Whining At Night

[Derangedfox]

Diesel is six months old now and he's no longer spending his nights in the crate anymore. Now, he sleeps in his own bed in our bedroom. Lately, he's been whining throughout the night. In the beginning, I thought he may have just needed to go potty, which sometimes he still needs to in the middle of the night. But there's no way this pup needs to piddle every hour overnight anymore!

We restrict his water intake two hours before bedtime(he's allowed a few laps to quench his thirst, but no guzzling the bowl) and he gets outside on a regular routine throughout the day, and always the last thing before bed. I will get up to let him out in the middle of the night, but even right after he goes back to bed, he won't let me fall asleep again!

His whining is very annoying and persistent, much like he just wants attention. He doesn't appear to be in any pain and he doesn't do this during the day. He will cry and yawn(he has a loud, whiney yawn) for 20 minutes at a time and it drives us crazy because he continuously wakes us up at night!

I've never had this problem in the past with puppies. Is this a normal behavior? Do you think he just wants attention? I thought about crating him again, but I'm almost certain that wouldn't solve our problem. Should I set up the crate again and try anyway? He is plenty active during the day and he knows nighttime is quiet sleep time, but he just won't let up and my fiancé is ready to kick him out of the bedroom =(


~Dana~
Proud momma of Diesel and Eva

[BigLittleSmall]

Is there a reason he needs to be in your bedroom at night? My dogs all make noise at night and there is NO way I would allow them in the bedroom at night (so I feel your fiance's pain). I know some people let their dogs/danes sleep with them, but I just can't .. I need my sleep lol (I don't get enough as it is anyways).

[Derangedfox]

Well, no, he doesn't necessarily NEED to be in our bedroom at night, but he choses to be. I might worry about him chewing up something in the living room or just peeing in the house if we locked him out of the bedroom, but those fears may be unwarranted. I'm not sure I'd hear him asking to go outside in a reasonable amount of time, though. I mean, I do understand he is still young and may need to piddle in the middle of the night, so I don't mind getting up for that, but he's abusing his privileges =P


~Dana~
Proud momma of Diesel and Eva

[BigLittleSmall]

I would probably go back to using the crate at night, and just set an alarm for x amount of hours .. get up, take him out, then go back to bed.

[DaneMomJulie]

I'm assuming you don't have kids yet. Just think, this is good practice for having kids They make little noises all night long too. In all honesty, even if a dog doesn't whine, they might turn in circles, lick, or scratch at night. You probably need a "hush" command. Good luck.

[Derangedfox]

I'm assuming you don't have kids yet. Just think, this is good practice for having kids They make little noises all night long too. In all honesty, even if a dog doesn't whine, they might turn in circles, lick, or scratch at night. You probably need a "hush" command. Good luck.

Oh, I'm familiar with all the little noises at night. We both sleep through the scratches, occasional yawns, walking around, jingling of tags, etc. We're accustomed to having a dog or two in the bedroom and even if something does wake one of us up momentarily, we just fall back asleep. And I would certainly expect a crying baby to wake me up throughout the night, but not a crying dog.

Thanks for the advice, though. How would I go about teaching a hush command? I'm not sure I would know how to enforce and reward that =)


~Dana~
Proud momma of Diesel and Eva

[flyinggiraffe]

(he has a loud, whiney yawn)

Ha, I know just what you mean by this. If I hear Rufus "whining" to get up in the morning I wait to see if it's an actual whine or if he had just yawned. Cute.

[crdane]

Our boxer will be two in February, and in the last few months, started getting up during the night and going out to potty. Well, at first, I let him out because it was only once a night. Then, he started wanting out more, like every hour once 2 am rolled around. It is a "I am bored, Ayla does not want to play with me now" thing more then an I have to potty. We got tired of it, and now tell him to go lay down, and don't let him out. He has stopped asking to go out. Sometimes, I think they form habits. I am not saying that is the case with your pup, because at 6 months old, Ayla still had to go out at night. It just took her longer to develop bladder control, the same as some children take longer then others. But, I knew that Milo could hold it all night and had been for a very long time before his habit started.

[fets]

I think going back to the crate at night might be a good idea. Set your alarm for a mid-night (not midnight lol) twinkle. If you get up and you hear him whining, wait. When he stops (sorry it could be awhile, but it will decrease) take him out of his crate and let him go for a pee. Then put him back in his crate, give him a treat, and go back to your own dreams. He's gotten it in his head that whining = attention. I think you just need to reinforce that being cool and calm = attention. Once you've got that solid, bring him back in and see how it goes.

I love having Macho sleep in my room. I am a huge fan of crate training, but I also hated it because I wanted my puppy to be with me at night. I held out for awhile though. Macho was at least 7 months old when he got bedroom privileges. He isn't noisy at night, minus the occasional overly exaggerated yawn. Now if I sleep in, then he'll stand over/on me, yelp, and give me his poop face expression. Okay, I'm up!

[Beckiw]

I think he misses his crate.

[Derangedfox]

I think he misses his crate.

Hahaha well I highly doubt he misses the crate!! Regardless, I guess we'll have to resurrect one so we can try it out again. Thank you everyone for your input! I hate to do that to him, but I know it won't be permanent. Hopefully he won't make a big fuss about going back. I will set an alarm in the middle of the night to let him out and we'll see how that works out for us =)


~Dana~
Proud momma of Diesel and Eva

[TMedic37]

Hahaha well I highly doubt he misses the crate!! Regardless, I guess we'll have to resurrect one so we can try it out again. Thank you everyone for your input! I hate to do that to him, but I know it won't be permanent. Hopefully he won't make a big fuss about going back. I will set an alarm in the middle of the night to let him out and we'll see how that works out for us =)


~Dana~
Proud momma of Diesel and Eva

Just remember that at 6 months he is still a puppy.... and will be for quite a while now. Most puppys are kenneled until they're adults and I think that the fact that they're so big makes people forget that (I know I still do every now and again).

In this house I tend to always wake up around 5-6am so I just kick the dogs out to do their business then and then we all go back to sleep until the alarm goes off.

[kayla baxter]

Riddle won't settle if he's in the bed with us. I try at least once a week thinking it would be nice for him to stay with us and Zephyr and he just stands at the end of the bed and pants or crawls off the bed and paces until I open the door, then it's straight into the next room and into his kennel on his pile of bed and blanket. He does wine when the sun comes up and comes on the bed for a few hours before breakfast, but the last time he stayed the whole night was his first night home and that was after an 18 hour car ride and it was already 1am.

*edit* he's 6.5 months old now.