# Dog won't sleep, need some help PLEASE!



## srsly (Oct 30, 2009)

Hi

I have an Australian Shepherd, he'll be 1 in November. Recently he's been waking up at about 1AM and will bark, whine, scratch, and claw at the door for hours on end until I wake up. I'm a heavy sleeper at times, so sometimes I do not hear him, but I have a roommate who does, who is getting pretty fed up.

He is in his crate most of the day, so once I get home we go outside, run, and we've been going for a walk each night. He seems tired by the time we're done, and I don't let him sleep until I'm ready to go to bed. I generally go to sleep around 10PM, so he goes in his crate around there with his Kong, and at 1AM he's up. He doesn't have to use the bathroom, just doesn't want to sleep.

Any ideas on what I can do? This has been going on for weeks now, and I'm exhausted.


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## RonE (Feb 3, 2007)

That's a high energy breed and, after sleeping all day in the crate, he may need more exercise in the evening.

(How is he scratching at your door if he's in the crate?)

When eating or sleeping habits change for no apparent reason, I'd also recommend a vet check to rule out any medical causes.


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## srsly (Oct 30, 2009)

Before I started to crate him (at night) I'd let him sleep on his dog bed, in which he'd scratch at my door. Now he just scratches at the crate door.

I can try more exercise again, it just seems that I work him and work him and he still refuses to sleep.

As per the vet visit, I've been considering it, but I highly doubt there is anything wrong with him, but then again I'm no vet. A month or so ago he'd wake up at about 3AM. I'm guessing it's something I'm doing wrong. Some days he will sleep just fine, other times he will not sleep at all.


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## Ayanla (Jun 11, 2009)

Is he getting mental stimulation as well? Maybe he needs to do some more thinking along with his physical exercise. I'll sometimes take the pups out for a walk and train them as we go, rather than do their separate training session. Like I'll walk a quarter or a half a block and stop mid sidewalk and make them sit, down, wait, watch me, etc, then we'll walk another 1/4 to 1/2 a block or more. I also always make them sit and wait or down and wait at every corner and for every person that we pass (though Kira is horrific at the people part - we're working on it). That way they get to think, and they get some exercise. You could also invest in a puzzle treat dispenser and maybe give that to him to play with when he wakes up. Maybe if he won't sleep, he'll at least learn to be quiet. Keep in mind, though, that if you're rushing to get him every time he makes noise, he's learning that making noise brings your attention, which can create a nasty pattern of behavior.


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## srsly (Oct 30, 2009)

He does have a Kong, and we do a little bit of learning each day, but it seems once I get home he just likes to run rampant, so getting him calmed down enough to actually do things can be HARD! He's a hyper dog, and getting him to sit still is hard at times. I will definitely try the sit/stay while walking him tonight.

I also plan to go buy gates to put in the kitchen, so he has a little bit more room during the day to play and do other things. I really just think he is tired of being in his crate and sleeping. Hopefully this helps a little.


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## qingcong (Oct 26, 2009)

Is there a reason why he can't sleep in the same room as you? Perhaps he's just getting scared in the middle of the night. There's nothing wrong with him sleeping in the same room as you. You won't be spoiling him if you don't let him on your bed.


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## Keechak (Aug 10, 2008)

Aussies need a lot of activities throughout the day to keep them happy and content. if he's not getting at the very least 2 hours of your time each day I would up the anty. My Aussies went for a 2 mile bikejor yesterday (them pulling me on a bike) and then we had 2 hours of training. We came home at 10:00pm and they still weren't ready for bed.

Dogs need more exercise as they get older, your dog needs a lot more exercise and mental stimulation than he did 4 months ago.


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## srsly (Oct 30, 2009)

He does sleep in the same room as me. He always has..

Also, he gets all of my attention once I am home. Thats a solid 8 hours. I try to run him outside and we play for about half an hour, then he runs up to the deck because he's tired. He's confusing


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## TooneyDogs (Aug 6, 2007)

Have you switched to adult food yet (or recently) or are you still feeding puppy food? Puppy food is very high energy/high calorie. At one year of age, there is a big shift in metabolism and he'll have a hard time handling all that sugar.


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## ChrissyBz (Aug 10, 2007)

srsly said:


> Hi
> 
> I have an Australian Shepherd, he'll be 1 in November. Recently he's been waking up at about 1AM and will bark, whine, scratch, and claw at the door for hours on end until I wake up. I'm a heavy sleeper at times, so sometimes I do not hear him, but I have a roommate who does, who is getting pretty fed up.
> 
> ...





srsly said:


> He does sleep in the same room as me. He always has..
> 
> Also, he gets all of my attention once I am home. Thats a solid 8 hours. I try to run him outside and we play for about half an hour, then he runs up to the deck because he's tired. He's confusing



First you say you take him for a run, then you say 1/2 hour in the yard. Which is it and if you do run him, how many miles do you go?


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## qingcong (Oct 26, 2009)

srsly said:


> He does sleep in the same room as me. He always has..
> 
> Also, he gets all of my attention once I am home. Thats a solid 8 hours. I try to run him outside and we play for about half an hour, then he runs up to the deck because he's tired. He's confusing



Ah, I thought he was scratching at the door to get in, but apparently he wants to get out. It's not because he wants to use the bathroom is it? 

How are you through all of this when he throws his hyper fits inside the house? If you go hyper with him, it will only encourage his activity level. Try to make the house a calm place to be, a place to relax. This means that when he goes hyper, you get even calmer. 

My dog used to throw hyper fits where, without much provocation, he'd run around like a mad man in the house. Whenever this happened I disappeared into a room and he stopped the instant he realized I was gone. By doing this disappearing technique, it took about 2 weeks to extinguish this hyper behavior. He hasn't had an outburst since, but that might also be due to my general improvement in calm energy.


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## srsly (Oct 30, 2009)

ChrissyBz said:


> First you say you take him for a run, then you say 1/2 hour in the yard. Which is it and if you do run him, how many miles do you go?


I do both. We play outside as soon as I get home, and it usually lasts about half an hour because he starts to pant and wants to go inside. Then we go outside again after he eats (5pm) and then about 6:6:30 we go for the walk.

Usually about a mile/mile and a half.


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## ChrissyBz (Aug 10, 2007)

He's not getting enough exercise.


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## srsly (Oct 30, 2009)

qingcong said:


> Ah, I thought he was scratching at the door to get in, but apparently he wants to get out. It's not because he wants to use the bathroom is it?
> .


No. When he scratches at the door and I let him out, he stands outside and just waits, and then he'll eventually claw at that door to come back in, without doing anything. So I'll go back upstairs to lay down, and for about 5 minutes he's quiet, then more barking and scratching.

He also runs around as your dog explains, usually when he seems to get riled up, but if I ignore him he does stop.



TooneyDogs said:


> Have you switched to adult food yet (or recently) or are you still feeding puppy food? Puppy food is very high energy/high calorie. At one year of age, there is a big shift in metabolism and he'll have a hard time handling all that sugar.


Still puppy food. He eats Nutro. I just bought a new bag of puppy food, but I can probably trade it out for adult food.

Would that be best for him?



ChrissyBz said:


> He's not getting enough exercise.


What do you suggest then? I feel like I could walk him forever and he still wouldn't be tired. Ie. last night we walked. He came home panting, and just plopped down on the kitchen floor. I didn't let him sleep, and a few hours later I was off to go to bed, and he didn't seem tired/worn out anymore.

It's confusing when he's panting one minute, and hyper again the next. 

http://www.nutroproducts.com/ncdogprod.shtml

That is the kind of food I feed him. The Small Bites Puppy 
Chicken Meal, Rice & Oatmeal Formula. I see they have an adult one. Would I want to use that? The protein goes from 26% to 21%.


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## TooneyDogs (Aug 6, 2007)

srsly said:


> Still puppy food. He eats Nutro. I just bought a new bag of puppy food, but I can probably trade it out for adult food.
> 
> Would that be best for him?



There are better choices although the prices are usually a little more. Here's a link that rates most of the dog foods available.

http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/


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## ValtheAussie (Apr 19, 2009)

My Aussie girl needed at least an hour of frisbee every night on top of walks and other types of stimulation.


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## Keechak (Aug 10, 2008)

A panting dog is simply a dog that needs to catch his breath or cool of his body temp, It doesn't mean the dog is physically tired.


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## srsly (Oct 30, 2009)

Keechak said:


> A panting dog is simply a dog that needs to catch his breath or cool of his body temp, It doesn't mean the dog is physically tired.


Well when we're done playing he just comes inside and plops down. I'd assume that means he's tired..


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## ChrissyBz (Aug 10, 2007)

Srsly? How much did you research your breed before you went out and bought one? There are a lot of breeds out there(almost all) that are lower energy than an Aussie.

You know what they say about assume...


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## Keechak (Aug 10, 2008)

srsly said:


> Well when we're done playing he just comes inside and plops down. I'd assume that means he's tired..


You didn't assume correctly. My Aussies come inside and plop down after each activity, then after a half an hour of rest we go back out and do another activity. I have been known to frequintly go outside when it's pitch black at 11:30 pm and turn on an outdoor light and play some more because they weren't tired. I wont do that tonight tho because there are 40 mile an hour winds out there today. Insted I will give them some puzzle games to do. Like the treat ball or "seek"


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## srsly (Oct 30, 2009)

ChrissyBz said:


> Srsly? How much did you research your breed before you went out and bought one? There are a lot of breeds out there(almost all) that are lower energy than an Aussie.
> 
> You know what they say about assume...


I researched a lot..I've owned many "hyper dogs." You don't have to resort to semi-insulting me. It's not the fact that he's hyper, I am just confused as to why he is randomly waking up when it wasn't an issue before.

I just wanted some advice on how to correct the wrongdoings on my part, as my other dogs have never had this issue.

Either way, thanks for your help, and everyone else. We went for a two mile walk, played more fetch and he's been passing out on the steps, so I guess we'll see how this goes.



Keechak said:


> You didn't assume correctly. My Aussies come inside and plop down after each activity, then after a half an hour of rest we go back out and do another activity.


Thanks. After our walk when he seemed tired I gave him a few minutes and we went outside and played some more. 

I try to avoid going outside too late because the neighbors keep their dogs loose outside at night and they are known to have barking matches with my dog. And if I keep him out there too long the other dogs actually start to try to dig under the fence. No excuse but I do prefer to let him out before night hits.


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## Keechak (Aug 10, 2008)

srsly said:


> .
> 
> I try to avoid going outside too late because the neighbors keep their dogs loose outside at night and they are known to have barking matches with my dog. And if I keep him out there too long the other dogs actually start to try to dig under the fence. No excuse but I do prefer to let him out before night hits.


that seems like a PITA. to bad you can't have nice nights to yourself. Do you have access to any Doggy Daycare that you could let him run around with other dogs and burn of energy while your gone?


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## qingcong (Oct 26, 2009)

What happens if you leave the door cracked at night so that he can go in and out as he wishes?

To me it sounds a little like barrier frustration. I've seen it in my gf's family dog, he acts like he needs to get to the other side or it's the end of the world. When he gets to the other side it's just like, "what's the big deal?" and he just stands there. They have no rational reason for wanting to go to the other side, it's more of a reaction. 

So, why not remove the barrier?


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## srsly (Oct 30, 2009)

Keechak said:


> that seems like a PITA. to bad you can't have nice nights to yourself. Do you have access to any Doggy Daycare that you could let him run around with other dogs and burn of energy while your gone?


It really is. I don't enjoy how they keep them out there 24/7 it seems but oh well. I could see if they were big dogs, but they're little yappy ones.

The nearest daycare I know is a good 45 mins away. I live in the middle of nowhere with land galore. I may look into that as it would be nice, and Luke does love car rides.

On another note, he woke up once at 3:30 this morning. I told him NO! and he did actually go back to sleep, and is still sleeping now. Hopefully this is a start.

Thank you again Keechak  Now I wish I could fix my own body clock. 



qingcong said:


> What happens if you leave the door cracked at night so that he can go in and out as he wishes?
> 
> To me it sounds a little like barrier frustration. I've seen it in my gf's family dog, he acts like he needs to get to the other side or it's the end of the world. When he gets to the other side it's just like, "what's the big deal?" and he just stands there. They have no rational reason for wanting to go to the other side, it's more of a reaction.
> 
> So, why not remove the barrier?


I will keep that in mind. I'm afraid he'll go scratch at the doors where the other dog sleeps. But it may be worth a try. Thanks!


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## Shell (Oct 19, 2009)

My dog was getting insanely hyper in the evenings (thankfully not at night). A change in food was enough to settle him to being merely energetic instead of off the charts.

As for exercise, I find that my 2-yr old boxer mix tires more quickly than I do on a long run but also recovers faster. So after work we run 3-5 miles (24-40 minutes) then he goes in the backyard while I get dinner and shower. We both can catch our breath. Then a total of 1 hour outside (sometimes walking on leash, sometimes in fenced yard, or a mix). He was still having enough energy to bounce off the walls (literally) until I changed his food. Now he is calm enough after all that to just chew his Kong. 

I have found that 3 miles of hard running is equal to about 6 miles of fast paced walking. 5 miles of hard running is about his maximum right now before he slows to a trot or walk.


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## Faerunner (Oct 31, 2009)

Your work/play schedule hasn't changed recently, has it? Or your roommate situation? Not saying it's a main cause but I know my animals are very much aware of schedule changes and react in interesting ways!

While I'm not sure if our puppy wakes up in the night, this thread has given me more incentive to get up and walk her a little longer every single morning! If she does whine at night she's doing it quietly enough that we aren't woken up. We try to exhaust her before bed, but she usually has a good long afternoon nap in her crate too. She is still learning how to amuse herself in the crate and will flip the mat over, hide things under it, etc and then get bored and whine/dig if she's not tired. We try not to reinforce whining so we wait until she quiets to let her out for more play, and reinforcing settling in the crate has worked well so far.

We've noticed that she is quieter in the house when she has her new kong puzzle ball to get food out of, and when we have actively trained her for a while - the mental stimulation seems to be more tiring than running her up and down the hills around here! I'm wondering if this will change as she gets older, but for now I'm quite happy to give her training/puzzles and let her calmly work them out instead of coming home already exhausted from work and attempting to run her hard on top of her already scheduled walks. 

One question, though - are there any non-treat-dispensing dog puzzles out there? We don't want to over-treat her when we are still treating heavily during training sessions for new commands. If we have to treat as incentive to play in her crate, we will be decreasing her food intake accordingly!


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## Bones333 (Sep 30, 2009)

Shell said:


> My dog was getting insanely hyper in the evenings (thankfully not at night). A change in food was enough to settle him to being merely energetic instead of off the charts.
> 
> What kind of food did you switch him to?


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## Shell (Oct 19, 2009)

Purina One actually, the large breed with chicken and rice being main ingredients. I know there are higher quality foods but I carefully read the ingredients/nutrition mix of those within my price range and have been happy with Purina. My impression is that its taking him longer to digest so he has energy for more time total but less in a major burst after eating (like a candy bar versus a baked potato for a person)

No feeding raw for me, I am nearly incapable of cooking for myself... I once blew up a toaster oven  ("Cooking" includes almost anything to do with the kitchen....)


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