Bed time troubles…

[Ninabeana26]

Dallas actually sleeps better with the TV on. If I am lying in bed & have the TV on he will hop up & be asleep within like 2 minutes. However, it's when I just get in bed that he's anxious & will stay up for an extra 20ish minutes playing with his toys.

[serenjane]

Snorky998, I too am new at this, so welcome. Don't you just love this new community? Everyone is so responsive and helpful.

My Seren Jane also likes to curl up under the covers to sleep; then comes the all out relaxed sprawl and always between my husband and I. Try to move her and you get this low growl. I use to think she might bite, however I have learned over the years she is just expressing her displeasure with being moved.

[snorky998]

Serenjane, I also get the "hey I'm trying to sleep here!!" growl. Wait til you get your 2nd 'senji. The first thing you do is buy a bigger bed!!

[tanza]

@snorky998:

Serenjane, I also get the "hey I'm trying to sleep here!!" growl. Wait til you get your 2nd 'senji. The first thing you do is buy a bigger bed!!

Never a big enough bed…..

[sharronhurlbut]

Laugh..your so right. I have 2 b's and a double bed, still end up on the edge.
Hubby has a queen bed and Shasta still likes to sleep in the center…
You just can't get away from them! Laugh.

[Schouiffy]

Lycia is really odd then.. I bought her a little cat bed and put it on my bed… she sleeps in that thing no problem. You could get lost with all the room in my bed!! ... guess that will change when I get another one

[torchsong]

TYPICAL NIGHT:

9:00 - Me and the wife get into bed. She-Ra joins us with her chew. We watch a movie for about an hour.

9:30 - She-Ra stops chewing long enough to come over and give us both a bath. Don't bother trying to stop her…you WILL get a bath before bedtime.

10:00 - TV's off, lights are off, She-Ra decides who gets the privilege of her company tonight, does the three-times-around turn and FLOPS right next to the person. Not even air is going to get through the gap between basenji and human.

11:30 - Cat #1 decides to join us on the bed. She-Ra growls at the new intruder who's disturbing "the pack". Alpha dog (me) grabs She-Ra and pulls her close. She-Ra calms down. Cat leaves for a safer part of the bed.

2:30 - Time for a change of venue. She-Ra goes to pester wife to let her get under the covers.

3:00 - Cat #1 decides to investigate new lump in the bed. More growling.

5:00 - She-Ra can't get comfortable so she switches between me and the wife. I'm usually up by 5:30 so we begin the morning rubdown. I'm awake, but the rubdown's put She-Ra back to sleep.

5:30 - Up with the alarm, shower, get dressed (including sock battle with She-Ra). Eveyrone's fed and I'm off to work.

8:30 - Fall asleep at desk, wondering why I ever bought a dog in the first place.

[serenjane]

Torchsong

This is too funny.

We have no cat but the other bits are pretty typical, wanting under the cover about 2 AM or so, only we have several turn arounds before the flop.

I thought it was interesting about the rubdown part. I thought I was the only one who was giving their dog a rub down at 5 AM. They taught me that at "puppy training". After the rubdown she goes back to sleep and doesn't move until I get back from the gym about 7 AM. Then she is ready to go.

But before she gets out of the bed she does her own bathing routine, face, ears, paws and behind.

[Ninabeana26]

@Schouiffy:

Lycia is really odd then.. I bought her a little cat bed and put it on my bed… she sleeps in that thing no problem. You could get lost with all the room in my bed!! ... guess that will change when I get another one

That is exactly what happened with Dallas! I bought him a little round dog bed & now he will only sleep in that when he is on my bed vs. sprawled out like he used to. It makes me more comfy without his butt in my face or on my neck all night :p

[foschatt]

Trying to catch up on all this. Rye has always been in is crate at night. If he whines at any point during the night we take him out(after he stops so not to reinforce getting his way) to go the bathroom. He gets a few minutes to do his business than back in. I think that Dallas has gotten his way a bit with people letting him out because he is whining. That will only reinforce unwanted beavior. If he can't sleep well with you or the other dogs than he has to go in his crate(establish a routine). You have to train him that whining means I HAVE TO GO THE BATHROOM PLEASE. It will take patience for the whining to stop.

Dogs are very smart and moving isn't something they understand. Even though he was fine for a few weeks his whole world changed and no one can tell Dallas why. Even the sight of boxes will get some dogs thinking whats going on are we moving again?. We have moved a few times and take great care with Rye never seeing the moving process(packing, the moving day, unpacking).
I do agree with Ivoss that Positive Reinforment Training will help with your ability to communicate with Dallas as well make him tired mentally!

Good luck

[Ninabeana26]

Thanks for the advice foschatt!

As I mentioned, my family went out of town for two weeks to Sweden. While they were away Dallas continues to sleep in my room while the other two dogs slept in my parent's room. Dallas' behavior greatly diminished during the two weeks. The first 3 mornings or so he would whine & pace. However, as he realized that the other dogs were not being fed until I got up either, he started sleeping in more. I really do think he wakes up & wants out when he hears my step dad getting up for work. My stepdad feeds the other two dogs [we tried having him not feed Dallas] around 5 AM when he is getting ready for work. Therefore, it is someone being up that has been causing him to wake up & whine to be let out.

There is still a chance I may start putting him back in his crate to sleep. Problem is, he is kept crated during the day so I don't really find it fair for him to do both. I'm still working on it I suppose…

He's gotten better but now that they are back in town he has already begun to regress. sigh Around 2 AM my stepdad let our family dogs out & in the process Dallas woke up & basically wouldn't go back to bed afterwards. I let him outside to pee for like 15 minutes. However, when we came back into the house he kept whining & pacing again. He didn't end up finally falling back asleep until after 3 AM! I am quite tired this AM I must say...