YorkieTalk.com Forums - Yorkshire Terrier Community - View Single Post

jrkystofiak · 05-08-2006, 08:32 AM

Hello all! This is my first post here, since most of my questions have been answered through other threads! So thanks so much for all the info!! The questions I have now have been discussed, but I haven’t really seen any tips (that I haven’t already tried) on correcting the problem. So here goes…

Kody will be 5 months old on the 11th. My husband and I crate him during the day while we are at work. I come home on my lunch break to walk and feed him, so he’s only in his crate for about 4-5 hours at a time. We also crate him at night, since he isn't fully potty trained yet, and we can’t trust him just yet to roam the house at night!

But that’s where the problem is. He barks for what seems like forever when we put him in his crate for the night!! It’s usually over an hour! We make sure we take him for a long walk (30 minutes or so) before bed, to try to tire him out. The last couple of nights, it’s lasted so long that we've given up, and put him in bed with us. (After all, my husband and I do need some sleep!!) Of course, then he’s fine. But we were told that when you put him in bed with you, it will just make the separation anxiety worse.

We’ve tried everything – kept the crate in our room so he could see us, moved the crate to the other room so he wouldn’t see us and bark at the slightest movement, gave him treats when in the crate, put his favorite toy in there with him, left the radio on, put a blanket over his crate to block out any light so he would know it’s time to sleep… We’re at our wit’s end! Last night we put him in his crate early, thinking if he got all his barking out, he would be asleep by the time we were ready to go to bed. No such luck! Obviously, when we leave for work during the day, we don’t know how long it takes for him to stop barking. But when we get back to the house, he isn’t barking. So at some point he does stop. We just don’t know how long it takes!! So here are my questions:

1. Do we just need to ignore him until he stops, regardless of how long it takes?
2. Should we just keep him in bed with us so he sleeps (and we sleep!!) and risk the possibility of the separation anxiety getting worse?
3. Should we get one of the citronella collars to help with the barking?
4. Should I put him in the crate occasionally while we are home, so he gets used to us being home while he is in the crate?
5. Is there anything I haven’t said that I’ve tried that I should be doing?
6. Will he ever out grow this?!?!

Thanks in advance!!
“Sleepless in Ft. Lauderdale”

05-08-2006, 08:32 AM	#1
jrkystofiak YorkieTalk Newbie! Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Ft. Lauderdale Posts: 5	Barking at night in crate Hello all! This is my first post here, since most of my questions have been answered through other threads! So thanks so much for all the info!! The questions I have now have been discussed, but I haven’t really seen any tips (that I haven’t already tried) on correcting the problem. So here goes… Kody will be 5 months old on the 11th. My husband and I crate him during the day while we are at work. I come home on my lunch break to walk and feed him, so he’s only in his crate for about 4-5 hours at a time. We also crate him at night, since he isn't fully potty trained yet, and we can’t trust him just yet to roam the house at night! But that’s where the problem is. He barks for what seems like forever when we put him in his crate for the night!! It’s usually over an hour! We make sure we take him for a long walk (30 minutes or so) before bed, to try to tire him out. The last couple of nights, it’s lasted so long that we've given up, and put him in bed with us. (After all, my husband and I do need some sleep!!) Of course, then he’s fine. But we were told that when you put him in bed with you, it will just make the separation anxiety worse. We’ve tried everything – kept the crate in our room so he could see us, moved the crate to the other room so he wouldn’t see us and bark at the slightest movement, gave him treats when in the crate, put his favorite toy in there with him, left the radio on, put a blanket over his crate to block out any light so he would know it’s time to sleep… We’re at our wit’s end! Last night we put him in his crate early, thinking if he got all his barking out, he would be asleep by the time we were ready to go to bed. No such luck! Obviously, when we leave for work during the day, we don’t know how long it takes for him to stop barking. But when we get back to the house, he isn’t barking. So at some point he does stop. We just don’t know how long it takes!! So here are my questions: 1. Do we just need to ignore him until he stops, regardless of how long it takes? 2. Should we just keep him in bed with us so he sleeps (and we sleep!!) and risk the possibility of the separation anxiety getting worse? 3. Should we get one of the citronella collars to help with the barking? 4. Should I put him in the crate occasionally while we are home, so he gets used to us being home while he is in the crate? 5. Is there anything I haven’t said that I’ve tried that I should be doing? 6. Will he ever out grow this?!?! Thanks in advance!! “Sleepless in Ft. Lauderdale”