Sleep issues

[Bookworm]

I hope someone can give me advice on Buster's sleep patterns.

We have an acre fenced back yard. He chases birds quite a bit and gets plenty of exercise. We take him on walks. We play with him and he plays with our other dog.

My son allowed Buster to sleep in the bed with him for the first 18 months of his life. When we got Buster, I put him in a nice crate with a soft pad in our bedroom. The first night, he whimpered for an hour and a half before going to sleep. The second night, he whimpered for about 5 minutes, then slept all night.

Lately, he's been going to sleep around 9 or 10 p.m., but wakes up whimpering at 2, 3, or 4 a.m. Sometimes when I take him out in the middle of the night, he doesn't have to pee. He just stands around. I take him back in the house and he just plops down somewhere, happy as a clam.

I saw on one of the other forums something about D.A.P. Does this stuff work? I feel like a 27 pound creature has taken charge of my life. I need to sleep all night, and Buster was doing beautifully for a while, now we have this middle of the night waking, whimpering, etc.

Any thoughts or advice?

[Benkura]

I've had something similar with Trouper. We crate trained him the same as the other pups and for a while he was happy in the crate with his brother. After a few months he started whining in the night. Douglas would get up and let him out and put him back in the crate. 5 minutes later he'd be whining again. What we thought he wanted was to sleep in bed with us so we allowed that for a few weeks but the cat was not happy (he lives in our bedroom). We have since discovered that Trouper is happy to be left loose in the living room at night and he sleeps quite happily on the sofa.
He hates being crated and at shows he would rather find someone's chair to curl up on. I'm slowly reintrodcing the crate ie feeding him in it and letting him lie in it with the door open. It's been a slow process but we are getting there.

Maybe Buster would like to sleep on your sofa??

[Bookworm]

Yes, I'm sure Buster would LOVE to sleep on the sofa. I just don't trust him yet. Once when we were getting ready to go to bed, he had fallen asleep on the sofa right beside me. I picked him up to put him in his crate and he made a sound like a lamb bleating! It was so funny.

Last night he voluntarily went into the crate and snuggled down. The other dog (13 years old, totally trustworthy terrier mix) was asleep on his pillow. So I thought, ok, I got up and shut the door to the crate. He immediately started whining and rattling the crate.

The problem is, when our other dog Chewie is asleep, Buster plops down on Chewie's pillow and poor Chewie gets up and finds a spot on the floor. Chewie is not a snuggler. He doesn't want anybody bugging him. So now I have dogs all over the floor and a flashlight is required to go to the bathroom during the night! :eek:

The other thing is, if he's not in the crate, he'll be roaming the bedroom and jumping up on our bed. I may try leaving the crate door open tonight and see what happens.

[Benkura]

Yes, he may prefer to sleep with the door open. You may also find him on the floor/sofa etc too!

They are such funny things Bs. All of mine sleep perfectly fine in their crates but not Trouper!

[Basenjimamma]

Bookworm,

That is exactly what I have started doing for Otis. I leave his crate door open at night, he sleeps like a baby and when he wakes up in the morning he doesn't wimper to get out of it, he just waltzes out and lays down with the other non crated dogs. He seems much happier. I do still close the door to his crate if I leave the house, but for now, at night I will leave his "bedroom door" open.

[crystalncody]

I agree that leaving the crate door open may help. Cody really didn't like his crate at all before. He would fight having to get in it. Lately, whenever he's quiet, which used to be when he was shredding my favorite pair of jeans or something, he's in his crate taking a nap. I think that maybe it's because he can get out if he wants to that makes him like going in there now.

[bcraig]

Although I hate spending the money on them, I can recommend the DAP collar. We have gone through 3 with Ella and I have to admit that they seem to help keep her relaxed so that various potential problems seem generally to be less severe. She has been without one for the last 3 weeks and after an accumulation of small bad behaviors I have ordered another one. They just seem to take the edge off of things for her. I think it take a couple of days for them to kick in so don't expect an immediate difference but they can't hurt.

[Bookworm]

Have you tried the plug-in? Would it work if I just plugged it in at night next to where he sleeps, or does it require constant diffusion? I looked at the choices online, and the spray-on product said something about spraying it every couple of hours, which won't work at night. I'm not sure he would leave the collar thing alone.

[Vicki]

@Bookworm:

The problem is, when our other dog Chewie is asleep, Buster plops down on Chewie's pillow and poor Chewie gets up and finds a spot on the floor. Chewie is not a snuggler. He doesn't want anybody bugging him. So now I have dogs all over the floor and a flashlight is required to go to the bathroom during the night! :eek:

The other thing is, if he's not in the crate, he'll be roaming the bedroom and jumping up on our bed. I may try leaving the crate door open tonight and see what happens.

:p Welcome to my world! Some days I'm pooped and the dogs are all well rested!

[Bookworm]

Where do you get your DAP collars? What's the best source for ordering? Thanks.

[Bookworm]

At least for one night! Buster got into his crate and settled down. We left the door open. When I woke up at 5 a.m., (usual wake up time) he was sitting quietly by the crate. No whining, whimpering, or rattling of the crate. Maybe we don't need the DAP collar afer all.

Thanks to all who offered their expertise and advice.

[Basenjimamma]

Good News. I hope he will do Ok for you like this, with the door open. Otis seems to love the fact that I am trusting him enough to do that. He is acting like the big boy that he is…

[bcraig]

I think the collar is the best way to use the DAP. We used the spray but didn't like it because she didn't like being sprayed and you had to remember to put it on. With the collar you don't have to do anything. The diffuser could be OK but our issues were not confined to one room and we didn't want to buy several of them. Also, the diffuser just seems like it would be more dilute. The collar is always right there. FYI-It is just a strip of rubber that you pull to adjust the size that emits the phermone. Again, I think the effects take a few days and can be subtle but I am a believer.

We got ours from entirelypets.com

[Kananga]

@bcraig:

I think the collar is the best way to use the DAP. We used the spray but didn't like it because she didn't like being sprayed and you had to remember to put it on. With the collar you don't have to do anything. The diffuser could be OK but our issues were not confined to one room and we didn't want to buy several of them. Also, the diffuser just seems like it would be more dilute. The collar is always right there. FYI-It is just a strip of rubber that you pull to adjust the size that emits the phermone. Again, I think the effects take a few days and can be subtle but I am a believer.

We got ours from entirelypets.com

I'm tempted to try the collar. I have the diffuser where my B is situated during the afternoon, but since I have an air-exchange incorporated into my ventilation, I have doubts of the effectiveness at times.

The diffuser, however, has been somewhat effective. It just doesn't feel like 100%.

[Bookworm]

for the Web site for ordering the collar. I'm going to wait and see how Buster does the next few nights.

[Bookworm]

We've been leaving the crate door open. The worst thing he has done is during the night, he goes to the other dog's pillow, plops down, and the other poor dog gives up and moves somewhere else. We haven't heard a peep out of either of them all night, so we can sleep. Only problem is stepping on them if you don't know where they are!

Right now we have two visiting dogs for a month - big female yellow (clueless) lab and a big blonde retriever mix. Buster thinks he can go up and nip their necks and he growls and snaps at them. I know I've read about this type of behavior on the other discussion boards. The thing is, for the first few days, they were getting along and playing. Now, Buster is getting a little more aggressive.

Is this just part of the Basenji charm?