Nighttime fears....

[April S.]

Luna has slept in a crate that we've gradually gone up in size as she's gotten bigger every single night.  The ritual is the same, go outside for potty come back in - go into crate and it gets covered with a sheet.   For the past week or so Luna is downright FEARFUL of her crate at night.  We bring her in from outside, talk all nice to her, she used to just go right in when I tapped on the top of the crate and lay down.  Now she tucks her tail between her legs and runs and cowers.   We have to pretty much drag her into it.   Once she is in there, she stands there as if she's stunned and then we cover it.  Then she starts crying... and eventually goes to sleep.   I checked to make sure she didn't throw up or have any bodily function accidents in there.  I washed her bedding thinking maybe she thought it was stinky, I checked the crate to make sure nothing appears broken, or sharp or pointy - I checked Luna all over to see if maybe she got hurt in there.  I'm coming up with nothing.   There have been no traumatic events involving the crate that I am aware of.   We do have 2 cats that roam free in the house - maybe they did something to her?  If so, she would be afraid of them or reacting I would think?  RIght now she is sleeping next to one of the cats touching nose to nose almost.   I've tried crawling into the crate with her, treats, everything - nothing helps.   We even put a treat in there one night and it was still there in the morning!  Once I opened the door in the morning she came out - I saw the treat was still on the bottom - when she came back in from potty she went into her crate and snatched up the treat!  

We don't want to leave her free in the house or even confine her to the kitchen at night because we don't know what she will do.  I think she will bark at us if she has to potty since there wouldn't be a reason (in her brain) to hold it til morning... she also plays with the cats a lot and runs around with them so I would think it would be loud and wake us up.  Maybe we're overthinking this.    

Any thoughts or help on what we can do - I would appreciate it so much.   

If this helps at all - we never use the crate as punishment - it is bedtime place only.  I am home with her all day, everyday so she is not really left alone much at all.   

[Brittney & Cally]

Hi April,
I'm not sure I have the cure all but we had something similar with Cally last week but she would jut whine when we covered the crate and we also have two roaming cats and an older dog that have free reign of the house. We tried everythin to quiet her down and one night I just did not cover the front part of the crate and she did not make a peep. I think she heard all this noise going on around her and she couldn't see and I think that made her fearful. Maybe try only covering the sides of the crate and the back and not the front, that way she can see what is going on around her! Hope this helps!

[Mindy Rapp]

Can she see that the cats are roaming free?  My puppy Doodle sleeps in a crate in my room.  My lilttle dog sleeps up on the bed and Doodle is fine with that.  However, when she sees the cat come into the room and get up on the bed, she goes crazy.  Maybe Luna is jealous of them.  She doesn't think she needs to be crated up if they're free. 

I understand why you have her in there.  If I let Doodle sleep on the bed, I would wake up with no mattress it would have been chewed to shreds.  Sometimes Doodle will go in the crate on her own, but I mostly have to put her in there.  She thinks she's smart and she lays down next to it like she's going to sleep right there.  Does she have stuffed animals in there with her?

[April S.]

Luna can't have anything with cloth fibers or stuffing unsupervised.  I put a few of her favorite safe chew toys in there.   I have a bed made of heavy duck canvas so she can't rip it to shred.   She is a loud sleeper, snoring, kicking, sighing, low grumbles, whines while she dreams... we have the crate in our living room and we sleep upstairs.  By covering the crate - she can't see what is going on - the cats mostly sleep upstairs with us anyways.  I can try just covering the sides and back and see how that goes.  

[Mindy Rapp]

She sounds a lot like Doodle.  Doodle has torn up 3 or 4 pillows and 1 dog bed that I put in the crate with her.  So now she sleeps on the plastic try and rolls around and makes so much noise all night long.  Some nights she drives me crazy.  I don't know what to suggest other than putting her crate in your room which you probably don't want to do.  Doodle's crate is huge and takes up so much room. 

[Rosemary (Ro) and Enzo]

April:  How old is Luna now?  Maybe a new phase starting?  Or something may have really scared her....like a loud noise or something hitting her crate?

[April S.]

She will be 1 year on 12/6 .... Luna's crate is so big it wont fit in our bedroom comfortably.... 

[Rosemary (Ro) and Enzo]

Any chance of letting her sleep in your room, without the crate? We lock Enzo in with us and it works out well. No accidents and thankfully, she is not a chewer of any kind. Been doing this so since she was 4 1/2 months.

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

Have you read up on the Fear Stages of Dogs? There are several of these along the way.

If you read about the Fear Stages and find it may be your situation, please take steps to make this go as smooth as possible. It is very important that a puppy get through these stages without long-term effects to develop into a confident and well adjusted family dog.

Bring her to your room so she can smell and hear and feel you.

Dogs are pack animals. They need to be with their family. You are that family.  

Look up the Fear Stages in Dogs also called the  Fear Imprint Period in some articles. 

You will also find that dates and ages vary so it is important you know that the ages are a general age and not specific.

This to shall pass.  Good luck  :)

For example:

Experiences a puppy perceives as traumatic during this time are generalized and may affect him all his life. It is a fact that a dog is most likely to develop an avoidance response if subjected to physical or psychological trauma during these four weeks.

This period falls within the human imprint period.

Anything that frightens the puppy during this period will have a more lasting effect than if it occurred at any other time.

[Amy & Albee]

Albee is only 4.5 months old- and will whine occasionally at night when he used to have no problem at all. It's odd that Luna won't enjoy a treat in there :/ 

My only suggestion is to have her in the crate a few times during the day - anywhere from a couple of minutes to an hour or so. Help her feel that her den is her safe place. I will also play music (try youtube- relaxing dog music, or harp music) and that will normally calm Albee down.

Good luck, I hope she gets past this quickly!

[Brittney & Cally]

April how did things go last night? Did any of the suggestions work?

[April S.]

We tried moving the crate upstairs to our room - left it uncovered in the front - it didnt matter - she didn't want any part of it.   I was reading the fear stages - I've never heard of this.... one step at a time - I just wish I knew where this was coming from... I feel so cruel putting her in her crate but she can't be trusted to be safe otherwise. 

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

I'm sorry you had a rough night. I am glad you read the fear stages. Sometimes that helps to understand even though it did not help you with her behaviors last night.

Have you considered a Snuggle Puppy to get through this fear stage?  Many many dogs here have used them with rave reviews.

http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=snuggle+puppie&ta...