Dog Community

uggh. Crate training is going backwards. Getting too frustrated.

Posted : 5/12/2006 8:19:49 AM

We have a 4.5 month old aussie Aydin. He is really causing us to lose sleep now. Instead of getting better at crate training he is getting worse.

When we got him at 12weeks, he lasted almost the entire night without having to go use the potty. Sometimes he would need to go out, sometimes not.

Only thing that changed really, was about 2-3 weeks ago, we had guests staying at our place for a week. And one of them was something of an insomniac, and would get up at odd hours of the night, and go downstairs. Aydin would usually start barking at this point.

We ignore all barking, and only let him out when he is quiet. Thing is, if he hears us move at all - he goes quiet for 30-60 seconds, then resumes barking.

Its at the point where i will stay up till about 12am, then go to bed and put him in his crate. I make him go potty right before i put him in his crate. Past 2 days, he has started whining, yipping, and finally full on barking until i get up(i say get up,becuase im not sleeping through his barking)

His crate is positioned in a walk in closet, so its darkest in there. We dont shut the bed, and he has full view of half the side of our bed.

I was hoping that ignoring the behavior would fix the issue. This is not the case, as he has been getting progressivly worse as time goes on. He 1st started up around 30 minutes before time to get up, now its 3-4am every day.

I'd like to get a solid 6-7 hours of sleep, some day. I love this dog, but he is starting to frustrate me - and im a very patient person.

Any ideas? Hints? condolences? Thanks in advanec. :/

Minty_Pups

Posted : 5/16/2006 9:56:37 PM

Have you tried leaving an old t-shirt in the crate with him? Or wrapping a hot water bottle or a ticking clock in towels and putting it in the crate.

I've never tried these methods myself, but i've heard that they work in comforting puppies when they're in crates because it feels like they're next to someone else. I haven't read your previous threads, so I apologize in advance if you have already heard these advices many times!

If your puppy is really woken up by your guest, I wouldn't blame the dog. He's just doing his job to protect his people and alarming them of strange noises at night. Dogs have AMAZING hearing, and it seems they can distinguish between what is alarming and what isn't. If I'm talking on the phone before bed, my dog would sleep soundly without a care in the world, but as soon as he hears some noise out in the hall, he'll jump up and start growling/barking at the door.

teufelhund

Posted : 5/17/2006 6:43:29 AM

Hey minty,

Thanks for the advice!

This thread is a few days old. But what i ended up doing was sleeping on the couch downstairs with his crate a few feet away. i did this because my wife was in an accident recently, so i was trying to ensure that she would get more sleep than we had been getting. He was definatly waking up later. I still got up early with him tho.

2 nights ago, i put his crate back in the room. But this time instead of the walk in closet, its about 5ft from me - angled towards me. So far, 2 nights in a row he has slept till my alarm went off. So hopefully problem solved. Ill be crossing my fingers.

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Posted : 5/17/2006 1:30:50 PM

Well I'm glad to hear there has been a improvemnet. maybe he still misses cuddling with his pack and wants to be able to see whats going on in your room. Dogs think it is their job to protect you and maybe he was feeling left out of the pack. A dog's instincts are that if they are left alone from the pack they are as good as dead, he has to get into routine and learn that your not going anywhere, he;s not missing anything, and you'll always come back. Poor lil guy, hope your wife is feeling better also!

Minty_Pups

Posted : 5/17/2006 4:06:48 PM

Sorry to hear about your wife, but on the other hand, I'm glad your puppy's doing better!

I forgot to mention that our puppy went through something similar to that. For a week or so he would wake up at 4 every morning and just cry till someone lets him out. But ever since we moved the crate into my room, he has been sleeping more, which means we get to sleep more. Now he gets up every morning at 6, but there are still mornings when he just has to go to the bathroom even if it's 3 or 4 in the morning. But instead of waking up the whole family, at least I can just bring him out and go back to bed.

I think as they get older they'll be able to sleep longer(I'm hoping mine will!) 'cause they can hold their bladder better. But for now I guess we just have to get used to the early mornings.

teufelhund

Posted : 5/17/2006 5:44:46 PM

Crate was in the same place where we used to let our older aussie(11months now) sleep. But we got her at 8weeks fairly well crate trained vs Aydin, who was 12 weeks old and not that well crate trained.

We let Deunan(11month) sleep on the bed with us now.[8|]