13 yo Yorkie sleep issues...

[ohartnet]

Good advice, ty! I guess I don't see putting her in a kennel as punishing her. We used to have a Dalmatian and he always slept in his kennel at night with the door shut without a fuss. My question was to ask if it's possible to get a 13 yo dog acclimated to sleeping in a kennel after a few days or if it's going to cause her too much stress. It's a question of training, not punishment. I like the idea about the food. I'll have to ask the vet. The vet ordered a geriatric blood test for our Yorkie that looked at a bunch of possibilities besides diabetes. The vet seemed open to more possibilities besides diabetes before even doing the test, but most levels were within normal range. However, it was a different vet than we had last time, so maybe I'll see if the former vet can take a look. She was spayed at an early age.

[Britster]

Originally Posted by ohartnet

Good advice, ty! I guess I don't see putting her in a kennel as punishing her. We used to have a Dalmatian and he always slept in his kennel at night with the door shut without a fuss. My question was to ask if it's possible to get a 13 yo dog acclimated to sleeping in a kennel after a few days or if it's going to cause her too much stress. It's a question of training, not punishment. I like the idea about the food. I'll have to ask the vet. The vet ordered a geriatric blood test for our Yorkie that looked at a bunch of possibilities besides diabetes. The vet seemed open to more possibilities besides diabetes before even doing the test, but most levels were within normal range. However, it was a different vet than we had last time, so maybe I'll see if the former vet can take a look. She was spayed at an early age.

It's not that the kennel is bad but when you've had a dog for 13 years NOT sleep in a kennel, it just doesn't seem right to me to suddenly change that up when she's already obviously experiencing changes.

I would definitely get a second opinion.

Do you feed wet food at all? I wonder if you could add some more moisture to her diet. Also, do you have stairs leading up to your bed so she doesn't wake you to get up/down?

[Lovetodream88]

Originally Posted by ohartnet

Good advice, ty! I guess I don't see putting her in a kennel as punishing her. We used to have a Dalmatian and he always slept in his kennel at night with the door shut without a fuss. My question was to ask if it's possible to get a 13 yo dog acclimated to sleeping in a kennel after a few days or if it's going to cause her too much stress. It's a question of training, not punishment. I like the idea about the food. I'll have to ask the vet. The vet ordered a geriatric blood test for our Yorkie that looked at a bunch of possibilities besides diabetes. The vet seemed open to more possibilities besides diabetes before even doing the test, but most levels were within normal range. However, it was a different vet than we had last time, so maybe I'll see if the former vet can take a look. She was spayed at an early age.

My issue was not with the kennel but taking her out of your bedroom and putting her in the kennel in a different room.

[ohartnet]

Originally Posted by Britster

It's not that the kennel is bad but when you've had a dog for 13 years NOT sleep in a kennel, it just doesn't seem right to me to suddenly change that up when she's already obviously experiencing changes.

I would definitely get a second opinion.

Do you feed wet food at all? I wonder if you could add some more moisture to her diet. Also, do you have stairs leading up to your bed so she doesn't wake you to get up/down?

Actually it's weird now. She seems to want to be OFF the bed more than she wants to be on it. When she was younger, she basically always wanted to be in the bed all night. During the past few months, we'll put her in bed, and she'll whine until we taker her off the bed, and then she goes under the bed to sleep. It seems when she does this, she gets up more frequently. Then at 5am or so, she wants back in the bed and sleeps until noon. One time she slept in a pile of laundry and didn't get up all night. If only she'd do it again!

[Lovetodream88]

Originally Posted by ohartnet

Actually it's weird now. She seems to want to be OFF the bed more than she wants to be on it. When she was younger, she basically always wanted to be in the bed all night. During the past few months, we'll put her in bed, and she'll whine until we taker her off the bed, and then she goes under the bed to sleep. It seems when she does this, she gets up more frequently. Then at 5am or so, she wants back in the bed and sleeps until noon. One time she slept in a pile of laundry and didn't get up all night. If only she'd do it again!

Maybe she needs a nice soft bed on the floor.