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Posted by KDiamondDavis on March 04, 2003 at 12:22:31:
In Reply to: In need of some advice posted by kpurdu on March 04, 2003 at 08:30:16:
:Hi there, I have a 6 month old SHih Tzu that I have adopted, and having a problem with her and the kennel. She does fine in it during the day, but a night when I put her in there she cries and barks all night. You would think that, she would get tired and go to sleep. But that isn't happening. How in the world do I get her to stop? I have even put the kennel in our room and still she doesn't sleep. Any suggestions would greatly be apprecitated.
:Kelly>>>>
If she really is not bothered by the crate during the day, perhaps she has either needs that are not being met at night (i.e., she needs to potty, she's cold, or something else physical is keeping her awake), she is used to sleeping someplace else (like in the bed with the people), or she is being crated too much.
Crating too much can create a lot of problems. For one thing, the dog would not be tired enough to sleep at night, because she's not had enough activity during the day to tire her. For another, she needs mental stimulation, exercise and social interaction in order to be a healthy dog. Excessive crating prevents that. So you'll definitely want to look at her crating schedule. As an example, 8 hours while people are gone to work during the day plus 8 hours at night while they sleep is too much crating. Crating a dog of any age for more than 8 straight hours is also too much crating. It's healthy for a dog to be protesting in this situation!
If crating is not excessive, it could be that people go to her at night when she makes noise. The solution would be to stop doing that. It means putting up with the noise until she gives up on using it to call someone to her, and it will take longer than if it had been handled that way in the first place.
I like for a dog in training to be crated in someone's bedroom at night rather than isolated in some other part of the house. I know it's noisier, but hopefully not for too many nights. When a dog is trained, my next step is to have the dog loose in the bedroom at night, confined to that room. Many dogs are ready for this level of freedom before they are ready to be left loose when you are not home. It depends on how deeply people sleep, though. Some people could sleep through a dog chewing up the whole room! Others would wake immediately to the sounds of a dog relieving herself. Dog training does cost us some sleep!
Kathy Diamond Davis, author, "Therapy Dogs: Training Your Dog to Reach Others," 2nd edition, and the free Canine Behavior Series at www.veterinarypartner.com