Why Won't She Sleep?!

[PandaGirl]

I'm sitting at work exhausted and over-tired after my second night in a row of Daisy not sleeping for more than 3 hours. She's normally slept almost all night but suddenly her pattern has changed, even though our routine hasn't. She's normally asleep by 8.30 which is good 'cause I'm normally asleep by 9, but now she's waking up at 12 or 1 wanting to play. I take her outside for wees and put her back to bed with a bone and it makes no difference, she still carries on 'cause she wants out of her crate to play. I was using a mix of aromatherapy oils (Perfect Potion's Sleeping Mist) in her crate at night, and I wasn't sure that it was helping, but now that I've stopped using it she seems to have gotten worse.

HELP!

On the bright side though, she put herself to bed in her crate for the first time last night!

[LoremIpsum]

Hi Panda Girl,

I'm working all this stuff out myself at the moment with my new puppy — well, not this particular issue, but others like it — so I'm not qualified to give you advice, but I'd certainly say it sounds like you're doing all the right things, and you probably just need to keep doing the routine going. Don't cave in and play with her, just plod along and put up with the whining and yelping. EVENTUALLY she'll start sleeping again.

Having said that, 8.30pm does seem early to me. Perhaps that's just us — we don't go to bed until midnight so that's the routine Martha is in. But, depending when the morning starts, it might be a long time to be crated?

How old is she, by the way? Could she be teething?

I'm not a big believer in the power of aromatherapy, but given her behaviour changed when the aromatherapy stopped I'd be starting it again. Dogs are very sensitive to smells, so it may even be the absense of a strong smell that she's very used to that's keeping her up.

One last suggestion — ear plugs!

Good luck & hope you get some sleep tonight!

Edited to add: Just looked at some of your old posts and see Daisy is an Australian Cattle Dog. Um, can we see pictures? Cattle Dogs make the cutest puppies!

Edited August 2, 2008 by botheration

[Paganman]

I reckon your locking her up to early 8.30 seems real early to me but then everyones different about the time they go to bed. My dogs dont go to bed till at least 11. I dont know how youll go when its still light at 8.30.

[PandaGirl]

She was going to be a cattle dog, but ended up being a Border Collie X. She would have ended up being dumped if I hadn't have taken her. She's about 4 months maybe?

She's dead to the world by 8.30, and I seriously can't stay up much later. I've just conquered my llife-long insomnia so I'm not willing to risk that kicking in again. How can I get her to stay up a little longer?

Paganman, we don't have daylight savings, it's ALWAYS dark at 8.30.

[LuvMyCav]

Pandagirl, I wouldn't be giving her a bone in the night. That's something good to make getting up in the night worthwhile. I would just take her out to wees, no talking to her, and then straight back into bed with no nonsense. It might mean you're going to have to listen to her crying or scratching on the crate until she learns that bed time means bed time and there's no point in her making a fuss because the most she'll get out of it is to go outside for a wee (don't let her stay out there and play). She won't be getting food or attention so she might as well go back to sleep. Best of luck with it, I hope the nights settle down soon.

[Dogsfevr]

What is the pups routine before bedtime??

What time do you finish work & what does dog do between then & 8.30??

[stormie]

I don't think 8.30 is necessarily too early. Orbit is generally nodding off to sleep at about 6.30pm these days, and has generally always been sleeping by 8.30 from a young age and sleeps right through until about 630-7am. I think it's what they do in the day prior to bed that's important.

How much mental and physical stimulation is puppy getting during the day?

[PandaGirl]

I'm home by about 5.30 and between then and bedtime it's the walking/feeding/playing/training period. She is always knackered when she goes to bed.

I will stop giving her a bone at night, and ignore her crying. She's got that hideous high pitch bark at the moment and that is hard to ignore at 2am. I thought maybe she's sleeping too much during the day, but she doesn't sleep that much. She spends most of her day playing with our other dog or "helping" my father.

[Dogsfevr]

Where does the other dog sleep?

[PandaGirl]

He sleeps with my parents in their room, she sleeps in her crate in my room.

[Dogsfevr]

You may find your pup is enjoying its second family .Do your parents go to bed at 8.30 aswell or are they still up & about?

[PandaGirl]

We're all pretty much in bed by 9 at the latest. She's been really good with her sleeping up until this week. The night we started Puppy School started this new sleeping pattern

[Kelpie-i]

Pandagirl, LuvMyCav has hit the nail on the head.

There is no easy way around this and unfortunately no lotions or potions are going to cure. Sometimes patterns are disrupted and we need to be patient as we re-establish. Simply take dog out for toilet, no speaking, no cuddling, no interaction and most certainly no bones, then straight back to bed.

Allow pup to have the last drink about 1 hour before bed and take out for last wee of the night just before bed time.

It's the hard yards that will do the trick.

Edited August 2, 2008 by Kelpie-i

[PandaGirl]

I went back to silent wee breaks last night and boy did she carry on! Luckily it's a long weekend this weekend so a lack of sleep won't be too bad.

[LuvMyCav]

Stay strong Pandagirl, she'll get there in the end and it'll all be worth it. :D

[poochmad]

Hi PandaGirl. We had the same problem with our pup. He'd wake in the middle of the night wanting to go for a wee and then when I tried to put him back to bed, he wanted to play. For the first couple of nights I stayed up trying to get him to sleep and then we bought a crate. The first two nights he whinged, but we ignored him (he had an area to wee if necessary, but he held on all night) and now he doesn't make a sound. This morning he was let out early (as my husband went to work early) and I put him back in the crate and he fell asleep again.

You could try what we did and see how you go, or do as the others say and get up and then put her straight back in the crate without any fuss. She'll soon learn that the crate means sleep.

[LoremIpsum]

How are things going Panda Girl?

[PandaGirl]

We took her for a run and a swim (or three) at the beach late yesterday afternoon, and she was so tired that apart from 2 wee breaks she slept until 6AM!

[CBL]

We took her for a run and a swim (or three) at the beach late yesterday afternoon, and she was so tired that apart from 2 wee breaks she slept until 6AM!

Thats great :D

We are still, after 2 months, tearing our hair out with Oscar. Crate training him at night just has not worked. Admittedly we let him in the bed because we had 6 weeks of next to 0 sleep. He would literally scream all night! He is a dog who needs company, whether it is from us or from Patch, however we do know he is largely trying it on, but he has got to the point where he hates the crate (but will travel in a crate with little to no fuss). Last night we popped him into his bed next to us, blocking him off from the rest of the room (so he didn't wander and annoy Patch) and he was much better. He did wake up a few times but settled quickly in his bed again. We are hoping this is a solution that will work for us.

[PandaGirl]

Daisy used to hate her crate, she'd sleep in it but she didn't like it. So I moved some stuff around in my room and the crate now runs length ways along one of my walls in line with my bed and that seems to have helped. She's lying in there now chewing her Kong and not helping me tidy up!