Teen (tween) dog sleep issue
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Anonymous
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My 6 month old dog now has this schedule:
Eats: 6am, noon, 3pm—poops right after Normal, happy, slightly naughty all day. 9pm goes into crate for bed 3 FLIPPING AM wakes up, cries barks howls paws at crate. Wants to get up and be awake from 3-4:30 then goes back to sleep until 6. Up at 6, eats/poops, then sleeps until 9 when he’s up for the rest of the day with just short naps here and there. Crate is in our bedroom and can’t let him “cry it out” bc wakes the whole family. Tried crate in living room and then he won’t go to bed. Un-snipped so can’t go to daycare but has adequate exercise. I’m up with him 3-4:30 then can never fall back asleep and it’s breaking me. I’m wondering about a second crate in the basement (finished basement, heated not dank, etc) …if he wakes up at 3, move him to the basement crate? Would he learn to sleep longer in our room if the alternative is being alone? Any other ideas? We also tried taking him out at 10 or 11 to pee and that made no difference. It’s not that his bladder is bursting. Also tried a white noise machine in case he was hearing something that’s waking him but that didn’t do much. |
Anonymous
| At 6 months he can only hold it for 6 hours. So if his last pee is at 9 he can’t hold it until 6am. Try pushing his last pee/bedtime later. Also, can he be in your room but not locked in a crate? Leave the door open for him? I don’t think it’s affecting his sleep but he doesn’t need to eat 3x a day either. Cut that back to twice a day just to make life easier. |
Anonymous
| What the heck? Let that poor dog out of that crate and get him a nice dog bed at the foot or side of your bed. Take him out if he still cries and then get back to bed. Crying will stop right away. |
Anonymous
Really? Vet and trainer both said he should be fine through the night for 8-9 hours. He’s a large breed if that factors in. But even a 10pm pee he’s still up at 3. And he also won’t go back in the crate at 3–like I can’t have him pee and put him back in. I tried having him loose in the room but he cried and barked at the door then tried getting in our bed. Thanks for the help. I guess I’ll try and keep myself up later and see if I can tire him out more in the late evening. |
Anonymous
You obviously don’t have a puppy. |
Anonymous
Not PP, but we did the same actually. Obviously depends on the puppy, but ours calmed down out of the crate, found his sleeping spot, and sleeps through the night at 5 months old. |
Anonymous
| Take him out again before you go to bed. 9-6 is too long. |
Anonymous
| 100% he’s not getting enough exercise and mental stimulation (unless this is a medical issue like uti) |
Anonymous
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OP here. To clarify I do take him out to relieve himself every time he wakes up. And we tried a 10 or 11 pm pee and he still wakes at 3 and wants to be awake for an hour and a half. It wouldn’t be an issue if he peed and went back to sleep.
He won’t settle on a dog bed, he’ll bark at the door, jump on the bed, chew my shoes/furniture. I think it’s his sleep cycle, not the crate that’s the issue. He trainer said we have to just let him whine/cry/bark until he learns that that’s not playtime but it’s easier said than done with a household full of people who need to function the next day. I guess staying awake late is the only solution. I have to get up at 5 anyway so if I could just get him to sleep a bit longer we’d be okay. |
Anonymous
| At this point it’s also routine, so if you know needing to pee isn’t the issue then honestly it’s like sleep training a baby. But rule out other issues both medical and ensuring your dog is actually tired at bedtime. A long walk plus a play session in the hour before bedtime. |
Anonymous
Op again So he goes on 2 walks about 45 minutes; has one play date most days (30 minutes of running wrestling with neighbor dog), plays 3-4 times a day with the flirt pole for about 15 mins, and has a few puzzle games in his crate. He doesn’t play indoors otherwise—maybe he needs that. Oh and twice a day we do training with treats. He’s not a retriever so hasn’t mastered fetch, maybe hat would help. And eventually daycare. But it seems like he’s getting a fair amount of exercise. Maybe I’m wrong though and he needs way more. |
Anonymous
| Does he know an “off switch.” He sounds like maybe he’s just spoiled and needs more boundaries. |
Anonymous
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Your schedule sounds too intense, you need to teach him to “do nothing” for stretches during the day. You’re teaching him to expect high levels of activity nonstop, so he’s expecting it at night as well.
Bump up your AM walk to 1/1-5 hrs and drop the flirt pole sessions, they create excitement and aren’t ideal for growing joints anyway. Likewise, you may need to reevaluate the intense play with the neighbor dog, and sub in more impulse control training, like stay. (I’m a dog trainer) |
Anonymous
| My lab was like this at 7 - 8 months old. We took her to the vet and ruled out health issues, then we just ignored her 3am barking for about 5 days or so. she stopped barking at 3am and slept till 6 or 7 ever since. |
Anonymous
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Our large breed could hold it overnight long before 6 months. But he would never sleep in our room as he'd wake us up at 4.
We typically do last walk/pee later at night -- like 10 or 11. He usually falls asleep at around 9 pm but we wake him up to walk, and then he plays a bit after before going back to bed. Our dog gets LOTS of exercise -- but he will still wake up at 4 a.m. (especially in the summer) if he can get to us. Our dog's crate is in the family room. At 6 months, he was still crated overnight. He's older now and is not crated overnight, but we leave a baby gate blocking the stairs -- otherwise he will come upstairs between 4 and 6 and start nosing us to wake us up and hang out with him. We usually get up between 6 and 7 to walk him. I never understand how people can sleep in a room with their dogs -- that just would not work with ours. I do agree with your trainer that you'll have to let him cry for at least a couple nights. It's like sleep training a baby. I do think (like with a toddler) it makes it worse if they can see you. Your dog is not a tween yet -- he's more like a preschooler at 6 months. And if you sleep with a preschooler in your room, yes, they are going to want to wake you up to play or get them a snack at random hours. If it were me, I would move his crate out of the bedroom. |