I am not sleeping at all anymore!

[Stitches29]

MidwestGirl, how old is Gizmo now? I am looking forward to Maggie sleeping with me too, but I'm afraid she is too little right now. Our bed is pretty high. My fears are rolling over on her; her falling off; her using the bathroom on the bed. So, when is the best age to allow them to sleep with you?

[Mya's_Mom]

You can try playing with Reese for an hour before bed time. We do this with Mya and she has always slept through the night. We also have given our yorkie a large baccon flavored chew bone in her cage. Some mornings when I wake up she is busy chewing on her bone. I also put at least one stuffed toy in cage to play with.
Respectfully,
Cyn
Driving the grammatically correct insane, one posting at a time.

[Reese]

I have been very lucky lately!! She has been perfect all this week and last week. I think that she still wakes up at 5:50 but then she does not make a peep until we let her out of her crate. She has been doing fabulous and the potty training is going pretty well too!

Thank you everyone for all your suggestions. They will certainly come in handy in case she relapses again.

[Kathy]

HI everyone,
I have been enjoying reading this post. I have a 2 lb 6 month old. I put her into her crate around 11:30 pm. She goes in pretty quietly but then she cries around 3 am. She whines until I hear her (she is in the basement) and come down to take her outside. She practically runs for the grass and then goes potty. After that she runs upstairs to be picked up to cloimb into my bed. I give in and she then sleeps with me until about 5:50 am when she starts moving all around to indicate that she has to go out. I need help on figuring out how to get her to sleep past 3 am. If I ignore her then she will mess the crate..never fails. She seems to not be able to hold it past 4-5 hours. Early on I did try pens with pad, kitchen with the pad. leaving her out in a room. All of the above was not effective to me. I found that she would use the pad, however, when she moved her bowels some would get on the pad and some did not. She traveles it if I am not watching. Even now, she mostly goes on the pad (if not outside) but seems to move her bowels not always on the pad (especially if it is not spotless). She even actually wen to the bathroom at the bottom of my bed one time ( so I am still fearful that she could repeat that). I find that if I leave her in the crate for more than 4-5 hours she will mess it with out fail. Occasionally she will surprise me. I think that she doesn't want to go in it but can't hold it. She is so sweet and really only wants to sleep on or next to me. Ok...I am talking in circles but you can see that I have a few issues and need guidance. the first being the need for sleep. Do I just ignore her and hope that she will catch on. Just realize that I will come down to many days of messes and that eventually she will catch on? Do I put her in my room and do that shaking method? Do I let her out at 3 am on a pee pad inhopes that she will eventually get trained to keep doing that only when I let her out (but I would love to see her hold it from 11-6am). Is this possible? Will spaying help any? Thanks. I think, in the meantime, I will try and ignore her tonight until at least 5. I am sure it will be messed though. Oh well. thanks.- Kathy

[Stitches29]

Hi Kathy,
Some advice you may not agree with, but it works. Maggie is 11 weeks old and sleeps all night. Goes to bed at 8:30 and up at 6am. The way I did it was hell for a week but it's great now. I made the same mistake as you did. I put her crate in the kitchen with too much room for her to navigate in. She would mess in it. I then started leaving the crate door open. She couldn't hit a wee pad if the whole kitchen was covered in them. So, I finally gave myself an attitude adjustment. She is on a very strict feeding schedule. She gets NO FOOD, TREATS, OR WATER after 6pm. I moved her crate into my bedroom, right beside the bed. It has a movable grow wall inside the crate. I moved the wall to where she only has enough room to stand and turn around. I placed a baby blanket, small furry toy in there with her. I cover the entire crate so she can't see out. Make it as dark as possible. I use a quilt. Then on the outside of the crate I use a wind up clock that ticks it's little heart out. I sleep like a baby and so does she. I am elderly and don't get around as well as the younger days, but this method has sure worked for me. She is a very good baby. When she does her business outside I give her a tiny piece of cheese (about the 1/4" square when we go back inside). She can do her business in nothing flat. Stick with this for a week and you will be shocked. Your baby is 6 months old, Maggie is only 11 weeks. Oh, I have not allowed Maggie to sleep with me until I know that she is totally housetrained.
Good Luck. Holler back if I can help or hinder anymore. I don't put her in the crate until it's bedtime. Other times she is either with me, carefully supervised or in her exercise pen. When she is in her exercise pen with her toys, I take her outside to do her business every hour. There has not been one accident in the house for 3 weeks now.

[Kathy]

Thank you so much for the reply. Is your yorkie as small as mine? FiFi will only get to be about 3lbs max. I neglected to mention a few other details. I have two kids (4 and 8) and another dog. The other dog is great and will sleep whereever. My kids on the other hand are not as good (laughin). My 8 year old tends to sleep walk and talk in his sleep while my 4 year old has a tendencey to call out for me at 3 or 4 am (to make sure I am there...probably because my mother died recently). At any rate, this is one reason why I keep her crate in the basement. I am afraid, and it has, the midnight walks (not all the time) startle her (my tiny watchdog) and I have to take her out then too. So, to being us up to date. On the weekends FiFi runs around all day in the house (with supervision) or is outside running and playing (whiloe the weather is nice anyway). If we are not home she goes into her crate. I take her to work with me and she is in a crate when no one is in my office,otherwise she is out and about. She uses a wee wee pad at work and both at home. The past two nights I put her into her crate in the downstairs room. I heard her cry at 3-4 and let her cry for 1/2 hour before I took her out. I took her out and then put her back into her crate (unlike before when I tookher into bed). She hasn't been crying when I put her in. She then whines around 5:30 or 6am (depending on when dad goes to work). I let her out and then feed them and let them out to run a bit. I did put the blanket over the crate as you suggested. At any rate, the crate has been dry, so far. I am still sure that if I ignore her 3am cry she will mess the crate. Ithink that she doesn't want to but I am sure that she will anyway. I also keep the crate downstairs in case she does mess it. The backdoor is right there. I can open the backdoor and take the tray right out. I am also able to pick her right up and take her out back too. Do you think the bedroom would still be better? I also know that if I come in late, and tip toe in upstairs, she hears me and has to be let out to go. She won't stop whining (occasionaly I waitress on weekends until 3am). That is partly why the 3 am thing continues. Problem is that during the week I have a regular job with regular hours and need regular sleep (laughin). Ok...if you can figure all of that out thenyou are real good (smilin). I guess my real questionis: Can this little girl hold it for more than 4 or 5 hours? She has been pretty good about going on the pad or outside )(occasionally she will go to poop where she shouldn't...which doesn't make me happy either). My other pup is also 5 1/2 months (cocker/bigon) and has been trained since 11 weeks too. Thanks for any and all help. - kathy

[DanteCarbajal]

Hello, Kathy!

I cannot stress to you enough; if you take her out when she whines, you have taught her how to get out of her crate! She will begin tio whine anytime she want out ans will pretend she has to go potty when she is bored and wants out to play.

You CANNOT continue to do this or it will never change. Understand that 1 of 2 things are to happen in dog training. Either a) you train her, or b) she is training you. Right now, she is training you. You have given her 0 reasons to hold it in her crate; it's easier to whine and get out of her crate!

You need to shorten her crate with shoeboxes or buy a precision crate with a divider and make it so small that if she pees or poops, she will haev to lay in it. Point Blank! I train 6- 10 puppies per month and my method works EVERYTIME! I promise it works and there are no shortcuts.

When she whines, shake her crate (put it next to your bed with a blanket over it) and say "QUIET" in a stern, manly voice (even if you are female). Make sure you say quiet after you finishes shaking the crate. this works on even the nost resistant pups and you can do this while you are asleep!

Do not take her out. Who cares if she potties in there?? Make her sit in it until morning, when you a e good and ready to clean it up. She will learn; you are the master and you control when she gets out.

If you'd like help, I will help you, but you cannot make excuses, you just have to do it.

When I first enrolled my dogs in training, I made lots of excuses and the trainers had to make me be quiet and listen like a little child. Now I know; no excuses! Trust me, this method works. Also, one other Yorkie mom had a good method that was similar with the clock and the cover over it. i suspect your puppy needs a deterrent, though. So shake the crate or hit the top of it while the crate is covered by a blanket. She will learn to love her crate becasue it is keeping her safe form the "force" that is shaking and hitting her crate (which she won't know is you). It always works, unless it is a grown dog, which may need a training collar.

I have 3 Yorkies and none cry or bark in their crate anymore. I have 6- 10 puppies per month and none are allowed to cry or whine in their crates. The longest it took to break one pup was 2 weeks. So you are two weeks away from a good night's rest if you heed this advice1

[jminelli@comcas]

arial
Hi all, I'm sure enjoying reading your posts. I have 3 yorkies that sleep with me in my bed. They're pretty good, except for one female, Isabelle. If she hears anything outside, she wants to go out. (we have raccoons sometimes) which happens at least once every night! I wish she wouldn't, but if I refuse, she sometimes poops on the floor. I got a digital camera for xmas, but I haven't figured out how to put pict. on line.

[Stitches29]

Kathy, I read every word and then read it again. I can see where the problems are, but they are not problems at all. My training is very gentle and kind. When you use violence or yelling, then the baby fears you. Fear is something you don't want. Respect is what you are looking for. Fear causes a dog to bite others. You do not want that. I'm going through hell with menopause, so I'm up several times a night. I couldn't hold my pp if I wanted to, so how can I expect a baby to. Did your children hold their pp all night when they were only babies. I didn't think so. I wouldn't allow my child, two legged or 4 legged to waller in their own waste. That makes me furious. How would you like to lay in your own waste. I'm a retired Health Official, and believe I have seen enough of that to last a lifetime. Anytime you are up, either coming in from work or seeing to the children==you are already up, so take the baby out of the crate to pp. Most of the time they sleep walk pp, but still they are doing their business. You and all your children will thank you. Remember each time you are awake during the night for any reason, don't forget the four legged baby. Also, take the crate to your bedroom. They know when their master is around. They feel you, hear and smell you. It is a natural calming thing for them. Right now, you are their mother and protector. In the basement, they feel like they have been abandoned. Yorkies have a problem with seperation anxiety. Keep the crate covered, small area, toy. Take baby to potty right before bedtime. You will probably have to take baby outside to PP once during the night, but you're up anyway. Baby will probably whimper for a few minutes at first, but will settle down. If they cry longer than 15 minutes, then they didn't get to finish their bathroom duties. Without saying a word, very gently take them back outside. If they still don't potty, that means that was a "Cry Wolf" whimper. Take them back to the crate without saying a word. That is when you ignore them, until you think it's the real thing. Only praise them if they do good. Normally my nighttime trips are without words. It's business and straight back to bed. Soon they learn not to cry wolf. Sorry about being so long winded, but only wanted to stress that love will prevail in the end without violence.

[Stitches29]

Welcome to YT. You will learn a lot here. Your little Isabell needs to be assured that all is okay. Only let her bark if you are not sure. As far as her pooping on the floor, that is not part of the barking. You may have to pick up the food and water at 6pm. Take them outside to potty right before bedtime. No food or treats after 6. Works here. Just a suggestion. Everybody raises their babies different.

[jminelli@comcas]

Thanks for the hint about Isabelle. I'll try it. My other Yorkie, Rufus curls up by my head and sleeps all night, but he is a fear biter and will only let 2 people even come near him. me and my girlfriend. Isabelle's puppy, who is called Sarafina, (Seri for short) curls up too, but when Isabelle wakes up, Seri goes into the living room and curls up on her bed in there! So then I have to go get her and bring her back to bed. Aren't they funny? I just love Yorkies. I help my friend with her breeding business, and all the dogs are like our children, we love them so much. I'm going over there now, to take care of the kennel while my friend and her husband go on vacation for a month! Talk to all of you later..........Joan

[midwestgirl]

Originally Posted by Stitches29

MidwestGirl, how old is Gizmo now? I am looking forward to Maggie sleeping with me too, but I'm afraid she is too little right now. Our bed is pretty high. My fears are rolling over on her; her falling off; her using the bathroom on the bed. So, when is the best age to allow them to sleep with you?

Gizmo is 13 weeks. He has a little oval shaped fleece pet that he sleeps in and it stays by my feet. He has learned MY sleep routine and pretty much sleeps through the night now. Around 4 or 5 a.m. he might crawl out of it and sleep on my feet.

[Kathy]

Thank you to all that made comments and suggestions on training FiFi. I need to first clarify that when Isaid basement, I did not mean basement in the normal sense. The first floor has an outside door (yard) and my son's bedroom. It also has a den type room there as well. FiFi (yorkie) is in a crate next to our other dog (6 month old bigon mix). This crate is in the den area and next to my son't room. Neither dog whines when they are placed in their crate. In fact, FiFi doesn't whine in at all unless she has to go to the bathroom. I even put her in it at my work and she doesn't whine when she goes in or when I come into the room to take her out (unless she has to go to the bathroom). For whatever reason, the past few nights she seems to be holding it longer (I think). I fell asleep on the sofa last night at 9:00 pm. She was asleep in her little chair bed. I was awaken by a kid at 11:00 and noticed that she went on her pad at some point. I fell back to sleep and woke at 1:30am. I again noticed that the pad was wet (in fact, pooped on). I let her outside and then put her into her crate. She went in quietly and stayed quiet until about 6 am. I probably should have came down to let her out before she whined but I was actually enjoying sleeping a little past her normal 4 am or 5 am whine. I have been trying to let her whine, ignore it and then let her out a bit after. Knock wood, but the crate has been dry for a few days. One reader posted that I mentioned that I get home late anyway. Correction: Only on the weekends do I get in at 3:00 am (part-time night club job). The rest of the week I would love to sleep a normal night schedule. The crate is divided into a smalll area. When she had messed the crate she seemed to sit in it with no problem. Tonight I am going to try and go to sleep soon (midnight now) and ignore her until 6 am. Hope it works. There was one person who posted something about shaking the crate if she cries before that. I think, for tonight, I will keep it covered (I have done this the past few nights) and ignore her until about 6 am. If she whines before that I will make sure that I do not take her out while she is doing that. I will try and get her before, or after, her morning " I got to go out whine." I hope this works. Ok....off to sleep. Well, first I have to wake them up and take them outside and then put them into their crate. Ok.done. Into the crate for her. Good luck to me. By the way, for those you you with the techniques: DId your puppies when this amount (1 1/2 lbs)? I am going to try it this way for a night or two (I figure). If this doesn't work then I will sleep down there on the sofa and either try the "no" technique or take her up to the room and try it (Oh, I don't know...laughin). Actually, she is doing better but I should stop there before I jink myself ( . Night...I hope. - Kathy

[Stitches29]

Oh Kathy, you sound so much better. Whichever way you go on your training, i'm sure it will be fine. I only have Maggie in the room with me because they can sense a human close by and it gives them security.

[Kathy]

Hi- Well, I put FiFi in about midnight. She did not whine or cry (she rarely does). I heard her whine around 5 but I ignored her. She stopped. I came down to her and found a poop in her crate. She then went outside and finished her business. She must have just done it. She doesn't eat or drink late bt she seems to always have to make a late or real early poop. Why is that? Anyway,....since it ws still earlier than i wanted to get up, I decided to just lay on the sofa in the room where the 2 pups are. They ate and played. At one point, I heard a scratch at the backdoor and it was her scratching to go ou. Yea! Usually, I just take her out. I was surprised because usually she will just go to her pad. So....as for tonight,..hmm....i guess i should try and repeat again last night and hope that she doesn't go in it. What hours should i be starting with here? What is a good time to put her in and then take her out? Should Ijust be putting her in now for the full hours that I want or just give her a condensed version for now? I know that she can hold it. Afterall, she has not gone to the bathroom since about 7 this morning and it is now noon. She doens't look like she needs to go yet either. thanks. - kath