I first tried decrating Xena at night when she was 9 months old. I was going to bed and she wouldn't wake up for her bedtime wee. Knowing that she'd gone out for a wee around 830ish I decided to leave her on the comfy sofa and hope for the best. It went fine. The next couple of nights were ok too, apart from some midnight gnawing on the wooden gates. Then OH went back on shift. He either leaves for work at 530 am, or comes home at 6 am. Xena's crate is in our open-plan living/kitchen area. The routine is that OH goes to the kitchen, grabs his lunch, heads to work. The light is turned on when he goes into the kitchen, then turned off as he leaves. No eye contact or communication with the dog. Easy as. So I assumed (yes, I know what they say about assumptions) that if Xena was decrated, that the best thing to do would be to ignore her and go about his morning routine. Ultimately, I thought that after a few weeks she'd get the hint and just go back to sleep. Not so easy as. The first morning OH obeyed my edict and ignored the dog. I got up at 7 am as usual and stepped in a honking great puddle of wee on the kitchen floor. I can only assume (pesky assumptions again) that she got too excited and couldn't hold on after he'd left. I went back to crating her at night. Now she's 1 and I'd like to try again. I *think* that where I went wrong was telling him to ignore her when he gets up/gets home. If she greets him all excitedly then he should probably let her out for an early wee...but will this create a habit? I'd like her to sleep through the 530/6am departure/arrival, especially since she usually sleeps until I get up at 7. Do you think that the novelty of being out of the crate when he goes to/comes home from work will wear off and she'll just snooze through it? Any advice/thoughts gratefully appreciated
Could your OH just let her out for a wee when she wakes when he leaves? I start work at 6 a.m. and live with my elderly father - when I don't go to work, pup is happy to stay asleep until 6:30 - 7 (having gone to bed around 10) but on work days when I'm up at 4:30 and he gets up to stretch and grizzle with me, he needs to go out. I think it's just the fact that once he's moving around and his blood is flowing his kidneys and intestines also start pumping and he needs to go. After that, he's happy go back to bed until my father's up around 8.
My OH is a shift worker too so he either leaves at 5am, 1pm or 9pm and gets home at 2.30pm, 10.30pm or 6.30am (there are some other times but these are the usual shifts). Ella ends up just working around what he's doing. Usually, if he's leaving at 5am,he usually just let's Ella into our room and she snoozes with me until the kid wakes. However, when he gets home at 6.30am I usually find that we're all up to start the day from then Ella's bladder control got better and better so you might find Xena is the same. However, you might also find that she can pop out for a wee and learn to come back in and settle again until you're ready to get up. Good luck! Life with a shift worker is anything but routine hey!
My OH also works shifts. He either leaves the house at 6.30am or returns from night shift at 7am. He lets Stanley out for a wee and gives him a little Kong with some ham or something in to settle him back down. I never hear a peep. (Although on a weekend when he goes to work I sometimes nip down and bring Stanley up for bed snuggles ) When OH is off I get up about 8 and the same happens - I let him out and give him the little kong then he goes back to bed until OH gets up. When we're both off he just sleeps straight through til we get up at about half 9ish. He just seems to go along with whatever's happening. He's also really lazy and loves a lie in which helps
Yep, the obvious solution is to let her out for a wee when he gets up/home. I was obviously expecting too much of her, like a Tiger Mother I'm not worried about the settling back down, but I am worried that she'll try and have a middle of the night rager with the cats...and I don't want to get pestered if I wake up at 2 am to use the bathroom.
My brother lives with us three days a week and leaves the house at 5:30am. The pups are all decrated very young (Mollie was about 18 weeks). My brother doesn't put the light on or go through the room where the dogs are. Tho the door is glass so they can see him. He uses his phone torch. None of the pups have reacted to him leaving as there is nothing for them to expect. I think dogs soon learn when there is nothing in it for them.
I think you just have to try again and see what happens. Xena is 3 months older now so may have better bladder control? Also, it sounds like you only tried one night of the decrating when your OH started shifts again and after the puddle of wee she went back in her crate (understandably) but it may just have been a one (or two)off. You'll only know if you give it another go. Good luck! (I love your turn of phrase, 'having a rager with the cats'!)
My OH, although not a shift worker, has always got up at silly o'clock on a regular basis to travel to airports, train stations and even ferry terminals to travel for business. We've always operated on the basis that he takes dogs out for a wee/poo as necessary and then they go back to bed until a more normal time. Even if I get up which is sometimes necessary to drop him off somewhere we still operate the same routine.
OH is also on shifts - all random times in the middle of the night/super early mornings. The first few weeks Quinn got up with him and he had to take her out - now he tells her to get in bed with me and she goes back to sleep and I take her out at our normal morning time. It just took a bit of time for her to adjust - Xena will get there!
Thanks for all your feedback, it really does help to hear what other people do in similar circumstances. Night one was fine. He let her out before he left and then she must have settled back down until I got up. She does seem to be more restless than usual, but that might not be related. A good start, anyway
