Sleeping through the night?

[BlackLab0526]

Hi all! I was referred to this forum by a friend who has been helped a lot with his lab. Here goes: we have a very energetic 8 month old black lab. He is crated 7-8 hours a day while we are at work. He gets about an hour or more at the dog park when I get home from work. We never really crated him overnight, although we tried for about a month. He has always done really well out of his crate overnight with free roam of our bedroom and our living room. He goes back and forth between his bed and the living room couch. As of a few weeks ago, he has been waking us up quite often through out the night with his pacing back and forth, his scratching, and his whining at our bedside. My wife is pregnant, so she has been sleeping light anyways so that could be a part of it. He never seems to itch scratch through out the day, only at night. Excessive enough to wake us up. We live in MN so it's been a dry winter and we know it's dry in our house and we constantly have the humidifier running. Any ideas? Is it somewhat normal and I'm overreacting? Tips? Thank you!

[Labradorks]

I typically won't crate a dog that long without a break, especially if he is younger. I hire a dog walker until the dog is able to not be crated throughout the day and is mature enough to hold it during my work day. Typically it is the dog's first 12-18 months of life. It helps quite a bit.

Does he receive an hour or more EVERY DAY after work? Most days? A few? What about training? Do you spend at 10-15 minutes per day training? That helps, too. Believe it or not, mental exercise tires them out. You could do nose work stuff with shoeboxes and treats. Puzzle games. Etc. It doesn't have to be the typical sit, down, etc. You could also take him to a class. If he's already done basic obedience, try agility or nosework.

If you think he has dry skin, you could add an oil to his food -- fish caps or coconut oil. Also, make sure there are no fleas and that he does not have skin allergies due to food.

Finally, if he is getting plenty of exercise and a break from the crate during the day, there is nothing wrong with crating at night. Perhaps he doesn't know what to do with himself so he is restless.

[BlackLab0526]

He has never had issues with being in the crate for 7 or 8 hours. Up until a month ago, I would stop home over lunch to let him out. He's never had an accident in his crate.

He gets a minimum of an hour EVERY day, with a walk at night. Lately, it's been below 0, so it hasn't been as much. We do do training with him for about 20 minutes a day.

Its certainly not fleas as it just seems to be a few areas he scratches, although not enough to the point of redness or irritation, there does seem to be some hair loss in those areas.

[kimbersmom]

I don't think Labradorks meant the dog couldn't hold it for 7-8 hours; it's more that 7-8 hours is a long time to ask a dog to stay still. If it's been cold and you've cut back on exercise at all, that could easily explain your dog's restlessness. With an 8 month old lab, I'd definitely up the exercise.

If he's trustworthy, you might try leaving him uncrated during the day and crate him at night.

[Tanya]

an hour at the dog park is a good start at that age. if you don' want to spend MORE time there just ensure to do regular MENTAL exercise (it does go a long way).

i would limit his ability to move around at night as well. not necessarily CRATE but use baby gates so he can't just up and go between rooms. that's what I normally do. either in your bedroom or in the living room.

[Snowshoe]

He is crated 7-8 hours a day while we are at work.

.........

As of a few weeks ago, he has been waking us up quite often through out the night with his pacing back and forth, his scratching, and his whining at our bedside.

...........

He never seems to itch scratch through out the day, only at night.

How do you know he doesn't scratch during the day if you are away for 7-8 hours? You say you run a humidifier but what are the levels you get when you check with a hygrometer? Maybe it's not enough?

[xracer4844]

Agreed with the above posts. It just seems like he isn't getting enough exercise to me. Mental, and physical. Tired dogs sleep - I can't really offer any other suggestions that people above haven't posted.

[Moby and Barley's Mom]

I don't crate Barley during the day (but I am with him a lot.) I DO crate him at night - and have been doing so for probably 9 of his 20 months. He used to jump from bed to bed and keep me awake. NOW I sleep and it is much better for us both. If your wife is pregnant and needs her precious sleep - you might consider crating him. Soon - you will have very little sleep - so relish it now, while you can.

[BlackLab0526]

I think hie definitely needs more stimulation through out the evening. I dropped him off at my parents house for a few hours tonight and they play with him the whole time he is there. He just can't stay awake tonight so far! Any good recommendations on mental training? Puzzle type learning? At close to 8 months, he is anything but trustworthy. He is perfectly fine when we are near him, but tends to get into trouble when left alone. We were doing so well around 6 months when we started leaving him out for an hour or two at a time, he then got into the Christmas tree and that put an abrupt end to that!

[Tanya]

I think hie definitely needs more stimulation through out the evening. I dropped him off at my parents house for a few hours tonight and they play with him the whole time he is there. He just can't stay awake tonight so far! Any good recommendations on mental training? Puzzle type learning? At close to 8 months, he is anything but trustworthy. He is perfectly fine when we are near him, but tends to get into trouble when left alone. We were doing so well around 6 months when we started leaving him out for an hour or two at a time, he then got into the Christmas tree and that put an abrupt end to that!

Oh i meant to ask, does he get anything in the morning? ideally a few sessions of play/interaction is great (VS just the one bulk outing but whatever y ou can manage is great).

tons of options. first I would make him work for him meals. either via training (go over commands he knows, proof them in different environments), train a new command (lots of online help for this too). I use a kong wobbler for my younger dog when I don't have time to interact. we have tons of Nina Ottoson games (there are some cheaper lines, look at petsmart, pet valu, any local pet store) though you generally need to be with the dog for these as well. I play hide and seek (she does a sit stay downstairs and I go up and "hide" kibble here and there then release her). Lots of other types of toys like the wobbler (treat ball, etc.)

I love taking classes with the pups. once you have a solid basic down you can do fun classes. intro to agility, rally, scenting. I hear scenting is great as it works their nose/brain.

The thing with mental exercise is you can do lots of very short sessions. Even 2-5 minutes here and there is great. When you start out it will be hard to go to much more than 10 minutes if the dog hasn't developped the skill to concentrate and work for that long.

Oh and do stuff on your walks. Sit, down, turns. make walks more mentally engaging. for both of you! Bring treats!