Dog Community

Is he "winning" ?

Posted : 5/2/2006 8:53:30 AM

I have a 4month old aussie. He is crate trained, kind of?

You may think 'well he is or isnt, which is it?'

This is what happens.

Puppy can most often hold his bladder all day. from 7am to 4pm with no accidents, about 50% of the time. During this time he is confined to the kitchen, so he has room to play stretch etc.

We go to bed at around 10pm, and i get up at 5:30am. He will normally sleep all the way through, but sometimes he will start whining, crying and then ultimately out right barking. If either my wife or i stirr, ie, roll over move a pillow(over my head so its quieter) he will quiet down for 2-3 minutes.. then continue on strong. This is what i mean when i ask 'is he winning' Does he take any movement, or noise as a breakthrough with his barking?

I went to a gtg with a friend a few weeks ago. Took our older aussie(10months) and my friend has a golden retriever 2yo and an aussie 1.5yo. After initial playtime, Aydin would go in the crate and just watch the world/nap for a few hours at a time, come back out and play for 15-20 minutes - rinse and repeat.

I honestly dont think he has to relieve himself - and the reason of his barking( altho he certianly does when i do get up ). If i let him out in the middle of the night to relieve himself, and i put him back in the crate - the barking will continue.

I think my big concern is, when we move and he gets quiet - is he taking that as progress with his barking, and strengthens his continous barking?

This was really bad last week when we had company staying with us - not so bad now. He did wake up 30 mins early, but quieted down right before the alarm clock went off. (also concerned, that if the alarm clock goes off while he is barking, and i get up and let him out - does he think his barking triggered the alarm and got me up?)

He is cute as hell.. but somedays you just want to strangle him. [

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Patrick W

Posted : 5/2/2006 9:35:16 PM

I have 4 Border Collies and a German Shepard/Border Collie mix puppy. In my lifetime I have had countless numbers of Border Collies and found that if you walk on egg shells to keep a puppy quiet, then they tend to be sensitive to even minor or even faint noises.

I have always been a believer in doing usual routine things around the home so the dog gets used to all the different noises. Eventually they get used it and acclimate themselves to all the differences.

I was struck by the idea that from 7 AM to 4 PM you have an Aussie crated. Herding dogs need activity because they are very active. I have found that a great deal of exercise with herding dogs will go a long way in developing good sleep habits. As hard as it may seem, your just going to have to ignore all the whining, barking and vocal issues dogs have to get attention. By feeding into the attention, you promote the continuation of the whining.

About 25 years ago I had a Border Collie that I trained to bark for a treat. My mistake was that I was giving him treats every time he barked. Before long he was barking all the time. It took forever to break him of that, but I did prevail...lesson learned.

Make the puppy adjust to your surroundings, not you adjusting to his.

teufelhund

Posted : 5/3/2006 6:10:22 AM

patrick,
You misread - he is not crated from 7am to 4pm. He is confined to the kitchen. He is only crated for night time sleep.
In the kitchen he has plenty of space, toys, water etc. I often get home at 2-3pm, but used 4pm because thats the lastest
i ever get home.

My question was not so much about me changing my surroundings, as it was - does he think he is making progress,
via barking when we move in our bed? Perhaps that suggests that i'd be willing to change my surroundings. We definatly
do not walk on eggshells.

Aydin is our 2nd aussie, and i totally understand about excercise requirements with this breed. However, this guy no matter
how much excercise you give him seems to do the same thing in regards to waking up early and barking, or you let him
relieve himself, then put him back in crate and the barking continues. We've had him in puppy daycare, where they get a
*ton* of excercise(my other aussie sleeps like a rock after a day at daycamp) and he will still whine, yip, and bark in the end.

It's wierd. Because i'd say the 1st week we had him, he would sleep all the way through the night until we got up(aside from the
occasional need to be let out to potty.) But now a month later he whines then barks around 4-5am (right before its time to get up).

Patrick W

Posted : 5/4/2006 1:10:21 PM

Sorry, I did not see the period at the end of the first sentence. I was wondering if you in any way you catered to him when he started to whine? As you know some puppies will whine before they become comfortable with their surroundings. Second, did you move his crate into your room from another location? Change sometimes leads to anxiety. And finally, at any time when he whines and you have not responded, did he wet in his crate?

Puppies are very sensitive to change or things that may disrupt their cycle. One must also remember we had a time change recently. Sometimes we unconscioulsy respond to our pups whining thinking it is okay to do so. But the dog gets the message that anytime I whine, I get attention.

Also at two months of age the growth cycle is not unlike a childs. I have been a psychologist for 25 years and people often talk about developmental milestones. Children go through at least 8 gorwth milestones before the age of 12, while as an adult we go through 3. A child and a puppy at 1 year old is not the same as when they are 3 years old, and so on and so on. It could be the your puppies physical development has exceeded his mental development at his age. I would suggest seeing what happens within the next few weeks as they mature and see if the whining stops.