[SKP1958]

I wanted to reach out to this forum to see if I could possibly get some help. We adopted a 3 year old Beagle mix female two weeks ago. She is just finishing up 2 antibiotics for a 'significant infection' and is feeling better. But, our issue is that she is not sleeping through the night. Gets us up 2-3 times each night. Sometimes she pees and other times not. She seems to be anxious about the dark among other things. We got her from a beagle breeder. She was born there, was adopted once and then brought back to the breeder because the people who adopted her didn't have the right accommodations at their home to keep her.. which we are just taking the word of the breeder about this.

So, we tried her in a large pen in a room in our house with our other dog (2 year old beagle/male, who is very well house trained and sleeps through the night). There is a divider between them. She barked a lot.. it didn't work. So, we put her in a dog bed on the floor in our room, but she is still getting us up about 3 times a night. We are pretty exhausted and just need to figure out how to get her trained in the right way.

Thanks!

 

[Lillith]

Have you talked to your vet about this? Is it possibly a side effect of her medication?

What does she do when she gets up? Does she bark to be let out? Or does she just pace?

 

[SKP1958]

She barks, whines, paces. She was doing this the first week even without being on medication. We thought she was just getting used to our place and us. She had been used to going out whenever she wanted while at the kennel...because she had a run.

 

[Lillith]

Two weeks is a very short amount of time to be with you, so she is very likely still adjusting to you and her new routine. It can take 3 months or longer for them to be completely at home with you.

If I were in your position, I would kind of treat her like a little puppy for the time being. At night I would crate her near my bed. There will likely be some fussing, I'm afraid, but I'm hoping you being near will keep it to a minimum. You can stick your fingers through the bars of the crate to comfort her if need be. After a few nights, start moving the crate away from your bed, a little farther each night, until it's in the place you would like her to sleep. If needed, you can set an alarm to take her outside for an on-leash potty trip if you think she needs it, but as a 3 year old she should be able to hold it all night.

I would keep her crated at night for at least 3-4 months so she understands that night is for sleeping. After that time, if she's not the type to get into things unsupervised you can leave the crate door open at night and see how that goes. If she's quiet at night, great, but if not back in the crate she goes. If she proves she can be quiet at night for a few months you can transition from the crate to bed on the floor.

 

[Toedtoes]

I would double check with the vet first. If no health reasons for the behavior, I would look closely at when the behavior starts up.

Does she start out at night going to bed without issue and then gets up a few hours later? Or does she whine and pace before going to sleep in the first place?

How does she sleep during the day? Is she anxious then also? Or does it only happen at night?

Have you tried leaving a light on at night for her? Even a small nightlight at an outlet by her bed? Or a wind up clock? The old fashioned steady ticking of the clock can be soothing to a dog.

Do you give her a good exercise session before bedtime? And a last minute potty trip (always wait until she pees before coming back in)?

When you're up, does she like to be with your other beagle? Do you feel you need to separate them at night? Maybe if she were IN the exercise pen with him she'd stop barking. Beagles tend to be dog social - they have been bred to live in groups and work in groups.

Have you talked to the breeder about it? Do they have a nighttime routine that she might have gotten accustomed to?

Does she have any confusion when she paces, etc? That could be a sign of mini seizures.

 

[SKP1958]

Hello all.. we have beagles (one 4-year-old female and one 2 year-old male). The female is new to us.. as we adopted her from a kennel (rescue-possibly abused) 3 months ago. We have been trying different ways for her to sleep. Started with a dog bed beside ours and she would stay there for a short time and then get up and walk around whining. Our other dog sleeps with us in our bed. Then, we tried to put them in a nice sized pen in another room with dog beds at night. Our 2 year old male (Baxter) who we have had since a pup, was fine in there, but the adopted dog (Bella) would wake up every time my husband and I would go to the bathroom in the middle of the night and go nuts barking and whining. So, we would need to put her out. It wasn't working at all. So, lastly (the way we are doing it now) we still have Baxter in bed with us and we leave the door open to the crate and pen in the other bedroom and she seems to like sleeping in the crate/blanket with the door open. She goes right in there at night and sleeps... but here is the issue. My husband and I each get up 1 or 2 times at night to go to the bathroom. Each time, Bella comes out and wants to go outside. We have been putting her out each time and she pees and then we put her right back in her area. Any suggestion as to how to remedy this? Before Bella, we would get up.. go to the bathroom.. go back to bed and Baxter never moved. Now, each time we get up, Bella comes out of her pen and wants us to take her out. If we ignore her, she does go back to bed, but she has had a few accidents.

Any suggestions would be very much appreciated!
Sharon

 

[Toedtoes]

I would take her out at the very last minute befor you go to bed and again the very first thing when you get up. Then don't take her outside during the night. As this is repeated, she'll catch on to your routine.

As your male sleeps on the bed, have you tried letting her sleep there also?

 

[SKP1958]

Two weeks is a very short amount of time to be with you, so she is very likely still adjusting to you and her new routine. It can take 3 months or longer for them to be completely at home with you.

If I were in your position, I would kind of treat her like a little puppy for the time being. At night I would crate her near my bed. There will likely be some fussing, I'm afraid, but I'm hoping you being near will keep it to a minimum. You can stick your fingers through the bars of the crate to comfort her if need be. After a few nights, start moving the crate away from your bed, a little farther each night, until it's in the place you would like her to sleep. If needed, you can set an alarm to take her outside for an on-leash potty trip if you think she needs it, but as a 3 year old she should be able to hold it all night.

I would keep her crated at night for at least 3-4 months so she understands that night is for sleeping. After that time, if she's not the type to get into things unsupervised you can leave the crate door open at night and see how that goes. If she's quiet at night, great, but if not back in the crate she goes. If she proves she can be quiet at night for a few months you can transition from the crate to bed on the floor.

I have had her for about 3 months now. When you shut the door to the crate, she goes absolutely nuts and paws so much at the crate. I don't want her to hurt herself. I did try putting the two dogs together and it seemed to work for a while and did pretty well, but then when we switched the clocks at daylight savings time, that is when she changed her sleeping habits. Right now.. when she gets up when we get up, she doesn't bark, so wakes up with us. We do go back to bed and let her be some of the time and she goes back to bed without a fuss. It's just that she has had some accidents too.

 

[SKP1958]

I have had her for about 3 months now. When you shut the door to the crate, she goes absolutely nuts and paws so much at the crate. I don't want her to hurt herself. I did try putting the two dogs together and it seemed to work for a while and did pretty well, but then when we switched the clocks at daylight savings time, that is when she changed her sleeping habits. Right now.. when she gets up when we get up, she doesn't bark, so wakes up with us. We do go back to bed and let her be some of the time and she goes back to bed without a fuss. It's just that she has had some accidents too.

During the day, she does great in a pen with the two dog beds while we are at work. We have someone stop in for an hour around lunch and let them out for a while. But, there are no accidents.

 

[Toedtoes]

As first suggested, have you gotten her a vet visit to rule out any health issues.

If no health issues, I would focus on consistency. In 3 months' time, you have changed her sleeping location at least three times and her bedtime once (dogs don't care about daylight savings, you are simply changing their bedtime twice a year). That is very confusing for a dog who is also dealing with a new brother, home, people, and lifestyle. Pick a sleep routine and stick with it. As she did well with her brother, I would encourage that.

I asked before, but you didn't answer: if your male is sleeping on the bed with you, then could the new dog do so as well? This would allow you to easily call her back to bed after your bathroom visit and give her a cuddle and then go back to sleep.

My Tornado-dog would get up and want to play every time I had to pee during the night. I would just come back to bed and have him lay down beside me for a tummy rub. Now, he still gets off the bed when I get up, but he immediately lays on the floor when he sees me go into the bathroom. When I come back to bed, he comes up and goes back to sleep. By being consistent and giving him that "down time" routine, he has learned that my nighttime pee trips don't mean time to get up.

 

[BKaymuttleycrew]

OK, so.... If you're already up (going to the bathroom) why is it such a problem to let her outside to pee too? You & your spouse want/need to have a pee break (or two!) during the night.... why is it such a stretch that the dog might want/need one as well? If she goes straight back to her bed & sleeps the rest of the night without incident, then perhaps she needs a middle of the night bathroom break (when disturbed out of slumber by your getting up). Options are: Install a dog door so she can go outside & relieve herself; take her out when you're making your middle of the night bathroom run; resign yourself to cleaning up her "accidents" when you don't allow her the opportunity to empty her bladder when she needs to.

Just stay in bed one night, ALL night, and if you wake up with a 'full feeling bladder' - just stay put under the covers & don't allow yourself to get up for relief. Now, reconsider how you view your dog's 'problem'.

 

[Khecha Wacipi]

Have you had this dog checked out at the vet?