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hazel in the bed.

J

jaupro

Active Member
sorry for all the posts about hazel in my first week of ownership. I just have questions and I know from experience forums are normally the best place to get answers cause everyone who posts for the most part is extremely knowledgable.

anyways the question comes here...Hazel loves to sleep n our bed. And we love to cuddle with her in the bed.

problem:she doesny lay in a way that makes her skinny she lays in ways where even tho its a queen size bed me and my g/f barely have any room. She will either lay on he side and push her paws into one of us. Or she will lay perpendicular to us instead of parallel. We get NO sleep. Tried putting her in the cage she whined we finally game in around 5AM knowing how much mastiffs love to be with their owners..so lastnight tried putting cage close to the bed she still whined a bit. We have to age her because our room doesn't have doors(long story) and its connected to the main rooms of the house. So we have no other way to keep her from the bed..any compromises or opinions or solutions that anyone can think of?
 
J

jaupro

Active Member
here are the 3 choices I'm stuck at. Please help me pick one


A)just make the bed a place she's not allowed on at all so its clear she can't come on the bed at night or ever.


B) buy the largest baby gate I can find and put it up in the bedroom.


C)suck it up and continue you to crate her at night and shell just get used to it in time?
 
Mongo

Mongo

Well-Known Member
You said she was 5 months right? Is she fully potty trained? Is there a reason why you dont crate her?
 
J

jaupro

Active Member
yes I crate her for the simple fact that when I leave her alone in the house we don't come back to everything being chewed up. And we were trying it for a night time solution so we could try to get some sleep. Trust me I hate putting her in there and I feel bad and I'm trying hard to find another solution. So for now we are barrocading(sp?) the bedroom tonight with a couple pieces of furniture to see how that works.
 
spiderbitten

spiderbitten

Well-Known Member
There's nothing wrong with crating your dog. :)

I don't know how big your bedroom is, but a solution for me was to place the crate right next to the bed so she's still near you, but not taking over the bed. She may cry for awhile, but she's going to have to get used to it and when you let her out when she cries, she learns that when she cries you'll let her out. :) I would suggest putting some really awesome treats and chewies in there with her so she's distracted for a bit...I fill a bone with peanut butter and leave it in the freezer for awhile, and my girl will run to get in her crate when she sees it. After a little while, I'm sure she'll settle down and get used to the sleeping arrangements. She's still young, too, so that may work in your favor.
 
Mongo

Mongo

Well-Known Member
No Crating is a good thing.... if you are not supervising her she should be crated.... a house can NEVER be puppy proof.... and that’s not just for your houses sake. She could chew on something very hazardous to her! Puppies are like babies they don’t get the privilege to roam the house until they are old enough to know better.

You sound like my BF who hated the idea of crating Mongo. And when I had surgery BF left Mongo out while he was at the hospital with me and to take me home.... we came home to Mongo eating the house! Well the pantry door was left open and Mongo ate just about everything he could reach.... which left him with really bad diarrhea!
 
J

jaupro

Active Member
oh trust me I know its good. I would NEVER leave her uncrated in the house when we go out. It might suck and she may whine and be upset but its better that than chewing stuff up. We left her out of her crate lst night though. And barrocaded our bedroom off. Worked like a charm. She whined for maybe 10 minutes tops and then slept on the couch.(prolly her favorite place to actually lay down. She ujust wants the bed at night cause we are there) then periodically through the night she maybe came over to the barrocade and while for 5 seconds then went bck to the couch.


my only other fear is I hear mastiffs have favoritesand won't listen to the other..and I'm always the one to put her in the cage or pull her to the other side of the barrocade or w/e...I'm afraid shell think I'm mean or w/e...
 
J

jaupro

Active Member
as a side note the room is too small for the cage to be permanantly by the bed...its just too in the way.


any opinions of my current solution?
 
J

jaupro

Active Member
one last sidenote at mongo. I thought you were asking why I was crating her. I just now realized you asked why we are not. She is fuully potty trained. Shes not done buiness in the house once yet. At night we can trust her because all she does is sleep. She gets real lazy at night and won't wake up til we do in the AM. We try to only crate her when we aren't home if we can help it.
 
Mongo

Mongo

Well-Known Member
Do you have a doggy bed for her? Is she big enough to get on the bed by herself?

If she cant get up on the bed alone... then maybe put her bed in the room and teach her to sleep there instead of on the bed.

Mongo has his own room/guest room so he sleeps on that bed
 
J

jaupro

Active Member
we do not have a doggybed. We have thought about it but funds are super tight right now. Cause I was in houston for 2 weeks unpaid and won't get my first full pay again for a lil over a week. The couch seemed to work out but that is the same couch most guests sleep on if they stay. The bed is not on a frame. The boxfram and matress are just on the floor so she has no problem gettong in it. Do you see any problem with my curent barrocading situation?
 
Mongo

Mongo

Well-Known Member
MHO - Yes.... I believe she is too young to be wandering the house unsupervized.... I know you say she sleeps all night, but that may not always be the case. Should could wake up bored and decide to chew on a cable or figure out how to open the medicine cabnet or pantry/fridge(dont doubt it... it does happen). Or maybe you have plants that are toxic to dogs. Like I said earlier a house can NEVER be puppy proof... if she were to start chewing on the base boards or door frame and brake a piece off she could choke to death. I know your probably thinking Im just being very negative... but thats because Ive seen or heard it happen. Im also on a Great Dane Forum that has a lot more people to pitch in and tell stories. So I hear it all!
 
J

jaupro

Active Member
Ok I can start crating her at night....I gues my fear is I don't want her to feel dejeected or like we don't want her with us....

is this fear irrational?
 
Mongo

Mongo

Well-Known Member
Its understandable....

I know you said they crate was too big to use beside the bed... but what about in the room in general... like in a corner... then she would still be "with" you.
 
J

jaupro

Active Member
ok ty so much for all your advice. Any other advice to make it less painful? you said give her a bone or something. I can do that. I got her one of those bones that has the beeef flavor filling inside.just ignore her when she whines and she'll just get used to it? Any other tios of things I can/should do? Like maybe reward her when he doesn't whine?
 
Barb

Barb

Well-Known Member
Try laying a blanket across the top and 2 sides of the crate. It sometimes comforts a dog to make them feel like they are in their own room and not just a crate with wires.

One of my dogs did this in the wire crate. When we finally used the vari kennel that is mostly enclosed, he went right to sleep.
 
J

jaupro

Active Member
ya she whined from like 11PM-2am last night. Then morearound 4am. Then more around 7AM. My girl is pregnant and has swine flu so she is quite a bit irratible. So trying to find the quickest solution. Maybe I'll try the blanket thing.
 
J

jaupro

Active Member
thx mongo. The white sheet worked like a charm. She whined maybe 5 minutes when she ate all her treats and realized what was up. Then that was it for the whole night. I even walked right by her kennel to pea in the middle of the night and she did nothing.

now I also did one other thing a lil differently. I initially introduced her to the cage wrong...I would take her by her collar..and not really pull her. But just kinda guide her in. It didn't dawn on me this would make her really hate the crate in general til yesterday one of her fav toys were in thre and she wanted it but wouldn't go in after it. So I played with her by it and then to gain some trust I throw like 15 pieces of pup corn in the back of that thing she wouldn't go in til I walked away and shed only get one at a time but she slowly ained more trust then before bed I got like 4 bone treats but them all in the back of her cage and like 6 puo corns and she was back there so disttacted and that's when I gently shut thecage.

what a world of difference....
 
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