I Can't Survive On No Sleep And Lattes

[Rhi*Jak*Ed]

Hi all,

Well my situation has gotten frustrating enough to seek some advice. I have had Jak now for just over 6 weeks and the first 3 weeks I would put her in the bathroom overnight. She had access to newspaper, water, toys and of course her bedding. She would be quiet from around 9.30/10.00pm when I would put her to bed and then would wake around 5am.

I then purchased a crate for her, and moved her into the bedroom with me (on the floor). Since then, she wakes every hour to 2 hours, EVERY NIGHT. As my topic title states, I can't survive on no sleep and double shot lattes every morning haha. Only 2 of those times that she wakes me she actually needs to go to the toilet, the rest I think is her seeking some form of companionship, whether it be a cuddle or a play. If she doesn't go to the toilet I put her back in her crate, but an hour later she's barking and crying again.

I'm at a bit of a loss as to what to do now. Should I revert back to putting her in the bathroom overnight? I don't want to ignore her barking and crying when she's in the crate because she seems to make the same sounds each time (whether she needs to pee or not). I'd hate for her to get so desperate that she goes in her crate.

Any suggestions??

Thanks heaps.

Rhi

[Tunsafun Boxers]

Does she have a teddy in her crate with her? or something with your smell on it?

My cooper did that for a couple of weeks, and after looking like the living dead for a week or so, i decided to try something different.

i put a stuffed toy in his pen with a clock in it, and put a t-shirt in there that i had been wearing. he would then go 3 or 4 hours before waking up. i also changed his night routine.

at about 10pm i'd wake him up and put him outside to go to the loo. when he came in, we'd have a play and a run around the loungeroom, then it was off to bed. he's learnt that if the lights are off, its quiet time. he'd still whinge occasionally, but if he kept it up for more than five minutes, i'd get up and take him out, if he shut up, i'd go back to sleep. i finally caught up on sleep, and he learnt that i wasn't going to come running at every whimper.

good luck !

[kirbydog]

I sort of believe that you unintentionally started encouraging a behaviour that you do not want. The dog was happy in the bathroom and then you moved it into the bedroom with you in a crate. Once it started to get unsettled you started to give him attention by taking him outside. When I purchased my puppy I had him in the bedroom for the first few nights to make the transition easier for him. Now he is allowed in the house at night as long as he is quiet. If he is unsettled in any way, of you go outside to sleep in your kennel. I would not allow my daughter, who is one year old, wake me every two hours every night so why let the dog take over your life. Dogs are not humans, they do not understand the concept of compassion. The main mistake dog owners make is to be afraid to do things that may upset the dog. We do not let our children get away with unwanted behaviour, but we do let our animals to walk all over us. As harsh as this may sound, if your dog is not settling, ban it from your bedroom and put it somewhere, where it is safe and if it is having a bit of a tantrum ignore him till he stops. Encourage behaviour that you want and ignore behaviour that you want to stop. It may be a really cute puppy, but still do not let it walk all over you. Hope this helps!

[Rhi*Jak*Ed]

Does she have a teddy in her crate with her? or something with your smell on it?

My cooper did that for a couple of weeks, and after looking like the living dead for a week or so, i decided to try something different.

i put a stuffed toy in his pen with a clock in it, and put a t-shirt in there that i had been wearing. he would then go 3 or 4 hours before waking up. i also changed his night routine.

at about 10pm i'd wake him up and put him outside to go to the loo. when he came in, we'd have a play and a run around the loungeroom, then it was off to bed. he's learnt that if the lights are off, its quiet time. he'd still whinge occasionally, but if he kept it up for more than five minutes, i'd get up and take him out, if he shut up, i'd go back to sleep. i finally caught up on sleep, and he learnt that i wasn't going to come running at every whimper.

good luck !

In her crate she has a blanket, her favourite teddy, a chew toy and a plastic squeeky bone, which are the 3 things that she loves to play with and be around. She doesn't have anything that smells of me, I might try that.

Jak was at the stage that she also recognised that when the lights were off it was quiet time, but that seems to have gone out the window now. The first week with her in the crate were fine, but then it went drastically down hill.

She can see me from her crate, perhaps I should move it to the end of the bed so that she can't see me? I don't know, I feel like she's the one calling all the shots at the moment and it's quite frustrating.

[Kharn]

Hi,

I've been going through the same thing with my now 9 week old. The only advice I can give is stick to a routine and don't give in!

After a week of waking up two or three times a night, my puppy now toilets at about 10.30pm then sleeps till about 7am. Bliss.

[Rhi*Jak*Ed]

I sort of believe that you unintentionally started encouraging a behaviour that you do not want. The dog was happy in the bathroom and then you moved it into the bedroom with you in a crate. Once it started to get unsettled you started to give him attention by taking him outside. When I purchased my puppy I had him in the bedroom for the first few nights to make the transition easier for him. Now he is allowed in the house at night as long as he is quiet. If he is unsettled in any way, of you go outside to sleep in your kennel. I would not allow my daughter, who is one year old, wake me every two hours every night so why let the dog take over your life. Dogs are not humans, they do not understand the concept of compassion. The main mistake dog owners make is to be afraid to do things that may upset the dog. We do not let our children get away with unwanted behaviour, but we do let our animals to walk all over us. As harsh as this may sound, if your dog is not settling, ban it from your bedroom and put it somewhere, where it is safe and if it is having a bit of a tantrum ignore him till he stops. Encourage behaviour that you want and ignore behaviour that you want to stop. It may be a really cute puppy, but still do not let it walk all over you. Hope this helps!

Yes I think so too (unintentionally created unwanted behaviour). And to think I used to hate being woken at 5am! What did I know? haha. My house set up makes things a bit awkward, lots of stairs to encounter in order to get outside and I have not yet trusted her fully on the stairs because one slip and she can fall through and encounter one incredibly long fall. Not sure she would survive it. That's the reason I put her in the bathroom.

I think in order to get sleep I need to put her back in there and just be prepared to mop the floor every morning again haha. That's the lesser of the evils I think, and that way she has her own area overnight. This weekend I will finally be able to take her out walking (last vaccination out of the way!), so I think the early rise will be good, we can go for a nice long walk before I have to get ready for work.

I'm certainly not afraid to upset her, so back to the bathroom she goes.

Thanks for your advice :-)

[Rhi*Jak*Ed]

Hi,

I've been going through the same thing with my now 9 week old. The only advice I can give is stick to a routine and don't give in!

After a week of waking up two or three times a night, my puppy now toilets at about 10.30pm then sleeps till about 7am. Bliss.

Thanks Kharn - sadly I think I'm going to have to change my routine in order to stick to one (if that makes sense!). The sleeping in the crate in tbe bedroom is obviously not working, so it's back to the bathroom we go I think...

Two or three times a night would be heaven! haha.

[poodlefan]

Every time your puppy toilets in the house (even the bathroom) undoes any effort you are making to get her to toilet outside. If you allow her to toilet in there during the night, expect her to continue to do it during the day.

The key to success is a consistent routine. Put her out and make sure she toilets before you go to bed. Set the alarm for somewhere in the middle of the night, get up and take her outside. Same deal - make sure she toilets and put her to bed.

Buy a decent set of ear plugs and ignore all other noises from her. If she knows by making noise she gets attention, then guess what? She'll continue to do it.

One toilet stop a night should be sufficient. Make sure you feed her early in the evening and give her some vigorous play time to tire her out a bit.

[Staff'n'Toller]

Cover the crate with a dark sheet.

Mel.

[RedStafford]

Cover the crate with a dark sheet.

Mel.

I was about to post that myself Mel. Cayenne started having troubles in the morning going back to sleep after 5am toilet session... now i make her crate as dark as possible - whilst still allowing ventilation and she often sleeps till 6 and will then go back to bed for another hour and a half or so...

So if its not covered and dark, make it so!

[Mu-Shu]

Quote: "Buy a decent set of ear plugs and ignore all other noises from her. If she knows by making noise she gets attention, then guess what? She'll continue to do it."

Thats why I can't sleep at night the neighborhood's dogs barks and whine like crazy while their owner are fast asleep with their plugs!! Arrgh

[R00]

During the night, (from the time YOU go to bed and the time YOU get up) you should only take the pup outside to toilet and then straight back in. No conversation, no nothing. Just use your toilet command (mine is "do wees") once she has wee'd then priase her, but no playing. Then walk her straight back in the crate and say 'good girl' and close crate and go back to bed. (if you have trouble controlling her and her desire to play, put her on a lead)

In the morning, if she wakes first, take her out again and repeat above, but put her back in the crate, untill YOU get up. This will establish a bullet proof routine. Keep everything consistant and you will have no ongoing problems.

Do not be tempted to relax this if she gets up at say 5am and you get up at 6am. Make sure she is not allowed out of her crate until you want to get up. You are the leader and you lay down the rules. This is just my view, (some people , don't worry if the dog wakes up and hour or so before them and put them outside to play. totally up to you)

Good luck.

Roo

[Flaves]

Every time your puppy toilets in the house (even the bathroom) undoes any effort you are making to get her to toilet outside. If you allow her to toilet in there during the night, expect her to continue to do it during the day.

The key to success is a consistent routine. Put her out and make sure she toilets before you go to bed. Set the alarm for somewhere in the middle of the night, get up and take her outside. Same deal - make sure she toilets and put her to bed.

Buy a decent set of ear plugs and ignore all other noises from her. If she knows by making noise she gets attention, then guess what? She'll continue to do it.

One toilet stop a night should be sufficient. Make sure you feed her early in the evening and give her some vigorous play time to tire her out a bit.

Cover the crate with a dark sheet.

Mel.

Well said.

My other advice is if she wakes and cries and she has just been to the loo, squirt her with water. I did it if my pup woke me and did not need to go to the loo or just cried. 2 nights and problem solved. No waking and no accidents.

[BC]

Ignore Ignore. Easy to say I know, but as poodlefan says 1 toilet stop during the night at this stage is enough.

If your puppy gets up again at five, time for the ear plugs and completely ignore the behaviour. It wont take long for pup to learn. (You may have to put up with this for a week or so) Mine are used to getting up around 7:30am so if they get up then and I'm not getting up yet, I say, back to bed, and they huff and puff and lie down again until I get up. It's quite funny to listen to actually, but they get up when I say it is OK (within reason of course. I would not keep them there until lunch time if they had not been to the toilet since the night prior)

[Poodle wrangler]

I successfully trained a cat to not meow and carry on at 6am every morning. We were babysitting cat and dog and am not a "morning person". Ignoring worked brilliantly- there's no way I was going to get out of bed and bring the cat into a room with an allergic OH. Owners wanted to know how I'd cured her . Is much easier when you're not emotionally attached, too.

The toilet break overnight is all business, no play- a warm, "Good dog" when they wee/poo only. Ignore any attempts for play, pats or cuddles.

Perhaps put the crate somewhere suitable near your bedroom on the way to the overnight toileting area? You might as well get the benefit of all those sleepless nights, rather than have overnight weeing in bathroom.

[Falling_dawn]

I totally sympathies with you Rhi

I have sort of the same problem although mine is 10 weeks old the breeder said to feed her late so hunger does not wake her up but she is up at 11-12 pm toilet then 1-2 am to go toilet and again at 4am does not go back to sleep for about an hour or more even though there is no talk she takes her self to the toilet ( we use pamper mats that are in the bathroom we live in an apartment ) the problem is she does not go back to bed after these toleit visits . I get up after a while and put her back in bed but there is no talking

and After the 4 am wake up does not go back to sleep till 8 in the morning she doesn’t make much noise and never barks just once in a while yelps and runs around my room and stands up sraping the bedding trying to get my attention I think I’m going to follow your guys advice and lock her in the bathroom for the night a person needs their sleep

[Akitaowner]

to all new pup owners

If you want to get a good nights sleep follow the advice in this thread. Also if you wish to toilet train your pup use a crate, and a couple of pit stops in the night.

Put the crate somewhere where pup can WALK to the outside, as this will be desirable a bit later.

There is no reason why pup cant be crated in the bathroom, read about crate training and if the crate is the correct size and not too big pup will not toilet in it - and therefore you wont have to clean up every morning!

I crate trained both my 2 the crate was in the lounge - Mav was only allowed to sleep in my bedroom after he was over 12 months old, and it started because of medical (his) reasons. i would not encourage people to keep baby puppy in their bedroom, its easier to learn the pack and the rules if they learn to sleep on their own.

after about a week you should be settled into a routine and they should not cry, have scheduled time stops - a baby pup can hold for no more than 4 hrs so plan the times.

To the original poster - it concerns me the bit you mentioned about the steps - if you have open wooden stairs (ie slippery) cani suggest that you either ensure pup stays downstairs or block them in - that sounds a bit like an accident waiting to happen....

[Rhi*Jak*Ed]

to all new pup owners

If you want to get a good nights sleep follow the advice in this thread. Also if you wish to toilet train your pup use a crate, and a couple of pit stops in the night.

Put the crate somewhere where pup can WALK to the outside, as this will be desirable a bit later.

There is no reason why pup cant be crated in the bathroom, read about crate training and if the crate is the correct size and not too big pup will not toilet in it - and therefore you wont have to clean up every morning!

I crate trained both my 2 the crate was in the lounge - Mav was only allowed to sleep in my bedroom after he was over 12 months old, and it started because of medical (his) reasons. i would not encourage people to keep baby puppy in their bedroom, its easier to learn the pack and the rules if they learn to sleep on their own.

after about a week you should be settled into a routine and they should not cry, have scheduled time stops - a baby pup can hold for no more than 4 hrs so plan the times.

To the original poster - it concerns me the bit you mentioned about the steps - if you have open wooden stairs (ie slippery) cani suggest that you either ensure pup stays downstairs or block them in - that sounds a bit like an accident waiting to happen....

Hi there,

Rest assured that Jak does not have access to the stairs - I too believe that it is an accident waiting to happen so I have very diligentky kept her away from them. If she's inside the door is shut so she can't get to the stairs, and if she is outside the stairs are completely blocked off at the bottom so she cannot climb up them.

It is because of this that I'm prepared to put in the hard yards, and if I have to toilet train her twice then so be it, at least she will still be alive at the end of it.

Thanks :-)

[Rhi*Jak*Ed]

I totally sympathies with you Rhi

I have sort of the same problem although mine is 10 weeks old the breeder said to feed her late so hunger does not wake her up but she is up at 11-12 pm toilet then 1-2 am to go toilet and again at 4am does not go back to sleep for about an hour or more even though there is no talk she takes her self to the toilet ( we use pamper mats that are in the bathroom we live in an apartment ) the problem is she does not go back to bed after these toleit visits . I get up after a while and put her back in bed but there is no talking

and After the 4 am wake up does not go back to sleep till 8 in the morning she doesn’t make much noise and never barks just once in a while yelps and runs around my room and stands up sraping the bedding trying to get my attention I think I’m going to follow your guys advice and lock her in the bathroom for the night a person needs their sleep

I sympathise with you too Falling_dawn! It's not easy... What I'm now annoyed about is that we were in a good rythm and I obviously upset it by moving her into my bedroom in the crate.

I don't feed Jak until about 7, reason being that I don't get home until 6 and as soon as I walk through the door she's very excited and on for a play. So we play for a good hour then she's worked up an appetite and I feed her her dinner. I don't talk to her when I take her to toilet either, just tell her to hurry up then praise her and put her back in her crate.

I need to get this sorted ASAP though... I'm coming into my busiest time at work and I have uni exams coming up too. The lattes are only going so far at the moment. ARGH hahaha.

Rhi

[Akitaowner]

Rhi sounds like you are doing the right things - but as you said have just skewed the system by moving her....

put her crate in the bathroom/lounge/kitchen (whereever you would like her to sleep when she is trained) and it should be fine also cover crate with a blanket as said above too it does a lot. you can also send pup to bed with a chew/bone to keep them occupied should they wake up.

Also not sure if youve read much about crate training - but dont only put here in their when your leaving/going to bed. she wil associate it with being left alone. Give her her dinner in it and occassional time outs during the time your home. (they only need to be short)