8mth puppy suddenly won't sleep in crate!

[sleepypup]

Advice please... we have an 8 month old schnoodle pup (schnauzer x poodle). We brought him home at 8 weeks old, and he has always slept in a crate in our bedroom. He took to it very easily at the beginning and has generally been pretty settled in there, sleeping from whenever we go up to bed (10-11 ish) until at least 7am, often a bit later.

The last few nights he has kept us awake almost the whole night through and I'm really not sure what to do. He is not well behaved enough to have free roam overnight, and our bedroom has various things stored under the bed that I don't want him getting into. So he needs to sleep in the crate.

The first night it started I wondered if he needed the toilet so took him outside - no result. The second night I wondered if he was having a bit of a separation anxiety (even thought he is less than a foot away from me at the side of the bed!) so I sat at the door of the crate and stroked him until he fell asleep. Last night I tried the same, he was fine while I was sitting there but as soon as I got back into bed he started wining and pawing at the crate door again. He basically kept it up all night, we are all exhausted.

Any ideas? Do I just need to ride it out? Or any other good tips?

Could it be a developmental stage issue, ie something to do with the 'teenage' phase?

Any advice gratefully received!!

I haven’t got any advice about crates, my puppy (7months) sleeps in her bed beside me. She hasn’t ever got out of her bed, except to ask to come up on the bed- but she stands in her bed to ask this. Would you not wake up if they started wondering about? Recently she has been asking on and off all night to get up on the bed.... think it’s a teenage phase.

Mine out grew the crate. They do get up at night for a drink or a stretch , and a crate just isn't big enough.
Can you fence off an area with a play pen or something ?

Tidy the things under your bed, or find another dog proof room he can sleep in.

Sorry not to be helpful. Maybe the crate is too small, or maybe he just likes to be able to stretch out and change position.

We had exactly the same at 6 months. Out of the blue wouldn't go in the crate. Didn't matter what we did he would cry and scratch at the crate. Would sleep eventually through exhaustion but only for an hour or two in a row.

We blocked off the end of the bed with the crate and put a soft bed at the other end by my bedside table with blankets in between so he has a little run by the side of my bed but he can't get out anywhere. It has been perfect. He goes in the crate for a little while as the door is open but doesn't spend long in there. He settles brilliantly again and sleeps all night.

Clear up your room and have him sleeping in with you, or dog-proof another room and have him loose.

Lots of adult dogs don't want or need to sleep in a crate.

Mine gave up the crate at about 6 months.

She wasn't a chewer and was house trained by that time so it wasn't a problem.

I agree with pp, clear the room of stuff that could be a problem and let him be out of the crate.

He very likely wants to move around in the night, a lot of dogs do, and is feeling restricted.

Sitting by him and stroking him back to sleep could very well set in place a behaviour you don't want to encourage.

Mine bust out of the crate at that age. He moved from crate to bed downstairs to bed on landing to rug next to me in three days. And one minute after dh left for work he was in the bed!

Mine gave up the crate around 4 months. He had a day bed by my work station in. The kitchen and he just went there when I said ‘bed’.
He was very well behaved - liked chewing but focused on chews we gave him rather than shoes, furniture etc.
When he needed total rest after an op, I just put a gate at the kitchen door and cushioned the seating area so he wasn’t jumping.
I am not a fan of crates though.

Just thought I'd come back to update. Thanks for the advice, I guess I was wondering if his change in behaviour might be due to a developmental stage or if something else might be happening. It's not possible for me to find another suitable room for him to sleep in, firstly because he is quite attached to us and I don't think he would tolerate sleeping away from us, but also because our house is mainly open plan, and v small so the things I have stored under our bed can't be moved anywhere else. I don't have any spare rooms in my house to move him to so he could move around in the night. So I was trying to work out what might be happening and how I could best help him.

Anyway, not long after I posted he was sick and had diarrhoea, and so we realised that maybe he just had been feeling a bit under the weather. We switched his food to plain chicken and rice, and made sure he had lots of water to drink yesterday, and he seemed to perk up. He slept through the night in his crate again last night, seemed much happier in himself. So I guess that was the reason he wasn't happy, feel v guilty we didn't pick that up sooner. But he seems on the mend now.

Oh poor little chap. Hope he's all better soon.

My pup's cunning plan was to get a dose of sickness and diarrhoea. Fastest way ever to ditch his crate and be snoozing on my lap all night... And after that he was out!