Puppy Suddenly Hates Her Crate

[mindy]

Hi Everyone:
I'm new to the forum and am desperately seeking help for my puppy (and for myself!). My puppy, Lucy, is just over 4 months and we've had her since she was 3.5 months. We have been crate training her since day 1 and she has been so good sleeping in her crate at night without a sound. But since last Friday, she has been yelping, barking and whining throughout the entire night. The first night she did it, we thought maybe she had to go outside so we made mistake number 1 and took her out of her crate and put her outside. Of course, she just wanted to play and when we put her back in the crate, her barking and crying continued for hours.
She does not settle down at all. She bangs against the side of the crate, rattles the door and makes so much noise. I am pretty sure that our neighbours can hear her, she's so loud. Last night we had enough and brought her upstairs with us, which was mistake number 2. We realize that we're not doing the right thing here by catering to her and that she knows that when she makes a sound we eventually come to her.
Last night we were determined to ignore her and it started at 10pm and continued until 2am. She falls asleep in her crate for about 10 minutes in between but then she's at it again.
We're not getting any sleep and it's so hard to be patient and understanding when this lasts all night long.

She used to like the crate during the day and would hang out in there and have a treat but she won't even do that anymore. She gets a LOT of exercise during the day - 3 hour long walks each day so I know that she's tired when she goes to bed. We teach her new things at night and engage her in playing as well.

The poor little thing sounds so unhappy and it breaks my heart to keep her in the crate if she can't stand it, but she's so young and we can't trust her to sleep on her bed in the family room while we're upstairs.

I've ready through some other threads but short of trying our best to ignore her and getting no sleep, I don't know what else to do.
Any advice would be appreciated.
Thanks!

 

[maxfox426]

I'm going through a similar thing with my 12-week old puppy. We've only had him for about two weeks. He also started out in the crate just fine, and then in the past couple days decided to start barking his little brains out through half the night.

My original post is here: http://chazhound.com/forums/showthread.php?t=69791 Maybe some of the previous advice that was given to me will help you out as well.

Of course, I am now dealing with something else related to the crate at night (you'll read about it at the end of that thread), but hopefully you won't be having that problem!

Oh, and welcome!

 

[Taylor&Me]

Maybe they're testing you? If you are absolutely sure they don't need to use the restroom, get some ear plugs and ignore. They'll get used to it.

But 8 weeks or 12 weeks sounds way too early to hold throughout the night. I had to wake up couple times through the night when my dog was a puppy. For the time being, wake up once in the night to take them out. After they relieve themselves, take the dog back into the crate. Don't give dog any attention, you want them to know this means business and not play time. If you find they are accident free, keep increasing the hours they are left alone at night.

 

[lizzybeth727]

Is the crate in a bedroom with someone in the family? Dogs (especially puppies) are pack animals, and the pack sleeps together. Many puppies become stressed if they are isolated from their family at night.

 

[mindy]

Thanks for your help

thanks for your help to everyone who responded. We were keeping her crate on the main level of our house and our bedroom is upstairs. Strange that it didn't bother her for the first 2 weeks but we'll try her crate with us in the bedroom tonight to see if that works.
Thanks again!

 

[mindy]

It worked!

Just an update on our puppy. We put her in her crate in our room for the last two nights and she slept through the night without a sound. I kept expecting her to wake up at some point during the night to cry but she didn't! I'm so thrilled, but the only thing is, we don't want her in our room forever. She's 4 months now. How long should we wait to move her to her own bed (not a crate) outside of our bedroom? We definitely don't want to traumatize her or have her go through this all over again because she's not sleeping where she was comfortable.
Any suggestions are appreciated!

 

[lizzybeth727]

Possibly, when she's over a year old and becomes more independent, she won't mind sleeping outside your room, but I'd still put a bed or something right outside your door. I had a dog (before we knew how much more comfortable dogs are sleeping in our bedrooms) who always slept right outside the door in the hallway, her entire life. My current dog (who has no signs of separation anxiety, and who I adopted when she was over a year old) is now 4 years old and still prefers to sleep in my room.