Problems settling 1 year old dog in crate

[Survivalofthefittest]

We’ve had our cocker spaniel since he was 9 weeks old. He’s now almost 13 months. He has always slept in a crate downstairs. While we were getting him used to it my husband and I took turns sleeping downstairs until we felt he was sleeping well enough for us to move back upstairs. For a while all was fine. He’d grumble a little on going into the crate and would then sleep from about 10.30 to 6.30. However for the last month or so, even though he trots happily into his crate he whines, scratches and occasionally barks, sometimes for up to two hours. We take turns sitting near the crate shushing and reassuring him.
Any advice? I know the obvious answer is to let him sleep upstairs or out of the crate BUT

• he has separation anxiety (training him slowly on that and making inroads) so there’s no way he could tolerate being free to roam downstairs at night
• we have a cat who he terrorises. He’s not allowed upstairs as it’s the cat’s safe space

It’s not nice hearing him upset and it’s stressful for us, but we can’t see any other way but to push through. Has anyone had similar experiences?

Just to make it clear he’s not whining/scratching non stop - it’s off and on

We kind of had this exact situation with our cocker spaniel too. He’s just turned 1 but he was 7/8 months when it started. Had always slept fine in his crate downstairs, then suddenly wasn’t fine. I literally tried every single thing I could think of. Scoured the internet for answers, posted on FB groups I am part of etc etc. He wasn’t even happy sleeping downstairs outside of his crate, he wanted to be with us. We tried his crate upstairs, him outside of it downstairs, background noise on, background noise off, putting him in there for naps through the day again (which weirdly he was fine with), etc etc. Honestly we tried everything!!

My poor DH slept on the sofa for about 6 weeks with him, then in the end he now sleeps upstairs with us. Not ideal but it is fine - he is happy and we are actually getting a decent nights sleep again. It took us a few nights to get him to settle upstairs as he wasn’t allowed up before then, so it was VERY exciting to him and he was just walking around looking for things he could steal 😂 Now he comes up and goes to sleep immediately.

Sorry this probably isn’t the answer you wanted to hear! But just wanted to give my experience as the situation was so similar.

Sorry just seen you said about your cat being upstairs so that won’t work for you 🙁

Thanks so much for your reply. I'm glad you came up with a solution that works for you.
Yes, that's the problem 😺
I feel like I've already ruined the cat's life by getting the dog so really don't want him to invade the only space she has left available to her inside the house.
I can't see any other way than just being consistent and pushing through, hoping it's just a phase. We are with him in the living room until he goes to sleep, giving reassurance when he sounds like he needs it. And then once asleep we don't hear a peep from him until we wake him up in the morning. It's just the going to sleep...
I've been feeding him his meals in his crate for the last few days and also scattering treats in there for him to find by surprise during the day.

In my experience, there comes a time when dogs no longer want to go in a crate all night. So, I guess you either have to carry on reinforcing the crate as a great place to be or find a new solution.

I had a dog who decided at around 4 he now wanted to sleep in the kitchen rather than his crate. There was no real reason for this!

Current dog loves his crate but I expect one day he’ll just decide he no longer needs it.

I’ve worked with dogs for years and in my experience the vast majority stop wanting to sleep in their crates on a regular basis once they hit adulthood.

Dogs are polyphasic sleepers and like to be able to move around and adjust their position and location, and crates don’t allow them to do that. Mine will start the night under a blanket, then move on top of it, then on the floor, then back on the bed etc. Unless you have a small dog in a very large crate, that’s not possible for most adults.

If he has separation anxiety you can’t shut him in a crate and leave him. Look at the FB page dog training advice and support about separation anxiety.

@tumblingdowntherabbithole I think you are definitely right here. Now mine is in our bedroom, I realise how much he moves around at night. He will start at the end of our bed, then move to the floor, then another part of the floor, then back on the bed etc etc. I know many dogs love sleeping in a crate but I think some dogs simply just don’t like it.

@Survivalofthefittest What size crate is he in? One of the suggestions I actually didn’t try was buying him a much larger crate so he had more room to move around. We didn’t have space for anything bigger but might be worth a try?

With the warm weather here, he’s probably too hot. He needs to be able to stretch his legs and find somewhere cooler to lie.

When our dog graduated to a basket, we got a dog cam, so we could see what she was up to. Sure enough, she was in and out of her bed and wandering around the kitchen.

Thanks for your messages.
I moved him up to a large crate (or even XL - can't remember now) so he can definitely move around a bit. I know it's hot, although he's in a cool part of the room and we keep the side and back uncovered for airflow. Although it has been hot before now this year and it's only now that the going to sleep problem has started, so I think it's definitely more of an adolescent shift than heat.
I'm on lots of separation anxiety support groups, following Julie Naismith's sub-threshold method. I've built him up to about 30 mins of relaxed home alone time during the day but that's obviously not much use at night. We have never, ever left him to cry and have been there to reassure him so that all of the daytime training I'm doing is not undone. We are there until after he goes to sleep and before he wakes up. I'm sometimes wonder if we're a bit too involved at night and maybe that isn't helping him...
Given the situation with the cat upstairs and his SA, it means that free roam downstairs at night is just not a possibility (if he were happy with it, I'd be happy with it.) The only reason I'm sticking with the crate at this stage is that it seems the best option in a difficult situation.
I was hoping that maybe someone else had been in a similar situation and the problem had resolved itself with kindness and consistency.

Forgot to say, we also have a dog cam/monitor so would be able to hear if he became unsettled during the night

I hope you manage to work through it @SurvivalofthefittestI know how stressful it is! I sometimes wish they could talk and tell us what the problem is (but then I’d regret it because I know mine would never shut up if he had the ability to speak 😂).

I genuinely believe our issue was an adolescent thing too more than anything else. My pup can be left alone in the daytime with no issue, but for some reason when he knows it’s bedtime he just wants to be with us. They are funny things!!

I’m struggling to understand why he can’t have a basket now. Can you confine him to the kitchen, so he can’t get upstairs?

I honestly think he’s telling you he wants out of the crate. I’m a fan of using crates for pups but as dogs grow up they need to be able to wander around in the night, especially as it’s so hot. 🥵🐾

Can you put the crate in your bedroom? Or use a dog bed surrounded by a playpen type fence? That way he'd be near you, but the cat would be safe.

I know you say the cat is upstairs but can’t you just shut the dog in your room and let the cat have free roam of the rest of the house? We have three cats and a dog and that’s what we’ve always done.

Separation anxiety and crate training are two completely different things. Forcing a dog to stay in a crate when he's not happy there is likely to make him more anxious and more likely to struggle when away from you. Pushing on through won't make him better; at best he'll just shut down.

If he's struggling with sleeping at night because he needs you near him right now, then you need to be near him. You'd all be much better off with him near you - e.g. in your bedroom with a baby gate and the cat outside, or vice versa if he can manage to sleep in the hallway for example.

As @YorkshireFelix says, dogs don't like to sleep in one position; their rhythms are entirely different to ours and they like to move round at night. No adult dog should be in a crate overnight unless they're sick or injured.

In agreement with @Bupster

Try using dog gates instead of crating.

I don't crate, all my dogs have been free range. I also have cats. My current pup is 14 months old and has had the run of two downstairs rooms from 8 weeks old. Our elderly cat usually chooses to sleep upstairs on the bed, although she is free to roam the house, and the pup is 100% trustworthy around her.

I frequently sleep downstairs because of chronic migraine, so there is just a dog gate between me and the area where the dog sleeps. You'd be surprised how much free range dogs move around at night if given the scope to do so. Sleeping confined in a crate is not natural (or necessary) for a healthy animal. It's no wonder he is stressed.

The dog is telling you as clearly as he can that he doesn’t like the crate anymore at night time.