I'm losing lots of sleep...need some advice please...UPDATE

We've had Maddy, a 2y/o Havanese for a week now. I'm trying to get her into a schedule, and so far, it's working out well, EXCEPT for night time.

This is the schedule so far:
6:30 am - wake up - walk her - poo/pee
7:30 am - feed her (mix of dry, v.little wet)
8:00 am - walk her - usually just a pee
12:00 pm - walk her - poo/pee
6:00 - feed her
6:30 - walk her - poo/pee
10:00 - walk her - pee

She sleeps a lot during the day, and I do my best engaging her with activities and exercise, but she's a rescue dog and just starting to familiarize herself with everything in the house.

She is crate trained, and for the first four days, she was in the crate from about Midnight - 6:00 am while we're sleeping - she'd sometimes whine around 3am, but eventually stopped after about 6 minutes or so when we ignored her.

Day five, the whining was just too much (lasting over 20 minutes) that we took her out - put her on our bed, and she slept for the remainder of the night.

Day six - same routine as above, we did not put her in her crate, and put her in bed with us - got up around 3am whining...I rubbed her - she went back to bed.

Day seven - did not sleep AT ALL - she was walking around the bed all night, whines at 3am for 30+ mins, I take her out for a walk thinking she may have to go - she pee's....I bring her in after 10 minutes, put her in bed w/us - she doesn't want to stay, so I let her "roam" w/her crate door open. She goes in the crate for 10 minutes, whines, walks out and then poo's on our carpet....We clean up the poo - put her in the crate (it's now 4am) - and she wakes me up again at 6:15. I walked her at 6:15, she peed and now waiting to feed her according to the schedule above.

Honestly ladies (and gents) - I need serious advice, I am losing so much sleep. I'm up just thinking about the lack of sleep I'm getting...and if there's something wrong (sick) with her. We took her to the vet on day three, and she got a clean bill of health (took stool sample, etc.)

I really prefer to keep her in the crate at night to prevent from accidents. Should I turn the heat up at night? Should I put a blanket over the crate? How do I get her to realize night time is a time to sleep?

Am I doing something wrong? I am literally home w/her all day long. If I'm not w/her - someone is - DH, my brother, etc.

UPDATE:

Well, ladies - the patience and all the helpful tips worked! We are now on night two where Maddy slept the entire night (11pm - 6am) in her crate w/out whining or barking.

The first night, I put a blanket over her kennel, and we ignored her whenever she whined (about foru times - every two hours) and she stopped. The follow night (last night), I put the blanket over her kennel, and she whined then barked, and I shook the can w/pennies in it and said no, and she stopped. She did it again about 30 minutes later, did the same w/the can and saying no, and she stopped, slept the entire night!

I think she's finally into a schedule and comfortable, and these small tips really helped drastically.

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!

- no longer losing sleep!

Message edited 12/19/2008 8:28:19 AM.

Re: I'm losing lots of sleep...need some advice please...

I didn't crate train so I can't help much with that. We also didn't really follow a schedule. I just wanted to say that I don't think anything is wrong - it took a few months for Brutus to stop going wherever he pleased.

Re: I'm losing lots of sleep...need some advice please...

honestly, it sounds to me like she might be taking advantage of the situation.
she started off better and has now gotten worse. Especially since she is 2 years old, she would rather have you play with her than sleep.

I would make the 10pm walk longer maybe, tire her out?

I would also go back to the crate.
Is the crate in the bedroom ? If it is, I would move it into another room.

Say goodnight to her.
put her in the crate, cover it with a towel.
Ignore the cries.

See if it gets better.
She needs to learn it is bedtime.

Good Luck!!!
Whatever you decide hope you get some

Message edited 12/16/2008 8:25:13 AM.

Re: I'm losing lots of sleep...need some advice please...

Posted by sleepie76

honestly, it sounds to me like she might be taking advantage of the situation.
she started off better and has now gotten worse. Especially since she is 2 years old, she would rather have you play with her than sleep.

I would make the 10pm walk longer maybe, tire her out?

I would also go back to the crate.
Is the crate in the bedroom ? If it is, I would move it into another room.

Say goodnight to her.
put her in the crate, cover it with a towel.
Ignore the cries.

See if it gets better.
She needs to learn it is bedtime.

Good Luck!!!
Whatever you decide hope you get some

Message edited 12/16/2008 9:03:58 AM.

Re: I'm losing lots of sleep...need some advice please...

Thanks so much ladies - I do have the crate (it's a pretty big kennel actually) in the bedroom, and we're going to move it into the kitchen and put a blanket on top so she knows it's bedtime.

I was keeping the kennel in the bedroom b/c I felt that if she knew we were there, she'd "understand" it's bedtime, and plus, it's a lot warmer in the bedroom than it is in the kitchen.

I'm going to make the last walk before bedtime longer - hopefully it'll tire her out!

Yes, she can go from 10pm - 7am w/out going to the bathroom, she did it the first few days, so you're absolutely right - she's taking advantage of the situation.

Keep you posted, and thank you again!!!

Re: I'm losing lots of sleep...need some advice please...

Re: I'm losing lots of sleep...need some advice please...

Posted by Kara

Posted by sleepie76

honestly, it sounds to me like she might be taking advantage of the situation.
she started off better and has now gotten worse. Especially since she is 2 years old, she would rather have you play with her than sleep.

I would make the 10pm walk longer maybe, tire her out?

I would also go back to the crate.
Is the crate in the bedroom ? If it is, I would move it into another room.

Say goodnight to her.
put her in the crate, cover it with a towel.
Ignore the cries.

See if it gets better.
She needs to learn it is bedtime.

Good Luck!!!
Whatever you decide hope you get some

ITA. You need to be consistent from the get go with her. Put her in her crate and IGNORE her until 6am. If you keep letting her out or putting her in your bed, she will keep whining -- b/c you are teaching her that whining = attention whenever she wants it.

You may have to lose a little sleep for a night or two while she is in her crate, but she will eventually learn that it's lights out at 10pm for her. That will save you weeks and months of no sleep down the road...

ETA -- At 2, she shouldn't need to get up to go out in hte middle of the night... so I would guess it isn't that. You could double-check with the people you got her from, though...

Re: I'm losing lots of sleep...need some advice please...

Posted by JessInCA

Posted by Kara

Posted by sleepie76

honestly, it sounds to me like she might be taking advantage of the situation.
she started off better and has now gotten worse. Especially since she is 2 years old, she would rather have you play with her than sleep.

I would make the 10pm walk longer maybe, tire her out?

I would also go back to the crate.
Is the crate in the bedroom ? If it is, I would move it into another room.

Say goodnight to her.
put her in the crate, cover it with a towel.
Ignore the cries.

See if it gets better.
She needs to learn it is bedtime.

Good Luck!!!
Whatever you decide hope you get some

ITA. You need to be consistent from the get go with her. Put her in her crate and IGNORE her until 6am. If you keep letting her out or putting her in your bed, she will keep whining -- b/c you are teaching her that whining = attention whenever she wants it.

You may have to lose a little sleep for a night or two while she is in her crate, but she will eventually learn that it's lights out at 10pm for her. That will save you weeks and months of no sleep down the road...

ETA -- At 2, she shouldn't need to get up to go out in hte middle of the night... so I would guess it isn't that. You could double-check with the people you got her from, though...

ITA with all the above, except for moving the crate into a different room, because our dogs started in the living room and woke up to every little noise in the yard, and then slept 100% better when we put their bed into our room. But maybe that's just them - since you're starting out with her in the room with you and she's waking, it can't hurt to give it a try.

Also, when you say you walk her, are you actually walking for exercise, or just basically taking her out to "use the facilities"? I'd definitely recommend a nice brisk daily walk (and I saw that you said you're going to try and make it longer to tire her out; good idea!) My dogs are like night and day when they do and don't get their walk - and we walk them a good 1-2 miles every day. It helps them sleep and behave better in general.

Re: I'm losing lots of sleep...need some advice please...

Re: I'm losing lots of sleep...need some advice please...UPDATE

thanks so much ladies - I'm now sleeping and so is Maddy - update above.

Re: I'm losing lots of sleep...need some advice please...UPDATE

Oh I forgot about the crate blanket..we had that for Casey too...actually it was a special giant crate cover...but it worked. Glad to hear that you are making progress!

Re: I'm losing lots of sleep...need some advice please...UPDATE

Good update! That's exactly what we did with Katie.

Re: I'm losing lots of sleep...need some advice please...UPDATE

Yay, I am glad the penny can worked!!!!

Re: I'm losing lots of sleep...need some advice please...UPDATE

I agree with the above posters. We crate trained our dog, and she cried a lot at night. We were cosistent with the crate and would let her cry. It works after awhile, you will see. It takes a lot of patience. What your doing now, is causing a very bad habit. We also didn't keep her crate in our room. We left it right outside our room. At 2 years old, your dog should be able to hold it for at least 8 hrs during the night.
It is so hard in the beginning, but you have to be tuff. It will work out better in the the long run.

Also, we put a blanket over her crate, it helps alot.

Re: I'm losing lots of sleep...need some advice please...UPDATE

I'm glad things are looking up!

Re: I'm losing lots of sleep...need some advice please...UPDATE

My dogggie cried at night I had to pull the crate into my bedroom every night