Are you up in the night with your Dood?

[Sandy]

Toby sleeps in a crate in our room.  Always has.  He's just over 20 months old.  In the last month or two, he has randomly wanted to get up at night.  The first time it happened he was panting and panting, so I assumed he was too hot.  From then on we started sleeping with the window cracked open.  That worked for a bit.  Then once he whined, which he never does.  He had to pee and poo.  Reasonable to ask to go out then, so he went out, did his thing, came back up, landed on our bed, and slept till morning.  That was okay.  A couple other times he needed to go out, I let him out, he came back up, never settled down, had to go out again (upset tummy or something), and then I crashed on the couch, and he was perfectly fine for the rest of the night on the living room floor. 

 

As long as it's not all the time, I can deal with it.  I can't leave him out of his crate all night, because I would have no idea if he needed to go out.  Our bedroom is upstairs, and he makes NO noise when he needs to go out, just stands at the door, or stares at me.  :)  I'm just surprised that it's happening now, when it never did when he was a puppy.  Am I alone, or can I think or some of you out there, up in the night, when I'm laying awake on the couch?  :)

[Stella]

As you say, maybe he is getting too hot in there (the crate) and needs some space to stretch out. In your other rooms do you have a bed or blanket he lies on? You could bring one of these into your room and direct him towards it at night. That way he should get the idea that is his spot. Ours both know to go to their blankets when we want them to relax/ sleep. We began weaning them off the crate by letting them sleep out at night, and still crating during the day when we were out.

Neither of them have tried to get up on the bed, thank goodness!! But we don't allow them on any of the furniture, so I don't think they ever really have thought about it!! We have always gone down onto the floor to cuddle with them - hard on the rear end though!! I think if you start pretty strict - not allowed on the bed at all to begin with, and then you can progress to up when invited if you want him up there with you. As long as he gets off as soon as you ask him to and goes to his blanket or wherever, I don't think you'll have a problem.

I had a better week with Chase this week - I gave him Daves pillow to snuggle up to and he seemed to like that!! not sure how Dave is going to feel about it though!

[Natasha]

Maybe do a test run, leaving his crate door open and a bed on the floor in your room. Pick up his water after 9:00 and take him out to potty at 11:00 (or, if you go to bed earlier, just pick up his water 2 hours before you take him out for his final potty right before you go to bed).

If he needs to go, he will wake you up. Rouser is also a VERY quiet dog. Although he scratches at the back door to go outside, he doesn't scratch on any other door in the house (even if he wants to get back in the bedroom to see my husband in the morning - he'll just sit there staring at the door). In fact, he doesn't make a peep so I thought we would have the same issue that you are concerned with.

We don't - he doesn't make a noise. Instead, if he has to go out to go potty (has happened twice in 1.5 years) or if he has an upset tummy and is going to be sick (unfortunately, this happens more frequently - maybe 3-4 times per year), he comes to my side of the bed, sits, and pokes me with his nose until I wake up. If he is going to be sick, he pokes me with much more urgency and/or he will run to me, poke me pretty hard, run toward the bathroom, come back and poke me again if I'm not up yet. He knows that he's supposed to go into the bathroom to be sick (it's tile in there so, in the past, when I have noticed he's about to be sick, I would run him in there and he picked up on the pattern). I don't quite know why he feels I need to be there with him, though.

As long as you are not having accidents during the day in the house, then he will do everything that he can to ensure that doesn't happen at night. It sounds like he is ready to move out of his crate. That happens with some dogs - they just want more space to stretch out. Give it a shot and see how it goes.

[Sandy]

I would be fine with him out of his crate, except for the fact that he would for sure get on our bed. If not right away, definitly sometime in the night.....

[Allyson, Peri & Taquito]

Just a suggestion - try to start training him to "go to your bed" (I mean his bed). Peri would love to sleep on our bed with us, but we did train her to go to her bed (which means her bed or the floor if she is hot - her choice). She always gets on our bed while we are prepping for bedtime and brushing teeth, etc...we get in bed and say "okay go to your bed" and she is off immediately. She knows she can't come up unless she is invited. We invite her in the morning while we watch the morning news before walk and shower time.
She doesn't stir as much now that she can get really comfortable - sometimes I find her on the cool bathroom floor even. Good luck - it does take some transitioning.

[Karen Klempel]

As the owner, you have to set the rules. If you let a dog chose where he wants to sleep, how can you expect him to be happy in his crate? Of course he'd rather be on the bed with you, but that's not alway pratical or comfortable.

Our 9 mo old dog has slept in her crate at night since we first brought her home at 8 weeks. The first week we got up with her once in the night. After that point she's not needed another potty break in the middle of the night. Her last time out is at around 10:00pm and content until about 6:30 - 7:00.

A lot of exercise during the day and limiting water at night is important, but you'd be surprised what a regular routine will do for you. If they "fuss" at night, tell them No. You'll be surprised at how easy they'll give up and go back to sleep if you are consistent.