So after the worst night yet with Dallas & trying to get him to sleep in his crate I was so worried last night that I would get screaming times ten! Here were our evening activities:
He took a nap from about 5:30-7 PM. I woke him up at 7 PM & played with him for a while until my boyfriend came home. Then Mark played with him for a bit. We gave him a nylabone while we ate dinner (as is becoming routine in our household) then played more. I picked up his water bowl around 9 PM & then chased him around the house from 9-9:45 PM. By 10 he was so exhausted that he couldn't even keep his head up! I took him out for his final potty break & he actually fell asleep in the grass after a quick pee. :p I carried him back in the house & set him in the crate right on top of the warm soothing pad I had bought.
Guess what? Not a single whine came out! He sat there for a minute staring at us while we finished getting ready for bed, then was out cold within 1 minute! He slept until 2 AM (which was early for him to have to potty) but I took him out real quick for a pee then he went back to sleep again until around 5:45 AM.
This time he didn't go to bed quite as easily. He whined for while after I put him in the crate. I think he was cold because he was shivering a bit when I was carrying him inside. I grabbed my fleece blanket & stuck it in there & after managing to nuzzle underneath of it he fell asleep again & slept through my getting ready this morning around 6:15!
Now it seems that the warmth helped him calm down & sleep in the crate fine. I'm worried now that the thing I bought doesn't produce heat more than an hour at a time so when I take him outside he gets cold & doesn't want to go back to bed. Is this a sign that I should get him a snuggle kitty (I found a very limited supply online of the kitties. the pups are gone!) because the warmth lasts longer? I mean, the warmth on those last all night right?