# Please HELP, 3 month old Puppy does NOT sleep



## woogyboogy (Dec 25, 2013)

Hello everyone my girlfriend and I are in desperate need of some expertise. We have a 3 month old German Shepherd that we got at 8 weeks from a breeder, and he has been amazing at everything, EXCEPT sleeping at night. Currently we are crating him in the plastic kennel, we leave it right next to our bed. Its a perfect size for him, he has plenty of space, but not enough room to go to the bathroom and still have a clean space. We also have the standard wire style crate as well. We may switch to that depending on the responses we get here. 

My girlfriend and I are running very thin on patience. We've literally averaged 3-4 hours of sleep per night since we got him because he howls, barks, and paws at the gate, and floor of the crate.

We let him out before we go to bed around 10:30, he goes pee and poop, then we let him walk around just a little more, his last outing is probably 10-15mins Then we bring him back inside and put him in the crate. Within 10 minutes he starts howling, barking, etc. I am 100% serious when I say this, he will bark from 10:45pm to 2:00am non stop, then sleep for 10 minutes and then bark, and howl for another 2 hours, this is how it is the entire night, I'm not exaggerating.

We feed him at 5:30pm, and pull his water bowl at 6:00pm. He gets plenty of exercise during the day, but he does take several naps throughout the day, lasting anywhere from 1-3 hours.

Sometimes when he is barking and crying we will let him out of the crate, and put him on our bed, or he will just pass out right next to the bed on the floor. I know this is probably a bad idea, but he its the only way he will sleep. Once he falls asleep, we pick him up and guide him into the crate. Sometimes he will fall asleep (If we are lucky). Other times he will just sit there and howl and bark.

We also feed him in the crate, breakfast, lunch, and dinner. We have tried putting toys, no toys, Kong filled peanut butter, chew toys, etc and none of them help. We leave a blanket in the crate to lay on. It honestly feels like its getting worse.

If ANYONE can give us some advice it would be greatly appreciated because we are almost at a point where we can't function haha.


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## Gretchen (Jan 20, 2011)

Why not try a night without closing the crate door? Shut your bedroom door, close all the closets, make it puppy proof, leave the crate in your room with the door open and see what happens. You may want to leave a small bed on the floor, next to your bed and you can reach down and pet him. Set your alarm to wake up and take him out for a pee in the middle of the night. Probably not the best advice, but I know what its like to be sleep deprived.

When our first dog was about 4 months old, she started doing a similar behavior in her crate, we couldn't sleep either so we let her out and she never peed or bothered us or destroyed anything. It was like she was telling us she was ready to be on her own.
She grew to be a very good dog in every way.


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## ZoeD1217 (Feb 7, 2014)

Maybe you're taking the water away too early and he's thirsty? When Zoe was 12 weeks she needed water until bedtime around 9pm and I'd let her out around 11pm and then she'd sleep until morning. If I noticed she didn't drink a lot of water she would always wake up crying in the middle of the night and run right to her water bowl. 
We also used a larger wire crate with a blanket over the top of it. If he's doing okay making it out to potty then maybe he's ready for more room? 

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## Blanketback (Apr 27, 2012)

woogyboogy said:


> Sometimes when he is barking and crying we will let him out of the crate, and put him on our bed...


And that's why he keeps doing it, because it works for him. Can you use a baby gate and section off the very end of your bed? That's how I solved the problem.


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## Mister C (Jan 14, 2014)

I can think of a couple of things.

You mentioned that your dog gets plenty of exercise. May I ask how much you think is "plenty"? I have found that people have widely different viewpoints on what is "plenty" of exercise. 

Whatever the level of exercise, I suggest you double or triple it for a couple of days. If he likes fetch, keep throwing until his tongue is hanging--being careful not to overheat him or cause injury. Wear him out really, really well. See if he sleeps better after been completely and totally exhausted.

Also, is it possible he is getting rewarded for the noise he is making in the crate? Even negative attention like scolding can be rewarding enough for the dog to keep on doing it. I suggest covering the crate with a blanket, totally ignoring the barking and only letting him out when he is calm and quiet.

Best of luck and hope all of you can sleep better soon,

Michael


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## Mister C (Jan 14, 2014)

Blanketback said:


> And that's why he keeps doing it, because it works for him.


+1 

Agreed. 

It's really hard not to give in to his complaints but by doing so you are making the problem continue. 

A good friend of mine from Brazil has a saying that roughly translates to "Love me, hate me, just don't ignore me!" 

Nobody likes to be ignored...it's worse than being loved or hated. That includes dogs. Ignore the behavior you don't want and reward the ones that you do. It's much easier said than done but good advice nonetheless.


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## K9POPPY (Mar 6, 2014)

Sounds like you are really trying, but some pups can be exhausting when it comes to crate training. Your first mistake was to put him on the bed- unless that's where you want him all the time- think about it, how comfy that must seem to a puppy. I will say he may indeed need some more water later at night, but you can limit what he drinks. If you want him crate trained, an alternative method is to put a crate in an ex-pen at the foot or next to the bed. Only put a pad or blanket(if he wont chew it) in the crate. I wouldn't put anything else in there, just maybe a cover over the top of the crate(makes it a den-like area for him, a safe zone). If you set it up like this, he will come to know this is den is for sleeping, nothing more. Now, you can try leaving the door open. No toys, chews, etc., this area is JUST FOR SLEEPING. I know it's VERY HARD, but be consistent, no putting on the bed, or next to the bed, etc. I hope this helps, it's worked for us for many, many years. IMHO, Bob


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## shemeld135 (Mar 4, 2014)

try to put a blanket over the top, back and sides of the crate. and face the opening NOT looking at the bed. Seems to work for my pup.. i did that but i also have it in another room while we sleep.. i only slept next to create the first week to let him know it was ok.. also i leave crate door open during the day and throw treats in there so he know he can go in and out and its ok!


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## wyoung2153 (Feb 28, 2010)

Maybe gate off a section near your bed, so he's not "crated per say?" he also jsut might like seeing you.. the wire crate may be enough. 

When I had my girl, I had a plastic crate, and in order forher to stop crying, I had to be in physical sight of her. The first few nights I even draped my hand in the front of the crate to comfort and she would fall asleep.. but if I was out of sight she would scream!


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## NancyJ (Jun 15, 2003)

Or you can move the crate into another room and completely ignoring his requests. Just like a baby they have a way of barking differently when something is actually wrong. You come to learn how to read that


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## Galathiel (Nov 30, 2012)

I ended up having to move my crate to my computer room. The first night we got no sleep whatsoever. I still set the alarm and got up 2 or 3 times just in case he needed to go outside, but otherwise ignored the rest of the noises. He never had an accident and after about 3 days, he no longer made a fuss. He actually only needed to potty around 4 am so I eventually cut out the earlier times I was getting up.


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## warpwr (Jan 13, 2011)

There is always the option of using a tie-down instead of a crate.

This is the way Guide Dog pups are trained and we have have used one for every puppy we've had until Zazzle. We still use a tie-down when we need some peace in the front room.

This is Miss Molly on her tie-down when she was a puppy, it's in our bedroom and she was on it all night. No crying.








We decided on a crate this time though.

http://www.guidedogs.com/site/DocServer/puppy-raising-manual.pdf
Tiedown - $7.99 : Guide Dogs for the Blind


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## graciesmom (Jun 10, 2006)

Funny, in preparing for Jazz' arrival, we had the crate all set up in the bedroom. But the day before we picked her up, we rethought it and decided to move it into the kitchen as this is where all the activity happens and has the laminate floors and is easiest to cordon off with baby gate and a sliding door. Best decision we made. She can go in/out of her crate at will during the day and easily crated with the gate closed when she needs a time out, are having our supper and/or when we go to bed. She settled in quite well, I can hear her during the night if she needs out ... it's a different whine and can ignore her when it's the "I want to play" whine. She has never had an accident in her crate to date. She is now 4 months old. All of which to say ... move the crate to another room, one where she can still see the activities of the household during the day and won't disturb you during the night. Eventually, she'll have the run of the house and can sleep wherever she chooses .. we're just nowhere nears that level of freedom yet.


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## woogyboogy (Dec 25, 2013)

Gretchen said:


> Why not try a night without closing the crate door? Shut your bedroom door, close all the closets, make it puppy proof, leave the crate in your room with the door open and see what happens. You may want to leave a small bed on the floor, next to your bed and you can reach down and pet him. Set your alarm to wake up and take him out for a pee in the middle of the night. Probably not the best advice, but I know what its like to be sleep deprived.
> 
> When our first dog was about 4 months old, she started doing a similar behavior in her crate, we couldn't sleep either so we let her out and she never peed or bothered us or destroyed anything. It was like she was telling us she was ready to be on her own.
> She grew to be a very good dog in every way.


Thank you for the advice, I have "puppy proofed" our bedroom and we are going to try this tonight, wish us luck haha


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## woogyboogy (Dec 25, 2013)

wyoung2153 said:


> Maybe gate off a section near your bed, so he's not "crated per say?" he also jsut might like seeing you.. the wire crate may be enough.
> 
> When I had my girl, I had a plastic crate, and in order forher to stop crying, I had to be in physical sight of her. The first few nights I even draped my hand in the front of the crate to comfort and she would fall asleep.. but if I was out of sight she would scream!


We are going to try this tonight. I hope it works!


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## woogyboogy (Dec 25, 2013)

ZoeD1217 said:


> Maybe you're taking the water away too early and he's thirsty? When Zoe was 12 weeks she needed water until bedtime around 9pm and I'd let her out around 11pm and then she'd sleep until morning. If I noticed she didn't drink a lot of water she would always wake up crying in the middle of the night and run right to her water bowl.
> We also used a larger wire crate with a blanket over the top of it. If he's doing okay making it out to potty then maybe he's ready for more room?
> 
> Sent from Petguide.com Free App


This is really good advice that we never thought about. We will leave the water out till 9 and see how it goes. Thank you so much!


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## woogyboogy (Dec 25, 2013)

Blanketback said:


> And that's why he keeps doing it, because it works for him. Can you use a baby gate and section off the very end of your bed? That's how I solved the problem.


We are going to try this tonight! Also we are going to try to be more firm on letting him out when he barks, but its very hard because he would literally bark/howl ALL night.


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## Gretchen (Jan 20, 2011)

woogyboogy said:


> Thank you for the advice, I have "puppy proofed" our bedroom and we are going to try this tonight, wish us luck haha


Good Luck and sweet dreams.

Hope it's OK if your dog sleeps on your bed if that is what makes everyone rested, many people don't want this. Our first dog would come up early in the morning. At first it irritated my husband but after losing her to cancer, my husband really missed this and wished our current dog who is 4 yrs old would sleep on our bed, but she won't. He's really bummed. She sleeps in the middle of the upstairs hallway so she has an eye on all bedroom doors and to see what may come up the stairs. So you never know how it will end up.


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## GatorDog (Aug 17, 2011)

If mine are going to incessantly whine or bark all night, they will sleep in another room or in a crate in the car. I never let mine sleep out of their crates as puppies.


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## woogyboogy (Dec 25, 2013)

Mister C said:


> I can think of a couple of things.
> 
> You mentioned that your dog gets plenty of exercise. May I ask how much you think is "plenty"? I have found that people have widely different viewpoints on what is "plenty" of exercise.
> 
> ...


Thank you for the response, we could definitely exercise him more than what we do now that you bring that up, but sometimes he will only want to play for 5-10 minutes and then he will sleep for 1-2 hours. I have tried throwing tennis balls, tennis balls with squeakers, Kong's, Kong's with ropes, medium sized soccer balls, frisbees, etc, and he will only play for 5-10 minutes. We usually take him on 2-3 1/2-3/4 mile walks per day. He is very difficult to motivate, and living in Florida with the heat doesn't help either.

Also we feed him 1 cup of Blue Buffalo 3 times a day, 7:30am (1 cup), 12:30pm (1 cup), and 5:30 (1 cup). He will literally eat it within 2 minutes.

As far as rewarding him when he does something bad we are pretty clear on that and only reward him when he does what we want him to do.


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## woogyboogy (Dec 25, 2013)

wyoung2153 said:


> Maybe gate off a section near your bed, so he's not "crated per say?" he also jsut might like seeing you.. the wire crate may be enough.
> 
> When I had my girl, I had a plastic crate, and in order forher to stop crying, I had to be in physical sight of her. The first few nights I even draped my hand in the front of the crate to comfort and she would fall asleep.. but if I was out of sight she would scream!


This is the plan for tonight, thank you for the advice!


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## woogyboogy (Dec 25, 2013)

jocoyn said:


> Or you can move the crate into another room and completely ignoring his requests. Just like a baby they have a way of barking differently when something is actually wrong. You come to learn how to read that


If the above strategies don't work we might have to try this. We are just cautious of this method because we want or puppy to be close and feel like family, similar to the tether method.


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## woogyboogy (Dec 25, 2013)

Galathiel said:


> I ended up having to move my crate to my computer room. The first night we got no sleep whatsoever. I still set the alarm and got up 2 or 3 times just in case he needed to go outside, but otherwise ignored the rest of the noises. He never had an accident and after about 3 days, he no longer made a fuss. He actually only needed to potty around 4 am so I eventually cut out the earlier times I was getting up.


We might end up doing this if we fail at the others options. I'd just hate to isolate him


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## Ellimaybel (Mar 16, 2014)

I had read once that separating your dog from you helps with separation anxiety. So when Gunther was a tiny dog (we got him at 5 weeks because the breeder is not professional but knew we could still help him mature correctly) we had him separated in the front room. He could see us at all times and we made sure to go in his den and spend lots and lots of time with him while still showing him it was ok to be apart. He doesn't chew things up, he can sleep apart from us with no issues, we don't even have to crate him. I don't know if this will work for you but it did for us.


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## woogyboogy (Dec 25, 2013)

graciesmom said:


> Funny, in preparing for Jazz' arrival, we had the crate all set up in the bedroom. But the day before we picked her up, we rethought it and decided to move it into the kitchen as this is where all the activity happens and has the laminate floors and is easiest to cordon off with baby gate and a sliding door. Best decision we made. She can go in/out of her crate at will during the day and easily crated with the gate closed when she needs a time out, are having our supper and/or when we go to bed. She settled in quite well, I can hear her during the night if she needs out ... it's a different whine and can ignore her when it's the "I want to play" whine. She has never had an accident in her crate to date. She is now 4 months old. All of which to say ... move the crate to another room, one where she can still see the activities of the household during the day and won't disturb you during the night. Eventually, she'll have the run of the house and can sleep wherever she chooses .. we're just nowhere nears that level of freedom yet.


Yeah we should have put his create in a more open spot. If the strategies above don't work we will try relocating his create to a more active area. Thanks for the advice!


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## anitram (Feb 28, 2014)

Do you know any other puppies? Or even stable, adult dogs (small or medium sized)? The only thing that REALLY exhausts our 15-week-old puppy is a puppy play date. Especially the ones where we go to a conservation area and "hike" with the dogs off-leash. Not only is he perfect the rest of that day, but he sleeps like a log and is even tired the day after. And he absolutely loves it. 

Hans is also pooped after his puppy kindergarten classes so I think you'll find that mental exercise is also quite tiring for them at this age.

I guarantee that if you can really exhaust your dog - and play time with another puppy is great because it's natural to them and fun, he'll sleep like the dead.


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## d4mmo (Mar 27, 2013)

You have tought him that if he cries and barks enough he will be able to get out.
Stick him in another room, and let him cry his lungs off. Only go in once a night to let him drink and go potty.
And NEVER go into the room if he is barking or whining, NEVER let him out of the crate untill he is 100% relaxed. 
It may take a few weeks but this will condition him to learn that crying gets him nothing. And relaxed behavior will be rewarded.
He won't stop whining in a day or a week, but gradually if your consistent and disciplined enough he will also be consistent.
I think with these things it's 50% genetics and 50% training.




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## Gretchen (Jan 20, 2011)

Did you get any puppy guide from your breeder? Just for a reference our breeder only recommended having the puppy sleep in crate for 2 weeks, then every other night for the next week. He does advised to crate train in general. So if your dog is 3 months, according to our breeder recommendations he could be out of crate at night. He did recommend putting crate in your bedroom.


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## wyoung2153 (Feb 28, 2010)

woogyboogy said:


> This is the plan for tonight, thank you for the advice!


Hope this works! You'll find the perfect solution.. just don't give up! Let us know! 

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## andrea04 (Feb 2, 2014)

Our Lucie is almost 4 months old and wen we got her at 8 weeks crating was ****!!! She would scream for hours in end in her crate we tried everything covering it with a sheet placing toys and chew toys in there as well as several blankets to make it comfortable. Even after all that she would still scream so we gave in and started letting her sleep with us( I know some people will say this was a horrible idea) but all of the sudden about 2 weeks ago she became restless in our bed and would whine and bark to get down. I decided it was time to try the crate again and to our surprise she sleeps soundly in it now she doesn't scream or even whimper just lays down and goes right to sleep. On the rare occasion she will get me up in the middle of the night to go potty but goes right back in and sleeps until 6. 

But maybe try a bigger crate one there is room to move around in. We didn't want to have to but multiple crates so we have one that will fit her full size. Lucie has a liking for soft fleece blankets and we always give her a treat when she goes in so she knows it's not a bad place. 

Good luck and I hope you get some more sleep!!!


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## carmspack (Feb 2, 2011)

often *more* exercise over extends the dog and makes the dog more wired .

Chill Out Fido ! How to Calm Your Dog by Nan Kene Arthur Dogwise Training Manual .

Stress and Anxiety Traditional Chinese Medicines -- calm anxiety and lessen insomnia . Herbs used for centuries may include Biota orientalis and Zizphys jujube , which contain quercitin and rutin as well which are good for overall health.
Omega Alpha has a new product E-Z Rest which is good for travel anxiety, separation anxiety and to help the dog calm and relax.

I would put the crate in a room other than your bedroom , away from household activity , a true retreat . I would put that pup into that crate several times a day , randomly , in and randomly out . This gives assurance to the pup that it will be coming out . No huge "fun" before being and no huge "fun" after coming out . No big transitions .

Calm and quiet time in the evening so the dogs energy can start to bump down -- put into crate when you are ready , even if you are not going to end your day at that time. Just like beddy bye time for children.


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## woogyboogy (Dec 25, 2013)

Ok here is the update from last night,

We kept his water out til about 9:00pm, and sectioned off his room so he has a corner of the room, probably about 1/8 of our bedroom. He slept from 10:30pm to 2:30am. We took him out to go potty, he immediately went when his feet hit the grass. Then we brought him back inside and he passed out in about 10-15 minutes with very minimal crying, and howling. Then he woke up again at 5:30am and we went outside and he did #1 and #2. Then we brought him back inside where he was a little restless, and didn't go back to sleep til about 5:50am-6:00am (He kept tying to jump up on the bed). Then he woke us up at 7:00am and he was up from there haha.

It was definitely a lot better then all of the nights before, and we are going to try the same exact thing tonight. I've attached some pictures of the setup, and our puppy.

Thank you everyone for the advice and I will be updating it daily or every other day.


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## K9POPPY (Mar 6, 2014)

Sounds better, he will probably like that and settle in- he's so young, be patient, it'll work! And by the way he's gorgeous, great pics! Best of luck, enjoy!!!! Bob


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## ZoeD1217 (Feb 7, 2014)

He's adorable!! I'm happy there was improvement! More good luck to you tonight 

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## andrea04 (Feb 2, 2014)

So cute. Sounds like you guys finally got a little more sleep. Glad it's working out for you!!!


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## Blanketback (Apr 27, 2012)

Yay, isn't sleep wonderful, lol? I was so happy when I didn't have to get up in the middle of the night - you'll get there soon. One thing I'll add: when your puppy wakes you up in the morning, don't reward him with attention. I know it's hard, but it's so much better when they give you morning kisses when you actually want to wake up, instead of them deciding what's a good time, lol. Cute pictures!


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## woogyboogy (Dec 25, 2013)

Thank you all for being so supportive!

Last night was even better! We put him in his enclosed area around 10:30pm and I set my alarm to take him out at 2:10am. He never woke us up from 10:30 to the time my alarm went off at 2:10. I took him out, and he did his business. Then I brought him back in and he passed out within 5-10 minutes. Then he woke us up at 6:15am and was up for the day.

All in all we are extremely happy with how he is doing, and us being able to finally get some sleep is amazing!


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## woogyboogy (Dec 25, 2013)

Blanketback said:


> Yay, isn't sleep wonderful, lol? I was so happy when I didn't have to get up in the middle of the night - you'll get there soon. One thing I'll add: when your puppy wakes you up in the morning, don't reward him with attention. I know it's hard, but it's so much better when they give you morning kisses when you actually want to wake up, instead of them deciding what's a good time, lol. Cute pictures!


Thank you for the advice! I never really thought of that but we will definitely start doing it. For the past month, where we haven't gotten any sleep, its been rather hard to be ecstatic when he wakes us up haha but having him give us morning kisses sounds totally worth it!


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## woogyboogy (Dec 25, 2013)

Also, do you think that giving him 1 cup at 7am, 1 cup at 12:30pm, and 1 cup at 5:30pm is to much food at 12 weeks/3 months?

Thanks again!


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## d4mmo (Mar 27, 2013)

All depends on puppy's needs, type of food, his drive, how much time he spends outdoors, playing,etc
But that sounds about standard for a 12week old 


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## meek (Feb 14, 2012)

He doesn't want to be caged. Let him sleep on the floor next to your bed. He's trying to tell you, get me out of here. My GSDs sleep on the floor right beside me. They sleep like babies!


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## Angelina03 (Jan 9, 2012)

Sounds like it's working out. Congrats. He is a gorgeous pup. I like your set up and he probably feels closer to you. Sounds like he's already potting trained. That's a big plus. Soon he'll be sleeping through the night. We had the same issues when we got Rocco: no sleep! Putting his crate in our room (a wire crate so he could see us) is what worked for us. He was sleeping through the night by 14-15 weeks. But we took him out to potty as late as possible (10-11 pm) and he had to go first thing in the morning (6-7 am). Also, once his bladder can hold it, a small snack before bed time may help him sleep through the night. 


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## wyoung2153 (Feb 28, 2010)

Sounds like it may be your solution!  hope it improves over the next few days, and I think it will!


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