[theporkieyorkie]

I have been at my wits end with my older dog Princeton for a while now...and I haven't gotten a good nights sleep for at least a year because of his behavior.

Here is my issue...Prince is very smart and is able to communicate his wants well...When he wants out, he goes to the door and scratches. When he wants water, he will go stand by where his water dish is/should be. If he wants food, he will run back and forth between his food dish and the fridge. If he wants treats, he will run to his treat shelf and if he wants to go to bed, he will talk(a mix between barking and growling) while he runs back towards the bedroom and back to the living room.

If I ignore his requests, he gets more persistent. He will get louder and he will paw at me(which can hurt) and he will get right in my face to make sure I see he wants something. He is relentless until he gets his way.

At night, is the main problem. We start out in the living room with him running back and forth to his treats. One or a few treats aren't enough to satisfy him, so he's constantly begging. Eventually, when he thinks it's time to go to bed, he is relentless....He will get so loud and obnoxious with his wining and crying, that it's impossible to watch tv and it's easier to give in and just go to bed than it is to deal with him.

And the worst though is in bed. If he's not sleeping, I am not either. He will want out several times a night(Last night, I got up 8 times to let him out...sometimes, he just wanted to sit outside and didn't even have to go potty)....and he will sit and talk at the end of the bed if I don't pay attention to him and if that doesn't work, he's right in my face, pawing at my face and talking and eventually barking until he gets his way....usually, he wants treats or to go outside. I tried to pick up his water at night so he had to potty less, but all he did is get me up to get him water. He makes it impossible to sleep and I am ready to rip my hair out.

I ended up getting out the rolled up newspaper last night...I'd never hit my dog, but I did hit my hand and the loud noise barely startled him. All it did was scare Ricky(who did nothing wrong) and he ran to the closet to hide. Prince knows I am not going to hit him with the paper, so he could have cared less about it.

I wish ignoring his bad behavior would work, but it doesn't. On top of that, if I ignore him and don't get up when he gets out of bed, he will just go pee somewhere in the kitchen He used to not have access to get on and off the bed and he'd sleep most of the night, but if I don't have stairs for Ricky, Ricky will try to jump up and down off the bed and will hurt himself...so taking away their ability to freely get up and down off the bed is not an option.

I've been hesitant to crate Prince because he's always slept in bed with me and his prior owners. On top of that, how do I crate him, but let Ricky sleep in the bed...but on the other hand, why should Ricky have to sleep in a crate when he's fine in bed??

I tell Prince "No" but he doesn't seem to know what it means and he doesn't take me too serious and he is definitely ruling the roost, so to speak...so how do I break him of this awful habit he's picked up? How do I make him realize that his behavior is unacceptable and unwanted in the middle of the night, while doing it in the most humane way??

Do I crate him when he starts pestering me?? I know that the crate is not supposed to be a place of punishment, but on the other hand, I think he would probably get the picture if he was removed from his beloved bed when he starts acting out.