Help !

[Kay Reed]

Willy is 7 mo. & slept well in his crate. Three weeks ago he began constant barking at about 4 am for nu reason I can tell. I do not get him out of his crate right away but by 6 I am going nuts! Help!

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

I would take him out to go potty and put him right back. You might move the crate to another place, cover it with a blanket.  If you know there is nothing wrong, you can give the crate a shake with  a sharp NO verbally.

[Kristen and Bob]

Rango is almost 4 months and will wake up at 5am and we will take him out to potty (and he will do both), give him a treat for his good deeds, and put him right back in his crate.  We don't think that's too bad considering his last potty at night is between 9:30/10:00pm.  Once put back in his crate, he will sleep or play quietly with a chew toy for about another 1 hour.  When we take him out at 5am, we don't do alot of interaction, either verbal or physical, it's business and then back to bed.  Sometimes he may cry alittle afterwards and we give him a stern "no" and he is quiet.  We are usually awake and up by 6am to get ready for work anyway, so unfortunately, on our days off there isn't getting him to sleep in much more as he is used to this routine and having his breakfast at that time.  Hope that's helpful    

[Adina P]

If he makes it till 6am then he probably doesn't need to go potty THAT bad (but maybe he does).  In which case I would give a loud verbal correction the moment it starts and then immediately bang on his crate and create a mini earthquake in there.  Repeat for every bark.  It shouldn't take more than 10 min and that's far better than listening to it for 2 hours.  On the other hand if you think he might have to go potty, then take him out as others have said and then take him promptly back to his crate. 

[Kay Reed]

Thanks everyone. I do take him out to potty and put him back but I may try shaking his world (crate) and my best grumpy voice---that won't be hard at 5 or so!

[Jane, Rooney & Stuart]

Call me soft but at 7 months what is the purpose of the crate?  I have used the crate for training with 7 dogs in my life time but the crate was always a temporary thing - to be used and then packed up and put away.  Could he just be lonely and able to potty (or not) and sleep on a dog bed next to yours?  If you and your s.o. both work - is he crated while you are at work?  If so then the dog is crated all night and a great portion of the day.  I'd be crying too. 

[Rory]

Assuming this is not a potty issue, have you tried teaching the "quiet" command? I don't use any physical corrections (I try to avoid verbal corrections too, but hey, I'm human), so I clicker-trained Yetti when she was a puppy to be quiet on command. Not an immediate solution, it takes time, but its golden once it sets in. 

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

We kept the crate in our bedroom next to my side of the bed. Both my dogs got hot in the crate and my goal was not to have to crate them at night. I know not everyone agrees with this method. Fudge was crated longer than Vern, but eventually we stopped crating both and shut them in with us in our bedroom at night. They had beds in there, but preferred to sleep on the floor. After a bit, Vern would pace at night...drove us nuts and one night I just opened the door in desperation and lack of sleep. He has not ruined anything or had any accidents in our house, but he is busy sometimes at night chewing his bones, etc. The funny thing is some mornings we find him sound asleep in his crate or Fudge's crate that I keep in our foyer. I am like Jane. I am a softie and I brought them into bed with us when they got up around 4 or 5 am, so we could get another couple of hours of sleep. I loved that special cuddling time, but again, not everyone does. Also, make sure whatever you start, you are willing to do. We sometimes have a 90 and 50 pound dog in our bed at night now...mostly when it gets cold out....and it gets mighty crowded some nights....LOL!

 

I would make sure Willy does not have to go to the bathroom. How about putting a bed on your bedroom floor, or if the crate is in your bedroom opening the crate door and see what happens AFTER he has gone out. Just my thoughts.

[Dana]

My doodle did the same thing. Barking relentlessly at 4 am and wouldn't stop. I would try to ignore but living in a condo, I needed to be considerate of my neighbors. I tried for a few weeks like this and tried everything I could but he wouldn't stop. He just wanted to be with me. So he sleeps with us now and it was the best decision I've made. He never wakes me up to go outside and cuddles with me all night long! He's not a morning doodle either and usually sleeps till 11 or 12!!!