Sleeping arrangements

[snowbunny]

what are peoples thoughts on leaving him to bark in the crate and/or room during the day until he calms down?

Two thoughts.
1. He won't "calm down". He may give up when he's exhausted. That may be after barking all day. But "calm down", nope. He's more likely to work himself up to a greater state of distress. Imagine yourself being trapped somewhere you don't want to be. Would it get better over the course of a day, or worse?
2. By leaving him distressed in his crate, you're strengthening the negative associations he has with it. If it's still recoverable to the point where he will be comfortable with it given a different approach, by keeping him in there when he's upset with it, you're eroding that possibility.

Dogs are very much like us in so many ways, which is why we get on so well together. So whenever you're in this sort of situation, just try thinking "how would that make me feel?"

 

[snowbunny]

My approach would be to spend a couple of weeks never closing the crate door. Feed him in the crate, sneak lots of surprise tasty snacks in there without him noticing so he starts thinking of it as a magical place where good stuff appears. Don't coax or lure him, keep the ball in his court as much as possible. And no closing the door for those two weeks. If he needs confining for his safety (or that of your home!) in that time, use baby gates or a puppy pen. See whether he becomes comfortable enough to go in there and settle down by himself with a Kong or just for a snooze. If he does, then at that point, after he's got a reasonably long history of being relaxed in and around the crate, you can start closing the door for a few seconds again.

 

[MellowYellow]

What is it that he wants, do you think? Just to be with you? In that case, why not try him in the bedroom with you? Sounds like it can't be much worse than it is right now...

 

[Parodius]

Two thoughts.
1. He won't "calm down". He may give up when he's exhausted. That may be after barking all day. But "calm down", nope. He's more likely to work himself up to a greater state of distress. Imagine yourself being trapped somewhere you don't want to be. Would it get better over the course of a day, or worse?
2. By leaving him distressed in his crate, you're strengthening the negative associations he has with it. If it's still recoverable to the point where he will be comfortable with it given a different approach, by keeping him in there when he's upset with it, you're eroding that possibility.

Dogs are very much like us in so many ways, which is why we get on so well together. So whenever you're in this sort of situation, just try thinking "how would that make me feel?"

These were my thoughts and I haven’t done it wherever possible (occasionally he catches me out by barking whilst I’m in the shower!). Prior to me changing rooms we had gradually worked up to an hour or so alone in the crate during the day and he was fine with it. Occasionally a noise outside would upset him but majority of the time he would have a kip after his snack. He had always been fine with the crate overnight too, I was just trying to give him the option of more space in the hope he might sleep a little longer in the morning but am kicking myself now that I seem to have upset the whole routine.

Thanks for your thoughts, ultimately I think he hasn’t learned how to cope well being on his own and this is a problem of my own making by being around all the time.

 

[Parodius]

Please dont despair , it is never too late to put things right . We all make errors of judgement so you are not alone in this . Thing is, they all may be Labradors but they differ so much in their needs and preferences so I think you do right to take on board some advice . Definitely try putting him back into your lounge if he was happier there, its all trial and error with them and eventually we get it right

Thanks for this, the crate is now back in the lounge, hopefully he will be happier again

 

[Parodius]

What is it that he wants, do you think? Just to be with you? In that case, why not try him in the bedroom with you? Sounds like it can't be much worse than it is right now...

This may well be the next step for overnight if he isn’t happier back in the lounge. I think it must be that he wants company as he doesn’t need a toilet break and isn’t hungry, well, no more so than your typical lab!

 

[Selina27]

Sorry @Parodius that you are having this difficulty.
Sounds like behaviourist is a good way to go, also maybe letting him sleep with you.
(Neo, not the behaviourist )
This will pass you know. X

 

[Boogie]

Don’t worry. It’s all trial and error. Try something, if it doesn’t work try the next thing. All my pups were different. With Gypsy I could sit by the crate and then creep upstairs once she was asleep. Some needed to be in their crate by my bed etc etc.

They were all early wakers and there was no choice but to get up with them, take them out for a wee etc. None settled again on their own so I often slept the last two hours or so downstairs with them. I never fed them early ‘tho as that would become a habit!

All of them grew out of the early waking by twelve months old - some much sooner.

 

[Stacia]

Yes, they do grow out of early waking, many a cold morning have I sat in the garden in my nightie! Now he doesn't wake until I come down at 9am!

 

[kateincornwall]

Reuben seems to go by how light it is as to the time to get up . In winter he will happily snooze on my bed until 8 or even later, at the moment he raring to go at 6.30 . I dont mind because he will go out for a wee and then come back to bed for an hour or so x

 

[Lisa]

Simba sleeps on his bed beside our bed. I’ve never encouraged him to sleep with us. He does come up for a cuddle sometimes on a weekend morning.

We got Simba as a 9 month old who had not had much training and he ate absolutely everything. Previous dogs had been crate trained but Simba was very suspicious of the crate and there was no way he’d stay in it overnight without a huge fuss. So we simply put a comfy bed next to ours and ignored him once lights were out and the bedroom door was closed so he couldn’t get out and destroy the house. Amazingly it worked. I say that because I was certainly expecting that he’d get into no end of trouble but nope. He just settled down and went to sleep.

 

[Shamas mom]

When I first got him, Shamas slept on my bed. Hubby was on night work, and there was lots of room for him. As hubby started working days, Shamas decided the bed was too crowded, and moved to his own bed nearby in the room, for more space. As he got older, we started leaving the door open so he can sleep on the couch if he feels like it.

Angel has always slept on the bed. The crate was tried to start with...but she was too distressed, and couldn't settle. So after a few sleepless nights, she was allowed to sleep on her mistress' bed. Now, with her mistress on night work, she sleeps in our bed if mommy's not home, and in theirs if she is. She thinks she's a blanket lol...lays between us, draped over someone's legs. If she gets lonely in the night, she'll uncover a foot to lick. Not my favorite habit but she settles straight back down once I get up to pee and climb back in bed after a quick pet. She just needs acknowledgment. She's always been on the needy side. At 6 weeks, she'd cry her eyes out if someone came in the room and didn't pet her. She was one of the breeders' favorites.

 

[Shamas mom]

These were my thoughts and I haven’t done it wherever possible (occasionally he catches me out by barking whilst I’m in the shower!). Prior to me changing rooms we had gradually worked up to an hour or so alone in the crate during the day and he was fine with it. Occasionally a noise outside would upset him but majority of the time he would have a kip after his snack. He had always been fine with the crate overnight too, I was just trying to give him the option of more space in the hope he might sleep a little longer in the morning but am kicking myself now that I seem to have upset the whole routine.

Thanks for your thoughts, ultimately I think he hasn’t learned how to cope well being on his own and this is a problem of my own making by being around all the time.

Shamas always became very distressed if we moved his crate. He has a secondary cargo one, which we leave the door off of...that can be moved any time. But the big wire one MUST be in the living room. That's where it started, and that's where he likes it. It has his old bed in it, and is his safe space

 

[JES72]

Homer started off in his crate downstairs in the kitchen, when we has really little I got up a couple of times in the night to let him out then Hubby would be up at six to let him out for breakfast and puppy cuddles. This worked well for about a year when Homer decided that he would not go into his crate at night. It got to the point where he'd start to pace around when he knew bed time was approaching. so he then went to bed with his crate door open but the kitchen door shut, until about a year later when again he started to refuse to go into the kitchen at bed time, all other times of the day were not an issue, our kitchen is our kitchen diner where we spend a lot of time. So Homer was then upstairs with us, his crate stayed down stairs in the kitchen and he'd happily go into his crate when he had to wait for his dog walker after we'd left for work. We soon got a bed for Homer for upstairs and its at the end of our bed. He will sleep in his bed for most of the night and come up onto ours in the morning, especially at weekends (yes he knows the difference). When he was younger he'd wake Hubby up at 5 to six like clockwork with a long hard stare, the alarm goes off at 6am. He's now nearly 10 and for the last few years chooses where to sleep, sometimes he'll be downstairs in the kitchen (we always close the living room door) or he'll go onto the spare bed, we have to warn guests they may have company! He also will sleep in much longer and may not even stir when I get up.