[Cobalt]

Mia is almost 10 months old. She is very different from our last dog, a maltese and we have made some mistakes with her that are impacting our sleep.

First of all, we did the same thing with our babies years ago. We had a hard time letting them cry and I was really tired for a long time! I see now that I am repeating this with Mia.

Mia was in a crate at night and during the day she is gated in the kitchen and we come home at noon to let her out and play. She goes to puppy daycare but keeps getting sick so that has stopped for a bit.

Last October she was very ill and we let her out of her kennel at night and into our bed. It was fine until her energy returned. Now some nights are fine but other nights are not. She is on and off our bed, she plays under our bed etc. Sometimes we take her down to the kitchen but then she barks to come back up and we go and get her which only teaches her to bark.

We were letting her self feed but have stopped that which will help with going potty at night. She has not had an accident in months except for a few times in our room at night. I would say she has peed on our carpet twice in 5 months.

Should we put her back in her kennel in our room or leave her downstairs where she is during the day? Any predictions about how long we will have to listen to her bark?? The other thing to consider, our college kids stay up very late when they are home and if she is in the kitchen, they will have her on the couch with them until they go to bed. I am not sure if that will cause a problem when we expect her to go in the kitchen and go to sleep at 10:30 pm.


Thank you!

[briteday]

If the kids are up past your 10:30 bedtime, then why not have them crate the dog in one of their bedrooms? The dog won't be confused about not being allowed on your bed and she can stay up with the kids.

[Cobalt]

Thanks but that won't work. They are in college and in and out depending upon school breaks etc.

It's the kitchen or our bedroom in the crate. With us or downstairs. Is it better for her to be with us? Also, when the new dog comes, will the new dog be better in a kennel in our room or downstairs in a kennel with Mia loose in the same room? Until Oprah yesterday the new dog would have been 8 weeks old but now we are looking at older dogs too.

We'd like to make the change tonight, fast opinions?

[Durbkat]

Put the crate in your room and sitting on top of something so she can see you and just let her bark it out. I don't crate Snoopy because people complained about him whining when he was 9 weeks old. He recently decided that he should sleep on the bed by jumping up one night and he has been there ever since. He stays in one spot the whole time.

[Cobalt]

Thank you! You are lucky, if she stayed on the bed we wouldn't mind. I am tired! Off to find ear plugs.