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November 2011 Moms
Dog People - Advice Needed!
We have a little 5lb poodle mix that has slept in our bed since we got him 4.5 years ago. DH has always hated it, usually because he is the one woken up in the morning to make the potty trick. We have a beagle that is crate trained too.
Any advice on transitioning our little guy to a crate? DH thinks it will be too much when baby comes, and I agree. The sooner we get him out of the bed the better. Every time we crate him at night he barks incessantly....
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Re: Dog People - Advice Needed!
Ugh, I feel for ya. I don't have any ideas just wanted to let you know you aren't alone. I have an American Eskimo that has always slept in the bed. He's 9. It's going to be hard to kick him off. I think I'll only kick him off when we have the babies in bed, though - chillaxing. Babies will not sleep with us. My Eskie tends to fall asleep in my arms and then, because he's too hot, goes to my feet when I'm asleep. Might be naive but I'd love to believe he'll stay out of the way on his own. When he is tired of being kicked by me, he goes to a dogbed on the floor beside me. We don't crate and won't start now - but then he's a bit bigger (20lbs) and along with hubby's dog (45lbs), they can go through the night without being let out.
I think, if I were starting this, I'd make the crate super comfy - and leave the door open at night so that he knows he can still get to you. But I'm no dog-whisperer and that's probably the worst advice ever.
We won't have babies in bed either. But we do plan to have a bassinet in the room, and we just think that the dog will get up when the baby does and make commotion...
We may just have to put up with the barking at night. Do you guys think we should get him his own crate, or put him in with the beagle? There is room for 2 in there, and they nap in there together sometimes, but I don't know if they should have their own space at night...
I know every dog is different, but you might be surprised at how well they can handle the adjustment. My dog never jumped up on the cradle, or bark in the middle of the night when the baby got up. He is spaz now with baby, because they like playing together, but we never had to change anything really when the baby arrived. I think it worked out better, at least for us, to keep their routines the same as much as possible. I wish you luck
We could try that, but where he is so little he has a hard time holding his pee all night... we're afraid he'd just wander around and pee, whereas if he's in the bed he usually wakes us up, or if he's in a crate he would bark.
Maybe I can convince DH to just get a bigger bed and we can leave him. I love the little guy so much, I'm going to feel so bad for him when he cries all night in a crate!!
I agree with this. Every dog I've ever watched adjust to a new baby goes into protection mode, not distract/disrupt mode. I think that's why we aren't worried about our dogs so much. We'll have the bassinettes in the room, too. I know if I don't let Tibby be with me, he'll react much worse to everything. Whenever I've babysat for a neighbor, for example, he gets mad when I don't let him be at my feet. When he can just reach out and put a paw on me, though, he doesn't care that I'm paying all my attention to the baby. I know that'll be different when it's our own babies and not a baby we are babysitting for a friend, but I do think if I change things around for Tibby too much, his jealousy could get ugly.
You mentioned your dog needs to be let out each night. So if he's crated, will you not be letting him out? Won't that mean a mess to clean up later? I'd rather not add to my list of things I'll have to do in the morning - and especially given that you'll be up for feedings, you can let the dog out then.
Just some ideas. Not judging or anything. I think it's wise to think about this now and not later.
I can tell you this...I have always thought of my dog as my first baby boy, and to see how much the two of these kids enjoy playing with each other is just so much fun....in fact, DS's first word was "doggy" and that just melted my heart.
He was the one who would keep me company during the night time feedings
There are a few tricks you can try. If it were me, I would try these:
1)Get him used to sleeping on a special blanket in your bed and then slowly transition the blanket and your pup into the crate. Of course he'll complain, but you may have to endure it for a week, and don't back down otherwise you're back at square one.
2)Get him used to the crate at different times during the day. This way he'll be more comfortable in it at any given time, and night time won't be so bad.
3) There's nothing that says you have to put him in a crate. If he's just not sleeping in your room, will that be good enough?
I would suggest that you try to limit his water intake so that he starts to hold it longer during the night (i.e. no water after 6 pm). I know he's small, and I don't know what time you and your DH get up in the morning. Our toy poodle was good from 10-6 without having getting us up in the middle of the night. GL!
No, of course we would let him out. Sometimes he makes it through a whole night, sometimes he can't. If he barked to go out from his crate, we'd get up and let him out.
We are more afraid of him barking when the baby cries, or kicking him off the bed in our sleepy attempts to get at baby. Things like that. We are thinking the crate would give him his own space and it would mean one less thing to worry about in terms of commotion in the middle of the night.
In terms of him having a more positive reaction, I'm hoping he will. We know the beagle will... but this dog is seriously attached to my hip. He's always at my side and follows me everywhere. We're thinking his adjustment may be harder because he's not going to be my #1 priority like he is now.
I will definitely try your first tip! I was thinking of even putting a crate right next to the bed. It's more just getting him out of the bed, not that he has to be in a crate versus on his own bed.
I mean, this dog is so spoiled he has a staircase up into our bed. We just think it will help de-stress our sleeping environment if we can get him into his own space.
And I must have written something wrong in a previous post, because he doesn't have to get up to go in the middle of the night very often. It's usually in the morning that he wakes DH up, but sometimes in the middle of the night if we don't take them out right before bed. But that's rare. We're not really concerned as much about the mess making in the middle of the night.
Great advice! I was going to write a few of these myself. My dog sleeps in a crate every night and it took a lot of training and patience. These are what worked for us, so they may or may not work for you and your little guy.
1) Get him his own crate, even if he fits in the existing crate with your other dog. This way, both doggies have their own space. The other one may get a bit territorial if suddenly he has a new sleeping partner every night.
2) Get him a crate that is only large enough for him to stand up, lay down and turn around in. This sounds cruel but it isn't and will help with the peeing problem. Dogs won't go on themselves. Like Red said, restrict his water intake for an hour or two before bed, take him out pee immediately before bed and as soon as you wake up in the morning.
3) Under no circumstances should you let him out when he barks and whines. Right now, he is training YOU to get what he wants. When DH and I were crate training our dog, she whined incessantly for nights and it was painful to leave here in there. By letting him out when he barks, you are rewarding his bad behavior. Ignore him so that he learns that he can't get his way by barking at you. Get earplugs if you have to. Our dog gave up barking after 3-4 nights if I remember and now she goes into her crate every night when she gets tired. She knows that it is her space and loves it.
4) Our dog is very food motivated, so our command for her to go into her crate is "kennel up." Every time she does it, she gets a treat. She has come to expect her night time treat before she will sleep.
5) Also like Red said, get him used to the crate throughout the day. Maybe try tossing a few treats or a toy in there to create positive associations for him. With our dog, we spent a few days feeding her in the crate with the door open, then feeding her with the door closed but opening it immediately when she finished, to having her wait a few minutes (silently) before we would let her out. She never, under any circumstances, is let out when she whines. Also, give your dog a lot of praise every time he goes in there.
6) Once the baby comes, I don't plan to move my dog's crate. It will be a pain to fit a bassinet in our bedroom along with the crate, but I want there to be as little change as possible for the dog. Her world will probably be turned upside down and I want to do everything I can to make the transition as painless as possible.
Baby Turtle - November 2014
I second all of these suggestions. Also, I know crate training seems to have a negative connotation, but once they get used to it, it also becomes a safe place that is all their own. Our dog chooses to go to her crate when we're up watching tv and she wants to go to bed. When baby comes, we will be very strict about not letting the baby play in/with the crate. That is the dog's space and when she needs a break from the ear tugs and tail-pulling, she can go there and not be bothered.
I agree! We definitely won't force the dog into the crate if he would rather be on his own bed or something. We want him to have his own positive place.
Our beagle LOVES her crate. When we say "time to go night-night" she bolts up the stairs and sits in her crate, waiting for her little bone we give them each night. Sometimes I want her to cuddle with us in bed, and she won't budge from her crate!
We definitely want it to be a positive thing for our other dog too...
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To start with - the idea that your dog is having a hard time not peeing through the night was my fault - I misread something, so I'm sorry cause I see that it's led to a number of suggestions to help avoid this - and it's not even a problem. Oops. Sorry!
Only other thing I wanted to say is my dog is attached to my hip, too. If I try to detach him, well, he, um, gets unhappy. Not in a destructive or even bad way but rather in a depressed way. And watching my doggie depressed is depressing. I understand not wanting to kick him off the bed and I think that might be where our situations differ. My dog is so used to me kicking (I kick in my sleep) that he has learned his safe places on the bed. If I scooch down, he moves to my mid-body. If I scooch up on the bed, he moves below my feet. What I take away from that, though, is our doggies are pretty good at adapting to us. Like another poster said, you establish the rules and don't give in to what he or she is begging for. It breaks our hearts, but he'll get it. (I keep saying he, but I'm not really sure your doggie is a he...)
Just some food for thought. Do you like your doggie on the bed or do you really want to change this? If you like it, I think your dog will adapt to you. Just like you, he will hear the baby crying and will very quickly associate that with "get out of mom's way".
Just so you know, I love playing devil's advocate. I like to examine all sides of the coin even if I don't particularly agree with a particular side. I am always surprised to learn what I might have easily dismissed, though. So, like I said, just food for thought.
No worries - I did write a comment that could have been taken as him having trouble holding it through the night every night, so it was probably my fault too!
I personally don't mind Dexter in the bed, but DH hates it and always has. He was also anti-bassinet in the room, until I explained to him that there was no way we'd not have the baby in the room the first few months for multiple reasons! I think DH wants our bedroom to be our room only, and I don't blame him.
So, I think I'm going to give it a good try to get him out of the bed for DH's sake. If it doesn't work, it doesn't work...and hopefully he'll just adjust to baby when the time comes!
I agree - we did this when our dog was a puppy. And she would never sleep in her crate at night, so she sleeps on her doggy pillow on the floor next to our bed.