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Originally Posted by theporkieyorkie  Too Funny....I was just about to start a similar thread.
I am at my wits end with my 10 year old male. He gets me up SEVERAL times during the night and I can't tell you the last time I got a good nights sleep. He sleeps in bed with me and I do end up waking up a bit on my own(I suffer from secondary insomnia)...and when he sees I am up, he thinks it's time to get up to go potty or go eat. Sometimes he wakes me up out of a dead sleep. He is very persistent and will annoy me until I get so frustrated, I cave in. He will start out talking with these little throat gurgling noises and if that doesn't work, he will climb on my chest and start pawing at my face(which hurts) as his talking gets louder and louder.
I don't necessarily think he has to go potty every time, although he does sometimes. I think he's bored and he wants food. I have ended up caving several times and he gets food in the middle of the night. Sometimes he gets canned food....but I also keep a bag of dentastix on my nightstand....and he thinks if he gets me up, he can get one of those. He's a smart cookie and knows he can work the system.
It has literally gotten so bad that I moved a cage in my bedroom. After he'd gotten me up 5 times in one night, I did end up putting him in the cage...for about 2 minutes and then let him back out....but it's getting ridiculous. I was up 6 times last night with him.
He also sucks down water like a madman at night. He will get me up to go outside and go potty and then he will come in a suck down a lot of water on his way back to bed. I feel bad picking up his water though. I know he snores and his mouth is probably dried out...but I think he drinks more water between the hours of 10pm and 8am than he does all day.
What should I do?? I can't keep going on with no sleep. It's bad enough that I have sleep issues...but he's making it so much worse. My other dog uses pee pads and he doesn't make a peep unless I get up out of bed....but Prince is relentless, and it's getting to the point where I am thinking about crating him and I'd hate to do that. |
Oh wow I know that deep growl the begging. My Brandi does that when she want food or water.
It sounds like he has trained himself to model your insomnia and on top of that he has been trained to eat and drink in the middle of the night and that is not going to be easy to fix. Dogs need time to empty their bladder/intestines in order to be able to sleep through the night. By you providing him with water all hours of the night you have created this issue. Plus letting him eat and get treats . . Oh my I hate to say this but you have created a little sleepless monster. I don't see how you can function with this going on all night long. I would go insane with no sleep.
You asked so I'm going to tell you to . . . Stop it !
It wont be easy getting him to stop begging for his midnight treats and his water and his special time with his mommy because that is pretty much what he is doing. He has gotten so use to you getting up and offering him these things that now he expects it. Just starting with no food or water would be a tremendous change in the amount of times he wakes up and want to go out. Once you get that under control you will than need to start limiting his treats during the night. Maybe switch to tiny treats (cheerios or Zukes training treats) on your night stand only nothing that you need to leave your bed to get and only give them to him when you go to bed, not when you wake up. This will teach him that he gets rewarded for sleep time and not wake time. Its kind of like trying to reverse what he has been trained to do. It will take some time, weeks, months even but its worth a try.
I don't know if it will work but for your sake I sure hope it does.
