Need a plan for nightime with our new rescue dog

[anchovies]

So anyone who saw my last thread, we did the 9 hour round trip to pick up our dog yesterday. He was absolutely fab, especially with the children and travelled back in his crate without a peep.

All great when we got home, he looked like he was in dog heaven and we were all smitten. So then bedtime came, as I planned I took him out for a wee (fine) chucked some treats in his crate , he went in, I shut the door and lay left the room and he started to cry. Gave it 5 minutes and then I decided to sleep on the sofa. He carried on crying and eventually started to bark. Kept barking until next door started banging on the wall... I got up and ignored him as was pretty sure I shouldn't let him out when he was barking, waited til he stopped barking then let him out. He wouldn't even settle on the floor when I got his bed out of his crate. Gave in at about 3.30am and let him on the sofa where he went straight to sleep lay in a heap on top of me.

So much for starting as we meant to go on! Fair enough it was his first night but can anyone give me some advice on how to improve tonight?!

let him cuddle up with you in bed

sorry didnt do the crate thing, hope someone will come along and give you sensible advice

all mine double up as hot water bottles in bed

i think you need to do more work on teh crate training. throwing food in once and then shutting the door isn't crate training. you need to be constantly leaving treats in teh crate long before you are shutting the door. don't worry about him having to sleep with you for a while til he gets used to the crate being the most comfortable place.

Well it's very early days. He scared, unsure and probably doesn't know whether he is coming or going bless him.

Don't shut him in his crate at all. For now leave it where you want him to sleep. Treat him with something really tasty whenever he goes in it, hide really tasty treats in there. Once he is going in there to rest on his own accord, start closing the door for very short times, while you are close to the crate. Keep treating him while he is in the crate, but do not treat him for leaving, just ignore that.

Build it up until eventually you can leave the room and he is happy to stay in the crate alone for a few hours.

TBH I gave up with The Devil Dog and his crate after he ate part of it . He had been happily crate trained and would go in it when you told him. But after he ate a bit he would just jump back out through the hole.

He started sleeping on the stairs for a while, then under dd2's bed, but she kept chucking him out because he farted , now he sleeps in his crate again, but just not closed in.

He's much happier this way. Any night time whining and peeing in his bed have stopped. He puts himself to bed now when he thinks it is time, which is a big improvement on attacking whoever was trying to get him to bed.

Sometimes it is easier to go with what the dog wants. If he is not destructive in the house and is toilet trained, I'd be tempted just to let him sleep on the sofa, but carry on with the crate training, just incase he ever neeeds to be crated for travel/vets etc.

he ate the crate?? what sort of crate was it dooin?

A metal one. I have no idea how he did it. He ate three/pulled off three bars and left a hole so tiny only a cat could get through, you would think. But oh no, he will fit through that hole. God knows how, but he does. He's like a rat I think, he can squash himself to half his size

i admire his determination!!

We've had our rescue dog for two weeks and two days now and amongst his bad habits (he is completely gorgeous really), he would bark and jump at the kitchen door throughout the night.

At first, I'd go to him, take him for a wee, fuss him and settle him down in his bed etc - non of which worked.

Then I read that you absolutley mustn't give them any fuss if they are behaving in a way that you don't like, and was recommended to just bang on the kitchen door when he barks, and say "No 'dog's name'" and walk away. And amazingly enough it works!

Also, a friend who swears by crates suggested that you need to give the dog a long time to get used to it, lots of feeding and playing in there before you even contemplate closing the door.

Good luck!

Respect to your dog Dooin, our dog eats all plastic and wood before him but has yet to tackle metal!

Ours hated being left at night when we first got him, I think it was part of the separation anxiety he had as a result of the rehoming process. One thing that helped a bit was to make sure we had our pottering about and getting ready for bed done first, then we'd shut him downstairs and go quietly to bed. He seemed to calm down quicker if he couldn't hear us moving about upstairs.

Having said that, I wonder if it was worth the effort really as now we're a lot more relaxed about the whole thing, and he's allowed to sleep where he likes. Generally that means on our bedroom floor to start with, then at some point in the early hours he wanders downstairs to his bed. So maybe it would have been better to just let him do his own thing from the start. I still feel a bit bad about it really, it was heartbreaking to hear him crying downstairs and very very difficult not to go to him. But we though it was important to train good habits - like not going on the sofa, though that rule is long gone as well!

ooh, also remembered that we take him for a 5-10 min walk just before bedtime on friends advice, and spend a bit of time pottering around the kitchen before we say good night and close the door.

Finally, we feed our dog in the morning only but sil whose dog is more 'food obsessed' she feeds half her food after they've had their tea, so dog is more settled with food in her stomach at bedtime.

Thanks for all the ideas. Just to explain a bit more, we were told he was crate trained and because he travelled back so nicely in it, I (stupidly!) assumed he would love it in there and just go to sleep - duh :o

So rang the rescue today and it turns out he is crate trained to sleep with his chums! No wonder the poor dog had heart failure when I locked him in it! So the crate is now permanently open for the time being and I am following the advice on getting him to like it before shutting the door again!

To be honest though still not sure about everyones sleeping arrangements for tonight. Dh (who always had out dcs sleeping in their own beds!) is voting for letting him sleep with us...

Anchovies you need to work out what YOU want and stick to it.

You can either lock him in the crate and go to bed and suffer the howling for a few nights

You could take the crate into your room and have it close to the bed (But do shut the door) and just put out a hand et if he stirs. I would put an item of your clothing in with him so he is really cosy and relaxed.

If you don't care let him on your bed but be aware that if you let him on now it will probably be for life - if that is not a problem then go for it. (just remember wet dogs, farting dogs, dogs throwing up in the middle of the night, snoring, twitching, licking their bits now I know why I love my OH)

I would definitely go for either of the crate options ideally however my next door neighbour is unstable at the best of times and I think the inevitable barking may cause serious problems! I'm not sure the crate in our room will be better as he was seriously unhappy last night even with me lay on the sofa next to the crate. Oh and next door neighbour sleeps in the bedroom next door! I think I may just try the shut downstairs and let him sleep on the sofa option?

Covering the crate over with a blanket works really well. When we got our Beagle at 8 weeks old this time last year, she cried and howled for 5 hours solid first night, DH can sleep through anything (shift worker) and I put my earplugs in! So didn't bother us-neighbours did complain oddly enough! This went on for 5 nights until DH went back to work and dog owning mate told him to cover crate. I covered it completely, she settled no problem.

Got rescue cavie 3 weeks ago, 12 months old. He cried first night, so I covered him up well, hey presto, worked again. Now I don't need to cover crate as he has settled in.