Issues with Cockapoo during the night.
Discussion
Hi,
We have a 5 year old female Cockapoo (that is pathetically anxious) that is causing us major night time issues, and my wife and I are beyond exhausted.
She sleeps downstairs in a large crate and at an early stage would gently start yelping and whining at about 5.30am to 6am. We have to get up, let her outside for either a wee or a poo and then let her on our bed (which is what it's all about and our big mistake from early on). We've reluctantly accepted this as we can then get back to sleep for an hour. Whilst tiring, we had to accept this.
The last 3 months or so there is no longer the gentle yelping or whining, but suddenly full on loud barking usually around 4am to 5am. It's been as early as 2am. She isn't being woken by anything else and it's only to get our attention so that she can get on our bed. No amount of speaking calmly to shouting will get her to stop for more than a few minutes. We are then usually awake from then on!
She has previously (last year) been sleeping without a crate in an adjacent bedroom, but still the routine continued. Following a leg injury this year she had to stay in the crate for some time.
Prior to that we had a crate in our bedroom which didn't work as she would just keep us awake pacing back and forth.
We've previously tried a calming infuser, a calming coat, gentle music, a reactive barking gadget and other things without any success.
Does anybody have any ideas as we are both beyond exhausted and it's negatively influencing almost every aspect of our lives?
As a side note, if we go out during the day, for up to 4 hours, she barks and howls throughout. We are lucky that we live in a detached house as otherwise we're not sure whether we could keep her.
We have a 5 year old female Cockapoo (that is pathetically anxious) that is causing us major night time issues, and my wife and I are beyond exhausted.
She sleeps downstairs in a large crate and at an early stage would gently start yelping and whining at about 5.30am to 6am. We have to get up, let her outside for either a wee or a poo and then let her on our bed (which is what it's all about and our big mistake from early on). We've reluctantly accepted this as we can then get back to sleep for an hour. Whilst tiring, we had to accept this.
The last 3 months or so there is no longer the gentle yelping or whining, but suddenly full on loud barking usually around 4am to 5am. It's been as early as 2am. She isn't being woken by anything else and it's only to get our attention so that she can get on our bed. No amount of speaking calmly to shouting will get her to stop for more than a few minutes. We are then usually awake from then on!
She has previously (last year) been sleeping without a crate in an adjacent bedroom, but still the routine continued. Following a leg injury this year she had to stay in the crate for some time.
Prior to that we had a crate in our bedroom which didn't work as she would just keep us awake pacing back and forth.
We've previously tried a calming infuser, a calming coat, gentle music, a reactive barking gadget and other things without any success.
Does anybody have any ideas as we are both beyond exhausted and it's negatively influencing almost every aspect of our lives?
As a side note, if we go out during the day, for up to 4 hours, she barks and howls throughout. We are lucky that we live in a detached house as otherwise we're not sure whether we could keep her.
This doesn't sound unfamiliar.
The honest answer to the first bit I'd ditch the crate, give in, let the dog sleep where they want at first. They'll get bored and find somewhere to sleep once they don't have the issue with forced separation. They dont like the crate and they want to option to hang around but ultimately apart from some tokenism around the process of going to bed they usually get bored of it after a while. Establishing a routine doesn't hurt.
Going out stuff usually seems to be a being left behind/separation thing, what I saw work was to make it clear that there were different kinds of going out ('going to the shops') with a known pattern and to provide a high value reward before and after. That shifted it to being a quiet waiting process with an expected end instead of concern for missing out/being left. Seemed to work but would depend on the dog.
The honest answer to the first bit I'd ditch the crate, give in, let the dog sleep where they want at first. They'll get bored and find somewhere to sleep once they don't have the issue with forced separation. They dont like the crate and they want to option to hang around but ultimately apart from some tokenism around the process of going to bed they usually get bored of it after a while. Establishing a routine doesn't hurt.
Going out stuff usually seems to be a being left behind/separation thing, what I saw work was to make it clear that there were different kinds of going out ('going to the shops') with a known pattern and to provide a high value reward before and after. That shifted it to being a quiet waiting process with an expected end instead of concern for missing out/being left. Seemed to work but would depend on the dog.
Thanks for your reply Josh. It is appreciated.
I think that you are right about the crate so we've put her back into one of the bedrooms that she was in before.
It's so frustrating as we've previously moved her house type bed (which she loves) next our bed and if she stayed in it things would be great. However she will always climb onto our bed again and again!
With regards to going out, we are going to try giving her a particular treat before we go out and then the same when we get back. Those treats wouldn't be given at any other time. Anything is worth a go!
I think that you are right about the crate so we've put her back into one of the bedrooms that she was in before.
It's so frustrating as we've previously moved her house type bed (which she loves) next our bed and if she stayed in it things would be great. However she will always climb onto our bed again and again!
With regards to going out, we are going to try giving her a particular treat before we go out and then the same when we get back. Those treats wouldn't be given at any other time. Anything is worth a go!
I’ve key words for when I’m going out for my lad, gives him an idea how long I’ll be away!
He doesn’t have a crate at all, all doors are open and he generally sleeps where he wants, I hit bed early as he usually wakes me about 6-7, sometimes he lands on me at 2 in the morning so I always get up just incase he wants out, sometimes he does, sometimes he doesn’t, just life with a dog really, mostly he sleeps with me and I actually like that, he won’t be here forever so I want him happy and doing whatever he wants within reason.
He doesn’t have a crate at all, all doors are open and he generally sleeps where he wants, I hit bed early as he usually wakes me about 6-7, sometimes he lands on me at 2 in the morning so I always get up just incase he wants out, sometimes he does, sometimes he doesn’t, just life with a dog really, mostly he sleeps with me and I actually like that, he won’t be here forever so I want him happy and doing whatever he wants within reason.
Had similar issues with our female Cocker, her son is an absolute gem he's a big soft oaf.
She does have a cage in the bedroom, its alongside her sons, we put her to bed in the cage at night but don't shut the door, there's also a small dog bed my wife's side of the bed and a really soft woolly doggy pillow at the far end of the room beside the en suite, Ruby can be found in any of those 3 spots at any time during the night.
Wifey wouldn't dream of the dogs being away from her/us overnight, the boy has to be shut in because he'd be jumping on and off the bed every 5 minutes, ants in his pants that one, fortunately because this/us are the only home/people he's known he's really quite at home caged, its almost like he knows he's off duty once in there, out of cage he takes protecting his home and wifey extremely seriously.
She does have a cage in the bedroom, its alongside her sons, we put her to bed in the cage at night but don't shut the door, there's also a small dog bed my wife's side of the bed and a really soft woolly doggy pillow at the far end of the room beside the en suite, Ruby can be found in any of those 3 spots at any time during the night.
Wifey wouldn't dream of the dogs being away from her/us overnight, the boy has to be shut in because he'd be jumping on and off the bed every 5 minutes, ants in his pants that one, fortunately because this/us are the only home/people he's known he's really quite at home caged, its almost like he knows he's off duty once in there, out of cage he takes protecting his home and wifey extremely seriously.
10 year old Cockerpoo here, our first dog.
We set up a pen in the kitchen for her first night 10 years ago.
She wasn’t happy at all, whimpering, wouldn’t settle, but we persevered.
She climbed out overnight.
I rotated all the panels of the pen and rebuilt it so the pen was now roughly 4 feet high.
She still climbed out. How she did it I have no idea.
Then when she came back from the vets after she was spayed she looked so sorry for herself we brought her bed up to our room upstairs.
Never looked back
My in laws lived with us for most of those ten years meaning the dog wasn’t used to being left - now the in laws have passed away she goes everywhere with us, or we’ll take her to a dog sitter if we need to.
Fortunately we wfh. No idea what we’d do otherwise - doggy day care I suppose.
I tried leaving her with a furbo camera and firing treats at her remotely. It’ll work for about 90 minutes then she starts howling.
She’s incredibly sociable, almost to the point of being annoying - I think it’s just the breed, plus years of having built in day care with the in-laws has just made a rod for our own back. They need to be part of things. Not much help am I
We set up a pen in the kitchen for her first night 10 years ago.
She wasn’t happy at all, whimpering, wouldn’t settle, but we persevered.
She climbed out overnight.
I rotated all the panels of the pen and rebuilt it so the pen was now roughly 4 feet high.
She still climbed out. How she did it I have no idea.
Then when she came back from the vets after she was spayed she looked so sorry for herself we brought her bed up to our room upstairs.
Never looked back
My in laws lived with us for most of those ten years meaning the dog wasn’t used to being left - now the in laws have passed away she goes everywhere with us, or we’ll take her to a dog sitter if we need to.
Fortunately we wfh. No idea what we’d do otherwise - doggy day care I suppose.
I tried leaving her with a furbo camera and firing treats at her remotely. It’ll work for about 90 minutes then she starts howling.
She’s incredibly sociable, almost to the point of being annoying - I think it’s just the breed, plus years of having built in day care with the in-laws has just made a rod for our own back. They need to be part of things. Not much help am I
May, or may not help.
Obviously Cockapoos are well known for wanting to constantly be around you, and also being intelligent. So quite good at training their owners!
My parents (who took on our cockapoo as a puppy, cos reasons) have him sleeping on their bed at theirs (which I personally am not keen on) as he never settled in his crate in the kitchen, or just in a basket when they got rid of the crate.
They are useless as training though, with a ‘can’t be bothered’ attitude to it all, so never gave crate sleeping etc a proper go.
When he stays with us in contrast, he (fairly happily now) sleeps in our kitchen downstairs in his basket. Although I did make a ‘gate’ that I put across the kitchen door so he doesn’t feel shut off, but can’t wander out mid-night.
He did whine a little at first, but got better as he got older. Although he is quite reluctant to go bed most times.
Obviously Cockapoos are well known for wanting to constantly be around you, and also being intelligent. So quite good at training their owners!
My parents (who took on our cockapoo as a puppy, cos reasons) have him sleeping on their bed at theirs (which I personally am not keen on) as he never settled in his crate in the kitchen, or just in a basket when they got rid of the crate.
They are useless as training though, with a ‘can’t be bothered’ attitude to it all, so never gave crate sleeping etc a proper go.
When he stays with us in contrast, he (fairly happily now) sleeps in our kitchen downstairs in his basket. Although I did make a ‘gate’ that I put across the kitchen door so he doesn’t feel shut off, but can’t wander out mid-night.
He did whine a little at first, but got better as he got older. Although he is quite reluctant to go bed most times.
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