# Dog won't settle down at night



## kimmly_nl (May 11, 2012)

Hello I am new to this forum and new to the Havanese breed. We have a male havanese named Milo, now 11 months old. We got him at 16 weeks old. He is a beautiful little teddy bear, with a sweet personality. I have 2children who adore him as do we all. 

Since the first day we got him he will not settle down at night. In the beginning I understood this and he would go outside to pee 2-3 times a night. But after 4 am he would not settle down and whined and scratched at his kennel. After 2 months of this and no sleep after 4 am I would put him in the attached garage, because he would bark so loud he would keep us all up.

Eventually he stopped having to go out to pee, but still wakes up habitually and wants out of the kennel. He scratches and whines from 5 am on. I tell him NO, but he will not settle. So back to the garage he goes so we can get some sleep. I have another dog bichon x poodle mix and he settles down all night until we wake. The Poochon used to sleep in the kennel, but now sleeps on our bed. I am afraid to let him sleep on our bed for fear he will pee in the bed. He is doing well with house training... He doesn't pee in the house, but has no issues peeing in his kennel. Again another issue which stumps me. I never had a dog that pees in his den/kennel. Normally a place they never will pee. We go to bed around 10:30 and he pees before bedtime, plus we walk him and play fetch in backyard for about 40 mins after supper. I feed him twice a day... in the am and again at 5pm. HELP PLEASE!!

Milo's owner


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## rokipiki (Oct 15, 2010)

How big is his kennel (or crate)? He might be unconfortable inside? Have you ever let him sleep with another dog? He might suffer from separation anxiety.
People that I know had shi tzu that suffered from liver shunt. That boy couldn't settle during the night. He was walking all over the house, not sleeping at all. I think you should visit vet and ask about possible health problems that can lead to problems you described. 
When my boy Roki was puppy he protested when I switched off the light when going to sleep (he tried to chew books on nearby shelf). He grew out of it whe he was around 7 months old. 
Marina&Roki


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## marlowe'sgirl (Jun 17, 2010)

My pup always woke up early, but he never had an issue with his crate. I'd try to fix the crate issue first - maybe it should be smaller, maybe he needs to see the vet. Like you said, pups should never pee in the crate. 

As for the waking up early - my problem was solved when we let our pup sleep in the bed. He's happy to sleep as late as we do. In his crate, the sunrises - the let me out, I want to play/cuddle barks begin. So - he gets to sleep on the bed. Granted, we trusted him 100% when we allowed this move. He already had free run of the house when we left during the day without any accidents. I think he was 9 months old.


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## Kalico (Jan 11, 2012)

Sounds like he hates his crate. Has he peed on the bed before? If not, you might want to give letting him sleep with you a try. Or letting him out of his crate into an ex pen early in the morning with some entertaining chewies?


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## kimmly_nl (May 11, 2012)

I have mentioned the peeing issue to the vet and the breeder and there doesn't seem to be any health issues there that is evident. 

He has a small crate at night, so maybe a larger one to give him more room to move around. 

We have actually saw him go into his crate and pee during the day. He peed in it so much when he was small that I gave up on bedding and used pee pads in it. I threw away the puppy crate to avoid the odor drawing him to it to urinate in the day as he got older and got the idea of going outside. He can go all night now, but as soon as it starts to get daylight the whining and scratching starts. 

I will try a bigger crate tonight and if that doesn't work then I will try the bed... Fingers crossed he won't pee on the bed  Maybe sleeping with the other dog will help. Maybe it is separation anxiety?

Thanks for all the posts!


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## misstray (Feb 6, 2011)

When Brody was little he slept in his crate on a chair in my room. He still woke up too early for my liking, but I think he slept later than he would have if he'd been off by himself in another room. Once he got a bit bigger he started sleeping on the bed. Now he is happy to sleep in and often in the morning he doesn't even get up when I do, but steals my pillows for more nap time!


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## kimmly_nl (May 11, 2012)

Thanks Tracy and Brody  Hopefully something will work soon, like I said tonight I will try the larger kennel and if he won't settle then it's the bed!


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## MicheleS (May 9, 2011)

Hi Kim - Not sure if this will help, but our Cappy is a 14 months old. We crate trained him and he was 100% reliable somewhere between 6 and 9 months old. We can leave him alone in the house with no problems, but he still sleeps in his crate at night. He won't go in on his own, but when we put him in at night he snuggles right in until morning. However, we've always walked Cappy about 3 times a day and I've noticed that if he doesn't walk and a good play session in, he tosses and turns all night! Maybe your little guy needs even more exercise? Just a thought!


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## Brady's mom (Dec 1, 2006)

One more thought. Where is the crate normally? My dogs always needed to be in the bedroom at eye level. I used a crate on top of the night table until each of them was a year old or so. If they got up during the night, I would put a finger in and tell them quiet and they would go back to sleep. They just really needed to know they were with us. Once out of the crates, they moved to bed.


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## kimmly_nl (May 11, 2012)

Thanks Everyone... I tried a bigger kennel over the w/e and I beat the poor little guy out with loads of excercise and he did settle down. Thank heavens! He still starts wiggling around at sunrise, but he didn't whine or bark


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