Will Vern Ever Sleep? UPDATE

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

I am so tired this morning. It is not easy staying up until midnight to see what is happening on DK and having to STILL get up with Vern throughout the night. Last night, I took them out about an hour before I turned the lights off. Vern came right back in and fell asleep. As soon as I turned the lights out and closed my eyes, Vern started walking back and forth from my side of the bed to my DH's side. I have been trying to ignore this a little longer each night, but with wood floors it is like having Michael Flatley dancing in our room. Our bedroom is small and if I put carpet down, it takes away their floor space to sleep. So, I got up and took them outside again and Vern IMMEDIATELY peed and pooped. This is why I hate to ignore him entirely. This happens a lot. On the second try a night is when he usually does his business. Then he sleeps a little longer and gets up again. Sometimes, we are having to get up 2 and 3 times a night and he is always the first one up in the morning. I have not crated Vern since he was very, very young at night and he used to sleep great.

My feeling is he gets hot and wants to sleep out in our cool foyer. I just am not sure he is entirely trustworthy to sleep all night away from our bedroom. Trustworthy in that he still chews. I guess maybe I am going to have to bite the bullet and just try.

He gets plenty of exercise and we always do something in the evening with the dogs. Even when I took him to the dog park on Sunday and he was zonked out, he still got up that night. He is one. Will this ever stop? Fudge could sleep 12 hours straight and still have to have me get her out of bed.

UPDATE: Well, last night was a bit better. I left my door open, giving him the option to sleep out in the foyer and he came back into our bedroom and laid on the floor. I went to bed around 12:15 am and sure enough, Vern was up about a half hour later. I took him out and came back to bed, and let him have free run of the upstairs and he did fine. No chewing, no pacing, etc. He did start barking sometime in the middle of the night and ended up in our bedroom and slept until 8:15 am. Not perfect, but better. I had made up my mind if he did not settle, he was being crated, but he settled fairly well.

Usually he is up around 6 am, so this is much better. However, my DH who is out of town, was nice enough to set his alarm to go off at 5:30 am, but even that did not wake Vern, just me. Thank you to all.

[Joyce & Wilson]

Perhaps doing the last feeding late afternoon and taking water away earlier. Giving Vern time to "cycle" his food and drink??  I dont know ...Good Luck!  Maybe hes just lonely in the night..LOL

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Joyce, No girlfriends for Vern at night to keep him company :)

[Joyce & Wilson]

Lol Laurie..my Wilson has his cat "Jack" who he likes to cuddle up with : )  Wilson has always been a good sleeper..its me whos not..I would be a wreck without my ambien  LOL

 

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

You are lucky your cat and dog get along. Our cat HATES our dogs and runs from them at every opportunity and they think it is a game. Do they prescribe Ambien for dogs....just kidding (wink,wink)?

[Diana Erhart]

With Charlie, if I shut the bedroom door he gets very anxious and doesn't sleep through the night and paces.  But if I leave the bedroom door open, I think he wanders a bit at night, looking out the window and checking on things along with sleeping.  I have never had a problem with him chewing, so don't know about that.  For awhile he would ring the bells in the middle of the night when he would get bored but I would just tell him to go back to bed and that seems to have stopped.  If he really needs to go out he just keeps insisting on ringing the bells and won't go back to bed, so I know he really needs to go.  Don't know if this helps any but if Vern is a more anxious/nervous personality, like my Charlie, maybe he feels like he needs to check on things during the night.

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

I wonder what is worse in the middle of the night...bells ringing or paws tapping? It is like I found the one dog that sleeps like my youngest daughter used to do.

[Diana Erhart]

Yes, it was annoying.  But after awhile Charlie doesn't ring the bells now at night unless he really needs to go out.  I guess he finally got the idea that he wasn't going to go out at night.  When I would get up and tell him to go back to bed he would reluctantly go back to his bed and give out a big heavy sigh.  After about three or four nights he finally got the hint.  Every once-in-awhile he has a relapse but those are getting less frequent now.  I feel for you.  When you are getting up like that in the middle of the night it feels like you are getting no sleep at all.  Good luck!

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Thanks, Diana.

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

That's amazing that you're getting up with Vern two or three times a night...I'd be a "basket case" doing that on a regular basis.  There is the obvious answer to crating him for the night after he does his "business".  If he used to sleep great in the crate, then that would tell me that he felt safe and comfortable there.  I know Vern has some fear issues, and I wonder if he's feeling fearful during the night which is why he's walking back and forth while you're sleeping.  We went through a little issue with Murph "guarding me" while I was asleep (from DH, LOL).  When I asked my trainer about it he did say that they definitely know when their "leader" is asleep, and that makes some dogs "uneasy".  He thought that might have been the case with Murphy.  I'm wondering if he was back in a crate at night his old sense of "security" might return and he'd feel more like he was in a "safe place" and sleep through the night.  I'd be tempted to give it a try.

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Jane, I only crated him at night for about two weeks (first weeks we had him). He has been uncrated since then and used to do better. He does sleep in his crate or even Fudge's during the day when napping. I really think it is more of a case that he wants to visit, explore, smell the air, who knows....he actually seems quite happy in the middle of the night :) He is always the first one up in the morning and this morning I watched him pawing Fudge's paw, like a bad boy trying to wake his sister up...LOL. I do think I might just let him roam and see if he makes his way to his crate in the foyer at night. Thank you! You did say you wanted him to meet your boys....how does next week sound??

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

It sounds PERFECT!  Vern can come here for vacation anytime!  I sleep like a rock, so I probably wouldn't hear him.  Maybe it would be a good "test" to see if he ends up going to the crate in the foyer.

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

His flight is being booked as we speak.