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.

[Jennifer,Chloe & Myla]

Ours will sleep in bed with us (minis) but one ends up crawling under the bed to sleep (weird) and the other one usually stretches all out across the foot of the bed, when she gets warm she sleeps on the floor but she's back and forth all the timeand very restless. Maybe out a bed on the floor next to his crate for another option??

[Sandy]

Toby is 80 pounds, so on the bed is the last option for me.  :)  If I took the crate away I'd put the blanket out of it on the floor.  I'm just hoping this was an isolated incident.

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Sandy, I had the same problems with Vern. I used to have both dogs in our bedroom and we shut the door. Vern would pace and pant. We would take him out and he would do nothing, but smell the air, or look around...clearly not anything I am interested in doing at 2 am. This went on for weeks, we were exhausted. I finally started just letting him have the run of the house and guess what, he goes out in his crate in the foyer. I think Toby is hot. Our Fudge will start out on the bed and gets too hot and wants down. Toby will probably not like it long up there either. Could you run a fan in some location and see if he gravitates to that area? Or how about one of those cooling beds somewhere in your house. Good luck. I feel your pain!

[Sandy]

Laurie - I think he was hot too.  He does sleep on the air conditioning vent in the hall during the day when I run the air conditioning in the summer.  Maybe a fan is a good idea.  I love Toby dearly, but if I don't get my sleep, I won't be very nice to be around.  :) 

[Sandy]

Okay - crate is now directly under the window.  Thicker blanket removed, little skinny one in its place.  Small fan about three feet from crate, blowing on low.  Toby wandered in, looked at it, and looked at me as if to say "Whatever.  I'm not going in that thing."  Oh dear.

[Jennifer and Jack]

Jack does not sleep in a crate anymore, he however does get insomnia from time to time. Sometimes he is bored at night, Like today, I know I am in for it tonight because I was at work all day and into the evening, I didn't put him in school, so he has been sleeping all day and evening, About 11 pm, he is going to be good to go...

 

I usually let him have his space, if he is really bored, I try to toss him some toys before I go to bed, or if all else fails I fill a kong with peanutbutter and let him go to town... Jack spreads eagle on my floors when he is hot too but I keep my house pretty cool so he only does it after we come in from a walk.

 

 

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

I had to take all the blankets out of the crate for Vern. It sure doesn't look comfortable to me, but he likes it better. Good luck!

[Debbie and Thomas]

For most of the winter our dog Thomas would cry at the patio door in our familyroom at about 2 or 3 in the morning...he even did this last week. If we don't wake up he starts barking loudly.  Of course we rush to his side thinking he is feeling sick and wants to go outside.  You know what he does?  He goes out and lies on the patio and puts his snout up to smell the fresh air!!! We think he just gets hot at night and decides he needs a breath of fresh air.  He did this the night of the royal wedding and would not come back in right away.  So I turned on the TV at 3 am and watched the wedding previews...the wedding...and the after wedding coverage until 9 am.  The dog came in about 5 minutes after I let him out and slept in the hall while I...tired as I was watched TV for 6 hrs!  Sorry to go on about the wedding stuff but my point is that he gets too hot at night also. 

[Sandy]

That's what Toby did last night.  He never barks or whines to go out, but he just stood there in his crate and panted.  I thought maybe he felt ill, so I let him out.  He went out and  laid on the grass.  He stayed there for 10 minutes or so.  He sure doesn't have to stay in his crate, but he also sure can't spend his  nights on our bed.  Then we are ALL too hot, and he is shaking the bed with his panting.

[shelly]

Made PERFECT sense to me!  This is exactly what we're going thru' here and it's not the heat!  All of a sudden Tori doesn't want to sleep in her crate any more either.  This was NEVER a problem ever- we do let her loose now, but she too DOES jump up on the bed... but since she started - she really has learned not to jump up as much... nothing due to what we did... she just learned on her own.  not to say she doesn't jump up during the night - she does.. but has found a spot out of the way, and will now spend most of our sleep hours OFF the bed... but as soon as one of us gets up in the morning, she's quick to take our spot right next to the other.  I can NOT believe I even let her sleep on our bed... I am such a germ freak, and now I'm letting he on my bed!  UGH.. the things we do for our doodles!

[Sandy]

Success!  We put Toby in his crate at bedtime, and it was the same standing/panting deal.  We let him out and I reminded him that jumping up on the bed was not an option.  :)  He wandered some, stared at me some, but eventually settled on the bathroom tile floor for the night.  At one point he put his paws up on my husband's side of the bed, but I saw it coming and pushed him down, sternly saying "Off".  Let's hope the success continues tonight.  Now...if I can get rid of this insomnia I'll be all set.