Whinning night dog

[Labradoodle2]

I have 2 labradoodles that are 5 months, a brother and his sister. They are crate trained and love to be with each other. Two weeks ago I began to let them out of their crate at night to sleep outside our bedroom door. They both did well for almost one week, but over this past week the boy began to whine at night, about every 1.5 to 2 hours. I have read online to use a "no" command when this occurs. I am unsure if it is that he is unfamiliar with his surroundings at night or if he is having separation issues from me "human mommy". He lays at my feet in front of the sofa at night. He is in the bathroom when I get out of the shower. If I use the "no" command I am just reinforcing this separation anxiety behavior. I began to put him back in his cage at night, still whinning not quite as long as before. Any suggestions PLEASE!

[loza123]

Hi,

You say they were both crate trained, when they were in the process of being trained on a night did you have the dogs at the side of your bed or in the bedroom somewere? As it could be a bit of a shock that there not in your room, if this is the case maybe a baby gate could help , just across your door as if they can see and smell you they might not be so stressed?

Hope that helps
lauren

[Labradoodle2]

No, there were trained in another room, which is where the cage still is. I put them in last night, ignored a bit of whimpering to wake up to a chewed bed. I swear I cannot win. When we let them out of the cage to sleep in the hallway near our bedroom we used a gate across the doorway to keep them out. I feel guilty leaving them in the cage without a bed, but they chew them even when i have kong toys in there with them. Thanks anyway

[Nettle]

At five months, you have over a year of chewing to go they don't do it to'annoy yo'u - they do it because they HAVE to. So give them plenty of safe things to chew: cardboard boxes, vegetables, that sort of thing. Deer antler is great if you can get it. Saw the points off first.

Now is the time for them to have a crate each. If you are to have any chance of training these two, you need to start building up the independence of each from the other, because you will need to train and walk them separately as well as together. At five months, they are on the threshold of early adolescence, with everything that brings.

So: A crate each but next to each other and just outside your room. Gradually you can move the crates further away.

[Nettle]

Apologies for the stray apostrophes - I have a weird keyboard and no edit facility