Advice on sleeping??

[SadieA]

Sammy is 10.5 months old now, and he's still having trouble pretty regularly with sleeping. I think a big part of the problem may be that we've been staying with my parents for a while now, so that's a change of scenery for him from his apartment that he knows. He sleeps in a crate, as he has every night since he was small, and he's good about it- he goes right in when I open the door at night. But lately, he's been waking up barking and whining in the night. I take him out, and he does usually pee, but he'll wake up again, and do the same thing again. I don't think it's because he HAS to pee-  other nights he is just fine. I wonder if he's  barking because he wants to get up and play, and a few times I've tried ignoring him for a whole night, to see if he'll learn that barking won't get him out of his crate. I've actually found that works pretty well, at least for a while, but he does eventually return to the barking and crying at night. I don't want to just let him bark and cry away, and the noise wakes up everyone in the house if I let it go on too long. Does anyone have advice for what I might do to teach him not to be so loud at night?? I'm already planning to start taking him for a late walk, shortly before he goes to bed, to make sure he is pretty tired out.

[patrick]

Where is his crate?  You might try putting it in the room you are sleeping in.  A walk late at night is also a good idea

[Apreston]

I was also going to suggest putting the crate inside the room with you.
When Titan was getting to big for all night crate nights...we started slowly. We moved his crate upstaris into our bedroom for 2-3 nights then we left the door open.
He was a little confussed with weather or not he should stay in there but we left the choice up to him; he went in and out a couple times a night. Then we moved his bed outside the crate and then we took the crate down left it in our bedroom and but his be right beside it. Eventually the crate left the room and he stayed on his bed. It works really well....he gets up in the night to get a drink or strech his legs but he lays right back down again.
He might feel more comfortable being close to you at night because it is a new place new sounds and such!
Hope all goes well! He is beautiful boy!

[sc.trojans]

Of course, if the crate is not already next to you, then I support others here suggesting it be moved.  Assuming it is however, I am not a supporter of using crates on Berners past 8-9 months of age and found that large dogs cannot sleep uninterruped through the night in one.  It sounds like this may be what you are experiencing.

Let me first say that I am a huge crate training supporter and I counsel all of our rescue adopters on using this method. Once potty trained however, I do not think it is a adviseable or productive for large and giant breed dogs and most behaviorists argue that it is far too restrictive, confining, and ultimately punitive.

Most Berners become uncomfortable (assuming they meet the breed standard and are of size) by about 8 months in a crate.  At this point, it is difficult to turn around if not impossible, and a dog cannot stretch out in any manner to sleep comfortably.  A dog should not be kept in a crate if they cannot comfortably turn around and stretch their legs out for this reason. So at this age, many Berners start kicking the crate, barking, whining, or otherwise indicating their discomfort and inability to sleep comfortably through the night.

Is there a reason that confinement is still necessary at this age?  If confining him in your room by just shutting your door is not viable and sufficient, then consider getting an x-pen large enough that he can turn around and fully stretch in a comfortable sleeping position if confinement is truly necessary.  I have never seen a Berner complain about an x-pen.

[maxsmom]

If he's completely housebroken, put him in your room, with his bed and shut the door, if need be.  If you can't trust him not to chew, etc., pick up everything off the floor and keep it out of his reach, or covered.  Max was really into chewing paper, so I got in the habit of covering the magazine rack, hubbys nightstand, hubbys table by his easy chair, etc. with large towels at night.  Out of sight, out of Max's mouth.  With the new girl, she was not housebroken, when we got her, and I didn't trust her with the guys at night, so she was in a crate for the first 2 nights.  Now, she sleeps on the floor, by my bed and does just fine.  My dogs kind of rotate in and out of the bedroom all night.  Max starts out in bed, gets down, goes in the kitchen, lays down, comes back and lays by the bed, leaves again, Jake starts out in bed, gets down and lays by the bed, etc.  Only Cody stays in the kitchen, by the door all night.  Good luck.
Kathy

[SadieA]

Thank you all SO much for your helpful ideas. I think that problem may be, as several of you have suggested, that he is really getting too large to be comfortable in his crate for the whole night. He's 85 pounds, and really can't stretch out in his crate, which is definitely big, but not huge. He will sleep well out of it- the main reason I still have him sleeping in there is because I will shortly be moving to an apartment with a roommate, and I want to be sure that I am able to have a place where he can hang out and be away from the busy-ness, both to help him be more comfortable with the move, and also to keep him out of my roommate's hair, if necessary. However, I do have a bigger crate I will be using when I move. It is in fact HUGE. It's a wire crate, and is about 3.5 feet wide by 4.5 feet long, and probably close to five feet tall. I actually think it might be designed for a pony or something (haha)! But certainly, he could sleep in there- the only problem is, it's in the basement at my parents' house as it doesn't fit anywhere else! I'm planning once I move to put it in my bedroom (I'll have a big room) and maybe even loft my bed (carefully! strongly!) over the crate, so he can sleep in there, where he'll have tons of space to stretch out, right in the same room as me. I know he will like being in the same room as me- in the past, he has slept in my room, and has been happy and quiet. At my parents' house, he sleeps in the crate in the kitchen, because that is where their dog sleeps. So yeah, there are a LOT of potential distractions for him there- the other dog, cars passing on the street, any noises he can hear outside. No wonder he is having trouble sleeping!

Thank you all so much! I think for the next couple weeks until I move, I will try having him sleep in the large crate in the basement. It isn't ideal, but he can't sleep in my room, as the dogs aren't allowed on the second floor (my parents' rule) and he can't sleep loose in the kitchen because he would spend the whole night trying to play with my parents' dog, who he ADORES. Actually, I could try letting him sleep loose in the kitchen. My fear is that I want to have the option of crating him in the bigger crate for the night, and I am afraid if he gets used to sleeping loose, he will be unhappy going back to the crate, even if it is a larger one. thoughts on that?

sorry for the novel!