I have a 5 month old puppy who used to sleep through the night (from about 11pm - 7am) in her crate, and was completely content doing so. She was also the only dog in the house. About a month ago we went to live with my parents, who have two dogs that my puppy loves to play with. Now, she will sleep in her crate for about 5 hours and start barking. I let her out to go to the bathroom using her commands, and she goes back in the cage right afterwards, when I tell her to. She used to go back to sleep in there until I woke up later for the day, but recently she has begun barking and acting up after she goes back in. Sometimes its 10 minutes later, sometimes an hour. And she will bark until we let her out. This morning she barked for 3 hours until we got up for work. We try not to let her out while she is barking, but we have to let her out when we get up so she can eat, go out and play, and whatever else before we leave for work and she goes back in for a couple of hours. I think she just wants to get out to play with the other dogs, even though they are still sleeping. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to get her to sleep until we wake up? It complicated things that we almost have to let her out as she is barking when we wake up because we are restricted by our work schedules.

She misses her playmates, do you leave any toys in the crate for her overnight? A big snuggly one would be a good idea. Good job for not letting her out while she is barking too.
Try covering her crate with a blanket so that she can't see out of it, you could try leaving a radio on very quietly near her crate of a night so she doesn't hear any outside noises to wake her up.

Sorry, I just re-read your post and you say that when you get up at 7 you let her out then you put her back in for a few hours? Do you put her back in the crate while you are at work? Because that is far too long to expect her to be locked up.

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Originally Posted by shazamataz

Sorry, I just re-read your post and you say that when you get up at 7 you let her out then you put her back in for a few hours? Do you put her back in the crate while you are at work? because that is far too long to expect her to be locked up.

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We let her out at 6:30, and then she is out for 2 hours while we get ready for work, and then she goes back in for a couple of hours until my brother gets home from work. She has no problem with the 2 hours she is in there while we are at work. And I know I am not the only person who sleeps at night and then works during the day, so I would think that would be fairly normal, except that she doesn't have to be in there very long while we are at work because my brother can let her our pretty shortly after she goes in.

She has had the same routine since we got her as a puppy, but it wasn't until she started being around my parents dogs and wanting to play with them that she won't sleep through the night. I am going to get her something cuddly to sleep with at night from now on, and hopefully the music suggestion will help as well.

Can't hurt to try it, let us know how it goes and I'll think of some other ideas :)

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Originally Posted by shazamataz

Can't hurt to try it, let us know how it goes and I'll think of some other ideas :)

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I am happy to report that last night was much better! I bought her a stuffed animal yesterday, and I read a couple of other posts that mentioned sleeping with it for a night or two before you put it with her so that it smells like you, so last night I slept she didn't have it with her, but she did have a soft towel in there to cuddle with (she always has a flannel sheet on the bottom of the crate too). I turned on the radio for her, but her favorite ball and bone in there, and the turned out all of the lights. Between those things you suggested and maybe the fact that I kept her up until she was actually tired and wanting to go to bed, she slept until we got up this morning! Thanks so much for your suggestions... I am hoping this is a sign of things getting better, and not just a fluke! :-)

That's great :D I hope it continues for you!