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The doghouse

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Original poster

Teenage rebellion - at night

18 replies

FazedNotPhased · 30/11/2021 08:03

Help! Puppy is 7 months old, and until 2 days ago, was an absolutely perfect sleeper. Scuttled into his crate at night happily and slept through without a peep. I often had to get him up in the morning! It was one thing I felt we'd done well at

Haha well what a fool I was. For the last two nights, he has whined all night. Obviously I go and check him, let him out, but it's not anything wrong other than that he wants to be on the sofa. There are two issues with this - I don't trust him to be loose yet, and I also don't want a dog who changes the rules when he fancies it.

Anyone else been through similar? How long did it last, and what did you do? I've washed all the bedding, and have gone back to basic 'crate is fun, lovely treats in here' games.

Please no debates on crates! Especially not that copy and paste of polyphasic sleeper stuff - I do know it, but this is more about him pushing boundaries I feel. He loved his crate SO MUCH.

Thanks in advance

OP posts:

icedcoffees · 30/11/2021 08:10

I know you've said you don't want to hear it, but dogs do grow out of sleeping in their crates - it's not about boundary pushing as much as it is about them no longer being comfortable when they're confined like that.

If you don't trust him to be loose, the best thing would be to puppy proof a room of the house and use baby gates to confine him so he at least has the option to get out of his crate and move around.

Original poster

FazedNotPhased · 30/11/2021 08:15

Thank you, @icedcoffees. That's really useful to know - I've read so much about it being linked to teenage behaviour! And it completely coincided with some selective deafness with his usually excellent commands and recall...

We're having a huge emergency bit of work done to the house and without going into boring detail, it's very hard to completely puppy proof at the moment. I will definitely consider leaving him out, but I'd also love to hear from anyone who has been through this and kept the crate a bit longer!

He's currently fast asleep in there

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itsanotherfineday · 30/11/2021 08:16

Is he cold in the crate? It's been freezing here the last few days?

icedcoffees · 30/11/2021 08:17

If he sleeps fine during the day, is it possible that the storms over the weekend scared him and he didn't like being alone in the dark with the wind howling?

I'm not sure how badly they affected you but around here we had loads of damage and power cuts and I suspect that could be very scary for a young dog.

Imdoingitnow · 30/11/2021 08:43

My 7 almost 8 month Labrador puppy did exactly this. - I posted on here but had it taken down as I didn't want to hear debates on crating pups etc.

our pup had happily slept all night in his crate in the utility room - then suddenly he kept refusing to get in it and standing at the bottom of the stairs looking up. I tried leaving him at night with another bed next to his open crate and sneaking down in the night to check on him - he'd gone in his crate.

After a few nights of this. We moved his crate up to our bedroom. Made sure he could manage to stairs and he's been in his crate in our bedroom ever since I think he was lonely.
He's still got a bed (2) downstairs that he lies in during the day

One thing that worked for us was a tip a dog walking friend gave us which helps is to put his lead on him when we take him up and down the stairs - he feels safer and he just goes straight into his crate and gets cosy with his teddies and I take the lead off.

Original poster

FazedNotPhased · 30/11/2021 08:53

We actually dropped daytime crate naps - similar level of refusal but I wanted to get him used to chilling out whilst I worked. Possibly this was stupid? But makes me think it's not weather-related. Weather wasn't too bad here either.

He's right by a radiator, wears a jumper, and has lots of blankets. I did wonder about the cold, but he's so desperate to be on the sofa - that definitely isn't warmer than a lovely covered crate full of blankets!

OP posts:

Original poster

FazedNotPhased · 30/11/2021 08:55

Sorry, missed a reply. Don't want him in the bedroom - partly as we already have an elderly dog in there who needs space, and partly because when that dog is no longer here, I don't want a dog in my bedroom!

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Imdoingitnow · 30/11/2021 09:10

Could you make him a cozy area with stair gates that confines him to an area and put his bed there? Eg the landing or part of the house that's his where he can't climb on settees or chew things he shouldn't?

icedcoffees · 30/11/2021 09:11

I suspect by eliminating the crate in the day, you've taught him that there are other options available and now he doesn't want the crate anymore

That, combined with the fact that he's now at the right age to ditch the crate anyway and you have the perfect storm.

What about a pen instead of a crate?

Original poster

FazedNotPhased · 30/11/2021 10:28

I suspect you're right, @icedcoffees! I think I'm going to have to get a bit stricter about his daytime naps and see how we go, plus giving him lots of disgusting things whenever he's in there.

Thanks so much. It's one thing after another with these bastard puppies isn't it!

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icedcoffees · 30/11/2021 14:02

You'll get there! Mine was never crated but we had real issues with naps and sleep in general at that age - it does get better!

Thatldo · 30/11/2021 18:10

There is such a thing as the 6,7 months fear period.it might be worth reading up about it.I have had many dogs and in some, this period was hardly noticeable,but I remember one particular girl,her normal confident nature suddenly turned into a shivvering wreck and she was frightened by a lot of things.it last about a month and then all is back to normal.

3teens2cats · 30/11/2021 18:20

Our dog was about 18 months old when he suddenly decided he didn't like the crate anymore. We were so tired of the whining we gave in and let him sleep on the sofa on his own blanket. Happy as Larry, never looked back and crate went in the shed.

kindlyensure · 30/11/2021 22:46

Interesting. I actually had the opposite - from a little pup, ddog slept in the bed with me which was NOT the plan but she slept sooooo well there. Then at about 7 months she started getting fidgety and one night just chose to stay downstairs. She starts off in her bed in the kitchen and then at some point mooches over to her crate, which is always open. So just an observation that this kind of age does seem to bring about a change in sleeping habits when they seem to be happier shifting around a bit.

Original poster

FazedNotPhased · 01/12/2021 08:36

Just a small but potentially hopeful update - did lots of high value treating in the crate yesterday, plus a big walk. He fell asleep on the sofa so I guided him to the crate and he went in like a little lamb.

And he went in perfectly at bedtime, and is still asleep. I hope this was just a blip, but will definitely phase the crate out if needed when he's older and less of a git.

Thanks all!

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Original poster

FazedNotPhased · 02/12/2021 21:43

Just in case this thread might be of use to anyone in the future - we're back to normal with the crate and sleeping.

Things we tried:

Very high value treats for obeying the command 'in your crate'. Repeat repeat repeat, to the point he was going in there without any commands and peering at me hopefully.

Waiting until he was snoozy and guiding him in - for daytime naps and well before bedtime. We think maybe sleeping on the sofa and then going down for the night in the crate wasn't good for him - he'd settled down on the sofa for the night and was annoyed to be displaced!

We're not ruling out a brief fear period / specific fear, that he either got over himself or was helped to get over with lots of JR pâté. Or he might have needed consistency with boundaries.

Anyway, hopefully we're back on an even keel for now, touch wood!

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mynameisnotmichaelcaine · 05/12/2021 03:45

Thanks so much for this. I'm currently awake listening to my dog barking. She's 9 months - she's slept through the night in her crate since 8 weeks. Yesterday she had an upset stomach and pooed on the floor. She barked once about 3am (this has happened very occasionally and I just ignore), however tonight I didn't want to ignore in case she needed a poo (which she did). I let her out of the crate to go in the garden and she didn't want to go back in. Foolishly I just shut her in the kitchen. This was half an hour ago and she's still barking. Obviously I'm not going downstairs while she's barking or she'll think it's the thing to do, but it's definitely underlined to me that the crate is definitely still required!

Ilikewinter · 05/12/2021 10:35

Similar sleep issue with 7 month old winterpup, he sleeps on the landing, we have a stair gate across our bedroom door, used to stay there until i get up at 6am. Last 2 weeks hes waking up earlier and earlier, today it was 5.05am and runs downstairs scratching the door to go out. I ignored him a few nights but he pee'd on the floor 😫. We havent change his routine, last pee at 10pm but hes just full of beans in the morning!! Now i just get up so i think ive now taught him that running down the stairs gets mummies attention.

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