PUPPY WON'T STOP CRYING!!

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PUPPY WON'T STOP CRYING!!

Posted : 12/13/2006 7:25:07 AM

Hi,
I have a 8 1/2 month old yorkie,and lately he's starting to cry in the middle of the night after I take him out to do his business.Which is usually around 3:30-4:30 a.m. But since this problem started,like this morning for example, he woke up crying at 1 something in the morning to do his business.As we return,he's wide awake and starts to cry (almost like human) because he wants to go see my parents.My parents are asleep in their room,and they do not like to be disturb because they have to wake up at 4:30 a.m to get ready for work. I'm trying not to wake them up but he's crying constantly and so bad it's hard to keep him quiet.He'll run up to the door and starts scratching on it.Which also wakes up the other people in the house. It's get quite annoying because I don't know how to keep him calm and to get him back to sleep.Like this morning,he cried for an hour,I'm still up because of this problem.He was fine until my folks came back from the country.They were gone for a month,and now he's starting to act up.Has anyone had a

roblem similar to this? Please,I need help and some sleep! I think I know how new mothers feel because I'm up in the middle of the night trying to keep a baby from crying. Any advice and suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks!

-Aly

mrv

Posted : 12/13/2006 7:43:52 AM

Crying happens because it gets yours (or the dogs, or any animals)need met. Social attention is very likely reenforcing the crying. He cries, you get up and give him attention. The problem is crying behavior is very hard to ignore, especially at the time of night this is occurring. You can try ear plugs. You can move the crate right next to the bed so you can place your hand in through the bars. You can spend some time in training a quiet command. You can check out the possibility of a UTI. You can crate him in another area that will not distrub people and put off training until the Christmas holiday when your sleep can be disrupted more easily.

spiritdogs

Posted : 12/13/2006 8:37:20 AM

If he has gone potty, put him back in his crate and ignore him. Ignore means no eye contact, no talking, no "shhhhh", nothing. It will take a few nights, and he may suddenly get a lot worse (this is called an "extinction burst"), but if you persist in ignoring him at night, he will soon realize that his behavior gets him nothing, and he will stop. It's fine to put the crate in your room so that he doesn't feel isolated from the "pack", which is another reason that dogs cry.