Dog won't sleep through the night anymore...

ABajaninCork

Hi

We have a year-old Shih Tzu. He's crate-trained- he sleeps in a crate at night.

As I'm mostly the last one up to bed, I normally let him out last thing at night to do his business, then I 'tuck him up'. He normally sleeps through until 8-9am.

For the last three weeks or so, he's been waking us up any time between 4-5am!! We let him out, and put him back in his crate. He'll then drift off for another hour, then wakes up again!!

At this point, we then allow him upstairs on our bed, as it's the only way we get any peace. Our little darling settles down and goes back to sleep without a murmur, looking too cute for words!!

I've tried darkening the room as much as possible, but have to keep the kitchen door open, as we also have a cat who likes nocturnal feeds.

Any ideas/suggestions welcome...

TIA

rebel10

Possibly bringing her onto the bed was the downfall.:( Now she knows everytime she wakes up and makes a little noise she will be rewarded. Sorry. Very difficult to train her to stay in her crate now. I have a Shih tzu. 5 years old. He sleeps on my bed now as I gave up on training him to sleep on his own as a puppy, very stupid of me. But he does rule the house now.:( Perhaps she is too warm in the middle of the night, seeing its the summer? Or as you said maybe its down to her waking up because of the bright mornings. Try to get back into tha habit of making her stay in the crate, otherwise you will snoring darling in the bed with you for years, as cute as she is!!.

ABajaninCork

Thanks for your response.

I think we'll have to be a bit tougher with him now. He used to sleep through with no problems, and this habit is recent, so maybe we should try keeping him in his crate. Shih Tzu's are such crafty little creatures aren't they?

To make matters worse, the cat routinely kicks the dog off the bed which isn't exactly quiet. Trouble is - He THINKS he rules the house. He didn't reckon on the cat who KNOWS he rules the house and isn't shy in letting him know it!!

ha-ya-said-what

Drape an oul duvet cover or curtain over the crate to block out the light in the morning, the more light you can get it to block out the more chance you have of getting him to sleep on in the morning.

All ours went through the phase of waking up early in the morning when they saw light as pups, the cover draped over the crate worked wonders!

If the cat feeder is near the crate try moving it, as it could very well be the cat poking about at those hours that's waking the dog so early.

tk123

Our pup has been the same the last few weeks - I just assumed it was the bright mornings? Usually he whines a bit then goes back asleep but he seems to know when it's the weekend and gets up extra early!

ABajaninCork

I'm liking the blanket over the crate idea! I'll give that a try tonight and let you know...

Thank you so much for your help!

ABajaninCork

Just to let you know....I've tried the duvet cover over the crate trick and it's worked wonders!!

It was tough going at first as he would still wake up about 4-5am. But over the past few days, he's pretty well gone back to normal hour- well about 6.30 to 7am...

Thanks again. My hubby and me are eternally grateful to you for the lie-ins!

Neberkenezer

throw a few zimovane in its food