6m female puppy still not sleeping through the night!

[Lonny1985]

Puppy is crated at night in our room. We tried in another room - she cries constantly. We have only just been able to crate her to leave the house for up to 1.5 hours as even 10 mins she would go mad. She now does not cry if we go out for a little while (camera). She knows the word bed and goes in of her own accord and lies down to go to sleep.

Sometimes she will go all night but she is still waking up twice a night at times 😫. We take her to toilet (doesn’t always go) and then silently put her back to bed. We are exhausted and I would assume she could sleep for longer however clearly she wants to be let out to come on the bed or go and play so it isn’t bladder related. Do you think it’s time to move her out of our room? What else may help?

Let her sleep on your bed.

She wants to be with you. Let her. I would ditch the crate and be very wary of leaving her for too long. If she’s upset and she’s left you could easily end up with full blown separation anxiety. And then you won’t be able to leave her. At all.

Yep

Dogs need to move about to regulate their temperature and sleep cycles are very different to ours. Crating should stop once they are toilet trained.

Great posts on here🤣. We have an 8 year old border collie and a 19 week old border collie puppy, the older one has a bed in the corner of our room (last doggo we lost in January had one the other side) all our dogs have graduated to our bed in the end. Last night was all night. Puppy has crate just outside the bedroom door,has only recently started going through the night. But when let out at stupid o clock, she did pee. At the moment though,DH goes to bed at 9,if I accidentally let her in the bedroom, she goes in an leaps on him. When she gets a bit older and calmer, she will come into our room.

DP says no dog in the bed. Ever!

What happens if you remove the crate?

Mine said the same, so I said he could be the one to do all the night wakings then - he very soon changed his mind

She licks you and pounces all over you all night. Then goes off and finds mischief

Ah so she doesn't just settle on the bed - that's a bit different.

What does she do when she wakes up in her crate? Is it just moving around or does she whine and cry until you let her out?

Is the crate big enough for her to turn around and sleep on different surfaces etc? Are their blankets in case she's cold?

I have two young dogs and they aren't permitted upstairs or on furniture.

I would begin to increase the time she spends on her own but occupy her. Give her chews, frozen carrots, treat balls but only when she's alone because then she will enjoy that time. My youngest is terrified of the hoover so she gets peanut butter treat when I use it so that she associates the hoover with good things.

You might also try tube cheese as a treat. Leave her for a minute return before she whines, treat her, just a lick. Increase the time.

Don't greet her when you come in or get up in the morning especially with higher pitched voices - we use this to talk to babies but it can be anxiety provoking in dogs. Just leave her a couple of minutes because this supports her to regulate herself when you are present.

You might return to a wrapped hot water bottle in her crate so she feels like she has company. I also put radio 4 on for the talking.

She is doing what you've trained her to do, whine to go out but you might treat her if she goes to the toilet to link this. She seems to decide what is happening and you are facilitating this which is not convenient now and should not be required at her age (unless poorly).

Have you tried covering the crate?

We never let our Lab upstairs let alone on the beds. Had a stair gate to stop him coming upstairs until he got used to the idea.

We put his bed & toys in a crate downstairs when he was very little but didn’t use the crate for long. We then put his bed in the kitchen before he was 100% reliably toilet trained as it had a tiled floor so easy to clean.

Tbh we just ignored his cries until he got used to sleeping alone. It didn’t take more than a couple of days but Labs are an easy going breed generally. I wonder if your breed of dog is one that is more anxious in nature.

I think she needs to stay in the downstairs on her own with more space. She is waking up as she is bored, not really any other reason. If she would sleep on the floor next to us this could be an option but she is very clingy!

What kind of breed is your puppy?

I too don't let my dog upstairs/on furniture or beds and personally wouldn't as much as I love her, she's a dog.

I think you're right OP back downstairs on her own, install a dog flap so she can go in the garden on her own maybe. Agree with other posters, now she is toilet trained the crate door should be open so she can come and go.

Also like the idea about building up time on her own.

I do not think we should be treating dogs like people, they are dogs. For context I have a Labrador and she has her own toys, she has an evening treat, a Christmas present and we send her to doggy daycare occasionally just because she loves it, we LOVE her but no no no to having her in our bed, gross.

I don't agree that she's waking up out of boredom, she's waking up (and disturbing you) because it's rewarding for her in some way.

Either because she genuinely needs the toilet so she gets what she wants, or because you interact with her and talk to her, and inadvertently reward her for disturbing you.

I agree. Get a bigger crate, put it down stairs and ignore her. It’s a dog.

we did that with our and it took 3 days to get him to sleep through.

If you want her downstairs then you sleep down there too until she’s settled overnight.

Our lab puppy is 4 months old next week. She was waking up once in the night. She's crated at night, in DD2's bedroom. She has a pen around her crate. The last two nights I have left the crate door open and she has settled from 2100-06.00. I think that she must just need a stretch and a drink in the night, so leaving the door of the crate open has let her do that and settle herself again.

She is a cockapoo so completely over excitable. During the night whoever gets up silently opens the crate and physically carries her to the garden as if you don’t, she wiggles free and runs riot jumping on beds. We don’t talk to her when it’s dark in the night so no one is rewarding her. We will put her back to bed with a toy to entertain her if she needs it and sometimes I will let her mooch/sniff around silently in the living room for a few mins to stretch her legs. When I have tried sleeping with her downstairs she goes back to sleep straight away if you are quiet and calm but it’s horribly uncomfortable to not be able to sleep in our own bed ourselves. She does go back into her bed crate and fall asleep again for a couple of hours but she will wake up again pretty soon after - she’s up between 2-5am most nights. Keeping her up later makes no difference.

If you let her in the bed she jumps around pouncing on you.

And yes she cries and whines and no amount of ignoring it makes her stop either we have tried this

During the night whoever gets up silently opens the crate and physically carries her to the garden as if you don’t, she wiggles free and runs riot jumping on beds. We don’t talk to her when it’s dark in the night so no one is rewarding her. We will put her back to bed with a toy to entertain her if she needs it and sometimes I will let her mooch/sniff around silently in the living room for a few mins to stretch her legs.

But what you describe is rewarding her.

She's learnt that if she wakes up in the night, she gets a cuddle (carried outside), she gets a toy, and she gets to go and have a wander in the living room with you. All those are very rewarding for dogs so it's no wonder she keeps getting you up in the night.

I would be getting her up, putting a slip lead on and walking her to the garden. Let her do her business then straight back in her crate. A firm "bed" and then ignore her. Don't give her toys, don't let her wander about - she needs to learn that it's toilet and then bed. That's it.

Seems cruel to isolate her. She's a baby.

Can she actually get on your bed by herself or is she too little? If she's too small too could you not just section off an area by your bed with her own bed and let her sleep there?

Mine always slept in her own bed by mine, she couldn't run around the room because I'd block the area off but she still had room to get out of her bed and sleep on the floor if she wanted to but she never has done.

I wouldn't give any toys during the night, she needs to learn nighttime is for sleeping not playing.

Could she be cold and it's disturbing her sleep? My dog hates being cold, she sleeps in a deep nest bed with blankets but when the weather got colder a few weeks ago she actually woke me up whimpering. I changed her blanket to a big thick faux fur throw and she's slept like a baby since, She waits for me to wrap it around her every bedtime and then burrows under to sleep all night.

I say this every time! I will never ever every have dogs in my bedroom. I have 6 of my own and love them to bits but they do not come into my bedroom.

Several of my dogs also choose to sleep alone so saying all dogs need to sleep with company is just not correct.

OP make sure your dog is warm, comfy has access to water and is not hungry. Look at feeding a bit later or giving a bed time snack. Also consider white noise in the room the dog is in. A Dap diffuser may also help. It could be you that is disturbing the dog so I would try them in a different room but build up to this gently

You could put the crate into a dog pen so you dog has more space at night but out on a lead to wee no words straight back into their bed limited contact from you.

A lot of cockerpoos do have separation anxiety so I would look at making your dog more comfortable in the daytime on their own for short periods.