Puppy Crate Training/barking/sleeping

[dirtychicken]

Coo. That's quite impressive. I made it over a week before I needed to post for advice

 

For the most part, Bran is soooooo easy that I just can't believe my luck (touch wood!!), but I have a problem that is causing me frustration and the advice given is so conflicting

 

Crate training is..........ermmmm.......in progress He eats in his crate, he goes in his crate if we are eating, he sleeps in his crate at night, he goes in his crate when we go out and he has some "enforced down time" during the day in his crate.

 

At mealtimes, he will throw himself into his crate then sit beautifully until he is told to eat. Usually, he is let out within 10 minutes or so of him finishing his food and he is perfectly quiet. When we are eating and he has "enforced down time", he will happily go into his crate with a Kong or a chew and is no problem at all if we are in the room (which we are if we're eating but not necessarily if he's on down time). If we leave the room, he will spend 2-3 minutes barking loudly, then settle down to sleep and will sleep for about an hour. At night he will usually give 1 or 2 barks, if anything, then settle to sleep. When we leave him to go out (not for very long yet!) he is generally preoccupied with his Kong or chew but is quite often barking when we come back but I don't know if that's because he's been barking all of the time or because he has heard us coming back. He is generally giving his bark that is reminding me that he's in his crate and can't get out though So I guess this will all ease with time.

 

Now my problem comes with mornings and his crate. As I've said, he is usually sleeping through but will sometimes bark in the middle of the night and it is purely because he needs to go out. I quietly go down to let him out when he's having a quiet moment between barks, let him out and put him back into his crate with the minimum of fuss. He usually settles back to sleep then. Then at any time between 5.30 (unbearable) and 7.30 (bearable) he will bark to tell me he needs a wee. If it's 7.30 then we'll stay up. If it's 5.30 he gets put back in his crate. But he will then do his "you've forgotten me! I'm stuck in here!" bark continuously. I can ignore this bark during down time issues and tell the kids to ignore him during the day, but at 5.30 in the morning he is liable to wake the kids up as well as my neighbours so I can't ignore it.

 

Sometimes, at this point he will spend half an hour playing with Flora, then get up on to the sofa and sleep. I can then grab a blanket and join him on the sofa. We can then get another 2 hours sleep! Sometimes, he is so tired at this point that he will get straight on to the sofa and fall asleep!! Again, I can sleep on the sofa, but I am a bit worried that this is becoming a habit. When I realise that he's shouting me to get up, I tend to make a short noise to quieten him and then spend just a few minutes pottering in another room before going in to let him out so that he thinks "how convenient! Just as I wanted to get up, Mummy is up" rather than "yes! The barking worked! I've got her up" but I would still rather not be getting up at 5.30

 

So what do you think? Is this acceptable for now? Am I expecting too much of him too early?

[ReikiAnge]

Depending on what time he goes out for a last wee/poo and what time you put him to bed, getting up in the early hours is all part of the fun of having a young pup I'm afraid but Bran's a bit older isn't he, sorry can't remember exactly how old?

 

I know I was taking M-M out at silly o'clock when she first came home, so I think 5.30 is pretty good going, but can understand you don't actually want to then stay up from that time.

 

I know people will advise that you just ignore them when they bark in the crate, for however long it takes for them to be quiet, but while it's good advice I don't think it's always that easy, especially when you have neighbours etc. People will tell you to persevere with it and things will get better. I think sometimes it's hard to know whether they are barking because they want to go out for a wee or because they want attention/want to play - generally advice is to let them out without making a fuss of them, wait for them to toilet (make sure you go out with them rather than just letting them out) and then pop them back in the crate quietly, again without making a fuss.

 

Sometimes these things don't go to plan though!

 

I can't advise as M-M only goes in her crate when we go out without her, which is generally a max of an hour or so during the day and she's not a fan of it and I don't think ever will be. She slept upstairs with us from about the second night she was here (after I spent most of the first night on the sofa with her ) and then as she got a bit older/bigger she decided she wanted to sleep downstairs on the sofa/armchair with the others and that's what she's done. Though she does still come up sometimes. Like when she howls I want my mummy while sat at the bottom of the stairs.

 

I'm not sure I'm the best person to advise

[dirtychicken]

Thanks Ange

 

He's 15 weeks old at the moment. I did wonder whether it would be worth just leaving him loose in the lounge with Flora - with the door shut - after the later early morning wees but then, like I said, sometimes they will have half an hour playing and I'd rather not let them be doing that unsupervised for the moment

 

His "I need a wee" bark is very different from his "hello? trapped in here!" bark. The wee bark tends to be single barks with maybe 30 seconds between them. The "let me out" bark tends to be 3 short sharp barks with only 15 seconds or so between bursts. So I know that if he does the wee bark at 5.30, he genuinely does need to go out, but then if I try to put him back in the crate after, he'll do the "let me out" bark.

 

Nothing like making things complicated, is there?

[Trallwm farm]

Theres been a terrible mistake...........

 

You were meant to get the large black thing in my kitchen. His bark is a little different from Brans but generally barking and howling for 5 hours means Im trapped, its 4am let me out. A short yap means "I pood my pants and hour ago and just woken up to the smell and my mums about to find out what Ive done "

[dirtychicken]

 

Very helpful, Lesley, thank you

[blackmagic]

could you put his cage in the room with Flora at night so that he has company, without being able to play?

 

When my pup was barking at 5.00am ( because a milkman delivered at 4.30am and woke her) I let her out for a wee and then sat quietly with her for about half an hour - no games, no stimulation, just quiet stroking etc. I found that she then went back to bed okay.( sometimes i made a cup of tea to pass the time)

 

At nightime I always said 'it's bedtime' when I put her to bed and used that at 5.30 am as well.

 

Gradually, she settled quicker and stopped waking that early.

 

 

 

Could you put him back in his cage with a kong to occupy him?

[dirtychicken]

His crate is in the same room as Flora and I usually give him a chew to go back to bed with

 

We had a slight change in set-up this morning in that he slept through until 5.30, then barked to go out for a wee. After letting him out, I put him back in his crate and then went to sleep on the sofa. Because I was still in the room, he went straight back to sleep and slept until 8.30! Maybe if I continue with this for a while, he'll get used to going back to sleep in his crate and I'll be able to go back to my bed

[khanu]

I do things a little differently (as ever )

All new dogs (whether puppies or adults) sleep in a crate in our bedroom to begin with. This means they are more likely to settle overnight and I can hear them easily (without the need for barking) when they need to toilet.

Once they can go through the whole night without needing a loo break I start to move the crate futher away (but still in the bedroom) then onto the landing, and gradually move them out until the crate is in the kitchen.

 

For Breckin this whole process took about 2-3weeks although he was 9months when we got him. When Khanu was a pup it took maybe 1-2months (it was a long time ago now).

 

I prefer this as it means I get to sleep in my own bed rather than the sofa if I need to get up in the early hours to let them out for a wee, although during the week I'm up by 5am latest anyway....