Serious Help needed about BARKING at Night
 

my little guy is 1yr and 8 months old. He barks at night because he wants to be with us in bed while we sleep. I would not mind him being there but he is only 4.5 lbs and I am afraid he could get hurt during the night if he sleeps in our bed. I really need some help here, because I dont know what to do about all this and he will wake us up at any hour of the night with barking. He does not give up either. Some one told me not to let him bark because it uses energy and its bad for yorkies, but how do I TRAIN him to sleep in his bed all night and be quiet? I need some suggestions and what is best to do for him.

I am glad he loves us so much that he feels he needs to be with us all the time but we work and need some sleep too :o) We love this little guy so much that so far I just get up and sleep on the sofa so he can be near and be quiet. I knnow I am making the problem worse but I dont know how to make him just stop barking.

I get so tired and run down due to it all. Please let mw know if you ever had this problem and what can be done about it.

Thanks, and I love YORKIETALK!!!!

How long have you had him? Lily is same way and she is 7 months old and we got her at 9 wks. She never did grow out of it!! She sleeps w/us and I worry about her too but I can't let her scream like she does all night!! I've tried!!

What about putting him in a kennel on the table by your bed so he can see you and you can see he and he is close.

JL

Yep! I actually started doing this myself(just recently) and it seems to really help with the barking problem! Just being able to see me soothes him and no more barking. Now we're all happy again. :)

No Relief from Barking at Night
 

Well I have tried almost everything, he is still crying at night and I tried to let him sleep with us but I am sleepless now. I worry about him getting Squashed!! We have had him since he was a little guy, and he has been through alot, going through sickness and on deaths door. He is my baby and Lord knows I love this little guy so much.

I just need to get some sleep, and I know alot of the problem is I made him spoiled and its my fault he is probably liked this. I just need to repair what I have done...He needs to learn he cant have his way, and its breaking my heart to hear him cry. He crys I cry...people think i am a nut because they say he is a dog ...but he is my little guy and my heart.

I would love some suggestions or if anyone is going through this and have ideas with whats working for them, please let me know ...

Thank God for Yorkietalk!!

Katharine

Did you try the carrier/crate on the nightstand yet like YorkieMother and I recommended? :confused:

Some dogs need to sleep with their people.
 

Most reasonable people will learn to let the dog sleep with them, and if that's not possible, give him up to someone who can have him in bed with them.

I think you have not checked out having him sleep in a kennel by your bed or even a small kennel at the top of your bed.

JL

I let my dogs (2 of them anyway) sleep in the bed with us, and I love them being there...but yet...at times I do regret it. They are not happy unless they are right in between me and hubby, and sometimes we miss cuddling ALONE.

Husband complains and even sleeps in the guestroom sometimes, because Baxter will sleep in between his legs, or right on his back, so he can't move. He doesn't feel rested the next day, and he has a physical job. Picking him up and moving him does no good, he only comes right back to where he was :D. Baxter also prefers to sleep ON TOP of the covers 50% of the time, so I have a little anchor that keeps me from pulling the covers up, or leaves me pinned.

With that being said, If you don' let your dogs sleep with you--DON'T START. They will get used to it, and expect it. Not letting them sleep with you doesn't mean you should give them away. :mad:

I'm with YorkieMother. I was having problems with my puppy crying at night until I moved his crate into my bedroom and put it up on a laptop stand right next to the side of my bed so it was eye level. As long as my pup can see and hear me, he will be quiet and sleep until he has to go to the bathroom.

FYI, my yorkie is 3 lbs and he sleeps on the bed just fine -- no squishing. Unless you are doing jumping jacks on your bed, he's probably safe. It's okay to move around on your bed at night. You are the pack leader, and it's your bed. It is such a privilege to sleep on the bed, he can accomodate you! I actually agree with the people who recommend that you let your dog see you, but don't let him sleep on the bed. I think I'm overindulging him, but otherwise I'm pretty disciplined and he is sooooo cute when he wakes up in the morning with his little stretches and yawns, and we usually start the day with a nice tummy rub.

Remember, dogs really do benefit from a hierarchy. You are bigger and smarter than your dog, and he will feel more secure if he knows that you are the boss.

We had the same problem when we first got Emma (we've had her for a year now)...but then she got used to sleeping in the crate & actually liked the coziness of it. Well, this past week she starts whining & barking when we first get in bed. I'll take her out & let her lay in bed with us, long enough for me to rub her belly & get her sleepy. Then back to her bed she goes & she's fine. I might be hurting the situation by getting her back out, but she just sounds too pitiful.

Boy, did this comment annoy me. I am angered by the implication that people who don't allow their dogs into their bed are somehow bad owners. What a load of garbage.

I got Spike when he was 5 months old (he is now 2 years), and he has NEVER slept in my bed. Although I considered having him sleep with me when I first got him, my bed is quite high, so there was no way he would be able to get down without assistance if he wanted to. Also, I didn't want my sleep disturbed if he decided to get up in the night.

He sleeps in the room with me, he has his own dog bed on top of an old comforter. His food and water dishes are nearby, and he has (quiet!) toys to play with if he doesn't want to sleep.

Unfortunately, the only solution to this problem is persistence and patience once you've decided on ONE solution. If you want him to sleep in his crate in a specific location, then that is what you will need to do, starting tonight. Don't move his crate to somewhere where he can see you unless that is where he is always going to sleep. Don't move the crate to another room to get away from the noise, unless you always want him to sleep in that room. Consistency is the key, and you have to stick to your guns!

I know it's hard, especially since your pup has been so sick in the past. Trust me, when I first got Spike he cried too, but I had to harden my heart because I knew it would be best for him (and me!) in the long run. Now, I am absolutely sure I did the right thing.

A couple of tips that worked for me. I found that having a toy that he loved but had to 'work on' helped to distract him until I was asleep. In Spike's case, I filled a kong with some kibble which I would plug up with some wet food and freeze. He LOVED working on that toy and it would keep him busy until I was asleep. I found that if he heard me moving around he was more likely to cry, so when I was asleep he tended to settle down. Earplugs were also a Godsend!

Good Luck!

barking at night
 

We had the same problem. I got my puppy when he was 10 weeks. He was only 1.6 pounds. He was sleeping with us in the bed until one day he fall off of it at night. Thank God he is alive. My bed is high off of the ground. Since then, he is sleeping in a crate besides my bed. He has toys on it and his pee pad. In the beginning, he didn't like it. He barked a lot until he gets tired. I remembered for two nights in a row, we could not sleep. I even slept with him in the sofa. A friend of mine told me about the coins in the can. One night, I shook it several times and it worked inmediately.He has not barked since then and he sleeps very well at night. Now he is 7 months and he likes the crate. I do not let him sleep in my bed anymore. I do not want him to get used to it again. Hope it will help you.

Please don't give up your pup just because you won't let him sleep with you.
I was pretty strict with Duke not sleeping on my bed b/c I was afraid of hurting him too. I now have a lower bed and he does sleep with me though. However, if you prefer to not have yours sleep with you, try some of the responses offered. Everyonce in a while, I would ask Duke to sleep in his own bed as well. I put a gate on the doorway to bedroom and his bed right outside, he can see and smell me.
He would cry for a bit but eventually stops. I also found that if you have an article of your clothing in their bed with them, they'll find it conforting as well.

Good luck

Yes well some of us responsible pet owners can not let our dogs sleep with us as they are to possessive aggressive and will bite us hard if they are bumped in the night. For their sake and ours they have to sleep else where.
Resopnsible is not based on in bed or not.

JL

I had the same problem. Lola started out sleeping in the laundry room, crated. She would cry and bark..ALOT. Then I started letting her sleep in a little soft sided crate on my night stand. She was happy and quiet, and would cry or scratch when she needed to potty. Then one day my husband and I where working all day and then went out at night. We felt guilty that we where gone all day-so my husband said she could sleep with us...she slept the whole night through without potty breaks, which i liked...one night led to another and once we tried the crate on the nightstand again she would bark and bark. In the end, I regret not moving her back to the crate on the nightstand. I slept better and she was still close, but safely confined. Maybe I will try to move her back the next time my husband goes out of town. He won't put up with the barking like I would :)

Do you have any ideas on what causes this, and can it be treated?

Yes I do know what the causes are and they are many and intertwinded and not always easy to pick just one cause.

Can it be treated ?... yes and that not easy either. Can a dog sleep with you if it a bed guarder maybe way down the line after a boat load of treatment but most likely so as not to set a dog up to fail on a bad day that it is a no never....
Best bet is provention long before this ever occurs.

Need more specifics I can tell you more but we should take it to a differnt thread.. I think.

JL

I just wanted some basic answers, and you answered my question very well. Thank you!

That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard.

I am not obligated to even let my dog on the bed, or any of the furniture for that matter. Nobody is. The dog does not pay rent.

Sleeping on/in the master's bed is a privilege, not a right.

Good I am glad that helped but if you need more let me know.
Cause I deal with one but she learned not to guard and she will share and she not in the norm.
As I believe sleeping as a family unit was important It was something we changed fast and well and deep so it can be done it not easy.
It is a privlage to sleep with my girl.

JL

Remember the show "The Greatest American Dog," one of the contestants said she had that problem with her dog, maybe it was Bella?, and I had never heard about that condition before, and was just curious.

Barking
 

Our puppy Tico is a year. Where do you put yours when he is not allowed to sleep with you?
Tico has to sleep his cage right now because he started pooping on the floor in the middle of the night.
I put his cage on the night stand so he can see us, and he is fine. But If I put him in the cage in a room with no people, he will bark his head of all night long, and Im talking the whole 8 hours.
I guess he justs wants to be around us, or at least know we are there.

Tico was sleeping on our bed at 6 months. I wouldn't worry about rolling on your dog. Tico quickly learned to sleep at the bottom of the bed when we started rolling around at night. haha.

Try this maybe this will give you some help.

ClickerSolutions Training Articles -- Creating a Nighttime Ritual

JL

The new puppy that I have now used to not want to sleep anywhere other than my bed. I bought a medium sized crate at Petsmart & would put the crate beside my bed. When he would fall asleep on my bed I would move him to his crate that i would put beside my bed each night for about a week. He would get anxious some night & start to bark so i would have to pick him up & bring him back to my bed & then move him back to his crate when he would fall asleep. After about a couple days he was accustomed to his crate & I wouldnt have to put him on my bed; I would just put him before i would go to sleep in his crate. My dog has a big anxiety seperation problem so it was hard in the beginning getting him accustomed to his crate. Also when he would bark too much in his crate I would take a tin can & put a few coins in it & shake it everytime he would bark. This noise scared him a bit so he knew not to bark. The tin can with coins has done miracles. I no longer use it bc he sits quietly in his crate until i pick him up every day :) Also my puppy is potty trained with potty pads so I just put a potty pad with toys in his crate. My dog is a :littleang now

It probably has already been said (I didn't read all of the other responses), but we had the exact same problem with Franklin. One night he got out and my boyfriend let him in bed with us. After that, he cried every night. At first, we just let him get in bed with us because I had roommates and I didn't want to bother them. I knew that I had to eventually break the habit though because they occasionally stay with my parents and my mom would NOT be okay with that. We got some ear plugs and just let him bark it out all night. It took maybe 2-3 days of barking all night and he stopped. Hasn't done it since! :) Maybe you could try it on a weekend when you don't have to go to work and even take some sleeping pills. They catch on quick and once they realize it's not working, they'll stop.

Good luck! I know exactly how frustrating it can be.

A thankyou message
 

Well I would like to thank everyone for their advice and suggestions. I have broke down and let him sleep with us, and as our bed is high, we got a Cedar Chest and put it down at the end of our bed, and put his steps up near it. He can now get on and off the High bed when he wants to. We put his little fleece bed at the head of the bed between us and he sleeps there quietly. I think I try to train him but its me who gets the training I believe :) Some people understand ...some don't ..but its ok because he is my little guy who I love so much I spoil him.