cant sleep

[mrjoey35]

ok I thought this problem would go away but it has steadily gotten worse. When its time for bed I put my 11 week old english bulldog (davie) into his crate for the evening. All is well till he wakes up which is never at the same time, it could be 2, 3, 4, even 5 in the morning when he decides to wake up. Once he is up he will start to whine and bark beause he cant be on the bed with my girlfriend and I. As a matter of fact Im writing this now at 4:33am because Davie woke up and wants to get up. Now this barking IS NOT something we can just ignore. This is "oh my god Im being tortured" screaming. He has no problem being in his crate its just when he sees that we're not on the floor with him he goes nuts. My girlfriend and I have different schedules and she needs to be up very early in the morning for work. So I, as of late, have been forced to set up blankets on the floor in the living room to sleep with Davie so my girlfriend can get some sleep. The reason we dont want him on the bed is because we are still in the process of house breaking little Davie and if allowed to sleep in bed with us we get a very wet surprise in the morning. Our poor sheets get washed more than our laundry. If anyone has some advice please for the love of all things holy HELP US. Another couple nights of zero sleep and Im sleeping in the car.

[Tammi21]

Ok here is what I think, now let me tell you I am not dog expert. I but I did have a young puppy that cried at night.
First of all, think of your puppy as a baby. Babies will wake up in the night. He is probably scared because he doesn’t know where you are.
I gave my puppy one of my pillows because it smelled like me and I put a ticking clock in it. The clock was a rhythmic noise, so it puts babes to sleep. Just like their mommas heartbeat.
Also do you take the puppy out in the night? Maybe he has to go potty?

[FlatCoatedLover]

Have you tried moving his crate into the bedroom and up at the level of the bed. I found with my puppy that as long as he could see me and hear us sleeping he was fine unless he had to potty. As puppies (and even older dogs) they want to be with their pack and will be more content and settled if allowed to sleep in the same room. My young one still sleeps in his crate in our room, although now with the door open, and our older one sleeps at the foot of the bed or acting as security at the door.

Once you have him in the room you will probably have to suffer thru 1 or 2 nights (maybe more) of whining becuase it has worked to get attention in the past and he has to learn that it is not going to work anymore.

Is it possible that he needs to potty? If so, you should take him out, let him potty and then right back in the crate. No playing or attention of any kind. If it is a potty problem you should try restricting his water in the evenings. At 9.5 months and 2.5 years both of my dogs get no water after 8pm and get their last potty break at around 10:30 or 11pm. With this schedule I get to sleep as late as 7:30am. If I forget and leave water out I get the 5:55am wake up call.

Lastly, I agree with Tammy. This is a baby you are dealing with. Babies will wake up during the night so it is just something that has to be worked thru.