay in the room, but life was a whole lot easier after that!!!! You could always try it. What's the worst that could happen? Puppy pees on the floor. Not that bad...I would give it a whirl! Let us know... |
| Val, I feel your pain. I think the most aggravating part of this kind of thing is our fear that it's going to go on forever and we have no idea how to stop it. Couple of suggestions:
I went through this with Barney, who was kept in a wire crate at night during his potty training period. I would put him in his crate and he would carry on with whining on and on and on. A trainer at the time suggested I walk over to the crate, without saying nothing and no warning, give the gate a hard slap (the noise would scare the c... out of him) and go back to bed. Only had to do it once. Try it. Second suggestion, if he is house broken, try a night leaving him have the run of the house or maybe confined to one room and see what happens. Third suggestion. Take the water away from him after his last trip out. Fourth suggestions. Discuss the behavior with your vet. He might be able to prescribe some kind of sedative that will take him through this period. Try various suggestions from others as well. Overall I suspect its a stage that will correct itself over time. Hang in there. Maybe the Lord is suggesting you should be a monk and get up in the middle of the night and say some prayers with the prompting of the dog.  |
George wrote: Maybe the Lord is suggesting you should be a monk and get up in the middle of the night and say some prayers with the prompting of the dog. Believe me George...I pray...alot... I have tried the slapping crate..she will quiet for a couple minutes and then start... But you gave me alot of good suggestions..Thanks, I'll try them all. Mel & Tucker wrote: I eventually just opened his crate door, he walked out two feet and went to sleep.
Will try to leave the crate open in our room..It's not like I haven't cleaned up pee before...
I guess the thing that concerns me the most is the way she come out of the crate with her whole face sopping wet...I'm sure she is really stressing out and I sure don't want her to have problems in the future because I am not handling this "stage" correctly. I know it will pass..gosh I HOPE it does, but in the mean time I need some coping skills to help her.. |
| I'm sorry you're having night issues!
About the wet face: Barney would go absolutely nuts in his crate. He hated it. And he would bark his head off and he would be sopping wet (this is when I came home from work). I would have just been home a few hours earlier at lunch and knew it wasn't pee. I think it was from separation anxiety and he just was so worked up from barking and being agitated that his face was completely soaked. What we ended up doing was leaving him free to roam the kitchen. We enclosed it so he couldn't go anywhere else and it was Barney-proofed and he was fine from then on. It was like a light switch. No more drool, no more pee (although that really wasn't the main problem). So maybe Heart is having some sort of anxiety issues of being left in the crate all night. I agree with others that if you feel comfortable, maybe try letting her out of her crate in a safe zone at night. good luck! |
| WOW!! Barney's reaction sounds just like Heart's...
I guess I never thought of separation anxiety!!! She is fine during the day in her wire crate and the other dogs around. No wet face when I come home at lunch or after work. WOW!! Pretty dumb of me not to think of it..I mean I do read alot of the posts here and many talk about Separation anxiety. Thanks !!!!! |
sheepieshake wrote: I guess I never thought of separation anxiety!!! She is fine during the day in her wire crate and the other dogs around. No wet face when I come home at lunch or after work. Maybe she is fine during the day because she knows you are not home. But at night she knows you are home and doesn't want to be in the crate away from you? When Izzie was little and still house-training I would gate her into the bathroom connected to my bedroom. That way she was on tile (easy to clean up), but still close to me and with space to move around a bit. |
sheepieshake wrote: Her face is wet --probably from her barking and being so upset (this is the part that concerns me most)...and most times she has pees in the crate (2nd most concern).. she goes out, wets comes in takes a drink, another drink --throws up the water she just drunk, goes into her night crate for the bone I always put in, comes out and starts her day. I really need some advice..don't want to be getting up at 2 every morning for the rest of my life.....ANY thoughts, suggestions, comments would be so appreciated you wouldn't believe!!!! Thanks in advance!!!! From what I read above - you are letting her out for the day after she wakes you up???? Not a good idea. She is getting what she wants then and won't stop. |
| Got Sheep wrote:
Quote: From what I read above - you are letting her out for the day after she wakes you up???? Not a good idea. She is getting what she wants then and won't stop.
I agree...but again...if I let her out and put her back she barks and barks won't go back to sleep...I have tried (and tried)..
----exactly why I am posting........I need options to get through this correctly---- I have never had a six month old act like this. Pearl came to us at about 6 months (so the HS said I think she is older), and she crated beautifully day and night...Cosmo the same, he came to us a 4 months... So I just feel helpless with this problem................. Again, thanks for all the help and support and suggestions.... |
| Stella also hated the crate. She barked and barked and I honestly thought I was going to have to gag her. I finally had to change to a wire crate where she could see all around her and at night I put the crate right next to the bed and would put my hand through the wire grating and she would usually lick it until she fell asleep.
Then slowly I stopped doing that, but i made sure she was really tired before bed, so she was happy to lay down. Now if I don't crate her at night she walks around like a lost sheep until i say, "Stella, go to bed"- and then she runs in to the crate and waits for the door to close. It does get better- only sometimes it takes forever. |
| We went through a similar thing with our two who are only 6 weeks apart. and the solution was different for each of them!
WIth Marley if she was next to the bed and I put my hand in the crate she would quiet down again after a walk. WIth morgan we went the limit the water and after the walk - cover the crate route. I am surprised my husband didn't move into the guest room unitl they were past this stage. Of course for us it coincided more with earlier morninga nd we would often get up at 5 or so anyway. They are stilll early risers. I am not, they have have a "Sleep" command  |
| I didn't think of anxiety either, but it does make perfect sense. Perhaps you could try a combination of everyone's advice...
1. Limit her water after 7 or 8 pm (a few hours before you go to bed) and take her for a walk before bed time (even if it's just a walk around the house so she has ample time to pee and poop). 2. Give her delicious things and snuggly toys in her crate. We give Tucker a peanut butter filled Kong and he thinks it is heaven. You could also give her a sweater or something that smells just like you, which can be very comforting. 3. You could try again with these things and the crate door closed, or you could keep it open. Maybe she'll be less anxious if she has some options. Maybe she'll sleep in there anyway, afterall, all of her favourite things are inside, and nothing but the floor is outside. 4. I agree about the fact that if you stay up with her you are allowing her to designate the wake up time. I'm not suggesting you actually sleep again (because from what it sounds like you may not be able to), but you could always get back into bed and just lie there for 10 minutes or until she takes a second and is quiet (even for a moment) and then, "Yay! Good girl! Good quiet!"and up you get. Lastly, I would be careful with frightening her. It definitely has its place in training, but if she is really anxious, she may not even know she is making the noises (believe it or not!! I know...how could this be? She is so loud? But it is possible!) so she may wonder why you're startlilng her and it could make her more anxious still. If it is possible to completely ignore the unwanted behaviour and always throw a party for the wanted behaviour, she could catch on faster than you think. *Phew! Sorry for the novel, but a whole bunch of ideas came to me so I thought I would share them |
| When we first had Summer she slept through the first 2 nights, I used to wear an old jumper for the last hour of her day and give it to her to sleep with. Then all hell let loose! She would cry, whine, wee, her face used to be damp where she had drooled through fretting. What we had done was confined her to half of the kitchen with 2 baby gates so she was safe and she hated it. We could stand it no longer so let her have all the kitchen with the gate in the doorway to the passage so she could see through the house. Hey presto no more grizzles! She hated her crate... |
sounds like my house ear plugs and all. Blue can be our nite wander. He will even go out side for an hour to sleep(doggy door) but we have to turn it off when cold or when he wants to bark. He usually sleeps on the floor and wiggys his way on the bed for a snuggle then gone again. Last nite he tried under the bed (to Big) we had to lift the mattress to get him out.  Sami looks at him as if he is crazy. |
Val, I'm working on your email! I'm not neglecting you, this week is just a little crazy here!!! Sorry! 
Just a quick note about it though. When you ignore her it should not work at the beginning. What happens is it's called Extension Burst, which means when she barks for attention that until now you have given it to her changes. When you ignore her - biggest punishment for a dog by the way - she will not understand why you are not telling her "No", why you are not giving her affection. So she will bark louder and more. You keep ignoring her though so she will go crazier. Before she quits barking for attention she will bark her head off! BUT as soon as she closes her mouth you have to praise her so she learns you give her what she wants if she stays quiet. It's the same thing when you want to change the channel but the batteries in your remote are dying. First you would start pressing the buttons harder and harder and than get up and change the batteries. Extension burst can be seen in us too.
Other thing: Doest the crate fit in your room? Don't forget that they are pack animals and if left alone, they can't survive. This is also where separation anxiety comes in. They panic that the pack is not together. She needs to learn to 'survive' alone for a couple of hours. One more thing:
When she whines in the crate, instead of walking over and banging on the crate - scaring her - through a shoe at the crate. In this case, she will not see you come over, which means she will not think it was you - no affection given by you -, so she will stay quiet even when you are not around her. Do you understand what I'm saying? That's it for now! I email you shortly with more details. 
Oh, and please STAY CONSISTENT!  |
| Why do you have to use two crates? Why not just one wire crate for both situations if he must be crated. I would try the suggestions from other members. |
sheepieshake wrote: Her face is wet --probably from her barking and being so upset (this is the part that concerns me most)...and most times she has pees in the crate (2nd most concern).. she goes out, wets comes in takes a drink, another drink --throws up the water she just drunk, goes into her night crate for the bone I always put in, comes out and starts her day.
Do you reward her with the bone after going out to potty? She may be looking forward to this treat. Try letting her out to do her business and not making a fuss over it. Quietly put her back in the crate and walk away. No playing and no treats. She may be waking you up in anticipation of something good. Yes, I think she's spoiled but try spoiling her during the day. She may just need more exercise, too. |
| Shone wrote:
Quote: Why do you have to use two crates? Why not just one wire crate for both situations if he must be crated. I would try the suggestions from other members. I have used 2 crates from the beginning....The wire crate is her day crate, she can see out at the other dogs, it is more airy. The other crate is more like an airline crate, more of a kennel for night to make her feel safer and protected... I put a bone and a stuffie in it for her. It has worked great until a couple of days ago...before that she would sleep until 5 which is fine since I do get up early. But the last couple of days with getting up at 2-3AM...I can't take this too much longer. Maggie McgeeIV wrote: Quote: Do you reward her with the bone after going out to potty?
No, she does not get treats for pottying...She is going on command with...Heart..."good girl potty"...and she goes (very) quickly. I have tried putting her back in her crate with no fanfare, closing the door and walking back to the bedroom...but..she continues to bark as explained in the first post and I have to let my husband get sleep since he works about 70 hours a week...It's not fair to him. Tonight, we have set up the bedroom....puppyproofed half of the room, no water from 7 pm (like always)-- put a baby gate up...took her crate in...put 2 tuffets and she will be sleeping with the other 2 like a BIG girl ...(hopefully, I can give you a positive report tomorrow.) thanks again ---All the posts were very insightful....Kata, with the pack thing,George with all his suggestions........ALL of you...Thank you, it's great to know one can get great advice and not feel so alone. I just wish this was around when my kids were growing up...I could have really used a KIDS forum for advice back then.... |
| SUCCESS!!!!!!!! YAYAYAYAYAYAYA!!!!!
I went to bed at about 11 pm...Heart did get up at 1..took her out and she peed and pooped. Went back to bed....She got up at 4.......took her out --she peed..we went back to bed..I got up at 6:30~~~~~~ (Dino got up at his usual 5 and let me sleep). I am so happy... obviously, I would rather sleep through but maybe her bladder just isn't mature enough or maybe after she realizes, in a few days, that I go back to bed, no playing, she will just start sleeping through. We'll see. I don't care, as long as I can sleep. It also helps that Pearl and Cosmo SLEEP at night. I think she tried to play at some point last night but they wouldn't cooperate so she just went back to sleep.... THANKS!!!!!!!!!!!!! TO EVERYONE FOR GREAT ADVICE.... |
| WOOHOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! |
| I'm so glad everything worked!
Just wanted to add a note, if you're going to put something that smells like you in the crate, make it something you don't care about getting back. My husband gave Dodger an old pillowcase, and it is now in tatters all over my house. I keep finding pieces. It's weird since Dodger doesn't usually tear up anything (except the few times he's gotten a piece of tissue), but he went to town on this pillowcase! |
| UPDATE----NIGHT 2........with Heart sleeping uncrated in our room with Pearl and Cosmo...........
Heart got up a 4AM----took her out she just ran around and DID NOT pee...went back to bed..she went back to sleep.............. (Maybe) tonight she will sleep through...(fingers crossed). Although we have the crate in the room, she does not go in it so I am thinking about just taking it back to the basement to give them more room. I am hoping this will resolve her (and my) sleepless nights once and for all!!!! BTW---Last night, Heart decided to tear and eat the inside of one of Dino's shoes............. When I found it, I of course, stuffed a sock in the shoe and placed it right next to the "good"one....HE FOUND IT.. Heart just LOVES her daddy!!!!!!!!! |
| I have one thing to try about the 4am thing if she keeps getting up, but this may be harder for you because it isn't just you in the room...
set an alarm for 4am for a few days and take her out as usual. Then start moving it back to 4:05...4:10...etc. This way you are training her out of the 4am thing, and telling her that the alarm means awake time. This is what I did with Izzie from the time we got her. I dictated when overnight potty breaks were and slowly weaned her off them. To this day she waits for the alarm to ring before getting up...except on the weekends. Usually by 7:30 or 8am she is ready for a morning out, but that is okay because during the week we are up at 5:30. |
| Great idea...Amanda!!! Thanks so much..that makes so much sense. I am going to see what she does tonight...I am hoping that since there is not playing at 4, she will sleep past it..
if she doesn't I am will try this --with the weekend coming up, it will be perfect!!!!! Thanks Again!!!!! |
| I forgot to say...if you haven't figured it out...that it basically works because they don't necessarily know the difference between 4 and 4:05....so you can train them to the alarm clock.
If you don't have them trained to the alarm this may happen...my parents dog was up over the summer and he is used to getting up the same time everyday (during the week and weekends) since my parents don't work and therefore don't sleep in on the weekends...come 5:30 on Saturday...there he was poking me with his nose...wondering when we were going for the morning walk  |
| here's hoping it works for you!!!!!!!!!! Now if you could get her SISTER, Calypso to shut up and sleep all night i would be grateful too!
Val, I'm going to sent Caly to you for boot camp if this works........ Away on road trips they sleep all night, here at home up every 3 hours... 
i finally figured it out that Delilah (mom) is waking them up at 2 am, 5 am 730 am etc........... I feel your pain!!! Love Ali & her sister & Brother.............. |
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ali---Bring 'em over anytime!!!!! No boot camp...just loads of fun.... DAY3--- Getting better and better.......I am very encouraged that my sleepless nights are coming to an end... I don't know how happy Pearl and Cos are about sharing their room with the youngster..at least at night they had some peace and quiet when Heart was crated in the other room..... |
Nothing is better than being able to sleep all night . We had the same problem because Luke needs help getting up so he cries a little, that wakes everybody up and then it's playtime  . The silent treatment worked (sometimes) for me, the old guys always go back to sleep, the little guys usually do. This too shall pass  |
| It's probably slightly off topic but my Phoebe only wakes me up if there's something she thinks needs my attention.
In Phoebe's world, my son can use the stove in the middle of the night, but my husband should be watched. hahahaha. She'll also wake me up if her tummy is bothering her. That one is kind of abvious after I wipe enough sleep out of my eyes and look at her. She's really anxious to get out! The only other time she wakes me is to make me breathe properly. I have sleep apnea and she wakes me up if there's a long pause. She won't take no for an answer but as soon as I've opened my eyes she's okay. It puzzled me for a very long time because when you're asleep you aren't really aware of your breathing. I thought, for the longest time, that she was just pestering me for affection. It was my husband who pointed it out. Now I just wake up and pet her and we all go back to sleep. |
| Phoebe is a beautiful girl!!!! How good it must feel to know she is watching over you and "protecting" you while you sleep!!! Amazing!!!!! |
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