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The doghouse

If you're worried about your pet's health, please speak to a vet or qualified professional.

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Original poster

Would it be cruel to tie his mouth shut?

15 replies

tabulahrasa · 26/10/2012 01:56

Or justifiable payback for making me sleep in the couch?

My monster puppy has decided after settling in fine that howling at bed time is the thing to do...I tried ignoring him, but I have neighbours.

My bedroom isn't at all puppy proof, so I'm on the couch - only it's not comfy enough to actually fall asleep, I think I'm going to have to get another crate and have him in my room at night, even though that's not where I want him.

Or I could tie his mouth shut, eh? I mean just enough so he can't howl, lol.

OP posts:

HowlingOScara · 26/10/2012 02:43

I wish I'd gone with the 'tie mouth shut' option for our puppy. She's now 7 and still sleeping in the bedroom

ThingsThatGoBumpInTheNight · 26/10/2012 02:52

Give him a kong stuffed with treats and crate train him ?

nooka · 26/10/2012 02:56

We didn't crate train our puppy and he did whimper/bark quite a bit at first. We did the equivalent to baby whispering. Sat with him till he settled, then reassured and left. Came back in when he barked/whimpered and did the same thing again. Repeatedly. He got the message much faster than the children did! But his room is next to our bedroom so I got some sleep in too, dh took over at about 4amish and we don't have near neighbours.

Now it's the dog that complains when we don't go to bed!

ThingsThatGoBumpInTheNight · 26/10/2012 03:14

LOL sounds good. Either way they need to be sorted.. just had to go through the absolute heartbreak of rehoming a dog that had terrible separation anxiety issues .. you literally couldn't walk five steps without him having a fit, and god help you if you had to tie him up to do anything, because when you came back to untie him he would go nutty. Disservice to a dog not to train them out of it imo.

The vision if a dog with its mouth tied up made me chuckle though, have been tempted numerous times lol

Original poster

tabulahrasa · 26/10/2012 07:52

He was crate trained when we got him and he was fine until last week and he doesn't do it every time he's crated, just randomly...he had his kong...

He's just a toerag, lol.

I don't think he's anxious about being left, or he'd always do it and I would just leave him to it, but I'm in a semi-detached house and I can't see them being ok with it.

After like no sleep - I'm definitely wavering towards tieing his mouth shut, lol.

OP posts:

GragPop · 26/10/2012 11:00

My dog didn't like being left in the kitchen at night, he used to bark randomly. We started letting him free roam and he now sleeps on the landing without any problems. Might be worth trying if you dont want him in your room.

Original poster

tabulahrasa · 26/10/2012 12:05

He's only 14 weeks, he's still in full on destructopuppy mode, I can't leave him loose, well and not and also wake up to furniture.

I'm going to time it better tonight and make sure he's definitely properly tired and go from there (he was tired, but not exhausted and I think that's when it's an issue). If I have to have him in my room so he's not disturbing the neighbours just now, that's what I'll just have to do and work on it as he gets older.

I know he's only a baby and I've just been lucky that there were no issues during the first couple of weeks, I'm just sleep deprived and mildly annoyed, lol - I'm in a better mood now we've been for a walk anyway. :)

OP posts:

nooka · 26/10/2012 15:27

Maybe it's like the sleep regression thing that babies do when you have a couple of bad nights before they start to sleep through a bit more (hopeful)?

Original poster

tabulahrasa · 26/10/2012 17:25

Oh I hope so, lol.

He did it for the first time last week, then again a few days later, then nothing till last night...but he did it today when I popped him in to go upstairs and do something - clearly he thinks it worked, even though all that happened was that I lay on the couch on the other side of the room and said no when he made a noise.

It's not the crate, he goes in happily enough of his own accord to sleep when it's open and when I put him in he goes in happily when I tell him to, doesn't react to the door being closed or me leaving the room, but a couple of minutes later he seems to go, here, hang on, there's no-one here to play with. woooooowoooowooooowooooowoooo...

I'm just going to have to work on it the next time he does it during the day, wait for him to be quiet and praise him for that.

I'll also see about putting something more exciting in his kong, I've been having to put hard biscuits in to fall out when he rolls it (and that was occupying him for ages as it was) because he couldn't work out how to get to soft stuff and just stopped trying, lol, but he's bigger now so I can try again with something he might like a bit better.

OP posts:

TheHeadlessLambrini · 26/10/2012 22:31

Try putting a blanket or towel over the crate at night. this helped with our pup.

SrirachaGhoul · 26/10/2012 22:34

Let him sleep on your bed. Problem solved

Original poster

tabulahrasa · 26/10/2012 23:11

I tried covering his crate in the beginning, he pulled it through and tried to eat it...in fact there has to be a space of at least 10 cm cleared round it or he manages to get things. The other day he managed to pull an entire dressing gown into his crate, I have absolutely no idea how as it was about 5 cm's away, neither his paws nor his snout fit through the bars and if I hadn't seen the results with my own eyes I'd have thought the dressing gown wouldn't have fit through either.

Possibly he's the David Blaine of the dog world and I'll be kicking myself for constantly moaning about him being challenging when we could be making a fortune, lol. Though it might be an idea to try tonight and let him eat it as a distraction.

He is absolutely no way, never, ever sleeping in my bed - firstly, although he is improving daily, he still hasn't quite got over his foot fetish or the desire to randomly try to nibble parts of you...I'm not kinky enough to want to wake up to bits of me being nibbled, secondly, he's probably going to be about 9 stones, there's barely enough room for me beside me DP as it is.

OP posts:

Original poster

tabulahrasa · 27/10/2012 15:37

Well he was fine last night and I had to leave him at lunchtime today so a kind neighbour offered to come and listen outside my window after I'd gone and he was fine then, so hopefully it's just about making sure he's sufficiently tired :)

I meant to say thanks for all the suggestions - I just forgot with my moaning, lol. Except the bed one, I didn't appreciate that, I'd make DP sleep downstairs if I could get away with it nevermind the puppy, rofl.

OP posts:

panicnotanymore · 28/10/2012 16:36

I'll probably get strung up, but I just put the pup to bed, lights off, crate covered and closed the door. He howled for the first day or so, then got the message and stopped. I didn't go to him as I didn't want him to connect howling with me coming running.

I did make his sleeping place comfortable, leave water in the crate and give him a biscuit at bed time. He loves his crate - I don't close the door now, but he doesn't stir until morning, and if it's raining sometimes not even then!

Original poster

tabulahrasa · 28/10/2012 17:24

I can't do that though, my next door neighbours have children and jobs and really won't appreciate being woken up.

I would, especially because I'm pretty sure it is just a case of him being awake and bored rather than distressed, but I can't do that to my neighbours. :)

He's been fine since anyway, I'm just making sure he's nice and tired.

OP posts:

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