Is It Ever Going To End?

[Vanessa]

Little Chance has grown horns! He now likes to scream at night. He woke me up after 4 am so I took him outside to potty. Carried him back inside and set him back in his create by my side of the bed. He started to whine and fuss causing our cat Maddox to leave the room. After about an hour of this I couldn't take it anymore. I picked up the crate and moved it into the office and shut the door. Thats when the horns came out. He let out this scream that woke the dead! He kept it up until close to 7am. That was when I was supposed to get up for work. Funny how that works. :rolleyes:
Well..needless to say..after keeping me awake all night long he decided to sleep. :mad:
HELP! I don't think I can take much more of this. I am trying to be firm in not allowing him to sleep with us but If he keeps this up…I am going to loose my mind!

[Shyla]

Mabey you could keep him up during the day. Especially for about 5 hours before you go to bed and keep him very active. We do this with Guru and it seems to work. He doesnt sleep in a crate though just next to our bed leashed and in a nice soft bed (we couldnt get him calm in the crate). If you want you can bring him over during the day and I gaurentee he will be tired by night

[BDawg]

I totally understand! My adult dog started doing the same thing- here's the gist of what happened with us: Lexi doesn't like to be alone; Basenji's are pack animals and want to be close and sleep in the same space. It's only natural that yours wants to be with you in the warm, snuzzly bed. Do you blame him? Question- how cold is it in your place? Is he uncomfortably cold? Could be part of the problem. We bought Lexi a fleece burrow bed from www.funstufffordogs.com (it is basically like a sleeping bag for dogs- the top and bottom are made of pillows) and we put it in the closet where it's MUCH warmer. We found that she was content to sleep there so long as she didn't have to go in the crate. That's the only solution we could find. Good luck!

[Vanessa]

I would love to be able to trust him with just putting a soft bed in our bedroom but he will get into everything and try to jump up in our bed. Sleeping w/ us is not an option. I understand that he just wants to be close to us but I got to get him crate trained/potty trained.

[BDawg]

As a puppy, we had to pick our battles. Lexi won the sleep in the bed one. And then we had a doberman (who my parents have now) who Lexi stayed in the crate with at night. She was fine so long as she had someone. Maybe the only remedy is to get another Basenji!! hehehehe!!!

[Shyla]

@Vanessa626:

I would love to be able to trust him with just putting a soft bed in our bedroom but he will get into everything and try to jump up in our bed. Sleeping w/ us is not an option. I understand that he just wants to be close to us but I got to get him crate trained/potty trained.

we dont trust our B either. He is leashed and can not go anyplace but in his bed (dh rigged it up so its working) . I totally understand the crate and potty training Oh and someone gave us an idea on dealing with his fears and its working so mabey this will help you too. If he is afraid of something take him to what he is afraid of and (have who ever is the alpha in the house do this) when he starts to whine say "sh" firm an point at him and do it every time he whines. It really works it has something to do with the alpha showing him that it is okay. This will pass and soon you will be getting sleep again

[MaxBooBooBear]

Someone posted recently how these puppies are away from their litter mates for the first time, and it's scary and lonely for them to be alone in their crates. What I had to do with Max when I first brought him home as a puppy was let him fall asleep on my lap and put him into his crate while he was sleeping. He was a pretty sound sleeper though and wouldn't generally wake up while I was trying to put him in his crate, and he would pretty much sleep through the night. If I tried to get him into the crate while he was awake, he would do the puppy scream and would not stop. Since we already had our adult german shephered mix in the bed with us, when Max got bigger, he joined us, too…..under the comforter of course.....

[lvoss]

I have the pup sleep with a large toy so it doesn't feel so lonely. I have these large fuzzy stuffed bones that are about as big as an 8 week old puppy. This litter of pups have been playing with Rio's old crate buddy bone so it is in some of the pics.

[lvoss]

Is he only being crated at night or is he also being crated during the day?

[Mantis]

Caesar cannot be in a kennel in the same room with me. he will scream now, and he is 6 years old.

i thought it would be great to have the kennel in the bedroom and dreamed of my basenji sleeping in a non caged bed when he was older.

caesar has been an indoor dog, crated while i am at work, and crated at night. he did acclimate but it took patience.

i test him from time to time and he is now okay to sleep out of the crate at night without me having to keep that third eye open.

caesar was so loud during his puppy years that we had to put his kennel downstairs. i forgot about that.

any attention is good attention and what your basenji wants is attention for the behavior that you dont want, which in this case is bad attention.

if you let him sleep in your bed and become part of your pack, the crate is far more difficult.

i found that petsmart sells bleached bones with peanut butter in them. you can find one of those or a nylabone to give your b when you put him in the crate. there is a lot of energy to burn in a young one and the licking or immitation suckling? might do the trick.

it is like a toddler fighting going to sleep.

I also found covering the crate was better. one, because basenjis are extremely temp sensitive and will never complain about being warm. and two, because it is more like a den and will make them feel safer.

let us know how it goes and stick with it. once your b is trained to understand the crate isnt punishment, you can move to a larger crate.

when you crate train, it is important to keep it small at first. then, add more territory. at least that is what has worked well for me.

[Quercus]

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That hasn't been the case in our household. All of our dogs (except Querk) will happily sleep in our bed, and almost as happily sleep in their crate (at least quietly). Querk is never happy in a crate, partly, as I have said before, because we forced him to cry, scream and carry on in his crate all night long, for many nights before we let him sleep in the bed. I firmly believe that a slow introduction to a crate, particularly for 'only' dogs is important for dogs that tend toward the phobic side (some dogs acclimate immediately to being separated from their original family, some don't). These dogs aren't being spoiled brats...they are lonely and afraid of being alone...let's treat them that way....
Our dogs are part of our pack regardless of where they sleep...I agree that sometimes if a dog is exhibiting status seeking behavior (iow pushy) towards humans or other dogs in the pack, it may be time to restrict bed access...but a well behaved dog won't be "spoiled" by sleeping in the bed.

[Quercus]

<<it is="" like="" a="" toddler="" fighting="" going="" to="" sleep.="">>

Yes, but I would never let my toddler scream for nights on end because he was lonely or scared ;)</it>

[Vanessa]

Wow such great information. Thanks guys!!!
Chance isn't crated too long during the day. At tops 4-5 hrs. Only one messy accident. Wheew.
I once had a cover on his crate to make it den like but he tore through it like the little wolverine he is. I give him a puppy kong but he could care less. Once the crate door is closed, he goes balistic! I don't want to give in yet but I can't do many more of these nights. Even the ear plugs don't help.
Honestly I feel like I am torturing him to keep him awake at night.
Maybee a toy that is a little larger than him would help in the crate. One that I don't mind him tearing apart.
Here's a question…Should I be rationing his water intake? If I just leave the water out, he will not stop drinking and we all know what that leads to...yellow carpet.!!!!

[Quercus]

Vanessa, could you try an Xpen with some toys inside it overnight…maybe in your room? Kongs, food, and toys probably aren't going to help in the crate at this point, because it sounds like he already has a panic about being closed in the crate at night.

[Basenji_Boy]

Join the fun Vanessa! Jasper crowed like a rooster every morning at 4.30 for about the first 5 weeks…....like clock work.:D
Once his routine is stable, he should calm down, this is all new to him. Whatever you do....... Do the same thing with him everyday and it won't seem so strange to him and he should relax eventually. Sometimes covering the kennel he's in can help........it darkens things and lets them know......time for night night!;)

All of ours sleep in beds, four with us and two with one of our Son's. We've had to crate individuals at night for various reasons and it seems as long as the crate was where they could see us it was never a problem. We used two x-pens together with the crate inside when we had the pups for the waking hours, letting them out under supervision only.

The last two pups where litter trained and that really helped big time.;)

It's is time to get Chance a buddy, I agree with Bdawg.:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:

Things will calm down, it's all new to the little shaver.:D

[lvoss]

Nicky was very much like you describe Chance. The only way we found was to let him into bed. With the girls we found if we had them sleep in the crate until they went out between 4-5am and then let them in the bed for the morning they didn't really mind the crate. We didn't have that option with Nicky because he screamed constantly all night.

[MaxBooBooBear]

Ivoss posted a message yesterday called "Training Levels" that has a link to some training material. I read through the one on crates. It sounded very good to me–but you're introducing the puppy to the crate very gradually. I wish I had had this forum and that material and people like Ivoss and Andrea available when Max was a puppy I will be much more ready for my next B puppy. I have to admit though--I am a sucker when it comes to a basenji scream. I would do ANYTHING for Max if he let out a scream That sound just breaks my heart--especially when it's coming out of your little baby.

[Mantis]

Good Luck and stick with it...

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Yes, but I would never let my toddler scream for nights on end because he was lonely or scared

I found Caesar just had so much energy as a pup that he could just keep going and going. I suppose it will depend on your home and the environment you are trying to create for everyone to be comfortable. All it took Caesar was a chew treat when getting in the kennel to burn that energy off and fall asleep.

Quercus <>

Caesar has no problem now as an adult. During his puppy training time we found it was a bad idea to do the bed and the crate. I think that the idea that was put out there about a regular routine is great.
You are doing great!

[jys1011]

It took us three months for our B's to get our routine. We got them as adults so it may be a little different. But routine is key for many dogs and keeping that schedule 7 days a week is essential.

I also had problem with TOPAZ wailing at night for no reason…figured out it was warmth thing. I finally decided one weird night to throw in my blanket with her & she went right to sleep. Now that's how she goes to bed with her blankey

[Quercus]

<_>

Oh, yeah…if it just takes a chew treat...that is a piece of cake, absolutely I would leave a dog in his crate to fuss a little if he could calm down and chew a treat. But what we are talking about (I think) and the road it can go down, is a dog that screams hysterically for HOURS...is too upset to chew, or eat, or anything else in a crate. That is where my boy was, and it sounds like Lisa's boy Nicky was there as well. By forcing *that dog to work it out on his own, it simply "sensitizes" him to a crate, instead of "desensitizing" which is what you want.

As you stated, there usually isn't one *right answer for every dog...but those of us who have seen how *bad it can get, try to keep a puppy from even starting down that road of crate phobia.

Strangely, I found with my females, that they *rarely cried in their crates as pups...even the two that flew from Seattle to Ohio...but they always had each other. They were crated next to another dog immediately, and I think that makes a HUGE difference._