Puppy sleep help

[Chewbacca 7793]

Our new-ish Newfoundland puppy, Pepper, is 4 months old and has never been a good sleeper but lately is ramping it up.  2 nights ago she was up 6 times and last night it was 3.  She is eating, drinking, pooping, peeing, and acting 100% normal during the day, including taking long naps during the day.  She likes her crate and goes to sleep easily.  The problem (I think) is that she does not sleep deeply at night.  It's like she takes a series of naps and then wants to get out of the crate to go outside after each nap.  Up until last night, her crate had been right next to me in the bedroom.  But after taking down the Christmas tree we moved her crate out to the family room, which is right next to the master bedroom.

 

What's confusing me is that she sleeps well when we are up at our place in the mountains, where her crate is also in the family room right next to the master.  She will either go through the night or wake up only 1 time up there.  But back down in Denver it's back to the routine of getting up all the damn time.

 

She's otherwise a great dog, but this sleep thing is like having a fucking newborn.  Every other dog I've ever had was sleeping through the night within a couple of weeks.

 

[Chewbacca 7793]

Huh.  Not sure why tinypic Armybrat'd the picture.  It was right side up when I took it.

[Cheeseweasel 26438]

She's probably dizzy from being upside down in that kennel.

 

Seriously, though. Get her a BUNCH of exercise during the day and see if that helps.

 

[WhatTheBuck 28837]

What's she doing when she wakes up at night that's a problem? Is she barking? Clawing at the cage door? Defecating inside her cage?

 

[woohorn 1131]

Clawing at the cage door? Defecating inside her cage?
 

Um, they are CRATES, not cages.

This isn't the Board where we discuss babies in cages.

OP: wear your dog out with a walk at night.

[Chewbacca 7793]

What's she doing when she wakes up at night that's a problem? Is she barking? Clawing at the cage door? Defecating inside her cage?
 

Whining and barking until you let her out.

[LebongJames 1827]

Excercise her and then let her cry it out. We have a Goldendoodle that had the same issues. We run him, take him on a hike walk 2 times a day. I also put him in his crate in the laundry for a few nights and let him cry it out.

We also give a Kong or bully stick at night if he didn’t get a ton of excercise to at least get some chewing out of his system.

[WhatTheBuck 28837]

Yeah, don't teach her that you'll let her out if she whines and barks. Teach her that that won't work. 

[Lobwedgephil 1146]

Agreed with above, letting her whine and getting her out just teaches her to do it more. Just have to be strong for a couple of nights and it should pass. 

[Chewbacca 7793]

1 hour ago, WhatTheBuck said:

Yeah, don't teach her that you'll let her out if she whines and barks. Teach her that that won't work. 

I get that and we definitely let her know it won't work.  But one night we pushed her too far (let her go for a solid 30-40 minutes) and when we smelled the shit all over the crate we knew it was a mistake.  I never let her out when she is making noise.  Always wait until she's silent for a good bit.  But she has staying power like no dog I've ever had.

 

All that said, I think moving the crate to the next room did the trick.  She slept from 10 to 6:45 this morning.  Holy shit, I forgot how good a full night of sleep feels.

[Lobwedgephil 1146]

30-40 minutes was pushing too far? First dog I'm guessing? 

[Chewbacca 7793]

8 minutes ago, Lobwedgephil said:

30-40 minutes was pushing too far? First dog I'm guessing? 

It pushed her too far is what I mean.  She had to shit and we thought she was just wanting out of her crate.  We were wrong.

 

This is our 3rd dog.  We get big, lazy dogs so they can hold it at night and generally sleep well.  The first 2 fit that mold.  She is proving to be more challenging, but hopefully we've got her figured out.

[Parliament 14374]

Put the crate outside. Let her cry all she wants.