The best way I can explain all of this is to start right at the very beginning and try to explain our situation. Before taking our little pup in, we already had two dogs! One an 8-year-old golden labrador called Sebastian, who is wonderfully chilled and one a three years old Romanian mixed breed called Franklin who gets scared of a cardboard box, or when 'strangers' come into the house, but he's fine with his brothers and us... oh and we have a 15-year-old black cat that thinks he's a dog too! In September last year, my husband and I had a discussion about taking another dog into our lives. I, fortunately, work from home so I'm here with them all the time. But there was a concern that should anything happen to Sebastian, Franklin would quickly go of a broken heart... Having let my first Labrador go at ten years of age, from a failing liver, three years ago? I can only remember how difficult it was to lift my head off the pillow in the mornings. So the possibility, no matter how slight, of losing two in quick succession was a terrifying prospect. Plus I desperately missed having a black labrador in my life, so as soon as my husband agreed, I was out the door hunting for a black labrador to join our clan and we quickly welcomed Bruce! The amusing part of this story is that, like children, no two Labradors are the same. We were spoilt with the first one. We rescued him at 12 weeks and in A DAY he was toilet trained and crate trained. Sebastian was wonderfully crate trained, but all he ever wanted to do was urinate EVERYWHERE. Fortunately, he eventually got his act together (probably after realising it was making my husband bald!) Franklin was just terrified, having made the journey from Romania to England, but never had any issues with him and he was happy to be crate trained, but we quickly realised he was happy without his crate and after giving him a bit of 'freedom', we quickly realised he'd earned our trust. Then there is Bruce... a five and a half month black labrador puppy who is the cutest little thing and adores his big brother Franklin and regularly chases after him. I've genuinely never known such a chilled out puppy who is just happy to have lots of cuddles with his brothers and go out for walks (I guess I'm more used to the "zoomies" type). We have crate trained all of our dogs and so this was a natural way to go for us. Toilet training took a few more days, but we quickly got there. But sleeping? My god... please send help! His crate used to live in the kitchen (again, something we've always done) and as he was so young, we were quickly aware there was going to be the odd barking and because we were naturally aware of his little bladder, we would go down to him, let him out, and then swiftly back to bed... I was used to a dog barking once or twice, but Bruce would bark over and over and over and over, imagine a scratched CD and replace the music with barks, it was that repetitive! So to help matters (and we've done this before) we moved his crate to the bedroom hoping that being with us and his brothers would help calm him... Unfortunately not and the barking very quickly becomes more sort of "distressed". One night my husband reluctantly got out of bed to let him out (this was the third time in one night) and he flew out of his crate, into my husband's lap, burrowed and was trembling which was, of course, heartbreaking and we wondered if his crate was scaring him. That night onwards, he slept on our bed and was as good as gold. His brothers sleep on their own beds in the corner of the bedroom too. So we're all in the one-room together which suits us fine. (Just as an FYI our master bedroom is the top floor of our house and is 9 meters by 5 meters, so there is plenty of room for us all!). Everything has been wonderful and the only time he was waking is if when one of the boys was getting up in the night to have a bit of a "shake off". but that usually happens at 5:45ish which is 15 minutes before the alarm goes off, so it's not been the worst thing. However, in the last week, he's been waking us up by climbing all over us and whining like he's desperate for us to wake up. We, of course, get up and take him outside and he goes for a wee straight away and quickly returns to bed. But I know full well he can go all night so I'm positive it's not the toilet he wants. PLUS last night when I got up at 3am, the elder boys followed me downstairs, but Bruce stayed on the bed acting all playful. It's almost like he wakes up and wants us to play with him or give him attention which of course is NOT going to happen at 3am. I am more than aware that we've more than likely not helped ourselves here. I just don't know what to do going forward. My husband says that he probably still wants the toilet because he's still a pup? But in my head, five and a half months seems okay and I know full well he's gone throughout the night before. But this is one VERY sensitive little doggy. We go for a walk and if I stop to talk to someone, he cries because he wants to get going again. If he "sleepwalks" where he's asleep in the lounge and his legs are going crazy and I've woken him? He wakes up and gives out a little howl like he's had a bad dream or something! i want him to be comfortable and feel he can be with us, I just don't want to be woken up at 3am every night with him pawing at us trying to wake us up because he wants some attention. Any advice after my MAMMOTH essay would be hugely appreciated. I've looked at things online and if it was JUST him I think it would be fine, but having the other two boys feels like it complicates things a little! Thanks!
Hi Chris Lancaster, What a situation you have found yourself in, but hats off to you and your family, sounds like a really loving home. As you can imagine I don't have much of an answer, but noticed you were on 0 replies and wanted to give you something to think about. As you said he has gone through the night before, could something have changed with Bruce for him now wanting to toilet so early? Could be a change that isn't noticeable but could be picked up by the vets? Like you say, as a pup it is probably super exciting having your two doggy pals in the room and the temptation to wake up and play must be huge, so I don't really know what to say on that one - could Bruce settle on a bed like the other dogs? So sorry not to have the golden answer for you, such a hard one!! Holly and Nala x
