Please help. Dog now won’t sleep!

[DogDream]

What has happened to my dog and how do I fix this??

He’s five. Used to sleep in his own (warm cave type) bed in my bedroom perfectly. The last few week he’ll randomly wake up at 3/4/5 and be desperate to be in my bed. He’s crying and scrabbling at the sides (small dog so thankfully can’t get up). I’ve never let him.

I‘ve tried ignoring him, telling him no, telling him to go to bed, repeatedly putting him in his bed. Nothing is working! This morning he woke at 4, I ignored him and he cried an hour and a half!! What is going on?!

I've no idea but we have a 3 year old terrier and once or twice a year he will decide he doesn't want to sleep in his bed and will yap/whine repeatedly. We do have to just ignore him but it's so annoying! This can go on for a few nights until he gets the message. Sometimes I think it's related to hedgehogs in the garden with him.

We had similar , ours is 2 she was waking between 3 and 5 I was thinking she needed a wee so was letting her out . Then on a couple of occasions she slept til 6 and my son was letting her out ( sleeps in a crate ) and she was coming straight up the stairs getting on our bed and going to sleep , so that confirmed she didn't need a wee ! So after that I completely ignored the night wakings , I put ear plugs in . She moaned for 4 nights then it stopped . Good luck !

Any sudden change in behaviour really requires a vet check to make sure he's happy, healthy and not in any pain.

Otherwise he could just be lonely. Dogs are sociable animals and like company after all.

Glad to hear I’m not alone. You get out of the puppy stage and think you’re in the clear but apparently not!

So you both think ignore it? I do too but I’m worried I’ll break before him! 😫 We managed an hour and a half of ignoring this morning and he showed no signs of stopping.

DW is pregnant and feeling horrendous so I moved him in the living room in the end so she could sleep (he has a bed there where he chooses to go in the day) at which point he ramped up the crying to full on howling. He would have kept the neighbours up as well as us so I had to go in with him.

He had one very recently thankfully so hopefully can rule that out. He’s himself in every other way.

I do agree he’s lonely and wants to sleep with us. But his bed is right next to ours and he gets lots of love and attention in the day.

And he used to sleep in his bed so well! 😭

I wonder if it’s due your DW being pregnant and if he senses she’s not quite the same or is picking up that she isn’t feeling well? Is he particularly well bonded to her?

I missed that your DW is pregnant - I expect he wants to be as close to her as possible as he'll be able to sense that there's something different about her,

I know you say he used to sleep alone and be fine, but lots of dogs (eg. in multi dog households) will choose to sleep as a group rather than separately so I suspect he just wants company and the closeness of being with his people.

If you really don't want him on the bed then the only thing you can really do is ignore him and hope he settles down eventually.

Yes maybe it’s that. They’re have a really close bond.

Is he moulting? Or a thin haired breed? My greyhound cries and paces if he gets cold overnight. He has pjs and is tucked in at night so we all get some sleep.
Alternatively, it could be that he is woken by the birds/ lighter mornings and has just decided that it’s time to get up. We put a radio on low and have a nightlight so that the changes are less obvious.
DDog gets better bedtime preparation than I do now I look at it!