[YorkieMama2169]

My yorkie has started crying in his crate in the mornings and I don’t know how to make him stop!

Background: I got my yorkie when he was 7 months old. From the first night we got him he was sleeping in the bed with us and it was working perfectly. After a few months he started getting brave enough to jump off the bed and was peeing on my carpet in the middle of the night. Before he would lick me to wake me up and I would bring him outside. (He is only outside trained, not pad trained so I didn’t think putting down a potty pad would make this stop).
We decided to start making him sleep in his kennel. The first couple nights he cried for a little while, but would then go to sleep and sleep until I woke up in the morning. Everything was fine for about a month or so. A few weeks ago, he has all of a sudden started barking in his crate in the morning, starting anywhere from 4:00 to 5:00 am. I don’t get up until 6:30.
I have tried ignoring this, but he hasn’t stopped and my husband is starting to get really fed up. We have a very small house and even with his crate in another room and the doors shut we can still hear him. He can go on for hours. So I have been having to get up in the mornings when he starts barking to make him stop so my husband doesn’t lose his sanity.
I don’t understand why this behavior suddenly started. Nothing has changed. His crate has always been in that room, his bedtime is always the same, and we always get up at 6:30…usually later on the weekends but it was fine before. When he starts the crying I get up, take him out to potty and then put him back in his crate. He will be quiet for about 10 minutes and then start again. I have tried ignoring him, putting a stuffed kong in his crate, a bully stick, toys, anything to get him to be quiet for another hour or so. Nothing is working, please give me some suggestions!
Thank you so much!