🐶 won't settle at night

[garden4569]

Hi there, our pup is now 16 weeks and she is lovely and good as gold in the day but at night just wants to sleep by us. We have her downstairs in the crate and have to lock the door but she hates it and cries every night for a good half hour. Trouble is if we release her from the cage she trots upstairs and can sneak past the stair gate and will either climb on my daughter's bed or go into our room.

I've tried putting treats in her crate but she actively avoids the crate all through the day.

I'm starting to wonder if she will ever get used to the crate!? Any advice anyone?

Don’t leave her to cry. Sleep by the crate if you have to. Or move the crate upstairs.

Why can't you have the crate upstairs with you?

I tried sleeping by her but she just gets more stressed that I won't let her out.
We really didn't want her sleeping upstairs.

She hates the crate. You’re shutting her in the crate and leaving her to cry. So she hates it more. Why does she need to be in a crate? Can you puppy proof a space and sleep there with her? Or next to the space?
Have a look at dog training advice and support about crate training (FB). It takes time and isn’t about shutting them in and leaving them.

I'd be happy for her to sleep in her dog bed but she just gets out if it and comes upstairs... How do you all get your dog's to sleep downstairs... And stay downstairs without them crying for you? Or am I expecting to much of her when she's so young?

My youngest pup couldn’t care about being left. My eldest dog used to cry. So I slept right by the crate. With her.
She’s a baby. She’s left the only home and family she ever knew. She needs you. Stay close.

We never left ours to cry in the crate.

It was a pita but we would settle to pup with us until they were dropping asleep. Then out them in the crate with the door open and keep stroking them. Then when very nearly asleep close the door and sit by it, with our backs turned until they dosed off.

Then, slowly, we would work up to putting them more awake and slowly moving away. Then eventually put them in awake and sat fairly near. After a about 2 weeks, they were all fine. But we would have to repeat this when we got up during the night too.

We also started with the crates on the near the bedroom.

But during the day they all chose to go in them, they quite enjoy them. We still have the crates because the house rule is if the dog goes in the crate, everyone leaves them alone. But the doors open. Now the dogs sleep where they want. Usually on ds bed, he on the spectrum and he sleeps far better with them there. But again a pain as I hand hoover the bed every day.

The problem here is that she already doesn't like it, which would be really difficult to change now. She find she first half an hour distressing. If she doesn't use it through choice she doesn't like it.

Not 100% sure what I did would work, if she has it in her head that she doesn't like it.

can you remember how long you needed to sleep by your eldest dog are we talking days/weeks/months?

when i did try to sleep by the crate she just got so stressed that she was in it and i was out of it... i tried popping my fingers through the bars etc...

She was a complete nightmare. Think chewing through a wall if I left her to go to the toilet.
After three weeks she was quite happy in the crate overnight. But it might not take that long. Or your dog may never like the crate. It depends.

Why can't she sleep upstairs? My daughter loves sleeping with our fur baby. He's very snuggly at night

@Meredithisgrey

We never left ours to cry in the crate.

It was a pita but we would settle to pup with us until they were dropping asleep. Then out them in the crate with the door open and keep stroking them. Then when very nearly asleep close the door and sit by it, with our backs turned until they dosed off.

Then, slowly, we would work up to putting them more awake and slowly moving away. Then eventually put them in awake and sat fairly near. After a about 2 weeks, they were all fine. But we would have to repeat this when we got up during the night too.

We also started with the crates on the near the bedroom.

But during the day they all chose to go in them, they quite enjoy them. We still have the crates because the house rule is if the dog goes in the crate, everyone leaves them alone. But the doors open. Now the dogs sleep where they want. Usually on ds bed, he on the spectrum and he sleeps far better with them there. But again a pain as I hand hoover the bed every day.

The problem here is that she already doesn't like it, which would be really difficult to change now. She find she first half an hour distressing. If she doesn't use it through choice she doesn't like it.

Not 100% sure what I did would work, if she has it in her head that she doesn't like it.

thanks for your response.

I''m unsure what to do. we have an open plan downstairs so i can't puppy proof a room as a pp suggested.

i know that she really wants to sleep on teh floor in our room, but i feel i'm just delaying the problem to then get her downstairs as a permanent solution.

When a puppy we kept our hound’s cage in the utility room and stayed with him at night if he was distressed and didn’t close the cage door -tbh sort of do what you do with a human baby, bar the cage bit! We always had a towel/blanket over the cage, it can make the dog feel safer.
It doesn’t take long for them to feel secure and confident, just like a baby.
As he got older he stopped using the cage and we closed the doors downstairs so he couldn’t access the stairs, but allowed him free range of the downstairs rooms (but only allowed on leather sofas).
Eventually (because we don’t mind a dog on the bed) we opened the doors and aged 3-ish he started coming upstairs when he felt like it.
I do enjoy a doggy hot water bottle 😆

@XelaM

Why can't she sleep upstairs? My daughter loves sleeping with our fur baby. He's very snuggly at night

my H really doesn't want her upstairs. in an ideal world, i'd like her downstairs too. my daughters 11 and her room is not tidy all the time... i also think there would be a lot of her stuff chewed up if we let the dog sleep there.

Just seen your post re open plan. That’s difficult as the large open space can also make a young dog feel insecure.
Blanket over the cage and stay with the puppy to begin with. Perhaps fix stair gates?

@Georgie8

When a puppy we kept our hound’s cage in the utility room and stayed with him at night if he was distressed and didn’t close the cage door -tbh sort of do what you do with a human baby, bar the cage bit! We always had a towel/blanket over the cage, it can make the dog feel safer. It doesn’t take long for them to feel secure and confident, just like a baby. As he got older he stopped using the cage and we closed the doors downstairs so he couldn’t access the stairs, but allowed him free range of the downstairs rooms (but only allowed on leather sofas). Eventually (because we don’t mind a dog on the bed) we opened the doors and aged 3-ish he started coming upstairs when he felt like it. I do enjoy a doggy hot water bottle 😆

thanks for the reply.

My daughter is 11 too and her room is most certainly not tidy, but at night the puppy just sleeps so wouldn't be chewing anything

If you don’t want her upstairs then a puppy pen with you sleeping next to her downstairs would br better. I use an Ellie bo pen from Amazon. She will gain in confidence then not need you.
Re open plan I use a room divider too!

The Facebook site above is really good on this. Ours would happily take herself off to her crate at night but we ditched it after she started sleeping all night without needing out for a wee.

But she was upstairs with us.

I get you don’t want that but I think you’ll have to create a safe space and probably sleep downstairs with her for a bit and take it more slowly. She will settle, she’s only tiny yet.

I think just bring her in with you and make her have a basket on the floor. Shes still so little. They are pack animals. They dont sleep well alone

We had pheebs in our room for about 8 months. She was in a cage at night time but never used it during the day as it was not her routine but would happily go in for bed. We moved her downstairs last month and she has a hed in the kitchen under the bench with a curtain to create a dark space. We have the camera in there to watch her and slept on the sofa as it is all open plan for a few nights (we have an extended baby gate to keep her in the kitchen due to having guinea pigs in an open cage) now she sleeps well. Hsd a few howls the first week on a morning but now we get woken between 6-7.30 but from her odd whine. We felt she needed that time with us but then she also needed her independence and more space for when we leave her in the house alone as I didn't want her crated. We needed it originally but as she gets older she needs her independence. I thought it would be worse moving her down than it was. Took about 2 weeks to settle her properly and it was the best decision for all of us x

Thanks all 👍

Play sleep music on Spotify! It worked a charm for our puppy from day 2. Now he’s 13 weeks and sleeps from 11-7 in his crate without so much as a peep until I wake him. At the weekend, he’s been known to sleep til 8 until DH sent me down to check if he was still alive! He still has the sleep music on at bed time and if I need to go out for an hour or so while he has a nap but he doesn’t need it for naps when we’re at home anymore which is good as it drove us crazy when it was on in the day 😂.