7mth old GSD wakes up in the night crying. PLEASE HELP!!?

Question

My dog wakes up every night at around 3:30ish goes outsides sometimes poops and then she is awake for the morning. If I try to put her back in her crate (which is in the bedr'm) she cries bloody murder. I always end up taking her downstairs and sleeping on the couch with her be/c this way both my fiance and I get some sleep, but I know she is training me! Please give me some advice on her to get her to sleep through the night. I am ok with her getting up around 5:30 or so its the 3 :30 thats hard.
Heres her basic schedule
My pup is home alone during the day and when I get home I take her for 30 -40 minutes walk and we play and run around in the house afterwards. I feed her around 5ish. I try to get her outside for a walk at night, but it doesnt always happen (she will be let out in the yard several times in the evening)

First of I know she's got me trained, I just need to learn how to untrain her 1) without being cruel 2)without going crazy from lack of sleep

thanks

I wouldn't have a problem letting her sleep on the couch. but she is a puppy and still pretty destructive especially with fabrics...so I just don't trust her to be out of the crate and not get into something

She has been sleeping in our room with us (in her crate) since we first got her.
I do train her not to chew on things when I am awake, but at night I would rather err on the side of caution, in case she gets something and I don't wake up to get it away from her. (Last time she pulled a washcloth down from the holder and ate it.)

Answer 1

I don't know your schedule but can you feed her in the morning, wait about 15 - 20 min and take her out or let her out in the yard.
I think you problem is feeding her so late she is holdingit for 10 hours and then once outside she is awake.
It may take time but her schedule I think would change the other thing is I'm sorry but start as if you just got her and train her not let her train you. You will never break her if you allow it. I am truly sorry but honestly it's MUCH HARDER to break a bad habit especially if that bad habit has coem form you.
Time and patience is your answer and take back your authority. Sorry but I think you lready knew this part of the answer.
Good Luck and be strong and use the TUFF L:O)VE

Answer 2

You will have to ignore her for a few days, start when your next day is off work. If you let her yowl for a while then give in you are teaching her persistance. BUY earplugs if you need to. I take it her crate is in your room, if not that should help. I hope you feed her twice a day, it is better for any dog and then she won't have a huge meal in her tummy to digest. Take up the water 2 hours or more before last outside trip. A dog her age needs at least 45-60 mins of off leash running around a day, is there a dog park or doggy daycare she can go to? Leash walking is not real exercise for any dog bigger than a 4lb Chihuahua. Even my 7lb MinPins walked 7 miles and were still bouncy.

Answer 3

Some people are GREAT readers, eh! NOT!!
Yet they get 2 points each.....

Yes, she HAS already trained you, the first night was the crucial one.

Some retraining possibilities, not in order of attempt, just as they occurred to me.
(1) Do what you should have done the first night - pretend to be asleep and unable to hear her. (I have no idea how stubborn & determined she is, but had you done it the first night that would probably have been the end of it.) You'd be surprised what you can sleep through when you're sufficiently exhausted!

(2) Give in and move her sleeping crate close enough so that you can stroke her to soothe her.

(3) Give her a bone (a joint of oxtail?) to chew when she gets back into her crate after her 3:30 toilet trip. Consider the timing of her meals - pups DO sleep very soon after a meal. Unless you go to bed at about 6pm she is getting her main meal FAR too early. Moving her main meal the 2 hours from 5 to 7pm may be all that's needed to shift her toileting-time the 2 hours from 3:30am to the 5:30am that suits you.

(4) Sleep her ON your bed. I've never considered it, but the breeder who used it swears that it is great for toilet-training - when the pup needs to go toilet it wants to get off the bed but is scared to jump off in the dark so wakes you to pick it up and take it out. However, she was thinking of pups that are weeks old, not 7 MONTHS old!

(5) If there is good sound-proofing between you and the neighbours, move her crate to the far end of the house, close all the doors between, and harden your heart.

(6) Take her out of the crate and put her into a small room covered with old newspaper. Be prepared to later paint or paper the room. Make absolutely sure that there are no electric cables she can chomp. Harden your heart.

(7) Find a boarding kennel that will take her for a few nights - if nothing else, you can catch up on some sleep then start again. She may by then have decided that protesting gets her nowhere.

(8) Offer her back to the breeder.

Personally, I like #3 and #6 best. My youngest *****, now aged 7 years, has never been in a crate in her life yet she lived inside with free range of over half the house from about the age of 8 weeks, and learned almost instantly that she was not allowed in my bedroom despite the open door. I DID have to close the toilet door after she dragged the toilet paper roll out. And I DID have to close the den door because she couldn't resist the plastic used on the clamps that joined the ends of the aerial that went across the floor.

And change your attitude about furniture - the place for canine feet is on the floor or on the ground. Maybe you should apply to join my e-group? (But several of them naughtily allow their pooches on the furniture)
Les P, owner of GSD_Friendly: http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/GSD_Friendly
"In GSDs" as of 1967

Answer 4

Instead of sleeping on the couch sleep in your bed and let your dog to bring the crate in your room and open the door cause she might want to go in her crate. Bring in some dog food in case she's hungry and water in case she's thirsty. That's what i do and its good bonding with my dog and I.

Answer 5

They will "train you" if your not careful. I don't know if I would put her in my room cause then you'll have to keep her there or have the same problem getting her out of there. We put ours in our finished basement in the crate. Whenever she would start I would stand at the top of the stairs & firmly tell her NO!! QUIET!! & clap my hands . It worked & now she is on my schedule & waits on me.

Answer 6

why dont you put her create/ bed in your room.
thats what i do and till the day i got my GSD he hasnt cried or woken up at night once.(except for the toilet but he doesnt wake anyone up for it)

EDIT: you see its youe lack of faith and training in her that makes her so distructive. my german shepherd is only 4 months and doesnt chew on nothing that he's supposed to. you need to train her not to do them sort of thing not just wait for it to go away because it wont.

Answer 7

he will get over it at about a year and a half old