Another crate question

[Beth & Piper]

I am new to DoodleKiss so hopefully I am doing this right. I have an almost 6 year old goldendoodle and a 15 week old goldendoodle. Bailey, the 15 week old came to us at 13 weeks; he spent the last week at the trainer's home and that is when the trouble began.

The first week with Bailey he would whimper in his crate for a few minutes and then sleep from midnight until 7:00 when we got up. Now, he screams for about 10 minutes, but does go to sleep. The problem is the first morning he got up at 5:20, but there was a storm so we blamed that. We peed him and then put him pack in the crate where he barked and carried on for 30 minutes before falling back to sleep for 30 minutes. At that point and took him out again and he pooped. I let him play for 30 minutes before feeding both dogs at 7:00.

This morning he was up at 4:40-out to pee then back in the crate. He barked for an hour before my daughter gave in and took him out where he did poop. She then decided to try to gate him in the den with her so that maybe she could get an hour or two of sleep. While Bailey rested, he didn't sleep, so neither did my daughter. Feed the crew at 7:40 and now an hour later they are playing on the floor. I let my daughter go back to sleep while I am on puppy duty.

I don't know what different when on at the trainer's house or if Bailey is just liking our company and knows if he is in the crate we are not around. We have thought about putting the crate in my daughter's room, but she is a light sleeper and has to get up for work every morning, so I hate for her to do that. Of course, getting up before 5:00 isn't great either! I also want him to be able to go to his crate without difficulty when we leave for a couple of hours at a stretch.

We are currently using the plastic kennel which is plenty big, but I also have Piper's old wire crate. We are thinking about switching him today to the wire crate, but that would be for bedtime only as it will be upstairs and the plastic would go downstairs. We would still put Bailey in a room alone for night time to see if that will work out. I am just baffled why he slept through the night two weeks ago and doesn't now.

BTW, we pick up water around 7:30pm and Bailey gets an ice cube later in the evening. He is a water hound and would drink the entire bowl several times a day if I would let him!

I just realized there really wasn't a question in my post, more of just venting! Sorry about that; 4 hours of sleep is not enough for me. I guess I could use some ideas and suggestions. It isn't like I haven't done this before, but we all know each dog is different.

One other crate question-When leaving the house and crating both dogs, do you think I should crate them side by side, of still leave Bailey in his upstairs crate? I don't know if he would do better seeing Piper, or if that will make him rowdy. Piper sleeps the entire time she is in her crate, so I don't know what she will think about Bailey being by her.

[Deb McD]

Hi Beth:
I, too, have an older doodle - 4yrs old - and a 16wk old doodle. I have been consistent about putting the puppy in the crate at night at about 10pm but our other doodle is not crated at night - she usually lays on the floor near the crate. Our puppy wakes up like clockwork around 5-5:30am. Rather than putting him back in the crate - I bring him to the kitchen where I have an ex pen and I put him in there with his toys, chewies etc. He plays on his own for a while and goes back to sleep for about an hr. He is usually back up again by 6:3Oam. I think consistency is the name of the game, however, it will be a while before sleeping in becomes an option. When going out, I would crate them together - for puppies added sense of security, it might help.

[Kelly Gallagher]

I think the first thing you might want to do is find out what his schedule was when he was at the trainer's house. That might clear up some of your questions. Also it sounds to me like he is getting up to go to the bathroom...maybe he needs a few more minutes of walking around after he pees so that he will poop? Maybe then he will go back in the crate for a little while? It sounds like he is just adjusting to his surroundings still and a regular schedule might take a little while. When Maddy first came home at 9 weeks she would sleep from about 11:00-11:30 until 6:00-6:30. Eventually that stretched in the morning and now at 6 months old she is sleeping until 8:00-8:30 sometimes almost 9:00! With the kids still home from school no one is up in the morning making noise so she just sleeps in. I'm dreading Sept. 8th when the alarms start going off for my daughter who is in high school 6:30am bus! Good luck and talk to the trainer.

Kelly

[Adina P]

What did you finally try Beth?

[Beth & Piper]

We moved Bailey to the bigger wire crate which helped with the evening crying and barking. When I leave, I decided to leave Bailey in his crate, upstairs in the playroom. He seems to wake with every sound, so I figured it would be quieter up there.

This morning when my husband was stirring his coffee at 5:15 in the kitchen which is under the playroom, Bailey woke up and started barking. I took him out and put him back in the crate; while that worked at the 2:30 potty break, he wasn't happy this time! I decided to go lie down on the sofa in the room with him. I stuck a couple of fingers in the crate and he went to sleep. I tried to leave, but this pup sleeps with one eye opened; he doesn't want to miss a thing! Then we stayed until 7:00 when it was time to get up.

I think until Bailey is fully housebroken and sleeping through the night, I will keep him in the playroom at night and when we leave. he still doesn't see to sleep in the crate more that 3 hours at night and two during the day; if he falls asleep on the floor with us in the room, he will sleep for hours. He does move every time one of us gets up, but will lie back down.