No Bedtime????

[Sandy]

Toby sleeps in a crate in our room.  Always has - right from 8 weeks of age.  Tonight he went in his crate and just stood there.  I figured he might have to pee again, so out he went.  He peed and pooped, so problem solved, right?  Wrong.  Put him back in his crate - just stood there, panting.  I figured, maybe he had an upset stomach.  Out he went again.  Nothing, but he laid in the grass like he was boiling in the house.  Back in, and he really balked at getting in his crate.  I left him out, hoping he would go into the bathroom to sleep, but nope, he jumped right up on our bed.  That would have been okay, but he just didn't settle at all.  After an hour and a half I put him in the bathroom, had him lay down, and got back in bed.  He got up and started back into our room.  Now I am downstairs on the couch, Toby is peacefully sleeping in the hall, and everyone in the house, including the dog, is asleep but me.

 

So.....I don't mind having him out of his crate at night, but how could I transition him out and NOT have him on our bed.  Clearly I have always allowed him on the bed, since he's never been out at nigh for it to have been an issue with sleeping.  In the daytime he sometimes jumps up and lays there, not often.  I really think the issue is that he was too hot, because now he's laying on the ceramic hall tile.  If I was to go back upstairs, however, I know he'd follow me and get right back on the bed.  My hubby has to work tomorrow (I teach piano at home, and have no students tomorrow), so I feel he should get some sleep, at least.  Any thoughts?  In my exhausted state, I hope this made some sense.

[Lisa, Daisy & Dexter]

Maybe he was just too hot to sleep, that is why I am up! I am too cheap to turn on the air and can't open the window because of allergies, so......here I am on DK at 4 in the morning.

[Sandy]

My thought was that he was hot too, which is why I showed him to lay on the bathroom floor, which is ceramic.  He came right back to our bed.  :(

[Coco Chanel and Cheryl]

I think he was too hot!! My dog sleeps out of her crate and she hardly ever gets in the bed with me! She gets off the bed when she can't find a spot and I don't respond to her!! She likes my wood floors!!

[Sandy]

I have no problem with him sleeping out of his crate, but I have a big problem with him sleeping in our bed every night, which seem to be his default position.

[Sandy]

Part 2 - Well, Toby laid down in the hall (ceramic tile) and I thought, "Fantastic, he's gone to sleep."  I nodded off on the couch, and woke up at 5:15 a.m.  He wasn't in the hall.  I looked around and couldn't find him.  Then he came barrelling down the stairs.  He'd been waiting outside our closed bedroom door.  I opened the door, and he popped right back up on the bed.  I got in too, and he was out like a light until this morning.  I CANNOT have another night like that with very little sleep.  I tried to make my husband's sleep the priority, since he works a physical job.

 

By  the way, I live in Southern Ontario, and it was only 10 degrees C here last night, so he should not have been blistering hot.

[Lisa, Daisy & Dexter]

Daisy went through a phase about a month ago (she was 17 months) where she got up every night. At first I thought she must have to go potty so I would jump up and run her out and she would pee but not urgently (this is something she NEVER does by the way unless she is sick)...this went on for about 3 nights and then I got wise. She would nudge me, I would talk to her and tell her it's nite nite time, kiss her nose and roll over....every time she would just sit there and finally would go lay down. After 3 days of up and out and then 3 days of me saying nite nite she stopped doing it - Thank Goodness!

Good Luck.

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

Did you try to firmly say "off" and then physically removing him from the bed?  Our guys are allowed on the bed during the day and up until I go to sleep.  Then they must get down (they are not crated) so there's room for DH (for some reason he's unwilling to sleep on the floor).  It only took one night for me to train them to jump down when I say "off".  I just gave the command and then calmly removed them from the bed.  They jumped back up...and I did it again...a few times.  Now there's no issue, they just know.

[Susan and Sasha]

Jane...

I have faith in you...that you could train your DH to sleep on the floor If you Really...Really tried hard enough!!  Lol...

Thanks for my morning laugh!!

Usually I get a good laugh from Laurie...(smile)

Great advice for Sandy...

 

Sandy...

If I'm understanding you correctly...this only happened once...

If so...I wouldn't worry about it too much...and see what happens tonight.

I would do Toby's usual bedtime routine tonight...expecting things to be normal...

I find that sometimes our Doods are a "little off schedule" at times...and there really isn't anything wrong...then...it's a wait and see...

If you find this going on for more than a few days...then I would think there would be someting more to it...but...just for one night...I wouldn't be concerned...just tired.  (smile)

I tend to agree with Lisa...as long as there aren't any symptoms of Toby not feeling well...this just might be a "short" phase...which will pass...as quickly as it came...

Keep us posted...

 

 

 

 

[Sandy]

Toby is a stubborn sort, so I think it would take quite a few "no's" to convince him to get off and stay off.  :)  My hope is that this was just a glitch, and that tonight will be fine.  Sadly we are supposed to have rain for 4 days in a row, so tiring him out in a big way probably won't happen.

 

This was indeed a one time thing, so I hope when we all go to bed tonight he's fine.  He's 3 and has never had an issue with it.  As stated, I will indeed be tired all day.  As will Toby - he's exhausted this morning.

[Jennifer Tramell]

Every one of my dogs have gone through a phase when they start getting up at night.  I always think that they have to go potty or are sick - why else would they be up.  Charlotte has recently changed her sleeping habits - she always slept downstairs with Webster but, due to her barking in the middle of the night, we let her sleep outside our bedroom door.  This was good for about a month and now she sleeps downstairs again. ?? 

For my dogs, it has always just been boredom.  Maybe their sleep cycle changes and they wake up and get lonely?  I don't know, but once I realize that they are just bored, I make it clear that it is unacceptable (I'm not as patient without sleep) and they stop getting up.

My guess is that Toby is bored and lonely and is discovering the fun of a new nighttime routine.  2 suggestions: 1) get him a bed that goes next to your bed so he can be somewhere soft and close but not on your bed 2) put his crate in a new place during the day, leave him out of your room and close your bedroom door to sleep (see, I'm not very patient when it comes to my sleep - I like sleep :-) )

Good Luck!

[Sandy]

Thanks Jennifer.  His crate is in our room, and he only goes in it at night.  Being near us but not on the bed is why we have the crate there.  It worked from day one, but not last night.  My thought is to perhaps leave him out of his crate and put a baby gate in our doorway so he would still see us, but not be in the room.  That would work better if we had an ensuite, because if I have to get up in the night I'd have to hurdle the gate.  I'm really, really hoping that this was a one shot deal.  :)  I'm also hoping that any replies I type make sense, because I'm pretty darn tired.  :)

[Tina, Clover, Plus 5 More]

Clover did this the first few nights she was allowed to sleep out of crate.  After a little while on the bed she would get hot, then get off and pace.  I had shut the door to the crate and she could not figure out how to get in it.  Once I was leaving the door open if she started pacing then I would take the freedom away.  It only took 2 times for her to realize what was expected.  DH works out of town, but when home Clover sleeps next to the bed.