HELP! My dog won't sleep!
Piper is 10 months old. She was crate trained until she was 6 months. We have a back room that is empty with wood floor, once she was able to control her bladder we began shutting her in there during the day so she could play. At 9 months we gradually began leaving her out in the house for short periods of time alone. Sheis now staying in the whole house all day. She was doing great.. until this week. From the minute I get home she follows me everywhere.. Around 8' o clock every night she would curl up in her chair to sleep. For the last 6 days she paces around all night, gets in and out of our bed and walks all around me while I am "trying" to sleep. She may lay down for a half hour or so and then she is right back up. Her behavior has changed at the snap of a finger.
I am tired and at a loss for what to do!
Any ideas?!?!
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Yuki & Ellie on
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How much do you exercise her? Do you take her for a good walk or two each day? Do you play with her after you get home? It might just be that she isn't really tired. Being home alone during the day, even if she has the run of the house, is still going to be boring. She might be sleeping all day and hoping to get her energy out at night.
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Permalink Reply by Sam Tsang on
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Hi Jennifer, too much freedom too soon. There are two articles in the FAQ, check them out :)
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Permalink Reply by Jennifer&Piper on
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Jen&Yuki, we live on a farm, so Piper gets lots of exercise in the evenings, nothing about her play time has changed.
I never even thought about too much freedom too early, I just assumed if she behaved and was accident free, then she was ready.
Needless to say, tonight she will be going back to her room. Do you think it's okay to still leave her out during the day? Or should I put her back in the room then too?
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Permalink Reply by Beth on
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Leaving a ten-month-old loose is a gamble, IMO.
As far as not sleeping, think about it: in humans, teenagers (most of them) would stay up all night if you didn't tell them to go to bed, insisting they are not tired. Most adults can't wait to crash at night. Same with dogs. The young ones are so enthusiastic about the world that many of them won't rest until they are put away in their crate or room.
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Permalink Reply by Lindsey Corkern on
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I recommend trying to establish a good evening routine with her. Here is what we do for Leia every night after we get home:
I water my plants with the hose (she follows and drinks way to much water and loves it)
Then, a nice long brisk walk (we go about 3/4 - 1 mile) on some days, we stop and play ball in the park. Since you live on a farm, she should have tons of room to run around out there.
After walk, we make dinner for ourselves and Leia knows that she needs something to do during this time. She will get something to chew on or a "special" treat (Kong or large treat)
Dinner for her at 7 (she has to get on her spot and sit for it)
Then some relaxation time until bed. At bedtime, we make sure to say the same thing to her as we did when we put her in her kennel - "Time for bed," (jumps on bed and lays down) "Good girl," given a small treat.
We also did not let her stay out of the kennel at night until the beginning of this month (she is 14 months? Turned 1 in March) Leia is an extremely active (more than the average corgi?) dog, so we have to stick to this routine or she will drive us crazy in the evenings! When all goes well, she is very calm and well behaved throughout the night.
Hopes this helps!
Lindsey and Leia
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Permalink Reply by Jane on
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If it's a change that happened all of a sudden I would maybe check her over and make sure there isn't some sort of medical problem that could be bothering her. If it's not that then I would just crate her in your bedroom or whatever other arrangement you're both comfortable with.
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Permalink Reply by John Wolff on
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10 months. I'd suspect it's an adolescence thing.
We haven't locked the crates in ages, but we never left the doors open overnight until Al was well over a year old... I think, can't recall.
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Permalink Reply by Bax & Zigs & Rosie on
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Baxter was given similar types of freedom at an early age. He was given three rooms to roam while we were at work before he was one year old. The surprising thing about giving him all that freedom was how successful he was in the beginning-- only to find that at the age of a year a half he FINALLY decided that the bookshelf, which was there for his entire life, started looking really tasty. Thankfully that phase didn't last. Adolescence is probably a worse than puppyhood.
Baxter was also under a year old when he was allowed to sleep in the bed with us instead of being in the crate at night. He never experienced any insomnia though. Does Piper sleep in the bed with you or in her chair? I would try to make it very clear that the bed or chair is the final destination of the night. Once Baxter would get in the bed with us, he seemed to know there was no getting off of it until the morning.
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Permalink Reply by Melissa and Franklin! on
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Franklin was given full freedom at 6 months old and was fine. I recommend trying to get a good play session in about 1/2 hour or so before bedtime, try to get that restless energy out. Are there any new neighbors? New animals? Wind or rain? It sounds more like she is stressed out than restless. Is she peeing/pooping/eating ok? Maybe take her temp and make sure she doesn't have a fever and look her over for possible painful areas. Possibly there are new critters roaming around the house at night and its stressing her out. If she hears raccoons or coyotes, etc wandering around her house she won't be able to settle in. I would look for animal tracks around your house and see if that may be the cause. Generally behavior doesn't change so dramatically over night so it is probably environmental or medical.
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