[Drewmangroup]

Sorry for the wall of text.

I have posted about this before but I am running out of options. Scout is almost a year old now. She is crate trained. But she still has one lingering issue and its her sleeping at night. She doesn't sleep all the way through. Maybe its because she is crated all day (I let he rout at lunch for 20 minutes) and thats her night time? She has been crated since about day 1. I think it caused her not to get as attached to her crate and make it her den. Since she started off peeing in it because she just couldn't hold it. So when she was young I would wake up at night and take her out. Soon she was fine during the day but she still kept crying at night. First her crate was out in the Tv room. Then we moved it into our bedroom when she was 6 months and she did pretty well. Then around 7 months she started crying again. Since she is in the bedroom I just can't ignore her. And the days she would sleep all night (few and far between) I would wake up so much more rested.

So we started putting her across the house when she would wake up to cry so if she woke up again (she would wake up multiple times) I could ignore her. Its getting so bad that now I hae moved her into the guest bedroom across the house. Last night was the first night. She cried a blot when I put her in the crate at bedtime, but I didn't hear her all night. When I woke up to let her out in the morning I though I smelled pee. I checked her bedding (blankets) and they had some smell of pee but they weren't wet and I didn't see any wetness on the crate. I am not sure if she peed or if its just dog smell.

I am not sure what to do. What if it is pee? Should I ignore it and keep trying to break her from crying all night. I would figure at that age she should be sleeping. I know about controlling water and food intake at night but she is inconsistent. One time she would drink a gallon of water right before bed and sleep all night. Another time she would drink and then pee outside and then cry all night. My next step is taking the bedding out of the crate tonight and see if I see signs of pee in the morning. I want to be able to move her back into the bedroom if I can. I remember asking my vet about it and she said have you tried ignoring the crying. Well the only way to do that is to move her to where I can easily ignore it or not hear it at all. It sucks that she never got the idea of sleeping all night. We keep her up until bedtime and play and run around with her. Even if right before she is starting to fall asleep on the couch and we put her in her crate, she will cry.

I feel the problem is I got up too much when she was younger and she knows that if she cried I will get up. She has me trained and I don't know how to break her.

 

[Murphys Dad]

I'm not sure I understand how much exercise and activity she is getting during the day. Beagles need to burn that pent up energy, or they'll be a nightmare. Especially if she is crated all day. I would take her for a few mile intensive walk every evening. She will love it, and you will love the good night sleep. Also, if you have a dog park around your area, a few times a week will do wonders!

 

[Drewmangroup]

Yeah I walk her on average 1-1.5 hours a day, about 4-5 miles, about 2 miles when I get home from work and another 2 before bedtime. I even pick up a friend's dog about 3 times a week to play for about 3-3.5 hours. She even cries on those days. I tried finding a pattern when she would sleep all night and I just couldn't.

 

[beaglechaser]

Do you have an objection to her sleeping out of the crate at night? I'm not saying in bed with you because I know there are some that don't like that but maybe if you set up a dog bed in your room she would be more content? I know our dogs are up and down off the bed at night if they get too warm or feel crowded.

 

[cobismom]

I don't know if this is sound information or not, but we've done it with both of our boys and it seemed to work. She's got you very well trained with the crying, much like what little kids will do. I cry, mommy comes Do the night time routine, drink, treat, outside, whatever, and then put her in her crate. If you want to put the crate in your room, do so, but make sure that it is in a darker area, I used our closet to block out any light. When the puppy would wake up and cry, I'd go over, pet them once, and say good night. Then without any pizazz, I went back to bed, and ignored anymore crying, if I would have gotten up played, etc., we would have had a major problem with wanting to play at night. I suppose if she has to go out, you can try the outside trick, and then straight back into the crate...no playing, no treats, etc. Make sure that you praise her for her efforts and be consistent. Sounds like she might miss you during the day, and thinks night is the time you are home for fun and games, ???????

 

[Jennifer]

First of all no dog will or does sleep all night long without waking. Dogs sleep more than us but they wake more often too. They have many more periods of wakefullness in the night than we do but make up for it by napping during the day. This is normal for dogs.

Most of us don't notice our dogs waking in the night because we are asleep. We only notice if our dogs make a noise.

So the question really is whether or not she is peeing in her crate. A year old dog should be able to hold it for 8 hours as long as the last drink wasn't too late or too big but not always. I sometimes have to get up in the night to pee and so I expect my dogs might need to too.

She may have peed quite early on in the night and it had dried so that's why you could smell it but not feel it.
When she cries and you get up and let her out does she always pee? if not then she is just crying for attention.

 

[DaisysMom]

Originally Posted By: beaglechaserDo you have an objection to her sleeping out of the crate at night? I'm not saying in bed with you because I know there are some that don't like that but maybe if you set up a dog bed in your room she would be more content? I know our dogs are up and down off the bed at night if they get too warm or feel crowded.

I was thinking the same thing. Daisy will wake if she's in her crate but if I let her sleep out of it (either with me or in her bed on the floor) she typically does fine.

 

[Drewmangroup]

Yeah its hard to get her to calm down and sleep at night, plus we don't trust her just yet to be able to walk around the house with us asleep. We wouldn't mind getting to the point where she could sleep outside of the crate. Its mostly my fault, even when I let her out at night I just put her in the back yard and wait for her to come back to the door. But it was right back to the crate when she came to the door. I guess I will try this to see, I assume that she will get it sometime.

 

[beaglechaser]

LOL - I wouldn't trust my crew to have the run of the house at night either!! We keep the bedroom door closed and there is nothing on the floor that they can hurt. They often sleep in our kids rooms too, but same thing, door closed. I think given the opportunity they would stay in our room but I bought a locking garbage can for a reason!

 

[Drewmangroup]

Hmm yeah we might try to just close our door and keep her in the bedroom. The big problem is her respecting a bed time. At least when she goes in her crate she knows that she should sleep (well sometimes). I guess if we got in bed and turned the lights off she would get the idea?

 

[angelaH]

It sounds to me as if she is in the crate a bit too often. When you are out I can understand it but at night she should be able to settle in a dog-bed. Our two get up several times a night, for a stretch and a scratch and then go back to their baskets, which are in our room.We keep the bedroom door shut so they cant leave the room. Sometimes I am aware that they are standing watching us, but if we pretend to be asleep they eventually go back to bed. What time do you go to bed? i.e. how late is she let out? Our usually go out about midnight for their last pee.

 

[Drewmangroup]

Its around 10 that we would like her to go to bed, and then up at 5.

 

[Jennifer]

Dogs are a bit like kids, it's hard to get them to respect a bed time lol

If I go out in the evening with hubby for a meal when we get home about 11pm hubby doesn't always understand why I can't just go straight to bed and expect the dogs will do the same. I have to spend a good 15 mins getting them ready for bed again even though they have only just woken up. Sherry is ok but Rosa wants some attention. She needs to pee, sometimes poop and she needs a hug because she's missed her mummy bless her.

 

[Drewmangroup]

Scout is still a puppy so she goes and goes and goes some more. I take her on long walks and play with her all night. I think we might try the dog bed on the floor, bedroom door shut, and lights out. I have a feeling she will start running around, jump all over the bed, and then want to be let out of the room. I almost think that, for now, the crate is the best thing to do and getting her not to cry in the crate will help later when she can sleep outside of the crate.

 

[Murphys Dad]

I'm not sure why she needs to be locked in her crate at this point. Is she reliably housebroken when you're home with her? If so, she'll be OK at night too. Even as a small puppy, Jersey never had an accident at night. She was hardly ever crated during sleep time and always went to the door to go out if she needed to go in the middle of the night. I think Scout is spending too much time in her crate and wants to be with her pack...in this case you and your wife. Try letting her sleep in the room with you. Get a nice bed for her or even use her crate, just leave the door open. We put a baby gate up to keep Jersey in the room with us. I trust her not to pee, but I don't trust her not to find something she shouldn't be chewing on.

 

[beaglechaser]

Our youngest dog BJ (although he's not a beagle) is about the same age as your girl. When we go to bed there is a period of time while we are getting ready that the older beagles are getting their spots the way they like them and BJ and Boomer are rough housing. But when the lights go out they settle down. I say give it a try and see what happens.

 

[Pegasus]

We started off crating Snoopy at night and all day when we first got him...now he is super lazy. We stopped it after about 6 months b/c my heart couldnt take him being in the crate 10 hours a day then 8 hours at night. Now he is out at night.

We only crated Marbles at night for 2-3 months, until he was housebroken, now we only do it a few hours in the day time.

Maybe she will actually sleep Better out of the crate since she is in there all day....I know that Snoopy is WAY happier now that he isnt crated at all.

good luck
Amanda

 

[Nolan]

I'll also vote for allowing her in the bedroom without the crate with the door closed.

We didn't get Josie as a puppy (so I have no experience with a young pup like yours, so take this advice for what it is...), but after we rescued her, she didn't waste much time in letting us know that the crate wasn't for her. After breaking out of it a few times at night and finding her laying at the foot of our bed in the morning, we figured her message was pretty clear. No crate for her...

We started out by giving her the run of the house. She never got into anything she wasn't supposed to, and if she needed to go out, she'd always get me up. No big deal. But after a while, she decided that getting me up to go out was a waste of time and the living room floor would do in a pinch... We cut that out real quick by just closing her into our bedroom. Since then, no more accidents, and it's not very often that she gets me up to go out.

She has a bed on the floor that she hardly ever uses. Usually she'll curl up on the bed against my wife's legs, but since the weather has gotten warmer, she's been spending most of her time just laying on the floor against the bed.

Of course all dogs are different, so it'll take time and patience to figure out exactly what is best for yours. My only caution is to make sure if you do decide to let her sleep in your bed, plan to make that a permanent option for her. Like I said, a lot of times Josie doesn't get on the bed with us, but if her stairs aren't there to allow her up there if she wants, she gets pretty upset about it. I believe I've read that the alpha in the pack gets the best place to sleep, and once you let your dog sleep on the same level as you, they're not too happy to relinquish that spot.

My other suggestion is to just make sure you have a nightly routine. Beags love a routine. Once yours get the hang of it, it should all go a lot smoother...

Goodluck.

 

[Drewmangroup]

Thanks for all the advice. I think we are going to stick with her crate across the house for about a week. I hate changing things every day, it confuses her. Last night I heard her cry around 3 am. Had she been in the bedroom she would have cried then too and I would have gotten up. I thought for sure she had peed in her crate. But it was dry when I got her out. So that was good. And I think her crying and me not coming was good too. As far as I am concerned, she can sleep where ever she wants, just as long as she doesn't wake me up. So I want to break her training of me to get up when she wants out.

 

[Mom of 2 Beagles]

Sadie and Pooh Bear used to always get up once or twice in the night needing to go pee when they were young. I would take them out and say go pee and no nonscense. Back inside and back to bed. Have you tried having her sleep in the bed with you? She might sleep better?