just a few more hours.. thats all I ask - update

[wgonfan]

Since I got my new pup I have been reduced to about 3 hours of sleep a night. At first it was no biggie, but it's worn on me & my job is starting to suffer from it.

My now 10 wk old gwp barks like crazy when put in his crate. I have done several things to ease his discomfort with the crate such as moving it to diffrent locations & rooms, adding more toys & snacks, adding diffrent bedding, & several other gimicks. The problem is that the problem seems to be getting worse. I think he has learned that when he barks I let him out of the crate - becuase I was having a problem with him using the bathroom in the crate & laying in the mess so I was letting him outside to go "potty" every time he would start barking. The problem I have now is that he barks all the time so I never know if he is barking becuase he needs to go out or becuase he wants out.

So I actually have two problems I need to Solve #1 is I need to get some of my sleep back.
#2 I need to help him learn not to potty in his crate & to bark when he needs to go out.

When I got the puppy I expected some lose of sleep & lots of messes to clean up. I expected torn up furniture chewed up shoes & chicken thieven. The thing that concerns me is that after 3 weeks of consisient training his shows no improvement & his barking has actually gotten worse.

[ezzy333]

1. Take the pup out to do his numbers then put him in the crate.

2. Take everything out of the crate except some newspapers that make good bedding.

3. Put crate in garage or someplace where you can't hear the pup.

4. Go to bed and get a good nights sleep.

5. In the morning as soon as you get up go get pup and take it outside to do its numbers.

6. Feed and water and play with pup as long as you can. When through put pup back in crate unless it has been quite a while them possibly take it back out before putting it back in the crate.

7. The very first thing you must do is take the pup out when ever you get it out of the crate.

8. Feed the pup earlier in the evening so it has a chance to empty out before night time.

9. DO NOT EVER reward the pup for making noise by letting it out of the crate.

10. try to give the pup plenty of play time and attention when you can but when it is time to go to the crate do not let it bother you and it won't if the crate is put in some area where you can't hear it.

Ezzyy

[Rusti's Mom]

Put a radio near the crate and cover the crate so that he can't see you. when I throw a cover over the crate, mine might yelp for a moment, but thenthey zonk right out.

Pat

[portsider44]

Make sure the pup is getting a lot of excercise during your play time, as a tired sleepy dog makes very little noise.

Also how much time in the crate is the dog spending per day?

[Ayres]

Pup might be barking and whining because he's scared too, and not just to go potty.

The first night we brought home our V, I put the crate in our room and hung my arm over the edge of the bed and onto the crate to ease him. Then just DO NOT let him out until he QUITS barking. You'll see it in his expression, where he finally gives up.

Eventually he'll start giving up the barking because he knows you'll only respond to him if he's a good boy (keeps his yap shut).

Make sure to let him out last thing at night, and first thing in the morning. Then if he goes during the night, just clean it up. Eventually he'll understand that he needs to go potty sometime other than sleep-time.

Another tip for nighttime potty is to divide the crate down to only a small, managable size for him to work with. If he can potty in one end and sleep in the other, he'll do it... but if doesn't have that much room he'll rethink that option.

Good luck, and report back what you find out works.

[ourhunters]

Make sure crate is small and just fits pup. We had the same problem, called a local trainer and told her the situation, had me go to Walmart and buy a small kennel - presto! It was solved, just like that!!! Or, put a divider in it to make it small if you hava a large kennel. That was the best advice I'd ever gotten!
Good luck!
Caren

[wgonfan]

I've tried several diffrent configs for the crate & regardless of size he still lays in his mess. I guess moving the crate far from me & covering it up will be my best bet. If my dog is going to be sleeping in his own mess, is it okay to bathe him daily or not?

My puppy spends the night in the crate, then from 8am-11:30 or 12pm & 12-3, then 4-5:30pm & goes back in for the night near 10pm. so I guess about 5 hrs during the day then 7 throughout the night.

It may be worth noting that he wines in his sleep some & will even wake up like he was having a nightmare & cry for a bit.

TC

[Greg Jennings]

Your 7-10 week old can't hold it all night, dude! They're just not that mature.

Try getting up every 2 hours and taking him/her out to pottie. That way, you *know* he/she doesn't need to go and is whining for comfort.



Best,

[larue]

By your numbers your dog spends 8 hours in the crate during the day,,is out 4 and 1/2 before bedtime...another 8 hours or more
in the crate...This is too long for a pup not to begin to use his crate,,as a bathroom out of need...not to speak of burning off some energy..
The best solution would be a outside kennel,,or an inside kennel with an outside run...so the pup can still move around,,and learn to go outside to do his thing outside.

[jussbrutal]

First off, get rid of the bedding..your pup doesn't need it. That alone may cure the messing in there. Then you need to train him to be quiet in his crate. You have already trained him to bark and whine. Completely ignoring him now will lead to more sleepless nights.

Place him in his crate, and then go around the corner and wait for him to quiet down. The second he is quiet, go to him praising as you go and remove him from his crate. You are teaching him that quiet = freedom. Play with him for a half hour... back in the crate and repeat. It will take some time to UNDO what you have consistently trained him to do.

General rule of thumb for time in the crate.. puppies can hold their bladder an hour for each month old they are, +1. Your 10 week old pup should be able to hold it for 3.5 hours. Any longer.....

As for the chewing, theivery stuff. Don't leave your pup unsupervised ...EVER If you can't supervise, crate him. If he's been crated too long, put him on a leash and tie it to your belt. He should NEVER be unsupervised.

[Decoy]

One little trick for getting the pup to be quiet in his crate:
Put the pup in the crate somewhere in the bedroom with you
Get a good watergun
When the pup barks or whines – squirt him.
Repeat as necessary.
The pup will begin to feel like the crate is his safe little home away from the crazy world of humans and he will want to be there. One of our dogs would rather lay in his crate rather than laying on a dog bed in the livingroom with us WHY? b/c he knows that if he in his crate door open then he is not going to get in trouble or be tempted to do anything stupid.

[wgonfan]

you misuderstood my post - to clarify a few things: I don't leave the pup in the crate all night without letting him out. I let him out every 3 hours to potty but then its right back in. Also my dog doesn't thieve stuff, that was a slang term used around here. There is no more chewing & my dog is always supervised. As far as excersise goes, my pup gets plenty. I run him around the yard during my lunch break, then when I get home in the evening we run & play until he wont play any more, then we eat watch some tv & begin playing again until he is ready for bed. Also the dog does not spend 8 solid hours in the crate during the day, infact he only spends 5.5 hours in the crate which is broken up with a 1 hour out of the crate lunch & play break in the middle. The pup has never stayed in his crate more than 4 hrs solid & that was only one time. The bedding was already removed prior to my 1st post in hope that it would stop him from going in his crate, but it did not.


So I have put bedding back in his crate along with a smelly shirt of mine, & used jussbrutal's suggestion of hiding around the coner until he stops crying . since then he has shown drastic improvement over the past few days. I would say that his yelping time of 1 hour or more every 3 hours has been reduced to about 10-15mins & he doesn't cry near as loud. so basically after 15 minutes in his crate we are both asleep, then every three hours I let him out just long enough to use the potty, place him back in his crate & he crys for another 10-15 minutes & its back to sleep. This has greatly increased my sleep time. He still uses the bathroom in his crate so I'm going to attempt to let him out every 2 hours instead of 3 but my sleeping habit probaly wont allow that & we will just have to wait until he can hold it for 3 or more hours. I wanna catch him in the act to see if he is doing it becuase he can't hold it or if he just does it just becuase. but he wont go with me in the room, I've had him in his crate for a good 3 hours while I cooked, cleaned or played with my son & he doesn't go then, it's only when we aren't around.

Thanks for you guys help.

[wgonfan]

Wow, what a drastric improvemnt. Cargo now only wakes up once throughout the night, occiasionally 2 times. The best thing of all, hes not "going" in his crate any more. he has even grown more willing to go into his crate. Thanks for your help

[ourhunters]

Yippee! I feel your excitement! We dealt with the same thing....thank God we all get through it. It makes his puppy days seem even better now, I'm sure! Good sleeping to you!

Caren