Internal Clocks

[Wasseem Sidhom]

Ok...Cooper has such a precise internal clock that causes him to start barking and whining at 3AM sharp. Today marks his 2nd week with us and he is 4 months old.

How do I turn off the alarm and not just snooze it?  The snoozing button is simply my hand on the crate and he calms down within 10 minutes.  But that requires me getting out of bed, going downstairs and lying next to the crate.

We tried keeping him next to our bed, but he couldn't settle down for 10 minutes straight...always got up, turned around or adjusted his posture and went back down.  All of this activity comes with plenty of noises of course.  So keeping him downstairs seems to be the right approach, but that alarm clock is getting really annoying as we can't let him cry it out otherwise the kids would wake up too!!!

Oh, and he still hates the crate...he will never voluntarily stay in it even though during the day it's always open for him to go in and out of it at will.  He'll go in there, pick up the treat or toy and bring it outside and lie on our feet.

Thoughts?

[Diane, Hurley and Sidney]

I don't know if this will help but when we got Hurley he was 3 months old.  I put the crate on a stool right by my side of the bed so he could see me at night.  When he go restless I would put my fingers in the crate to pet him and he would calm down.  After the 1st week I moved the crate (still on the stool) a short ways away but where he could still see me.  First night he was restless and a little fussy but then it passed so I moved him further away, then off the stool and in his crate on the floor.  By the time he was with us 4-5 weeks I put him on our bed at night and he stayed there content all night long.  Not the least bit restless or talkative.  He seemed very content because he was close to us.  We let him sleep with us training him that he could not get off the bed until we told him he could.  He obeyed.  

[Emily Lau]

Enduring the noise and not giving in is the most important part. It is painful, and utterly difficult, but it will work. 

Currently he is training you to come at 3am :) and it works ;)

Listening to the noise and the whining and the barking = pure hell, but it seems like most doodle parents have experienced this. Must.ReSist.

:)

We did end up having our pup in a crate right next to our bed, and we endured the noise. After a while (1 - 3 months) we slowly moved the crate further and further. 

Sending you good vibes!

[Sarah, Louie & Dougal]

My doodles did exactly the same. They would go in their crate fine and then after an hour or two, they would bark. Sometimes it was like 4/5 o'clock in the morning. They would bark. And we've gone through weeks of ignoring it wbit ten we thought they're must be a reason as to why they are barking!!!!?

They was sleeping in seperate crates and was barking so we thought we would put them together. Still barking!!

What we do now is we let them out for there bedtime wee, then they go straight into their beds, close to door but don't lock it. Then when they want to they get ou and normally lie on the kitchen sofa or kitchen floor under the table and stay their all night. They just didn't like their crates. They go in now in the day for about 5/10 mins rest a coupe of times a day if they want to for a little lie down then come out. We don't lock them in anymore cause they don't like it and they don't need to be. They just go to sleep on the floor in the ki the or on the sofa and when we wake up in the morning their always still on the sofa or on the floor.

It's not for everyone. People like their dogs to sleep in the crates, but I just don't think ours liked it and it wasn't doing anything for either of us (dogs and humans) and they are only 9 months and 7 months and they sleep fine in the kitchen on their own.

xxx

[Kelly & Zoe]

I am not recommending this, but Zoe did the same thing about the same age.  4:00 AM - wake up!  We kept her crate in the bedroom and finally just let her out of the crate after just not caring if she had an accident, just so we could get some sleep. I put her bed right by the side of our bed and it worked like a charm.  She started sleeping as long as we did.  I think she was just lonely, and she *never* liked the crate.  I will also admit that she now gets on the bed with us, that started at about 6 months (although lately that's only for about an hour then she sleeps on the floor next to us).  Again, I know its not for everyone, but it worked for us.

[Jen, Lachlan, and Declan]

My guys aren't thrilled with the crate either, but they can have more freedom when I'm convinced that they won't eat the walls when I turn my back, or the bedding while I'm asleep (gotta love retrievers). At night they sleep in crates beside my bed and have since the beginning. Lachlan was no problem - I swear that dog has a cast-iron bladder and would sleep most of the day given half a chance - but Declan fussed initially when he got bored (he has a VERY low boredom threshold, that one). If one of them really needs to go to the bathroom or is otherwise distressed I'll leap out of bed, but fussing just because he's bored (and it's easy to tell the difference, I promise) is just not acceptable with my work schedule. Fussing out of boredom gets a firm knock on the top of the crate and a growled "knock it off". Mommy has to be up at 4am and doesn't take kindly to being awakened at 2am because someone isn't sleepy, LOL. 

It really didn't take Declan more than about a week to learn that fussing out of boredom didn't get him the attention and activity that he wanted.

[Julie and Max]

You could try making sure the bedroom is safe, and bring him in with you, then just no crate with the door closed. I don't have a crate, and I don't like them. I just kept Max in the bedroom with the door closed, and it worked out great, he slept with no problems from day one, and I had to get him up to go out and pee, just because I felt he would not be able to hold it if I didn't take him out every few hours (he was only eight weeks then). After a month here he slept through the night no problems.

[Deb's Yarrow and Schatzi]

I agree with Julie. Dogs are such social creatures, and the crate is an isolation booth. As pack animals, sleeping alone is unnatural. Yarrow was kennelled overnight in our bedroom about 6 restless nights before we decided to trust her in her own bed out of the kennel. The kennel's been out on the deck ever since. Yarrow has since slept well on the floor in the bedroom.
Perhaps I should come clean and tell the rest of the sleep story. When we first brought her home,I slept downstairs with Yarrow on the futon close to the door for nighttime potty breaks. After a few nights, when I was sure that she was capable of waking me up when she needed to go, Yarrow started sleeping on my bed with me. (My DH works a away a lot) As soon as she was big enough and brave enough to jump off the bed, I was afraid she would have an accident in the bedroom. That's when I put the kennel in the bedroom. And this is where my little story began...

[Debbie]

I live in a Condo and Maggie was wonderful in her crate at night until 300 AM..,,then she would fuss (crate is located in dining/kitchen area) and would bark - I'd get up take her outside to potty and she would try to go potty so we could go back inside, but she rarely had to go...she just wanted out of the crate. She really doesn't like the crate - I keep it out with the door open but she only goes in there to get a toy. I, like the rest of the folks here, let her out of crate and she sleeps on floor in living room at night and in the morning (around 5) she comes into the bedroom and waits for me to invite her up on the bed (she's six months now).

I feel your stress....

Debbie

[Melissa Bissell]

I have a positive crate story.  Our puppy slept in a small crate next to our bed for about a week.  That first week he cried and woke in the middle of the night a few times.  Once he stopped waking in the middle of the night (at about day 5 or 6) we moved him down to our den where we have his big crate.  He has been very happy there and will sleep until we wake up.  So on weekdays he is up at 5am when we wake, but on the weekends when we sleep a bit later, 6:30 or so, he will sleep until he hears us up and walking around.  He really does love his crate, and we keep the same style in the back of my car, and that is where he rides everyday when we pick up the kids at school or go to a baseball game.  He loves his crate, at home or int he car.  Personally, I don;t know what we would do without his crate, it enables us to do anything, go anywhere, and always know Hugo is safe and happy.