[eventfarm]

I have two 5 month old lab/husky mix puppies. They have personalities that are night and day! Nitro is quiet, shy and (generally) well behaved. Niko is outgoing, adventurous and (generally) gets into as much trouble as he can.
They both go to puppy class and know sit, down, off, come and are working on stay and assorted tricks.

The biggest problem I'm having is getting Niko to settle. Nitro, when he's tired or relaxed, will lay at our feet and sleep or quietly chew a toy. We would never have to put him in his crate except when we're not here and at night.

Niko, on the other hand, won't settle unless he's in his crate. That means that after he's been out of his crate for about 3 hours he gets tired and cranky and paces the house, whines, gets into trouble (ie, tries to escape the boundries of the room, whines to go out multiple times, etc). If we put him in his crate and close the door he immediately settles and goes to sleep.

Since he won't settle if his brother is out of the crate and he's in it, that means we also have to put Nitro in his crate. I really don't like having to put them away as much as we're having to, so we've tried to push the limit on how long we're keeping them out.

We've also tried sitting by their crates until they fall asleep and then leaving their doors open. but it only lasts about 10 minutes as Niko inevitably wakes up and leaves the crate. Then he goes into Nitro's crate and wakes up his brother....

So, first question... is it ok to have them in their crates so much? And then, any ideas on getting Niko to settle without putting him in his crate?

[TooneyDogs]

Sounds like you have one pack driven dog and one prey driven dog.
The pack dog is content to lay at your feet, be petted and has that laid back personality. The prey driven dog is at a loss for something to do...that hardwired instinct makes it really hard to just lounge around. He wants to chase something, herd something, hunt something. You'll have to find an an appropriate outlet.

[eventfarm]

That makes complete sense! I think we're giving him outlets for his energy - we take him to the dog park regularly and I run with him. He doesn't really like to chase toys, but he LOVES his runs with me.

He usually doesn't start this behaviour until he's already tired. If he just came out of his crate, he'll be good. It's when he gets tired. It reminds me of young kids that get cranky when they're tired, and keep saying that they can't fall asleep. but then the second they close their eyes they're out like a light!

[Durbkat]

Do they have kongs? My dog is like yours, if he is tired he will start making noises and jumping against the baby gate to get out and when I give him his kong he will chew on it for awhile to get the treat out then he will crawl into his bed.

[wvasko]

Originally Posted by eventfarm

I have two 5 month old lab/husky mix puppies. They have personalities that are night and day! Nitro is quiet, shy and (generally) well behaved. Niko is outgoing, adventurous and (generally) gets into as much trouble as he can.
They both go to puppy class and know sit, down, off, come and are working on stay and assorted tricks.

The biggest problem I'm having is getting Niko to settle. Nitro, when he's tired or relaxed, will lay at our feet and sleep or quietly chew a toy. We would never have to put him in his crate except when we're not here and at night.

Niko, on the other hand, won't settle unless he's in his crate. That means that after he's been out of his crate for about 3 hours he gets tired and cranky and paces the house, whines, gets into trouble (ie, tries to escape the boundries of the room, whines to go out multiple times, etc). If we put him in his crate and close the door he immediately settles and goes to sleep.

Since he won't settle if his brother is out of the crate and he's in it, that means we also have to put Nitro in his crate. I really don't like having to put them away as much as we're having to, so we've tried to push the limit on how long we're keeping them out.

We've also tried sitting by their crates until they fall asleep and then leaving their doors open. but it only lasts about 10 minutes as Niko inevitably wakes up and leaves the crate. Then he goes into Nitro's crate and wakes up his brother....

So, first question... is it ok to have them in their crates so much? And then, any ideas on getting Niko to settle without putting him in his crate?

Well 1st thing I would do is separate the crates get these pups away from each other so they can grow up a bit without relying on their littermate. This will probably cause some chaos in the house but life is tough and then you die. When raising pups at 7 wks of age you seperate the littermates because they have enough canine socialization and they can then concentrate on people. These 2 pups are like siamese twins connected at the hip. 2nd thing do not worry about how long pups are in crates, as long as you get them out properly for bathroom trips, food, water etc. should not be a problem. As new owners I am going to assume you will also give them quality play/bonding time etc. So it is not going to warp your pups pschye.
PLEASE remember this is only something for you to try, another option. If its not going to help it won't hurt.