8 months old, early morning barking, what should i do? Help!! U/D still no joy

[cerinrich]

Can you manage to have a couple of days apart from Bentley? Could someone look after him or could you put him into kennels for a couple of nights? A couple of good nights sleep and a bit of time away from the stress he's causing you might make it easier to cope with him when you're reunited. I know that when Hattie was little and I was wondering what we'd done taking on such a monster(!), I found it very hard to 'good girl' her for stopping being a madam and when we were out and people said how gorgeous she is, I found it almost impossible to smile and agree. If you can have a bit of space and get back to focusing on the lovely things about Bentley rather than his barking, which, understandably, seems to be the main focus of the way you feel about him at the moment, it might be easier to carry on trying to sort out his noisiness. I have to say though, that when Hattie was in her phase of being noisy in the night and went to stay with my parents, going to bed had become such a stressful thing that I found myself waking up in the night convinced that I'd heard her bark even though she was 250 miles away... 
ps Hattie is a little table-climbing minx too, but now I can say that with an indulgent smile!

[bracken]

I completely understand your feelings about him have changed  we had 4 months of barking and I gave in, Rosie now sleeps upstairs on her own bed. But she still wakes at 4.30 but does not bark.
Could you not try him on his own bed in your room or on the landing 
My OH was not keen at first but things got so bad though lack of sleep we really had no option
Jo

[uplands]

  Rebeccabloor - Hi

Sorry to hear that you are at your wits end with your little man.  We too are woken each morning at about 5am and after taking Tillie out for a wee she will not settle in her crate.   We run a bed and breakfast and we cant allow her to howl or bark at night as we would never have any guests stay with us! l have decided that because she has been asleep from 10pm until about 5am that is probably her quota for the night and therefore it is probably expecting too much for her to settle down again.  What we have found is that if we take her to our bed she settles for another 2 hours which is lovely The little  l too worried about 'who would look after her' when we went away as no one wants to sleep with someone elses dog But l think to myself that when she goes to a dog sitter which l am arranging - it will be different for her and who knows she may decide to sleep longer in the mornings - as it is different when she gets there (the routine has changed) -and l dont suppose she is going to worry about getting into our bed in the morning because its going to be a different house!   No one can tell you what to do as each household/pup/rules are different but try not too worry too much about the going away on holidays - puppy will be thinking about what is happening now and not what will be happening before.  hope this makes some kind of sense. 

[Cob-Web]

I thought ALL behaviour could be trained?

It can.....but even once you find the training technique that works for your dog, and the specific behaviour you want to train, it can take months of work to achieve the desired result    I'm sorry that isn't a particularly positive answer, but it sounds like you might have reached a point where you have to make some hard decisions for the healthy and happiness of the whole family.

I understand your reluctance to have Bentley in the bedroom - my OH is the same. But, if the alternative is continuing months of disturbed sleep while you try to find a solution, or even rehoming him if you are unable to cope; which would you prefer?

Perhaps you could use a crate upstairs - there are a range of soft, pop-up style crates on the market that you could use if space is an issue; and if he only goes upstairs to bed, and doesn't have access at the rest of the day, then hairs can be kept to a minimum 

Dogs don't always fit our expectations and "house rules" - and sometimes, compromise is necessary in order for everyone to live harmoniously     

Oh, and try not to worry about dog sitting arrangements; dogs don't generalise well, so sometimes, a dog which is used to being crated at night downstairs will howl the place down in a different house, and a dog which is used to sleeping in their owners room will settle downstairs on someone elses sofa with no problems !

[supaspaniel]

I'm not sure if I've understood you right, but I dont think you are doing the right thing by ignoring him untill he is quiet and THEN letting him out     correct me if i've misunderstood you .

My lot wake me up really early  I go down to them and let them out without speaking to them. I let them back in and tell them 'bed' and they get back to their beds and i go back up to bed for a bit. Now 3 of my gang are in their twilight years and had been sleeping with me in the bedroom until a year ago, so they can learn 
'ignoring' a dog doesn't necessarily work, unless you go to the dog at the very moment they are quiet. Perhaps you coukld teach Bentley 'quiet time' during the day.

I'll have him for you 

[SimonandMandy]

Agree completely with Cob-web about pet sitter side of things - don't let this be a barrier at all, Harvey on occassion stays at MIL's and is quite happy to sleep in her dining room (curled up on her rocker no less) for a full night without a peep... 

As small as this sounds Bentley could be responding to someone in the house waking - if I wake and roll over Harvey immediately senses this and comes over to see if it is time to get up, if I ignore him he will go back to bed.

If the only decision in the end is to have Bentley nearer to you, it does not have to  be in your bed - Harvey sleeps in his own bed during the night and although he has tested this rule a couple of times we have stuck to it and just silently put him back in his own bed.

Another thought - how late is Bentley's last meal - can you make it later in case it is that he is waking hungry? 

[phoenix]

Agree that he may be hungry, and a bedtime snack may help him sleep longer.
I'm a 'failure' because we did very well having both dogs in the utility room,until the older one had major tummy trouble, and Bobby tried eating his way through the door (I don't blame him!!) .The following week they had 4 days in kennels and came home,him hysterical about being shut in, and shredded the door all night. Now he sleeps in his bed in our room,absolutely good as gold,happy to have a lie-in. He is also less fractious due to sleeping well. I swore I'd never do it,but sometimes its the only way. I would leave him free-ranging but we have cats doing that at night.
He's obviously  still very young, and a confused teenager. Poor lad needs to relax and so do you!!!

[rebeccabloor]

We have relented to allowing Bentley in to our bedroom in his bed.

Thank you all for your valued imput and personal experiences.

I really don't know if he would have settled down with perseverance and i don't think i ever will now but i have felt so tired and low because of the disturbed sleep and after it started to affect the way i felt towards him i knew something had to give.

Thank you all again for taking time to read my post and replying 

[black taz]

has he settled into sleeping in your room?

it took Taz a week or so to settle first thing, we thought it was that he was still expecting to be took downstairs to sleep, then we realised he settled when our son was home.  We have now found that if we shut him in with us (rather than leaving the door for him to come and go, that he settles immediately.

Good luck.

[Annie's Mum]

Dont feel you have failed...my Cavvy Ollie was our first dog and we spent weeks trying to maike him sleep downstairs. We just couldn't do it any more and he slept on our bed. The only consequence is we then got Maisie  who joined him..and when we lost him and got Annie she then wanted to sleep with maisie on the bed...its a bit of a vicious circle we have got in to 

We're very luck that our Dog sitter allows them on her bed also

[rebeccabloor]

He doesn't get it when we invite him upstairs when the lights go out downstairs.

He looks very confused........

He settles fine when we are in the bedroom, but does try and get on the bed when we are stirring in the morning, which we don't want but when told to get back to bed he does comply.

He does seem to think he can go upstairs when he wants though, so we have to make sure the stairgate is shut all the time now, as before, even though the stair gate was there we didn't have to shut it cause he knew it was a 'no-go' area.

I have fell in love with him again though  It was just awful feeling resentful towards him.

[uplands]

They can be very trying these little mites     Glad you are getting some sleep    We think they are being good as gold and then all of a sudden they become little  again.  Bless them   We are all pretty much in the same boat which is comforting to know - and helps us all to get over any obstacles that come our way . 

[Kev]

My 7 month old puppy Scooby has just started barking during the night in the past week or so. My fiance has gone away with work so I'm not sure if that's part of the problem and he's missing her but as soon as he's on his own he starts crying and then barking. Last night he went in his pen around 10.30pm and 30 mins later was barking the house down.
I've had to let him in the bedroom something I didn't want to do but my neighbour who is very understanding did comment that his barking was keeping her awake! Even in the bedroom he's not totall settled and always getting up and moving round the room. He used to sleep straight through up to the other week.
Any advice?