My Maltipoo will be six months old this week! Once he was crate trained (at 13 weeks) he was able to sleep through the night (5 – 7 hours). We live in a small apartment and the crate is in the living room. About a month ago, he started crying every 1 -2 hours and waking up between 3 – 4:30 AM wanting to start the day. We would take him out to potty when he cried but most of the time he didn’t have to go, just didn’t want to be in the crate anymore. We have been good about not giving in but also not letting him cry for too long and eventually he would settle for a couple hours at a time. Last night I put him in at 10:30 and he woke up at 11 PM to go out again and by Midnight, and at 1 AM he was inconsolable. I let him out of the crate and let him sleep next to me on the couch. He slept/was quiet until 6:30 AM when I woke up. So, I know he just doesn’t want to be in the crate…and now I’ve given in. When my boyfriend is sleeping over and he goes out to check on him, he will sometimes quiet down (because it’s not me).
He is ok in the crate when we leave him for 1-3 hours during the day. He will bark/cry if we try to put him in the crate when we are home – this has always been the case. So having it in the bedroom or near us at night doesn’t work.
He gets enough exercise, socialization, etc. but does nap a lot during the day. When I try to feed him in his crate, he will eat if the door is open but not if I close him in with the food. If the door is open during the day, he pulls the bed out and tries to hump it so we’ve been keeping the door closed when we’re not using it. I don’t want to give up on the crate…is this a phase that he will grow out of or is there any training I can do to get him to like his crate again?
submitted by /u/erinnroche
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