Barking In Crate At Night

[furbubbas]

Hi All,

We have an 11 month old border collie who has been a perfect angel sleeping at night in his crate up until about a month ago.

Since that point he'd scratch to get out of his crate, bite a hole in the crate door (!) and bitten bedding etc (We have one of those fabric type crates in our room), and just generally carry on with absolutely no reason. We have been ignoring him from advice evident on other posts in this forum, and have actually moved him out of our room into another room in the house so there is no chance of us just 'caving in' and going to him (we can still hear him, just not quite so loud!) and he's settled a bit except for a random stint of barking always somewhere in the early hours of the morning (very early, i.e 4am or 5am). He's well toilet trained and can certainly last all night etc so we're confident it's not that.

Any suggestions on how to ditch the 5am barking? we've got a cover on three sides of his crate. There certainly could be possums etc around outside although those sounds would occur all through the night and actually have usually decreased by this hour. When we go in at a more reasonable hour to get him, he's still very sleepy half the time so I don't think he's just awake and ready to play... more just wakes suddenly and starts barking?

We're happy to continue the ignoring method (now we've stamped out him eating his crate and bedding!) however we're unsure the barking is actually improving so perhaps there's something different we should be doing?

Thanks in advance.

[persephone]

Could he be getting too warm ? the weather is warming up ....and if he has bedding in a confined space, it could be warm/stuffy for a coated dog .

[ktig]

Could he be getting too warm ? the weather is warming up ....and if he has bedding in a confined space, it could be warm/stuffy for a coated dog .

I was thinking the same thing. My pup was getting a little unsettled in his crate at night - mine is a wire one with a blanket thrown over it - I've swapped the blanket for a sheet that allows a little air flow and opened up another side and he's settled straight back down again.

Fingers crossed it's something simple like that for you!

[furbubbas]

Thank you!

great suggestions! I'd whipped up a makeshift sheet that fits over the crate a little while ago and was just not wanting to 'upset the balance' any further, but may try that tonight - definitely worth a try at this point in time!

[Puppybella]

My pup has just started something similar at 9 months, I posted about it just a few days ago in General Dog, called Sleeping Patterns.

Mine is randomly 'play' barking too, but more late at night in the first few hours after being put down. She's also fully toilet trained and can last the night easily.

I was also thinking it might be the warmer weather, but she hasn't got any blankets just bedding, so there's not much I can take out. Nor is the crate covered so it's about as cool as it's going to get.

Hope your pup settles down again soon! Even ignoring the barking still makes for interrupted sleep!

[furbubbas]

Wow puppybella that sounds remarkably similar! It seems the older they get the cheekier they become with new habits like these!

(i wasn't sure whether to put this in the puppy or adult dog section.. so might head across to your topic now actually)

Lad was a little better last night (with only a strip of thin fabric draped over only half the crate and didn't bark quite as long, but yes the interrupted sleep certainly still takes its toll on us... hopefully it's all resolved soon!

[LizT]

Also of note is that 5.00 am is the 'pre-dawn'. There are a lot of birds singing to the glory of the impending sunrise and celebrating the start of a new day.

Dogs often react to it in a noisy way.

Also if the first rays of light (it doesn't take much) are coming into the room your dog may also be alerting you to the new day as well.

[warval dobe]

Our boy just turned 12 months and started whining in his crate lately. Worst part is it's either when we're about to go to bed or at 2am!

Might be right about the warm nights so tonight I'm going to try leaving the door open to let a bit of cool breeze into the room.

[dancinbcs]

Just saw this post. At 11 months a BC is getting their adult coat. Most of mine would go nuts in a covered crate at night in the warmer months. They really feel the heat and need to be able to move around and find a cool surface to sleep on. Can you confine him to a laundry or bathroom instead of the crate?

[persephone]

Unfortunately, a dog confined to a crate is completely dependent on its owner to make sure of a suitable temperature . Not bad in Winter .. coats/curling up , indoor heating.. but in Summer ..with not much option than to lie on soft thick bedding ..and not be able to seek out cool drafts, or cool tiles/concrete..or shift away when the spot in which they lie becomes warm... care needs to be taken to ensure they are comfy ;)

It certainly can be done ..but takes some thought and a few changes...and a thermometer might be useful as well!

Someone may have already invented them.. but those breathable bed covers would be wonderful, crate sized, and only raised a cm or so ..just to allow a draft and some heat transference in Summer.

[Stitch]

I have had this happen previously at this age with a few of mine.

As long as the crate is big enough and not too hot or too cold etc. then I would suggest you try the following, provided the dog has had sufficient exercise during the day and enough mental stimulation followed by a period with you to wind down.

When it barks etc. at an unacceptable time, get up to it and do something to snap it out of the pattern of barking ie. the noise of a rolled up newspaper slapping the wall or something and also tell the dog NO in a growly voice so it gets the message, of course without any physical contact. You don't open the crate or reward the dog in any way for this kind of attention seeking manipulative behaviour.

The way we are generally being told to 'correct' a dog is to ignore bad behaviour and reward good behaviour but this just doesn't work in this particular situation.

Dogs have no qualms in letting each other know that certain behaviour is unacceptable by growling and even biting each other - so there definitely is a place for the growly N word when we are correcting certain types of unacceptable dog behaviour.

I have proved this works in certain circumstances many times, without doing irreparable harm - give it a try!!!

[luvsdogs]

Tilba did the same thing about a month after we got her. She's the 1st dog I'd used a crate with. From 12 weeks old when we got her she was ok in the crate, then at 3 months or so the whining, scratching at the crate became unbearable. I ignored her but oh & sons couldn't as they had to work & all had a go at going to her, not what I wanted. Eventually I let her sleep on the dog bed where my previous border collie used to sleep & never had a problem with her sleeping habits after that.

[Puppybella]

Hey Furbubbas, has your pooch settled down? Warval dobe that's basically what mine is doing, it's really annoying!

Bella is still playing up but seems to be quiet at least for a few hours if I go down and tell her 'enough now' in a growly voice. Some nights she's completely quiet like normal - go figure!

I do think it might be the weather warming up. At this point I've made the crate as cool as possible with all doors/windows of the house open, but maybe it's not enough. The crate is only open on the sides on the top half, the bottom half is solid.

Does anyone have ideas on how to make it a bit cooler? I've thought of a fan, but I don't want her eyes to dry out or get uncomfortable. Or even a frozen hot water bottle under the bedding, but obviously I don't want her to chew that.

I'm reluctant to let her start sleeping outside of her crate inside the house, she would be unsupervised and could chew the place to pieces if she wanted to, and we don't have a room to lock her in since that's the cat's domain. I could chain her up on the patio outside with her day bed, but either way, it will disrupt the routines we've worked on.

Any suggestions?

[furbubbas]

Hmm well it's still definitely a 'work in progress'...

The crate has very minimal bedding so minimal creation of heat (just enough for comfort, as otherwise he'd chew them anyway) yet now we've ditched the cover completely and just tried to make the room as dark as possible... so it's cooler there than ever and I don't think that's such an issue at the moment as we've had quite cool nights but I'm certainly keeping an eye on it.

He was quiet for one night, then two nights barked like crazy but even earlier like 3am so I am slightly concerned it's a pesky possum causing the issue (there's whole families of possums living in our trees etc)... He's always been very much a guard dog, barks at everything etc but perhaps this is also just a stage he's going through when he's a bit more protective/reactive than usual?

We'd love to have him not in the crate (as we'd originally planned) yet he also chews everything/gets in mischief like crazy... I will certainly think of it as an option if he continues - we'd previously tried to have him sleep in our room on his bed and he either chases the cat the entire night or even if she's hiding just jumps on us etc and doesn't get the less than subtle hint it's bedtime and not playtime! (despite being exhausted himself!) ... he also clearly loves his crate, cuddles in instantly when put to bed, and if left in the kitchen at night just hides under the coffee table or barks at every tiny sound (thus why we started the crate - we figured he'd like the sense of security).

In saying that, he was perfect last night! I had the newspaper ready for Stitch's suggestion (just to use on the wall no-where in sight of him as I know any closer to the crate and it is definitely a reward for the barking as I figured out earlier) so I just hope that continues! He's heading to QLD this weekend for a month with my OH which I know he'll love, I'm just praying he gets a break from the possums and sleeps without a problem, although I guess it wont be my sleep being disturbed for once!