Cavoodle pup no longer wants to sleep in crate all of a sudden

Hey everyone,

I have a 6 month old cavoodle/cavapoo who my partner and I have been crate training to sleep inside crate overnight for the last 2 months (before that we didn't have the pup so we don't know how he was sleeping). He was doing well with the crate at night however we did need to lie infront of the crate and wait for him to fall asleep before leaving him or he would start to cry/bark (this never got better). Most nights we would have to do this multiple times as we would leave and he would wake up shortly after or hear us getting into bed and wake up & start crying/barking. Once finally settled he would sleep through the whole night rarely waking up during which was great. We keep the crate in our living room which is next to our bedroom so we can hear him.

This week all of a sudden our attempts to settle him in his crate have become very challenging. It all started when one night I did the usual routine of laying down infront of the crate and wait for him to fall asleep however everytime I left he would cry and bark and wouldn't settle so it took about 3 hours or repetition to settle him. He eventually went to sleep until he woke up at 4am barking. I thought he must need to pee/poo so took him outside to our fake grass patch however he didn't go so I lured him back into his crate. He then continued to cry/bark even when I was laying infront of his crate so I let him out a second time and he threw up before being let outside again. We then took him for a walk thinking he also needed to poo (as he refuses to poo on his fake grass patch and anywhere in our courtyard – will basically only poo somewhere random around the neighbourhood) which he did on our walk at 5am (we are not morning people and would never normally be awake that early). We were exhausted from minimal sleep and worried as he had been sick so we let him sleep at the foot of our bed from 5am for the rest of the morning. (I'm worried this is where he worked out he could get into our bed by crying/barking).

The following night we could not get him to settle in his crate. I decided maybe we try to put him in his gated off pen area to sleep which we have done once before and it went ok. He wouldn't settle in there and would cry and bark as soon as we walked away. I then tried pretending to sleep in the pen with him which eventually worked after a couple hours and he slept the whole night.

Last night I decided to try bring his crate into our bedroom so he could be close to us in the hopes he would settle easier. This didn't work as he would cry and bark the whole time seemingly even more distressed then being left in the crate in tjw livingroom (ad he could see us and not get to us?). I then tried placing him in the pen area as it had kind of worked the previous night however he would cry and bark as soon as I left the pen. We caved in and let him sleep in our bed as we were both exhausted and have jobs and things we need to function for and were feeling very triggered and defeated from the last few nights wondering how all our trainung work had just gone out the windows.

I never wanted him sleeping in our bed. My partner and I are both light sleepers and find a dog in bed to be uncomfortable and a distraction. Now we feel its our only option for peace 🥲. We just want him to be able to sleep on his own in a safe space which is either the crate or the pen.

Has anyone had a similar experience and figured out how to make it work?

Other info: – We don't have a problem leaving him at home alone. We leave him in the living room for up to 5hrs and he doesn't bark or fret just naps on the floor or couch whilst we are gone. We don't believe he has separation anxiety. – He usually gets 2 walks a day. One at the dog park where hes gets to be off leash and one in the evening on leash around the neighbourhood (so he can do his final poo for the evening). – Our daily shechules change depending on what's happening and what we need to do so sometimes hes left alone at different parts of the day or taken out at different parts of the day so no strict routine. -His crate is big and has a cover over the top. We keep the front cover open so he can see out. Inside he has a nice soft lining for the bed and a blanket along with a toy of 2. – Hes not a super attached puppy and is fine if we leave him in a separate room most of the time. Only occasionally will he get upset if we go to the bathroom or bedroom and leave him behind.