# Sleep Habits - 16wks old



## RustyBear (Jul 25, 2011)

We have a 16 week old male named Rusty and I have about 100,000,000 questions.... but for now, I have a question about his sleeping habits. I'm pretty sure my husband and I created this problem...but at the time it seemed to work.

Rusty goes to sleep anywhere between 8-9pm in our laps on the couch watching TV. I like to give him some sleep time with us since he's crated all day (let out over lunch to potty, run, etc..). We put him in his crate around 10pm, he sleeps for about 4 hours, wakes up and whines to go out.. we take him out, it's pretty easy. Now the tough part is the next few hours. We had it down pretty routine that he would sleep for another 3-4 hours, we would take him out again and them (this is probably our issue) let him into our bed for the last hour of sleep so he could be with us before being crated all day.

This past week he has been losing his mind around 2 and 3 am... we've waited it out a couple of times and we've also taken him out to potty. I'm assuming that he wakes up and thinks it's time to snuggle with us and we probably set that expectation....

Soooo how do we fix this?? lol. We have not let him sleep in our bed overnight, although we plan to do so in the future. Is it too early in crate training to let him in our bed overnight now? He's in there all day, isn't that enough? Please share your thoughts.... I know we have to be tough, but at some point we need to sleep 

We are crating him in our bedroom still....

Thanks for your help, this site has been extremely helpful since we picked the little guy up at 8 weeks.


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## laurita (Jun 12, 2011)

The decision to let your dog sleep with you is a personal one. We didn't have ours sleep with us because our breeder said it'd be best to wait and now at 9 mos, he doesn't want to sleep on the bed! I think he gets too hot. the irony of it all... 

One suggestion I have is to try not to let your dog sleep until 10 so that he's more tired when he does go to sleep. It sounds like it might be a nice routine in your house that you really cherish, so if it's something you don't want to give up, then that's totally understandable. Then you need to decide what you want-- a dog in the bed or the bed to yourselves. Once you decide just stick to what you want. If you want a dog in the crate, then you have to let him cry it out :/ At 16 wks, I believe he should be getting to the point where he can hold it through the night, but maybe others can chime in on this...


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## pippa31 (Aug 2, 2011)

I agree with Laurita.... and I think you should decide to either do the bed or do the crate...both might be confusing to your little guy. It might take a few days/weeks to re-acclimate him to the crate, but it might be worth it.

If you want to continue doing both the bed and the crate, then maybe stick a kong in there with him stuffed with kibble and peanut butter for the 2 or 3 a.m. time when he is crying. 

Our Vizsla is also 16 weeks! We do keep her crated all night and she sleeps through the night no problem. As Laurita suggested, we don't put her to bed until 10. 

This sounds rough...hang in there.


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## denparkin (Aug 29, 2011)

Brooklyn is 15 weeks and she goes in her crate between 10 and 11 as well (after cuddle time on the floor), but she is able to hold it all though the night until 6:45... maybe we are just luckly? Her crate is no longer in our bedroom so if she does stir, I'm non the wiser.

Maybe more excercise in the day would help so she is really tired at bedtime? We do the dog park in the morning before work, and a walk in the evening. I also do short spurts of training in the evening to tire her mentally.


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## RustyBear (Jul 25, 2011)

Rusty Update:
Thanks for the comments and positive ideas...
We talked it over (at nausea) and decided we really wanted to keep training him in the crate at night. 
Its been less than a week since I posted and he is already WAAYYYY better at night. We moved the crate down to the living room. The first night (Thurs) was terrible...crying from 330am until 600am when we get up for work...needless to say, that was a tough day for both of us. Through the weekend he got tons of exercise/stimulation and slept through until 430am for potty break and than back in until around 600am... he is more than ready for breakfast at this time!
We are now back into the workweek and he is doing FANTASTIC, sleeping until 430am, crying for a few minutes to get let out and than goes back in for another hour or so. He still cries a bit close to 600am... but I know that will slowly go away too.
SOOOOoo for anyone reading this and questioning themselves, my vote is to keep trying, it honestly works!!!!


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## denparkin (Aug 29, 2011)

This is great news, way to stick with it!


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## kristen (Oct 18, 2011)

Odin could hold it and sleep through the night at 10 weeks. 
We used to let him out when he whined at 3ish, but noticed he was more interested in playing with us than urgently having to pee, and when he did pee it was just a little sprinkle, not a fire-hose  . 
So we held off on the water after 8pm, and when he whined mid night we let him cry himself out. One night of whining, and he's been sleeping through the night ever since.


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## Spuds Mom (Dec 12, 2011)

Yep- nice job- it's all about waiting it out. Earplugs are great. ;D


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