Dog jumping baby gate at night

[sallyanne33]

Hi all. Need some advice on getting new rescue foster into a nighttime routine. We've got a big crate for him in kitchen where he is meant to sleep (with talk radio on low for background noise) and a baby gate. We keep crate door open and all downstairs doors open so we can hear if he needs to go out in the night. Humans sleep upstairs in dog free zone. First night he was fine. Second night I got up to use bathroom at 3am, he cried so I let him out, fine, he needed a wee. When I put him back to bed and left he gave a single bark which I ignored, then he settled. Unfortunately I didn't shut the baby gate properly and he managed to open it so we got a visitor in our bedroom at 6am. Fourth night he barks and barks after we put him to bed. We are in a terrace and we can't have him disturbing the neighbours. Partner goes down to tell him a firm 'no'. He seems to settle. Then he jumps the baby gate and comes upstairs again. After a few nights of his shenanigans we were both knackered so we let him sleep on his cushion in the corner of our room, got woken up before 5am by dog having a loud sneezing fit. He can't stay in our room but we can't have him barking either and the baby gate doesn't contain him. I don't want to lock him in the crate because he will bark. I'm thinking move his cushion to our bedroom doorway tonight, then on to the landing the next night and gradually further away? Or sleep downstairs with him for a night, this has worked with another we had with separation anxiety but it's a bit of a pain. We've probably made a rod for our own backs letting him upstairs last night. Any advice?

The landing is a great place for him, put bed and treats there, he will adapt.

*Sorry that should read third night not fourth.

Agree to landing.
He wants to be near you.
That's part and parcel of having a ddog!!

Yep, he just wants to be near you. Ours sleeps in our bedroom because anything else results in him howling and barking, which means nobody gets any sleep!

I know it's not ideal for you but not all dogs do very well sleeping in a great or sleeping on their own. Can you crate train him with the aim of his sleeping on his own downstairs in a week or so, perhaps?

Playing devil's advocate, why can't he sleep in your room? Presumably the sneezing fit is an unusual situation, so it's not like he'd regularly be waking you up.

Thanks all. It's such a pain as he sheds like crazy and he's frightened of the brush so I haven't been able to groom him yet. Upstairs is carpeted while downstairs is hard floors so easier to keep clean and avoid that doggy smell. Also I fear dogs in the bedroom would be the death knell for my sex life! But we will try the landing tonight and work on making the crate his happy place longer term.

Do you know what his history is? It could be that he has never slept alone before, in which case he may struggle. Do you have other dogs?

I foster, and while I do my best to settle all new dogs in the kitchen overnight, some of them do end up in the bedroom. I've even had young pups who were so distressed that they ended up in the bed with me.. -not what you want to hear

Yes he’s a street dog from Afghanistan, he’s been here in rescue for quite a while and has a few regular foster carers, he’s been on foster as an only dog and with other dogs and I’m told he’s been fine either way. Sometimes we foster two at once but at the moment it’s just him so maybe he’s feeling lonely and doesn’t want to be on his own at night. He stays with me in the day while I work from home so he’s perhaps started getting attached and wants to keep an eye on me!

Afghanistan! That's exotic (as compared to your common or garden Romanian rescues) - how did he end up here?

I know! I’m not sure how he ended up here, usually the street dogs they get are Rommies or Bulgarian. Apparently he was quite feral at first and couldn’t have anything around his neck but you’d never know it now, he’s one of the most chilled ones we’ve had.

Poor lad. If he's been moved around a bit it's not surprising he's latched on to you really.

Ok, so an update. Good news is foster dog now trusts me enough to let me brush him and he actually enjoys it, so I am more on top of the shedding. We removed the baby gate and let him choose where to sleep the last couple of nights. He actually chose to stay downstairs anyway most of the night just popping up to our room briefly and then sleeping on the landing in the early morning, so he's not super clingy, just think the problem was he didn't like being confined to one room. All seemed fine except overnight he's shit on the rug. I don't mind, it's obviously par for the course when fostering rescue dogs but I don't especially want to give him the run of the house if he is crapping indoors, especially as upstairs is carpeted (why do they never crap on the hard floors??). Not sure why it's happened, he is housebroken, didn't cry to be let out, he had a walk before bed and did his business, and was let out in the garden right before bedtime. I suppose he's still going through upheaval with the new environment and a stressful day yesterday involving a car ride. So my question now is, what would you try in terms of sleeping arrangements? I really want to avoid dog poo on the light coloured upstairs carpets, this is why we don't usually allow dogs upstairs. My partner is less enamoured with the dog than I am and already not too happy following a poo incident in his car yesterday (Thursday eve I was in the garden with my marigolds on shampooing dog's shitty arse! Still love fostering though!). I'm thinking put dust sheets on the carpet and get up in the night to let him out at least once? Or keep him downstairs but not confined just to the kitchen, remove rug and hope for the best with the barking?

Hi - you sound very experienced anyway and doing a brill job, I'm sure your dog will settle in time. For the next week I'd try

• last feed 5pm, try a drier mix if your using wet food that way last poo should be out before bed or held in until the morning.
• try adaptil spray (settling pheromone) and give him a freshly worn top or sandal etc of yours near his settle area. We use an old anorak.
• dust sheet a good idea just temporarily
• small treat and tones of praise for all poos laid outside. Given he's a mature dog, I would definitely grumble at him over poos dumped inside and ignore him for 10 mins or so.
• get some memory foam earplugs (Moldex off Amazon are good) just to deaden any sound from him a little at night and give yourself some rest. It's hard to sleep yourself if you feel a bit wired and are hearing every grunt and yawn from a dog.

Good luck!!!

Thankyou, that's really good advice. Oh yes, the t-shirt in the basket trick, I had forgotten about that, we've had success in the past with that, seems to settle them well.