Until recently, Jubilee (21 months) has been wonderful in her crate. She was good from the very first day she came home as a puppy. Now she is only closed in her crate at night. She has started to whine and bark in the middle of the night. She doesn't bark every night. She doesn't want to go out. We've tried to let her loose, but she jumps on us and wakes us up. If we close the bedroom door, she scratches the door and fusses. Any suggestions?
Tricky! Whereabouts in your house is the crate? I know that she's jumping on you at night if she's out of the crate but that is probably a temporary thing (excitement at the freedom and new access to you). As a next step what about putting the crate in your bedroom?
Her crate is right outside our bedroom. The bedroom is small, but the crate might fit. Today we practiced not getting on the bed without permission. It's tough waking up to a Labrador stepping on you or standing over you ready to play! I can' figure out what has set her off. She's always been so quiet at night.
Hopefully moving the crate into the room with you will help settle her and get her into a comfortable routine
Homer slept in his crate in the kitchen quite happily until he was about two years old then began to refuse to go in at night. All the tastiest treats an coercing made no difference. He slept in the kitchen for a while and now has the whole house, sometimes he chooses to be with us in our room but will also find another spot. I think he decided that he's all grown up now and can be trusted. Personally I like the security of him dyeing able to roam the house and not be locked in. We've never had any chewing or soiling problems at night, although I do get woken up by a Labrador stare with his head right next to mine at 6am like clockwork.
How about removing the crate and having a baby gate on your bedroom door with her bed just outside that? ...
Had a quiet night! It's nice to get some uninterrupted sleep. We left her uncrated, but with the bedroom door open just enough so she could peek in but not get in. Hopefully, she will eventually be able to come in when she wants. When she was younger, she was a combination of a whirling dervish and an Irish dancer when she was allowed on the bed.
