Expert: Anne Springer, B.S., Dip., CAPCT - 2/6/2012

Question
Hello. My boyfriend and I got a 3.5 month old beagle puppy several weeks ago. We are still working on training him, and he's in a great obedience class now. We've been having a couple of issues with him recently though. The biggest issue is that he is no longer sleeping through the night. When we first got him, he slept just fine in his crate next to our bed. He woke up to go out once in a blue moon and if he whimpered, we just put our hand down next to his crate so he could smell it and know he wasn't alone. After a few weeks, we moved his crate into the main room of our apartment. He was fine for the first week or so, but lately he's been waking us up every single night at LEAST once to go out. We don't praise/play/interact when this happens. We will take him out and put him right back. Sometimes he cries even after he has just been out. Covering his crate with a blanket seems to help though. It's frustrating because I know he can hold his bladder for longer than 3 or so hours. Part of me wants to let him cry, but I live in an apartment so it's hard to do that.

The second issue (which may be related) is that we seem to be regressing with housebreaking. He was doing SO well. He seemed to get the hang of it for awhile, but now he has accidents often, sometimes right after coming inside. What tips do you have for these problems? Thank you so much!

Answer
Is there some reason he cannot sleep in your bedroom as before?  If it was working, why not continue?  Dogs hate isolation, so that may have something to do with his angst at night.  Also, if you have acknowledged him, even to shush him so the neighbors won't get mad, it's possible that you have accidentally reinforced him for whining in the crate:-(