Dog getting family up in the night

You don't have any problems when the dog stays with you, but your daughter has problems - what is different at your house? I'm not a dog owner, but I wonder why the dog is settled at your place and not where it lives

Does she stay in a cage with you?

She is upset and frightened. A nice basket/bed with blankets that she can snuggle under, and a radio on softly playing music. No cage. I would never use one although I do know someone that does and I think they can be used successfully - although as I say I have never had one.

She should settle down but it is worth a call to the vet if she doesn't.

Some dogs love the security of a crate and some hate being confined. I have 5 dogs and the 3 males are crated, 1 loves it and 2 don't mind it. The 2 female pugs sleep on my bed but have in the past slept in crates without objection. It could be all sorts of things other than the crate setting the dog off, for example water pipes gurgling, the central heating coming on
or even mice. They could try moving the crate to another room, covering the crate so the dog thinks it's still dark. Crates definitely have uses for destructive dogs. Has the dog always objected to the crate or is it a recent thing?

The dog is probably suffering a form of separation anxiety probably stemming from her phantom pregnancy.

She is clearly stressed.

Have they tried some calming pills from the vet to get her resettled? She could be reconditioned to her crate again. One idea would be to put her in the crate with a tasty chew that’s going to last a while. If she can come to associate her crate with good feelings for a start.

I’m assuming she has a cosy bed or blanket in it? Toys possibly?

Is she getting enough exercise? A walk before bed? Do they play with her, throws balls and have tuggy sessions? A bit of doggy massage. A bandana with a drop of Roman chamomile on it? All these can help stressed dogs.

In situations like this it pays to make haste very slowly. Baby steps. Or consult an animal behaviourist.

If the dog settles well at your house hatpev then surely it's just working out what is different in the surroundings, atmosphere, dogs bed, routine etc and copying that at your daughter's house. Poor thing sounds very distressed and it needs sorting out. The longer that this unsettled behaviour carries on the more firmly the habit will be instilled. You could also try finding a local, recommended dog trainer to help and advise

It ´sounds to me as if the dog wants out of wherever she sleeps in your daughter's home. Is she scrabbling at the door or the floor? If it is the floor, are the family quite, quite sure that there are not mice or rats under that floor?
If there are, you cannot blame the dog for trying to get at them.

Is there another room where they could try to let the dog sleep?

If she was happier in their kitchen, I would suggest placing a board in front of the door, so she cannot chew the door.

I'm assuming the dog has been out for a proper walk and both wee'd and did a job before bedtime?

Sorry, another thought: what breed is she? We had a collie who absolutely refused to sleep indoors after he was three months old. He was delighted when we repaired an old dog kennel in the garden and usually slept outside it, only inside in really bad weather, or when the cat joined him in it. In really cold or stormy weather he would consent to sleep in the coldest room in the house, but would really have preferred us to leave him outside.

Many breeds that traditionally have been sheep-dogs, trained to hunt or used as guard-dogs do find our houses too warm.

How strange that the dog is fine when she's with you, where does she sleep? My dog sleeps in my bed and I don't hear a peep out of him all night....Could DD get a dog bed and put the dog in her bedroom and she if that helps? Poor thing might just have separation anxiety as someone has suggested.

If a dog cried I d think it was upset and bring it into my room just the same as I would do with a child I m too lazy to be insisting it sleeps where it’s unhappy I know some people use crates but I think it must be awful to be shut in andnot have the understanding to know it will be opened in the morning

Has your daughter tried putting a jumper of hers in with the dog so she has a familiar smell?

18 months is still very young. Perhaps he/she misses the children and wants to play with them during the night.
And I agree with grandetante - the breed is important. Memories of the last days of our border collie when all she wanted to do at night in her old age was sit outside and bark for hours on end. Protecting our house.

Thank you all for your replies. In answer to some of the things raised by them:- she is a Cavapoo. She has always slept in crate from word go apart from the break when she was poorly. She sleeps in it in our house. She is exercised, fed, watered and given loads of love and play. It is a very small house with limited space but she has been tried in kitchen, living room and conservatory. Upstairs is really rather tight even for a dog bed. Recently she has been given some calming herbal medication which she doesn’t like. Fingers crossed it is a phase. I will pass your advice on.

Radio on low maybe leave a low light on She’s obviously scared and unsettled. Perhaps the medicine doesn’t suit her

Maybe your daughter needs to relax a bit more around the dog, her anxiety is transmitting to him and they are both unsettled. I assume the dog is house trained so why not leave him to find his own space at bed time. You could close the door to any room you didn't want him to go in. What happens when he stays with you ? Could your daughter replicate that.

Cavapoo - ? cavalier spaniel/poodle cross?
Poodles have boundless energy, need lots of human contact. Don't know about spaniels.

"Poodles are good family dogs — fun, energetic, smart and easy to train. They do best with plenty of exercise for both mind and body and prefer to be with people most of the time. They are not good kennel dogs."

We have always let our dogs sleep in our bedroom - not for everyone I know - we've never had a puppy as all the dogs we had were rescues between 2 & 5 years old. I think nightime is a bit scary for them, we found because they slept with us at night they didn't seem to mind being left for periods during the day

Just wanted to add, that any of our previous dogs always happily slept downstairs when they stayed with a carer if we went away (sadly we don't have a dog any more)

"Cavapoo"...[GRIN].

Cavaliers are definitely people dogs and adore company.

I have to say I really dislike this new fad of creating designer dogs, you take two perfectly good breeds and inevitably get the worst of both . Just my opinion of course.

She plainly has got out of the habit of being caged at her home so maybe it’s time to start from scratch and show her the cage is a place where good things happen not that she gets locked up and left alone. Maybe start by leaving the door open and when she goes in , either on command or by default, don’t shut the door but lots of praise and a treat or toy that she doesn’t get at any other time.

If her Cavalier genes are dominant she’ ll be food motivated so that will help.

I don’t think it will be a quick fix but moving on from there , short periods in the cage with the door closed but always lots of praise and that special toy or treat.

Good luck with it - no sleep is the worst thing !!

There is always a solution. My dog is attached to me, but if he sleeps on my bed, his constant moving about disturbs me. So I put a bed on the landing and I have a folding piece of garden trellis which I stretch across my open bedroom door at night. He can smell me and is happy to sleep on the landing. But I’d I shut the door, he would cry to get to me. Your daughters dog is trying to get out of the crate, trying to get out of the kitchen. Try putting the crate on the landing with the bedroom door open. See what happens.

Your Daughter could try leaving the crate door open and put a baby gate across the kitchen door opening and that way the door shouldn't get chewed, some dogs really hate not being able to see out of the room they are in. Also try one of those plug ins for anxious dogs Adaptil I think they're called.

No one ever used to crate a dog in my day if a dog is part of the family why would you not let it be part of the family at night time too I don’t understand this crating business is it a modern phenomena you wouldn’t put your husband or kids in a cage at night ...or would you

It's my understanding that they are companion dogs and therefore suffer terribly from separation anxiety.