6.5 month old puppy - barking issue...!

Big Mig

Okay.....


6.5 month old puppy, in a crate in the sitting room at night (quite happily I might add)..., then up at 6 / 6:30 for toiletting..., after this he goes back in crate quite happily, then.....


by the time I get to the top of the stairs he has started barking and carries on barking till its time for the house to get up....at about 7.30 / 8 ish


He is mainly toilet trained, the problem is his chewing...and we dont have a room that we could put him in as our house is open plan and not very large!!



Ideas please, to get him to stop barking....

irishlady29

I had similar problems with my pup. I bought an anti chew spray. Sprayed it on furniture and skirting boards, all the areas that she loved to nibble at. Found it very effective.

VonVix

Do you go back to bed once you go to the top of the stairs? When you can't supervise him, would it be possible to tether him to your waist by a leash so wherever he goes, you go? Also, would a puppy pen be an option for you? It's like a crate, but there's more room to ramble around. Does he have suitable things to chew of various textures?

I can't help but think the barking is more about "I'm awake now! I'm bored!" rather than just barking for the hell of it. You need to give him something else to do, rather than try to get him to be quiet.

When does he eat breakfast? Perhaps if once you bring him outside, you can give him his first meal of the day in a Kong, that will keep him occupied for a while.

Also, make sure you don't let him out when he barks, otherwise that is rewarding the behaviour. Only let him out when he is quiet.

Another question out of curiosity, what breed/mix is he? Sometimes that's a bit of an indicator as to if they are vocal/easily bored/etc. breed.

deadwood85

Does he bark to wake you at 6;30 or do you get up to let him out ,then go back to bed for an hour?

If you do,just leave him till 8 he will be ok for an extra hour,,just reduce his water intake at night time.

Big Mig

He is barking to ask us to let him out to go to the toilet!!

He is a lurcher, a sight hound crossed with a collie we think, so he seems to be a bit intelligent - certainly from the training that I'm doing with him, it would suggest that he is clever enough!

I totally think the barking is about, I'm awake now!! and bored alright....!! And, there is a bit of....I know you are upstairs in bed and I would much rather be with you than in this crate please!!!

However, I don't want to feed him straight away as I'm using his half his food as a training aid....anyway he has a Kong which he has down to a fine art!!! ??maybe try it?

I'm also thinking of using the crate for small times during the day, as I think that might help??

Other than this issue, he's doing really well!

borderlinemeath

What time do you put him to bed? Just to make sure he's not waking with a full bladder. He may be waking because of the bright mornings, and thinking, "right I'm awake, time for everybody to wake up with me!"

What you might find, come this weekend when the clocks change and the mornings become a little darker for a while that his pattern might change, he may sleep through til about 7.30, which would be perfect for you. At this point I would be draping a blanket or a rug over the crate to keep it dark in the morning until you're ready to get up. I would also give him a handful of his food last thing at night to give him something in his belly going to bed - at least then he won't wake up hungry and with his stomach rumbling.

angeldaisy

Our collie x lady does this with us. she cries to go out in the morning and then if we dare leave her back in her crate until we get up, she'll bark and whine until we give in to her.
However, what we have started doing is leaving her out for a wee and then she is allowed into the bedroom and onto the bed where she'll snooze away until we decide to get up! For us this is totally worth the hassle!!

deadwood85

Yes you should defo cover the crate with a blanket if the light is getting in.

Also i would put him in at different times during the day while you go upstairs or around the house.Most likely he will bark,but don't let him out for barking ignore him until he is quiet.

He will adapt.Be strong and don't give in,he is at the best age to learn and will be a well trained dog in a few months.

Big Mig

Thanks for all the suggestions,

Gonna do a couple of things

* soak his dry food in gravy, stuff it in a Kong and give him that,

* put him in the crate for different times during the day,

See how this goes, and maybe bring him up to the bed with us if necessary!

Deffo feel it is boredom!

suchafunkymonke

Don't put him in the crate randomly as he'll think of it as a punishment.

Do cover the crate in a blanket (make sure he can't pull it through the bars or you'll have a blanket confetti overnight).

When our pup was little (collie x) she hated being on her own, so we used to play the Harry Potter audio books at a low volume. This stopped the barking/whining. But if he has any collie in him, he will be over-active for quite a while yet.

Big Mig

Do you think that putting him in the crate during the day will be seen as punishment??......its for a very amount of time, totally random. He gets a treat going in and a treat going out!!

Over-active....oooops what have we got ourselves in for!

We ended up taking him out of the crate this morning after his morning toiletting, he eventually came upstairs to us, and laid on the bed for a while.... (actually lying on the hubby!! - he was comfy, hubby wasnt!!)...

However, this did mean that he was quiet and went back asleep after a while.

It really is about being bored, lonely, and a case of I'm up now!!

Anyway........we'll keep going!

I have a feeling though that it is

Puppy dog - 1
Mammy and Daddy - 0!!!

Its like having another baby!!

deadwood85

He won't think the crate is punishment,especially if it is at random times and getting treats while he is in there.

He will associate the crate as a good thing if you give him treats when he goes in.

Yea he defo won if he got on the bed!!!

Though if you don't want to confuse him,I wouldn't let him up to the bed somedays,dogs like routine he will stop barking eventually in the morning if you can ignore it.

ShaShaBear

deadwood85 wrote: »

He won't think the crate is punishment,especially if it is at random times and getting treats while he is in there.

He will associate the crate as a good thing if you give him treats when he goes in.

Yea he defo won if he got on the bed!!!

Though if you don't want to confuse him,I wouldn't let him up to the bed somedays,dogs like routine he will stop barking eventually in the morning if you can ignore it.

Seconded this, our old dog was a bed sleeper (which was no issue at all) and we tried it with our new puppy and he just wouldn't settle in bed. If he felt like getting up and no-one was awake, he'd wreck the place (collie as well) and sometimes nipping us to wake us up. We've had to let him sleep in his bed in his crate and even one hour of time in our bed leaves him screaming the house down at night for a week! :rolleyes:

Big Mig

Thanks a million for all the suggestions....

The conclusion we have come to is....(after discussions etc...)

That thinking about it, it is not realistic to expect the dog to sleep past 6 / 6.30....the reason being that a couple of days during the week we are up close to that time ourselves as we have had to go out etc....so, how can we expect the dog to fall into a morning routine when we dont have a definite time to get up every single day (which is the same time each day!)

So, we are going to let him out of the crate at the 6.00/6.30 wake up time to go toilet and then let him wander around and he will eventually come back to us and fall asleep with us on the bed or on the floor or on the couch!!!

This will have to be the routine, and its the most realistic one!